Just to bring closure to my experience, here's what happened:
I emailed Aguilar, told them what happened and asked what I should do to get my pedal fixed. Less than a day later I got a reply from Marco, who suggested I either take it to a local reputable tech or send it to Aguilar - I opted to send it home for a looksee. Marco gave me the shipping info and RMA #, and said it normally takes about 2 weeks for diagnosis and repair turnaround. I shipped the TH to them, and they received it on Tuesday last week - on Thursday I got an email from Marco saying the TH was fixed and ready to come back to me.
He said what caused the problem was incorrect positioning of the batteries - they were flopping around inside and knocked a component off the circuit board. He also sent me a pic attached that showed the correct battery placement - it was good to know, because that was how it came to me when I bought it used (with the batteries loose inside).
He also told me that it's not covered under warranty, but they wouldn't charge me for the repair, just that I'd have to pay for the return shipping.
I completely agree, Aguilar has some of the best customer service I've ever experienced!
I can't wait for it to come back to me so I can use it again - I know I'm going to have happy thoughts when I plug into it, and not just because it sounds great!
~ric
