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Boss ES-8 ES-5 Thoughts

#103
Hey Gang,
Decided to do a board re-wire and move some stuff on/off/around and now that I'm in the preset setting stage, the dreaded volume problem has surfaced, but with a twist...curious if anyone has encountered this or has a solution to recommend I try.
I'm getting a volume dip when everything is bypassed but some presets I've created give a volume boost. The interesting part is that if I turn off the effect pedal in that loop (let's say loop 2) and still have the loop (loop 2) engaged, the volume is there...but if I bypass loop 2 such that nothing is engaged the volume dips. This means that I get a solid normal bypass volume only when I have loop 2 engaged, but the pedal turned off.
Any ideas on how I get my bypass volume to match that of loop 2 when the pedal in loop 2 is turned off? I'm open to any and all suggestions. Please help!!!
Happy holidays/new year to all!!!
~ evan

obligatory board shot of newly rewired board:
jFy9Rovl.jpg
 
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#107
cosmicevan said:
Hey Gang,
Decided to do a board re-wire and move some stuff on/off/around and now that I'm in the preset setting stage, the dreaded volume problem has surfaced, but with a twist...curious if anyone has encountered this or has a solution to recommend I try.
I'm getting a volume dip when everything is bypassed but some presets I've created give a volume boost. The interesting part is that if I turn off the effect pedal in that loop (let's say loop 2) and still have the loop (loop 2) engaged, the volume is there...but if I bypass loop 2 such that nothing is engaged the volume dips. This means that I get a solid normal bypass volume only when I have loop 2 engaged, but the pedal turned off.
Any ideas on how I get my bypass volume to match that of loop 2 when the pedal in loop 2 is turned off? I'm open to any and all suggestions. Please help!!!
Happy holidays/new year to all!!!
~ evan

obligatory board shot of newly rewired board:
View attachment 4108813
Click to expand...

I had a patch recently that was really glitchy with the Expression over midi. The expression settings were the same across a number of ES-5 patches however, this one patch was glitchy and quite random. I cleared the patch down, same issue. So I copied a working patch over it using the menu and then configured the newly copied patch using the Midi requests that i had previously. Now that patch works perfectly, even thought he settings are the same. I wonder if something in the patch gets corrupted at a deeper level.
I also do monthly backups to my PC using a Roland UM-ONE. I still think it's a bit naff that I have to totally disconnect my ES-5 from it's midi network to do this. A simple USB socket for device management would have been far better. I think Boss did this on their newer MS-3 and GT-1000 Core units.
 
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#108
GMC said:
I had a patch recently that was really glitchy with the Expression over midi. The expression settings were the same across a number of ES-5 patches however, this one patch was glitchy and quite random. I cleared the patch down, same issue. So I copied a working patch over it using the menu and then configured the newly copied patch using the Midi requests that i had previously. Now that patch works perfectly, even thought he settings are the same. I wonder if something in the patch gets corrupted at a deeper level.
I also do monthly backups to my PC using a Roland UM-ONE. I still think it's a bit naff that I have to totally disconnect my ES-5 from it's midi network to do this. A simple USB socket for device management would have been far better. I think Boss did this on their newer MS-3 and GT-1000 Core units.
Click to expand...


I tried loading older patch banks in there to see if it would help, no luck yet, but probably worth exploring. Thanks for the suggestion. I expect this will need to be serviced though.
 
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#109
After having a conversation with a repair tech today, I'm really made that I chose the ES-8. The tech told me that yes, they are aware of this problem and have fixed it many times in the past. They said that this problem is caused by a variety of symptoms though - everything from surface mount components not being properly connected all the way to bad parts going bad and leaking stuff on the board and everything in between. I was told that the parts are dirt cheap, but labor is $95 an hour and this repair typically takes between 2 - 3 hours and if there was leakage, they can't repair it at all as the circuit board gets ruined when that happens. If I choose to go through with the repair it is warrantied for only 90 days which means that another failure could happen afterwards and then I'm back where I started. Extremely frustrating. They said I can try to open it up and see if I can diagnose if it is worth fixing...pretty much look to see if I see signs of leaks as that means it is dead but in the next sentence they told me that they wouldn't trust anything I see on the internet or youtube. So I'm left here with the question of to repair or not to repair and considering all the facts, not repair seems like the right move. Maybe sell mine at a rock bottom price to someone who can fix it and then buy something else, like maybe a morningstar setup? Anyone have experience with a repair? Is it worth it? I LOVE the ES-8 but this is a love killer
 
#110
cosmicevan said:
After having a conversation with a repair tech today, I'm really made that I chose the ES-8. The tech told me that yes, they are aware of this problem and have fixed it many times in the past. They said that this problem is caused by a variety of symptoms though - everything from surface mount components not being properly connected all the way to bad parts going bad and leaking stuff on the board and everything in between. I was told that the parts are dirt cheap, but labor is $95 an hour and this repair typically takes between 2 - 3 hours and if there was leakage, they can't repair it at all as the circuit board gets ruined when that happens. If I choose to go through with the repair it is warrantied for only 90 days which means that another failure could happen afterwards and then I'm back where I started. Extremely frustrating. They said I can try to open it up and see if I can diagnose if it is worth fixing...pretty much look to see if I see signs of leaks as that means it is dead but in the next sentence they told me that they wouldn't trust anything I see on the internet or youtube. So I'm left here with the question of to repair or not to repair and considering all the facts, not repair seems like the right move. Maybe sell mine at a rock bottom price to someone who can fix it and then buy something else, like maybe a morningstar setup? Anyone have experience with a repair? Is it worth it? I LOVE the ES-8 but this is a love killer
Click to expand...

This really sucks. Is this a thing that Boss is aware of and/or is something they've corrected, etc. ? Are the components surface mount or traditional through board?
 
#111
It’s the kind of thing that you find out about when it happens to you. All of a sudden there is a volume dip w the ES and you take to the internet and surprisingly find a lot of people with the issue. There are all sorts of weird tricks people recommend like switch to in/out 2 or firmware update, some which make sense in light of the information I learned today talking to a certified tech. I found the issue improve for me after a firmware update but eventually deteriorated beyond.

Apparently it’s a known thing but nothing that is being addressed. I opened a service request w Roland and they replied and want me to ship it in but I don’t know a price yet. I am going to follow up on that route and see if I can get a quote and then make a decision. I am debating if I want to open it up and have a look after what the repair tech told me about parts leaking or corroding as one possible root cause that is unfixable. :(

Took a look at Morningstar stuff but a 5 input switcher and 8 button MIDI controller gets you north of $500...but escapes me from this situation, and if I can sell the ES-8 to someone who might want to fix it that might be the move? Definitely feel the fool owning one of these considering that this is apparently a very real and common thing.
 
#112
radiophonic said:
You don't need to do it like this. If you set it up in the menu so there is a parallel link across the desired pedal, only with no loop number defined in it, you get a clean blend. No need to reserve an empty loop or to blend with an 'off' pedal. It's not explained like this in the manual though.
Click to expand...

Hey guys, following is a pretty basic question, but potentially crucial for me:

In reference to clean blend options, as quoted above: is it possible to have a parallel link across all loops? I would effectively like to have a clean blend for each loop (or at the very least, for the overdrive and distortion loops), which would continue to sound once those loops are combined with others (time/mod etc)

Or would a simple solution be using an LS2 up front, and run the entire ES-5 in a loop on that, thus creating a master clean blend...? Does that make sense?

Thanks in advance =]
 
#113
Nicky_Bee said:
Hey guys, following is a pretty basic question, but potentially crucial for me:

In reference to clean blend options, as quoted above: is it possible to have a parallel link across all loops? I would effectively like to have a clean blend for each loop (or at the very least, for the overdrive and distortion loops), which would continue to sound once those loops are combined with others (time/mod etc)

Or would a simple solution be using an LS2 up front, and run the entire ES-5 in a loop on that, thus creating a master clean blend...? Does that make sense?

Thanks in advance =]
Click to expand...

This is do-able.
 

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