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ugh, pedal loss or failure stories? post 'em up!

F

Fine Cut

Dec 5, 2007
619
7
Rocky Mount, NC
#1
have you ever been in a situation where you had an upcoming commitment which required the use of your gear or more specifically your board, and the day that commitment began or soon before, your gear failed?

yea. that's happened to me just 5 minutes ago. my band is to start recording the first 6 songs of our release today. i finish my school work, decide to plug in and jam to some Pino and :eyebrow: no sound. after a few trial-and-error tests i've discovered that my old Boss LM-2B limiter has bit the dust. :crying: that pedal is an integral part of my sound, and my board. it was literally a 100% on pedal, as well as the first Boss pedal i ever bought :bawl:

anyone else ever have these kinds of follies? i just wanna know i'm not alone, as i sit crying and mourning the loss of my precious limiter. :(
 
#2
I'm almost certain that you will get many stories on here about strings breaking during soundchecks or during gigs, but there have to be other gear fails as well.

For instance, I set up for a soundcheck a couple of months ago and found that both my Boss CEB-3 and my Crybaby Wah had crapped out on me ... the CEB-3 had decided that it didn't want a working input jack anymore, and the straight gear on the Crybaby wanted a small twin brother (i.e. broke in half) ... not a fun evening for me :hmm:
 
#3
Oh, yes. That was what prompted me to stop using effects for three years. Well, not really (it was a lack of gigging and an amp in my dorm that did that), but it was no small consideration. Thankfully, my desire for a wah kick-started my current pedal obsession, and I was set back on the right track.

What happened was the following: My brother's pedals, which I had been using up to that point, decided that they didn't like Energizer batteries anymore. While buying new ones would have solved the problem, I was about to go on stage. Thankfully, I got through the set with no hitches, brought the house down with my glowing tribute to Rob Van Winkle (I will go no further), and went to class the following morning a hero.
 
#4
I've had several moments of "oh crap, why isn't the board passing signal!". Then I get to try and tear down the board, the power supply, the cables to figure out which component has gone bad.
 
#6
I was doing a relatively easy mod to my BassBalls, the first pedal I ever got and a birthday present from my mom. I was just moving the tone pots.

I had everything secured and wired up, only to plug it in and find out that it didn't work :crying:.

The only thing I can think of that might be wrong is, on the mod page, he's working on an American BassBalls, and he removes two resistors with the trim pots. I have a Russian BassBalls, and I couldn't find the resistors to remove.
 
#8
Jimbob Jones said:
A couple of my pedals have randomly stopped working mid practice (or mid gig!), so I bypassed them, but when I came to look at them later, they've worked fine again. Wierd, eh?
Click to expand...

This sort of happened to my FM-4. It stopped working in the middle of a gig, and at the end of the gig I packed up, went home and went to bed. Got up the next morning and it still didn't work. I took it apart, couldn't see anything wrong and put it back together, figuring that I would take it to be repaired somewhere, and it worked! Weird.
 
#9
Funny story about strings...

I palyed a sound check with my band, and after check, the mains went down, I noodled, and changed some settings for about 5 minutes. 30 Minutes later, we are just ready to start playing, and I mute the board, and check tuning quick.

I literally attempted to pluck my low B on the Pedulla, and it snapped. Would have been the first note of the night... But I caught it.
 
#10
Molotov Pop said:
interesting. i get that with ashdown pedals.
Click to expand...

+1. I had to get rid of my beloved Ashdown envelope filter because it ate switches for breakfast.
A pedal dying in the studio is one thing, this is what happened to me:
Last year in March, a band I no longer play with had a CD release show at a (300-500?)person venue in Seattle. Great supporting acts, great turn-out (great night all around and good money). But, my MXR M-80, which had been very reliable for the previous year+ for recording, rehearsals and performances, started cutting the signal on just the loudest/lowest notes. This was a rock band, so I was getting big drops in volume on the very important downbeats. It didn't start until we started our set and I wasn't sure where the problem was coming from, and really didn't have the time to search. It sucked quite a bit, but I heard that it wasn't that bad in FOH. No more M-80 though.

Most recently: small-ish gig with new band, the problem wasn't pedal failure, the issue was my TU-2 was working just fine... and on for the first note of the set. Yup. Never happened to me before, but sure enough. The drumsticks go "click, click, click AND... no bass. Luckily, after that first whole note, I have a 3 beat rest, so I quickly stomped and didn't miss any more (but I certainly felt a little sweat on the brow).
 
#11
In this instance the gear did was it supposed to do -- but the conditions were less than ideal:

Played a gig at Ronny's in Chicago a few months ago. In our first song our guitarist has a 12-bar solo, and during that time I kick in my OCD to take up a bit more space (or just to compete for attention). Thinking pretty highly of myself for picking up an 18v power supply for the OCD, and when I stomp on the pedal in the beginning of the solo in this high-energy song -- nothing. No bass at all. Turns out the soundperson had been messing around offstage prior to our set trying to get the PA to work, and at some point had stepped on a power strip (one I couldn't see from the stage) and turned it off. Nothing "broke," of course, except my heart.
 
#12
Not sure if this is exactly what you meant but...

I left my Green Muff in Ireland while touring (along w/ my fav sweater/jumper that I left at some chicks house... :hump:). There it stayed for the better part of a year and a half until I managed to track it down (the pedal, not the sweater). Two shipping attempts later, and I had it back in my hands, a full two years after I lost it.
It'll remain on my board till the end of time, if for nothing else than it was meant to be.
The sweater, however, is forever lost in the pooniverse :D
 
#14
Elmo Oxygen said:
+1.
Most recently: small-ish gig with new band, the problem wasn't pedal failure, the issue was my TU-2 was working just fine... and on for the first note of the set. Yup. Never happened to me before, but sure enough. The drumsticks go "click, click, click AND... no bass. Luckily, after that first whole note, I have a 3 beat rest, so I quickly stomped and didn't miss any more (but I certainly felt a little sweat on the brow).
Click to expand...

I have done that so many times its not funny! Tune up between songs, next song in... Big rock slide into the first note and get a great big, fat nothing! Embarrassing as hell, but most of the time no one even notices besides me!
 
#15
Elmo Oxygen said:
Most recently: small-ish gig with new band, the problem wasn't pedal failure, the issue was my TU-2 was working just fine... and on for the first note of the set. Yup. Never happened to me before, but sure enough. The drumsticks go "click, click, click AND... no bass. Luckily, after that first whole note, I have a 3 beat rest, so I quickly stomped and didn't miss any more (but I certainly felt a little sweat on the brow).
Click to expand...

I did something similar in the middle of a song with hitting the tuner instead of another. Really stupid since I only had three switches, and only ever use two.
 
#16
My 80's Ibanez CP-9 quickly became the footswitch for funk, getting stepped on for all those slap-happy dance tunes. Suddenly, during a gig one night, it developed a slight problem that caused the sound to mute when switched off. When on, it sounded fine, but it took me a few seconds to figure that part out... Crucial seconds, after the next song had already kicked off with no bass. After that, it might work flawlessly for months, but then the gremlin comes back. Sadly, I had to retire it from the board.
 

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