Is My Eno Octaver Defective? (Repair Advice Wanted)

[ck3]

Today was almost joyous when I discovered an Eno mini Octaver had arrived from China almost a month ahead of schedule. It was carefully packaged in an outer box with plenty of bubble wrap, a second product box, and a snazzy black felt bag. There was even a heart-shaped post-it note from someone named "Tina" requesting 5 star feedback attached to a random, repurposed acoustic guitar string container full of random, thin picks.

The pedal itself looks pretty solid and delivers the goods in terms of glitchy, analog tone. It's pretty much a Pearl Octaver in a pint-sized package with a more cutting upper octave and what seems to be true bypass switching. I had many hours of fun cascading it into every dirtbox in my collection and an EQD Spatial Delivery.

Though good times were had, some serious issues became apparent. Primarily, the fact that the switch popped like a mofo and other pedals in the signal chain had the same problem when connected to the Eno Octaver. Many of my cables are a bit worn, but I still wonder about a voltage leak and hope nothing has been damaged.

Has anyone else owned an Eno Octaver? I'm wondering if this is a common problem.

[edit: title changed].

[ck3]

Not so stale necrobump: Quickly Trade, Co, the Amazon seller, was amazing and granted me a refund without having to return the pedal. Apparently, the shipping cost back to China was too high for them to cover. In any event, does anyone here have experience with repairing Chinese mini pedals? The switch is definitely faulty, and there may also be voltage leaking issues. Gut shots can be posted if they would be helpful. Other than the kick-drum-level popping issues and randomly disappearing lowest octave, this pedal sounds amazing, so I'm hoping a little TLC will make it safe and practical to use.

[Chankgeez]

You may get a better response to your repair question over on DIYstompboxes or freestompboxes.

Either way, it's clear that stuff is totally disposable. I hope you can fix it without too much hassle though.

[crochambeau]

Crack it open and take a whiff of the level of SMD involved.

I'm guessing it's going to be pretty small, it's up to you to decide if you have the patience & manual dexterity to fuck with it. Might be a bypass via loop pedal situation.

This shit is built without human intervention, and the lifespan/repairability is another reason assholes like me are trying to get over $200 for a build in a sea of $25 stuff.

I really don't mean to be curmudgeonly here, still just waking up.

[rfurtkamp]

Going to be far, far cheaper buying two or three more (or having a clone of the Pearl built) and seeing which one sticks around to work!

[ck3]

Point taken regarding repair advice. I may post gut shots in a help thread on DIY stompboxes.com.

This pedal is SMD to the core, complete with a switch that appears to be solidly integrated into a crowded circuit board with multiple layers. It was necessary to remove the footswitch bolt, jacks,and tightly nestled backplate to liberate the innards.

I'll probably wait until bugs are worked out of the first batch before ponying up for another Eno Octaver. The root of the problem may actually be some kind of boost or buffer engaged when the pedal is active, which causes other true bypass pedals to pop when engaged and bypassed. The popping only spreads to other pedals when the Octaver is engaged, so I'm not as concerned about other pedals being damaged. Still, the popping when the pedal is engaged or bypassed is so damn loud this will have to be a studio-only effector.

[rfurtkamp]

Or just put it in a bypass loop.

[ck3]

Given how the octaver impacts other true bypass pedals when it's engaged, a TB loop may not rectify the issue ... though I might still give it a go.

[crochambeau]

Do you have a multimeter? I'd be curious if there is a DC offset on the output of the pedal when it's in circuit. That would push the pedals downstream into pop type behaviour. A resolution would be to place a cap (I'd go non-polarized in the 1-5 uf range if you can manage it) in series to act as a DC blocker.

This is ASSuming there's no trim compensation on the circuit to null out DC offset.

[ck3]

Many thanks for the tech support. I have an extremely limited knowledge of electronics and no multimeter on hand. After reviewing gutshot photos, I'm not seeing any trimpots, though they could be one of many microscopic globs. Where would the capacitor need to be inserted in the circuit and how much space would it likely occupy? There are a few small cavities above and below the PCB.

[crochambeau]

I'd simply build a cable with a cap in-line, that way the mod is easily reversed (or applied to other problem areas). Otherwise you'd be looking to place it in line with output (but a measurement of DC may illustrate my angle is a red herring - don't mod it without measuring first)

ie: you should get a multimeter if you'll be modding pedals.

[Eric!]

Gutshot!

[ck3]

I tried to post gutshot photos last night, but my phone would not cooperate. Without further adieu, here we go: