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Hey ya'll. I'm new here, been creeping for awhile though...and I have a conundrum. I am calling on the infinite wisdom of ILF because no one at the EHX forum seems to care...

Anyway, here's my situation:

So I just bought a Sovtek Green Russian Big Muff which I believe to be a first generation Tall Font (based on the fact that the input and output jacks are not reversed, and I compared mine to pictures of guts of others online) but I can’t be completely sure because all the paint on the face is chipped off, but that is yet another indicator it is a first gen.

At any rate, it is freaking SWEET, when it decides to work.

That’s the best way I can describe the problem. When I press the switch, it is a crap shoot whether or not it’s going to be “fully” on. Sometimes when I engage it will clearly be at less than optimal volume, and when I turn the volume knob I get massive static and unpleasant noises. Then, other times I can tell it is “fully engaged” because I am getting full volume and the signal is completely clear when knobs are turned. Sometimes, it returns to “normal” when I fidget with the switch, and other times I need to turn it off and back on again and try my luck until it decides to work again.

I am new to troubleshooting with pedals, and although I would love to learn more about circuits and such I am, alas, a beginner. Today, I did what I could and went in and cleaned all the innards (I thought perhaps the switch was dirty) and it seemed to work because when I first turned it on it sounded phenomenal, but then after a few cycles things when to shit again.

Anyone have any theories as to what is going on? It would be much appreciated. I had a friend who thought perhaps the soldered contacts for the bypass switch need to be redone but I don’t want to do anything quite yet, especially something I have not done before in the event I permanently mess the thing up…

Thoughts?

Could be the switch, could be the pots. I think you cleaning it was a good decision, and I would highly suggest replacing the pots. I've got a V1 like yours and I've been avoiding doing it, but its getting the point where mine are starting to get a bit scratchy and feel pretty worn. Try resoldering the footswitch, if that doesn't work then move to replacing the pots. That static issue really sounds like a bad pot

Thanks for the reply.

Alright, I will try resoldering the footswitch and see what happens.

No problem dude, good luck

Sounds like your switch is fucked.
You can try cleaning the contacts in there -- it's tough to get it right though but I managed it with one a long time ago. There are also little tension springs in there that can get gummed up and corroded. Give em a clean and try to loosen things up.
Your other option is to replace the switch, which can be kinda a hassle.

Yep. Even if you put a new standard DPDT switch in there you'd still be looking at some interesting wiring. I think Smallbear Electronics MIGHT have some NOS Sovtek footswitches though

@skullservant Thanks man I've never soldered before so I'll need it if I decide to do that haha

@dev Yeah, I was wondering if there was possibly springs or something inside there. But when I loosened the outside of the switch it seemed to me like you can't fully remove it without removing the contacts from the base, am I correct in that assumption? Cause the actual..."button" part of the switch I guess you'd call it, doesn't just pop off.

Hm...so if resoldering doesn't work maybe just replace the footswitch?

I don't know...I figured since the pots don't sound dirty when it decides to turn "fully on", that doesn't mean it's the pots...right?

The massive static you hear when you change the volume knob along with the cutting in and out those are symptoms of a dying pot I do believe. But hey! I could totally be wrong, especially with the build quailty of old Sovteks hahah

Oh and I checked smallbear and they don't have any NOS switches

Is it a tall (font, if you will haha) order to replace the pots if that is the case?

And aww man bummer...do you think anyone would have them nowadays?

Smallbear DOES have NOS Sovtek pots in stock, so that is an option for you to simply replace with NOS than have to drill out for the newer, larger Alphas. Even 16mm Alphas are a great bit larger in circumference than the old Sovtek ones.

And I'm not sure dude. I highly doubt NOS, but you might be able to find used ones on Ebay. But those have no guarentee. You could always replace with a modern DPDT, which I think would wire exactly the same, just look kind of different and I'm not sure if there would be chassis mounting issues or not

Oh, I see. Alright well I guess I have some options then.

Thanks a lot for all your help!

I only had one more question that really didn't get answered: to fully remove the switch you have to remove the contact points correct? Because unless I am doing something wrong that seems to be the only way...

Like desolder all of the wires from it? Yeah, you'd have to do that on the switch, but just take a picture or draw a diagram before you do it before you replace it so you don't forget what goes where haha

Ok, got it!

Haha yeah good idea

Oh! One more question...so you said the pots for the Muff were on Small Bear, but what type of pots does it use exactly?

Sorry, as I said: newbie