Home › Forums › Vintage EHX › ’81 Soul Preacher acting up in pedal board
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June 1, 2010 at 8:56 pm #80295T BoneMember
Not sure if I should have posted this in the tech area, but since the pedal is nearly 30 years old, I thought I’d start here.
I finally (!) got my Pedaltrain set up last night with everything mounted. Been playing around with different combos (not many) to see what worked and didn’t, but I’d left the Soul Preacher out figuring it would work pretty much anywhere. I don’t think the issue is with the compatibility with other components, but then I’ve never had trouble with it before (also hasn’t been used that much, sat for a dozen years in storage, and to boot, this is the first time I’ve run it off a power adapter).
It’s simply cutting out altogether, no signal. Generally when switched on, though a few times I lost signal with it off. Once I turned the threshold knob back a bit and the signal came through. Several time bumping the foot switch did the trick, sometimes without even actually switching it.
Another symptom I saw (first actually) was that switching one of a few different effects on or off would momentarily cut the signal (these were all after the Soul Preacher in the chain). I tried unplugging the effects that were in front of it and going straight into it. No change, still comes and goes (mostly gone at this point, generally I have signal with it off, and mostly not with it on).
One thing I’ve not tried yet is to pull the power cord and go back on battery (will try later or tomorrow), But I think something is probably loose or dieing inside the old Dude.
FWIW, signal path currently is: Tuner, Fuzz Face, Cry Baby Wah, vintage TS9 Tube Screamer, TS-808 Reissue Tube Screamer, Soul Preacher, Octavio (the Hendrix “cheese” pedal), Uni-Vibe, Phase 90 reissue, Carbon Copy and Micro Amp. Running a Stratocaster into a Fender Blues Deluxe.
Do we have someone, a “Guru”, Wizard of these vintage pedals to work on them? Does E-H still service a pedal this old? Any thoughts on what might be ailing it or what to try would be welcomed. TIA!
June 1, 2010 at 10:16 pm #102989The EH ManModeratorIt sounds like you have an intermittent connection somewhere in the pedal. A jar anywhere will make it cut in and out.
You could open it up and check all the wire connections. If you don’t see anything, try playing through it while tapping on the circuit board.
June 1, 2010 at 10:30 pm #102983T BoneMemberQuote:It sounds like you have an intermittent connection somewhere in the pedal. A jar anywhere will make it cut in and out.You could open it up and check all the wire connections. If you don’t see anything, try playing through it while tapping on the circuit board.
I’ll give that a try tomorrow and report back, thanks! Also plan to try omitting the power supply and going with a battery, to see if the problem is duplicated. This was the initial test of the powered board (power supply not even mounted yet) and when I pulled all the leads, I noticed the plug didn’t feel real tight in the jack.
Does it hurt anything to have a battery installed while running off a power supply? (I didn’t, just wondering).June 1, 2010 at 10:37 pm #102933The EH ManModeratorQuote:Does it hurt anything to have a battery installed while running off a power supply? (I didn’t, just wondering).No harm. When a plug is inserted into the DC jack the battery is disconnected from the circuit.
June 2, 2010 at 3:12 am #102927ranjamMemberIt’s happened to me. What you can do is check all the board connections with a jeweler’s loupe. The wires from the jacks and the footswitch to the board could be flaky. Sometimes I’ve removed what seems like a pound of solder, and just have as little as possible to connect the wires. Check everything twice. Tighten the hardware, especially if it is used to make ground connections. If it is the jack that is intermittent, you can try and bend it back to being ‘tight’ against the cord, or just replace it.
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