As another weekend project during lockdown I resurrected an old BOSS ME multi-effects unit. An ME30, described in one forum post as “the worst sounding pedal ever”
It was one of the early digital effects units but with a bit of care and tweaking is OK, especially for portable practice purposes.
Once back in use it lasted a day before one of the footswitches failed. So time to fix it, there are plenty of resources online for the Boss service manual(link to manual). The manual also lists various self tests for the pedal and setup scope traces etc.
Finding the exact replacement switches was less successfull, but I found some that are of comparable size and easily available. These would likely fit other generations of Boss effects.For anyone wanting to do refurb and ME30 the process is relatively painless.
- Order new switches
- Dismantle
- Desolder old switches
- Fit new switches
- Reassemble
- Rrrrrrrrrrrrrock, or whatever
The switches I used were from RS Components and made by Omron.
Yellow Plunger Tactile Switch, SPST-NO 50 mA @ 24 V dc 3mm RS Stock No.718-2411 Cost 12p Each!!!!!! The originals had a soft rubber actuator which had a bit of “give” but in the underside of the pedal there is also a squashy rubber buffer. If this worries you then there are switches with smaller actuators to which you could attach a soft top.
The only problem part of the project was one of the switches is obscured by the screening plate that covers the some of the electronics. You could unsolder it, but as the switch is so close to one edge you can/could bend it out of the way slighting (aka a bit of a bodge or a pragmatic solution depending on your view point). I opted bending it out the way. The pictures below show the old/new switches and the screening plate.Have fun.
