HX Effects footswitch popped off - easy fix?

[Rev2010]

Hi guys, the first foot switch on my HX Effects popped off today with the spring. No physical damage I'm guessing it might be easy enough to open it up and somehow pop it back in place? Has anybody gone through this and repaired it themselves? I'm very handy with repairing shit and am an IT Tech for a living. I even modded my Mesa Triple Loop from parallel to series myself so I'm fairly confident LOL

 

[guitar_player4_2_0]

That’s a warranty thing to me. 1. It shouldn’t have done that. I think those switches are rated for at least 10k stomps. 2. Even if you can fix it, you shouldn’t have to, and if you ever would want to sell it, keep it warranty.

 

[Rev2010]

That’s a warranty thing to me. 1. It shouldn’t have done that. I think those switches are rated for at least 10k stomps. 2. Even if you can fix it, you shouldn’t have to, and if you ever would want to sell it, keep it warranty.

Definitely shouldn't have happened, it's only ever been in my house and I barely use it since I'm mostly using the Helix Native plugin. But, I don't have the patience for a several week or month long warranty turn around for something that seems easily fixable. Gonna give it a go and I'll report back.

 

[Rev2010]

So, self repair is a no-go. Opened it up and if everything was simply a screw I'd be good to fix it but the LCD strip appear to be punched mounted with non-removable plastic anchors or something. So to get to the footswitch I'd have to remove the top PCB to access the bottom one and those LCD strips are mounted in a way that if I pop then free it looks like I'll be screwed. The retaining clip came out though. So this little black clip is all you have holding in your Helix and HX footswitches! Scary to think. Now I have to see I can get it warranty repaired. I bought it over two years ago so I'm thinking that's a resounding NO.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Well the good news is that this is legitimately the first time I've heard of this happening. The only common thing I've seen break on the HX line are the LT expression pedals. So if you can get this repaired, hopefully it won't happen again.

 

[guitar_player4_2_0]

I’d just hound Line 6 til they agree to fix it lol. 2 years really isn’t that long, and that’s a fairly pricey unit. There’s a dude from the helix team on here, he was posting in the DL4 thread a couple weeks ago. I forget his username but he might be able to give you some helpful info if you can track him down.

Are those all the pieces? Seems like that should be easy enough to repair IF you can get the access to it, which sounds like you can’t from what you’re saying. I’d be too scared to open mine up lol.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I’d just hound Line 6 til they agree to fix it lol. 2 years really isn’t that long, and that’s a fairly pricey unit. There’s a dude from the helix team on here, he was posting in the DL4 thread a couple weeks ago. I forget his username but he might be able to give you some helpful info if you can track him down.

Are those all the pieces? Seems like that should be easy enough to repair IF you can get the access to it, which sounds like you can’t from what you’re saying. I’d be too scared to open mine up lol.

Must me thinking of @Digital Igloo

Definitely run it by him. Half of getting stuff out of companies like this is who and how.

That said, I've only had good experience with L6 customer service.

 

[ATRguitar91]

I can echo good experience with Line 6 support. They fixed a busted headphone jack on my Stomp outside of the warranty period.

 

[ccelaya]

So, self repair is a no-go. Opened it up and if everything was simply a screw I'd be good to fix it but the LCD strip appear to be punched mounted with non-removable plastic anchors or something. So to get to the footswitch I'd have to remove the top PCB to access the bottom one and those LCD strips are mounted in a way that if I pop then free it looks like I'll be screwed. The retaining clip came out though. So this little black clip is all you have holding in your Helix and HX footswitches! Scary to think. Now I have to see I can get it warranty repaired. I bought it over two years ago so I'm thinking that's a resounding NO.

Did you get this repaired?
I just bought a HX effects off reverb and one of the switches popped of on my first day

 

[Rev2010]

Did you get this repaired?
I just bought a HX effects off reverb and one of the switches popped of on my first day

Yes I got it repaired. The repair guy said it was one hell of a pain in the ass and they he wouldn't accept any other repairs on these units going forward. I haven't used my HX Effects much at all since as I now have zero band members and I write and record using Helix Native so most of my hardware gear has remained off for a year or so. I tested it after the repair and it's working fine but I definitely would be concerned about using it live honestly. When it popped out and I saw that all that holds the footswitch in place is they tiny little clamp on retaining ring.... but I wouldn't doubt that almost all footswitches are mounted in such a way? I like the robust sturdy footswitched on the older Roland effect units but it seems they too have ditched that for the smaller metal footswitches.

 

[MoJoToJo]

That really puts me off buying a used Line6 pedal, it's like everything sold these days fridges/cars/washing machines etc just don't last. All the electronic aids on cars really scare me like my Mazda has this little camera on the inside of the top of windscreen, if it it thinks I'm not going to stop it hits the brakes for me!! Yeah like that ain't going to stuff up & jam the brakes on when I'm flying down the freeway. The computers are taking over

 

[ccelaya]

Yes I got it repaired. The repair guy said it was one hell of a pain in the ass and they he wouldn't accept any other repairs on these units going forward. I haven't used my HX Effects much at all since as I now have zero band members and I write and record using Helix Native so most of my hardware gear has remained off for a year or so. I tested it after the repair and it's working fine but I definitely would be concerned about using it live honestly. When it popped out and I saw that all that holds the footswitch in place is they tiny little clamp on retaining ring.... but I wouldn't doubt that almost all footswitches are mounted in such a way? I like the robust sturdy footswitched on the older Roland effect units but it seems they too have ditched that for the smaller metal footswitches.

thank you for taking the time to reply!...
It turned out that not only the button and the big spring jumped out, but also a tiny spring. I drove two hours to a tech just to find out that a tiny spring was missing, now I need to drive again this weekend to put it back together. Luckily I found the tiny spring laying around on my carpet back home. I don't see a reason why I won't fail again and honestly I don't see myself paying again to get it repared, what a bummer.

 

[ccelaya]

That really puts me off buying a used Line6 pedal, it's like everything sold these days fridges/cars/washing machines etc just don't last. All the electronic aids on cars really scare me like my Mazda has this little camera on the inside of the top of windscreen, if it it thinks I'm not going to stop it hits the brakes for me!! Yeah like that ain't going to stuff up & jam the brakes on when I'm flying down the freeway. The computers are taking over

my thoughts exactly, I was looking forward on replacing my analog pedalboard + mesa footswitch with this unit but I didn't find this reliable at all.

 

[Rev2010]

my thoughts exactly, I was looking forward on replacing my analog pedalboard + mesa footswitch with this unit but I didn't find this reliable at all.

Be aware if you plan to use it to switch amp channels via quarter inch cables instead of midi you might need a hum destroyer. I needed to buy this for my Triple Rec

Amazon product ASIN B000KUD2G4
I've read others with the HX and other amp brands that have also had this really bad loud buzz when connecting the HX to the amp channel switch inputs. The Behringer unit I bought fixed the issue though. Oddly enough my super inexpensive Bugera TriRec that has midi switches 100% flawlessly for every function.

 

[ccelaya]

Be aware if you plan to use it to switch amp channels via quarter inch cables instead of midi you might need a hum destroyer. I needed to buy this for my Triple Rec

Amazon product ASIN B000KUD2G4
I've read others with the HX and other amp brands that have also had this really bad loud buzz when connecting the HX to the amp channel switch inputs. The Behringer unit I bought fixed the issue though. Oddly enough my super inexpensive Bugera TriRec that has midi switches 100% flawlessly for every function.

I will cross the fingers, didn't have the chance of trying it with my dual rectifier. The button popped out immediately, thanks for the hint!