Voodoo Lab

I've had a Ground Control V1.01 for a while and it keeps crashing. I have recently incorporated it into a pedal board with a GCX and either it has suddenly become more unreliable or because it's getting more use, it's become more noticeable.

It only happens when I press a switch on the GC, either the display will disappear and be replaced by random symbols (or the letter A) or it starts to continuously cycle through the start up options. I have changed the MIDI leads and the power supply and not seen any improvement.

Is this problem fixable or is my GC on its way to the great big pedal board in the sky? I'm in the UK, so it would probably have to be a home fix and I'd also be looking to upgrade the memory so it could handle 2 GCX's.

If it does the same thing when powered from an adapter with no MIDI cable connected, then you can open it up and look for anything weird like a chip coming out of a socket, or a broken solder joint. Not much to lose as you would need to open it up for the update anyway. Let us know what you find.

Hmmm, I don't think I'm the first person to open up this pedal. The main chip was not in quite straight, so I've straightened it up. Other than that there's 2 other things I can see.

At some time, switch 2 (data +/yes) on the circuit board has had a thin piece of aluminum/tin stuck to it, I assume that this was because the button on the casing did not always make sufficient contact with the switch. I've not noticed any problems with this button (i.e. staying on or off) and the metal is stuck on securely, so unless you think that the problem could be caused by a button being pressed down permanently, I'll leave that alone.

The 2nd thing is: on the solder side of the board near switch 10, there is a scratch going through 4 of the lines (or whatever they're called) of the circuit. The "lines" aren't completely severed, but there is definitely some damage. Hopefully I will manage to attach a photo of it... No, it looks like I can't.

Hope that helps, I'm off to see if the wobbly chip was the problem.

Only time will tell if it's properly fixed, but after 20 minutes serious tap dancing on the GC I haven't managed to make it crash again.

If, in the future, I decide to upgrade the memory in the GC, am I right in thinking it would run 2 GCX's (but no more) and also, would there be any other benefits/changes from an upgrade?

Anyway, thanks for the quick response and good advice from earlier. By the way, if your sales department (or bank manager) is cursing you for your failure to sell me a new GCP to replace my battered old GC, considering how good your customer service has been for a 2nd hand 14 year old discontinued product, you can tell them that I think don't think it will be too long before I add to my Voodoo Lab collection

Thanks again

Hopefully that fixed it. Those previous "repairs" sound a little less than pro.

An upgrade to control more than one GCX would require a software upgrade (v2.00 introduced the memory upgrade capability) as well as a memory upgrade. With the full upgrade, you will be able to control up to 4 GCX switchers. The v2 software also adds the Bank 4 Mode, where the top row buttons become Instant Access buttons for directly controlling 6 GCX loops or effect bypass within a preset on an effects processor. Some of the programming steps were simplified as well as better tracking of expression pedals.

...and yet, all of this pales in comparison to the Ground Control Pro! It says Pro right there on it even! You don't want people thinking you are not a Pro do you?