EKO Multitone! Now with pictures.....

[PorkyPrimeCut]

It's arrived.

It's squeaky clean, as promised in the auction. There was even polythene covering the control plate.

I plugged it in straight away & my initial impression was one of being slightly underwhelmed! I was expecting the same umph that I get from the Ultrasonic but it appears that this pedal is a different beast entirely. Also, the wah isn't working. I'm sure there may be a quick fix to this but I'm not very good with electronics so I'm going to weigh up my options. I've contacted the seller to see if he'll cover the costs of a tech set-up or give me a partial refund. I'm waiting to hear back from him.

The wah part of the pedal is bizarrely held in place by screws. It seems totally unneccesary as the thing appears to be held solidly in place already.
The treble/bass boost is very much the same as the Ultrasonic - deep, room-vibrating bass to hyper-shrill, glassy treble.
The distortion isn't as good as the Ultrasonic (which has a phenomenal fuzzy grit to it). It sounds pretty good though, just not as characterful, I think a decent lead player could get some great use out of it though. Unfortunately I'm more of a strumming player & technically pretty bad I would say.
The Repeater is very similar to the Ultrasonic but perhaps even more choppy. It also has a different range, going from very infrequent (every 3-4 seconds) to semi-fast. The Ultrasonic is quicker at the lowest setting & fast at the highest (which, again, I prefer).
The Volume, when engaged, acts as a volume control for the entire pedal.

In the meantime I'll leave you with some pictures. I can't give a full review of the effects until I know it's all working. There are 2 trimpots on the board which could maybe be tweaked to bring the wah to life.

I've included a load of gut-shots of the board. I tried to get a decent shot of the underside but didn't want to break any solder joints so what you see is the best you'll get.
Maybe, hopefully, someone can explain the ins & outs of the circuit. Particularly the trimpots.

The infamous "Strepitoso!!!!" (with polythene)...

Mint!!...

Odd screws...

The board...

Another angle...

...again...

...and again...

...yet again...

The underside...

...last one.

[duckpow]

[slavemaster]

It is totally strepitous! Some allegro and vivace sound clips, pronto and pretty prego

[2n3904]

It's really very pretty.

You're in the UK right? I've had nothing but good experiences with Owen Electronics when it comes to vintage pedal repairs. Fairly priced, professional guy.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

It's really very pretty.

You're in the UK right? I've had nothing but good experiences with Owen Electronics when it comes to vintage pedal repairs. Fairly priced, professional guy.

They're based in Manchester. I'm in London.

I don't want to post this as it weighs a fair bit. Once I've heard back from the seller I'll see where I'm at.
There was a guy on Denmark Street who did some work on an old Tonebender & a reverb pedal of mine. I might try him.

[2n3904]

If you can find someone local that's sound, but otherwise know that even special delivery can be under a tenner.

[øøøøøøø]

One of the trimmers probably adjusts the 'repeater' rate... in fact I'd bet you postage to Manchester that this is the case.

Lots of electrolytic capacitors on that board. If it sat unused in a warehouse for a few decades, some of those could need re-forming.

As for the Wah... have you rocked the pedal with the housing open to verify that the pot does, in fact, move? sometimes the little nylon 'gear' can come loose and just spin on the pot shaft. Also, get some contact cleaner and clean ALL switches. You might be able to save a trip to the tech.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

OK, I had another go at working out what's wrong with the Wah & it seemed to work. I'm not sure exactly what I did but it worked. In order to make sure that the pots were turning smoothly I loosened the screws holding them in place, pulled the toothed shaft away from the toothed strip & turned them a few times back & forth. I then realized that I'd forgotten where they were to begin with so spent the next 30 minutes carefully testing which position produced an audible change & which didn't. It all seemed pretty clear from here & I put it back together. We now have a working Wah. Hooray!!!

Now the fucking Distortion seems to be playing up!

I really shouldn't mess with it any more but I'm tempted to have another look. I'm extra, extra careful when handling it. It can't be that easy to break, can it?

Any ideas how I could troubleshoot the fuzz section?

I've also found that the brown trimpot to the right of the other one (top right of the circuitboard) does indeed control the Repeater. It seems to be nothing more than another on/off switch. There's nothing in between. I've turned the other trimpot with every other effect engaged & it seems to have no effect. Perhaps I need to be more delicate? Perhaps this is the cause of the "undistorted" distortion.

I'll try more stuff tomorrow.

[2n3904]

You need to at least take a multimeter to each pin of each transistor to establish whether things are vaguely right before getting into any more detail.

If it was me I'd replace the electrolytics at this point.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

You need to at least take a multimeter to each pin of each transistor to establish whether things are vaguely right before getting into any more detail.

If it was me I'd replace the electrolytics at this point.

OK. What value/readings should I hope for? Will I have to look them all up individually?

Oh god! Fucking electronics!! My worst nightmare!!

[2n3904]

If you want to do it yourself, you need every leg of every transistor relative to ground.

If your time is worth more than your money, take it to your tech

[PorkyPrimeCut]

If you want to do it yourself, you need every leg of every transistor relative to ground.

....... ......You've lost me already!!

If your time is worth more than your money, take it to your tech

Sounds like a plan!

[Pacafeliz]

ZOMBIE THREAD!!!
i just sent the money for one of those, a well-worn one... not exactly cheap, but since i was considering the Repeater Fuzz that's being sold alone for €80, it made sense.
Stay tuned!

[PorkyPrimeCut]

ZOMBIE THREAD!!!
i just sent the money for one of those, a well-worn one... not exactly cheap, but since i was considering the Repeater Fuzz that's being sold alone for €80, it made sense.
Stay tuned!

Woohaay!!

I'll be interested to hear how you find it. I was really disappointed, to be honest.

[Pacafeliz]

Ok it finally arrived yesterday, man this thing is heavy!!!

1st impression is I love it. But gimme the weekend to really try it out...