How lucky can you get...?

[JimN]

On Tuesday, at a gig/jam, I noticed that my most treasured DeArmond pedal (the one I got when I was 16, but I have another two) was unstable, telling me straight away that one of the feet had gone missing. I checked all around the bottom of my gig bag, but no dice.

At home, I had two similar, but slightly larger, rubber feet (removed from an amplifier head a few years ago when it was refurbished), and they will do - but the problem lies in getting hold of the little self-tapping American screws which hold the feet (and the base-plate) to the underside of the unit's case.

So... I remembered that I bought an old, defunct 610 on eBay a few years ago, reasoning that it would be good for spares. Ten minutes later, after a trip up into the loft, I recovered the donor unit and brought it downstairs. Rattling around inside were three of the rubber feet - and the screws! Thyen I remem,bered that I had already used one of them as a spare on another of the pedals.

I treated one of the donor's rubber feet as a spare and fitted it - so my trusty old 1967 unit is now back in complete order (and working well). Phew!

I still think I'll replace all the feet (all now starting to perish) with newer, slightly larger ones... but I'll need washers to stop the screws pulling straight through... so I now need a real old-fashioned hardware shop...

JN

[dave robinson]

Thanks for sharing that Jim . . . . . . . . very interesting

[JimN]

You may well smile, Dave, but that DeArmond 610 is something I've had most of my life. It's certainly the piece of equipment I've had longest (even if not the oldest item I own) and it's very precious to me. I was really worried about not being able to find a replacement part.

With any luck it'll see me out. I'd like to think so at any rate.

[rogera]

The DeArmond 610 pedal is a fantastic piece of equipment and I certainly wouldn't be without mine.

The only criticism that I've ever heard about it is the slight loss of volume when it's inserted into the chain. To my way of thinking that criticism is pointless in view of the fact that you can merely turn up the volume a fraction if found necessary.

I'm sure that they will 'see us out' Jim - after all they are built like a tank.

[barryg]

Jim,

It's annoying when these little screws work loose and go missing. When you fit the replacements you could put a drop of Locktite on the screw to prevent it coming loose. It's a good product and widely used in industry.

Barry

[Geoff Alderton LH]

Hi
Just checked my 610, I had forgotten I had one, It's also got one of the rubber's missing. Was it the same one missing on your's Jim? Do you think, like Toyota did, call all the unit's back to have the problem rectified. Only joking.
Regards Geoff.

[Didier]

The only criticism that I've ever heard about it is the slight loss of volume when it's inserted into the chain.

This is unavoidable with any passive device.

Didier

[JimN]

The only criticism that I've ever heard about it is the slight loss of volume when it's inserted into the chain.

This is unavoidable with any passive device.
Didier

It's a problem (or at least, it can be problem) if you are just using the guitar, pedal and an amp. Back in the seventies, I as playing a Mosrite Ventures model guitar, the DeArmond pedal (the same one) and a Carlsbro valve combo amp. The drop in volume meant that occasionally, I was on the edge of only just being loud enough. Had I been using an echo unit (I couldn't be bothered with any of that back then), I could just have adjusted the input or output on that (according to model) to make up for it.

JN

PS: Barry - thanks for the Loctite tip. I remember using the stuff back when I was an apprentice (some customers insisted on it in critical applications), but I'd forgotten about their original, pre-superglue, compound.