Tech 21 NYC XXL 1990s Original - Repair???

[@TheGuitologist]

Check out Dave's Guitar Channel: bit.ly/DavesGuitarChannel​ Also, I forgot to hit record on it, but I did eventually reflow all the solder on the board also, FYI.

[@jahmosaxe3818]

I just bought two of the last three us listed 90’s silver diamond plate Tech 22 xxls on Reverb. I dig the transparency of this pedal There is still one left and it’s under 100 !

[@TheGuitologist]

@@jahmosaxe3818 haha... I guess I just drove the demand up, huh? :D

[@haplozetetic9519]

Hi Brad. The owner could have meant having trouble engaging the effect. If that is the case, it is probably the tact switch that you pointed out under the plunger. They become intermittent over time and can begin showing symptoms on only rare occasion. Over time, it will slowly grow to fail almost every time. I replaced all 12 of them on a Line 6 Helix today because they varied from failing most of the time to one failing only on occasion. Measure the resistance of the switch while holding the plunger down. Having the board out and varying the pressure while pressing the switch with a finger would work better as the variance in resistance would be more noticeable, but trying the plunger a number of times would show the problem. The resistance should remain under 1 ohm while the plunger is down. If at any time it varies over 2 or 3 ohms, replace it as it will become worse and is probably showing problems from time to time already. That would also explain why it didn't fail while you had it. These intermittent problems are our nightmares as techs because dealing with them can be such a pain to everyone involved.

[@fanoboss]

Price will now get crazy for these pedals ....

[@michaeltaylors2456]

pedal whisperer

[@tedcabana]

The XXL has been the main weapon in my arsonal for almost 30 years now. I have other OD, Dst, pedals, but this has always been my true voice. Still an awesome pedal after all these years.

[@stu-j]

I've not played in a band for over 10 years but every time I open the case of my 73 fender telecaster it transports me back to every single smokey dive we used to play. The smell is just better than meditation 🧘‍♀️

[@surfthejapstrat7010]

I need that guitar😀

[@caiusmadison2996]

Yep. I used to have a mustang from 69', and it had the original silver/gator skin looking fender tolex case, with orange plush inside. The smell of that thing, brings me back to the basements I practiced in in high-school, to the gym of my high school for battle of the bands, to outside shows in pastures in the vicinity of my house in the countryside. Yep, I know exactly what you mean. Meditation can get you there, but the smell to memory link we have with some of our personal effects can be instantaneous to connect us to a point in time.

[@jahmosaxe3818]

Hey Stu why aren’t you playing anymore? I can’t imagine not playing for ten days let alone years unless there was an injury preventing me from using my hands. I broke my left arm and right wrist in 2k. Its been a long haul but I’m back and enjoying playing more than ever. Cheers ✌️

[@stu-j]

@@jahmosaxe3818 I still play every day at home ( as I write this my prs is next to me) I just don't play live anymore as life just got in the way to be honest and working shifts and never having time to play. We used to play 3 to 4 times a week bit it just got to much for everyone and we decided to stop. I always want to get back into it and could handle playing once week to be honest. But no mate I play just not live.

[@stu-j]

@@surfthejapstrat7010 it's a stunning guitar and plays like a dream and has all the battle scars you get from it's hard life on the road! I don't play it that much but I really should. It has that amazing telly twang but also cuts your head off when driving the amp it's amazing.

[@thebarf9235]

Brad is so good he fixed it with his mind.

[@DavesGuitarChannel]

Thanks Brad, you're the best.

[@jenniferwhitewolf3784]

Long long long ago I decided I wanted a 'fuzz' pedal.. I tried a whole bunch of them at the guitar store, and selected this model.. It was easy to make a huge range of effects. I still have it, now about 25 or 27 years later.. and it still works just fine. I like my XXL. Some people seem to need 27 overdrive pedals... This will have most of them inside depending on the knob twiddles

[@bootlegapples]

Me too,except i foolishly sold mine early 2000's :/ It sounds great,too great as it makes my unengaged tone sound too midrangey and rounded. It occupies the distortion to fuzz zone nicely,love how it can be dialed in tighter to squashy with the warp control.Squashy and fat.It's great for those who aren't fuzz lovers but like some squashy fuzz flavored a little more clean amp freindly.

[@miked7795]

Brad: " I consider myself more of a electronics tech than a musician " then every vid proceeds to casually toss off ripping , tasty , long lead lines I would kill to do lol. Great vid as always

[@filonome]

Yessss, a new Guitologist repair video! Thanks, Brad, always great content!

[@sollyharr]

😂

[@mygreatbigfoot1679]

It was probably the dirt bridging the pos/neg terminals that you extracted right at the start.

[@Dogsrule777]

I have one of these and the warp function is pretty tight. Cosmetically that one’s in great shape!

[@1683clifton]

How to troll a technician. send him something that ain't broke! lol

[@gooseabuse]

I had an old valve amp start to behave only once it was sent to the Tech.

[@1683clifton]

was it a blue voodoo?

[@gooseabuse]

@@1683clifton Peavey Delta blues, never had a problem after that after months of it behaving badly.

[@gooseabuse]

@@1683clifton you had the blue right lol

[@MrAletube]

sometimes people have other problems,like cables jacks power supplies amps guitars and their hands and heads....

[@deaniversen351]

17:35 sounds almost like the tone for scorpions can't explain intro?

[@semafog1512]

Is always nice to see Beard... i mean Brad fixing things.

[@MarkFromHawaii]

I have one of these. As I recall, the warp control is supposed to simulate "sag".

[@roman14032]

i think that tech 21 stuff is really really handy and great sounding

[@valuedhumanoid6574]

Came for the tech lesson, stayed for the playing. That was some killer lead playing and tone

[@DuoJet63]

My XXL was intermittently grounding out between the board and back cover so I put an old piece of innertube between them.

[@vminator]

I truly enjoy your repair videos.

[@toysbackzen]

Hey Brad, I like how instead of just trying it out and not finding anything inside wrong and charging him for the labour you still made it worth his money labour wise by cleaning all the contacts, etc. Cool sounding pedal too!

[@nickdryad]

Brad, you are an awesome player.

[@zedcarr6128]

The Warp control adjusts the DC bias of the first op amp. This will give clipping on one half of the signal depending on where the control is set to. The Drive control adjusts the gain of the next op amp stage that feeds the tone control. www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=29094.0

[@jacobbrown1690]

that thing sounds amazing.

[@WickedFesterBand]

Dave ROCKS!

[@1thommyberlin]

Man I am impressed. Seriously what I wouldn't give to have a tech like you here in Jacksonville. sadly, since our last guy went all crack filled an' shortly after that - completely dead, we've been out of luck. But that's not all - you're a damn fine guitarist! Are you playing? have a band? Mind you, I could fully understand choosing to give bands a pass - buncha BS - not to mention singers and keyboard jockeys on top of the miles and the motels - Jaysus, This one monstrosity in Tampa was a roach factory - complete with a mini fridge that produced a FLOOD of german roaches when you opened the door....

[@bobhill102]

I used to have an old cry baby that would ground out when I put the cover back on , eventually had to put insulating material between the cover and the board Which was sagging from age and road use . Now it's sits in a box of memories

[@stevenrasch2437]

It's possible if he used a power supply that when the pug was taken out the contact in the jack didn't make clean connection for the battery

[@DavesGuitarChannel]

bingo, plus the pots sounded like hell

[@catfish5614]

Sounds just like Martin Barre from Jethro Tull. Awesome tone.

[@Clmkxoxo]

Love watching when trouble shoot and fix things ! New to subscribe and love remember when back in day when I played and amps went out. Usually just a tube. Nice to "meet" ya and will check past videos posted! WTG great channel

[@zxrcam]

Love my XXL pedal! Mines lost all of the printing on the faceplate though.

[@shayeasy]

might be the most underrated distortion pedal ever. i keep the warp setting right around noon. roars and breathes like a high gain tube amp.

[@thejakefromstatefarm6768]

It’s an amazing pedal! I dig the shit out of it.

[@abelincoln95]

All good, it did seem to quieten down after cleaning!!

[@TheGuitologist]

the controls were dirty for sure.

[@terryconnell]

Is the battery wired to contacts on the input jack (unplug input jack when not-in-use to prevent battery drain)? Maybe Dave just tried switching it on without a lead in the input...? Hot licks there, btw, Brad.

[@MrNatural_OG]

always enjoy watching you tear into stuff, learned stuff too.

[@russoloco1662]

The Sunset Strip™ called and wants their pedal back.

[@PooNinja]

Hey I gots one a them , I use it as a fuzz for bass stuff. Warp alters the harmonics odd to even etc. I guess?

[@toms3158]

I remember this pedal. I think I almost bought it but I was financially challenged at the time(college)

[@Bob-Whiting]

Yeah, I like the switch design too, but they should have used the jack setup like the other theys used on the crybaby wah. You wouldn't be able to disassemble the crybaby either if they had used standard pcb mounted panel jacks either. I would be super suspicious of the input jack and the 9v clip, but you already knew that.

[@robertwittjr1198]

wonder how much that chinese fender 9v battery costs.

[@Panhead49EL]

I wonder how many of this they sold. Imagine being the guy at the drill press putting that engine turned finish on everyone one of those boxes. Looks awesome, but man that would be a chore.

[@drippinglass]

It was probably done on a CNC.

[@mark64tanner]

Will love to hear Dave tell us what was wrong with that pedal, knowing his sense of humour (which I love 😉) Cool to take a look at the pedal regardless and always enjoy listening to you play. Take care brother 👍✌😎

[@simonkormendy849]

Hey brad, what the Warp control on a Tech 21 XXL pedal is supposed to be doing is it is supposed to be controlling the even and odd harmonics generated by the distortion, it basically controls the symmetry of the distortion the pedal produces, if you pick hard, you get that characteristic saggy "aaaaooooo" distortion tone at some Warp control settings that sounds a lot like classic tube overdrive.

[@fatalstep1870]

Sounds like a decent pedal

[@turkeytrailhoneybeefarmgeo6292]

He touched it and healed it! Please. Lay hands on my EH big box Q tron + please.

[@santrixhimself3679]

is this some kind of modded big muff circuit?

[@MikMech]

Juicy Riffs !!

[@jetsonIFY]

Sounds better than my 69 Fuzrite by Mosrite. Love your videos Brad!!!!!

[@john-cm8yn]

I gots me one of those Tech21 tube preamps maybe 15 years ago. It always worked great and seems to be built sturdy also. I think I mainly used it as a direct box for gigs. Thanks.

[@kampfkustomer2343]

Tube? You sure? They certainly sound like it though 👍

[@john-cm8yn]

@@kampfkustomer2343 I don't know where I put it but, the longer I thought about it, maybe it's an ART.

[@JohnIainMcFarlanewaspfactor]

Epic metal tones brother,hell yeah!

[@JaniceLalla]

Enjoyed the replay! And your playing!

[@fireantsarestrange]

It worked fine from the minute you plugged into it. Great repair.. lol

[@normanperkel139]

Talk about quick service!

[@guitarcd]

I saw this in my KZbin sidebar and immediately clicked in because I used to own one of these many years ago. I started freaking just a bit because mine had just the tiniest bit of the blue lettering scratched/rubbed away, but when you flipped it over there was the "me twenty plus years ago" velcro hooks on the corner with disregard to which direction the "grain" was facing... I didn't use it much on my board and I vaguely remember selling or trading it ethically by letting them know it would intermittently turn off or short out... obviously not suitable for live situations. My worst fear is that this is the same box, and whatever dealer/tech down the line had the same experience you did: can't reproduce the problem or find something wrong, so let's sell it. The odds that this is that pedal are astronomically against, but you still have a certain recognition when you see old objects. BTW, Tech 21 called the Warp control as adding even order harmonics going clockwise and odd order harmonics counterclockwise depending on which way you twisted the knob from that little arrow point at ten o'clock.

[@richreid7098]

Intermittent problems! The bane of all technicians. Nice vid. That looks like it is well built except for those jacks!

[@sadie376]

Intermittent faults that won't show up when you try to fix them are the worst! Nice sounding pedal tho'.

[@Thurston86]

Dragon Lord!!! 🤘👽

[@stevehead365]

A friend of mine was good at bending the tip of the jack plug, getting crackles, then complaining that the jack socket was faulty. A bad lead would do the same thing. Loose battery connector, who knows?

[@TheBigGuppy]

Cool. I always wanted one of those in the day but never got one.

[@robertporter2447]

I found that input jack which turns power on can get dirty and not get clean connection to turn unit on. Even a dirty guitar plug on cord can cause this. Great sounding pedal! I would put better battery in it, maybe Energizer. Back in early 80s I built many distortion pedals with EQs built in for friends. I made one for bass player in our band with quite a kick on lows and the neighbor comes over and says dudes my walls are shaking! His house was 20 feet away. LOL. Z.K.

[@johnsalaman503]

I thought it sounded great, I like that tone also..thanks for the daves link..

[@tedcabana]

The XXL has been pert of my arsenal since the mid 90's. Still today, I think it has the most realistic tube amp tone of any analogue pedal . Sadly, it has began the issue of shutting off on me mid use. Anyone else had that problem? I hope this dude has the answer.

[@bluesingmusic3443]

Great sounding pedal/stomp box (whatever they're called now). You sound absolutely killer. I'd like to build a box based on my old Jordan Boss Tone (mine had Nashville Sound on it, but it's the same unit) that dog was a monster. They're reissuing them now, but 1 major draw back, they plug into the guitar. I've got the schematic, btw. Any way, you were breathing fire with that bad boy!

[@The_Macaroon]

Great sounding pedal!

[@bluesplayer59]

Great playing man !

[@TheBigGuppy]

Those fuzzy ozite covered cases and cabs were the worst about retaining smells.

[@Twobarpsi]

Hey Be Rad! Love all your uploads 👍🤘🤘🤘🍺!!

[@coreymelanson2906]

It was the crud man,u saved it with your thumbnail. Errr,intermittent faults are techs nightmare. Very nice pedal,im on e-bay now...

[@GiuBernardi]

A neck-thru guitar would be a perfect match for this jack-thru pedal

[@N00B283]

Those unused pads are vias

[@kyleeld123]

the phrygian mode fixed it

[@Vrangor]

What hapenned to "Dudettes"? ;)

[@eduardoprieto5267]

I'm gonna say it ! Gremlins, spirits coming around their death/b-day dates and even ones own neg frequency . You walk away come back only to experience your amp fixed itself. So I take the block amp or vox mv 50 to gigs just in case. God bless all.

[@jasonwright7513]

That pedal is cool I like that tone very Buckcherry I was waiting for you to tear into "Lit up" lol

[@jeremybender401]

Eldorado IS a fucking masterpiece!

[@NoCoverCharge]

Brad should build a pedal

[@massttrshrdrharmonicminor2002]

I hope to fix my Red Wytch Synthotron in the future. Can I send it to you?

[@thySerge]

Brad what’s the outro song on this video? I’ve heard on many many of your other videos and dig it.

[@RHR-221b]

Me too, S. Stay free. R 🍻 😎

[@valvenator]

Brad's remade version of Smells Like Teen Spirit. It's the hello, hello section of the solo at around 3;35 kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmW3qIJ9idJ5e7M

[@thySerge]

@@valvenator Thank you!

[@disprogreavette8545]

Dudettes getting no love in that intro

[@kenhancock8931]

Sup brad hope ya havin a great day!!!

[@timcees]

I bought that pedal new!

[@FishnMusician]

Cool pedal... was the top a decal or did they do this? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_turning#/media/File:Spirit_of_St._Louis_-_Motor.jpg

[@TheGuitologist]

It was real tooling.

[@realwelder3529]

That thing is like brown sound in a box.

[@thebarf9235]

Dayum Brad can play him some geetar.

[@zolwikwkurwik]

I would like to have a gt2 without the lame speaker sim circuit inside it.

[@powerkor]

I heard some of Chapper's licks in there mid-way through

[@bonemar66]

Building in place is a clever way to prevent you from fixing your own stuff. Or making folks not authorized by the manufacturer think twice about attempting the repair. Good news, it wasn't broken, but it still chafes your britches.

[@naroxcpe1964]

Yo, your beginning to look like 'Moses' with that head shot. Rock on our dear leader.

[@jerrystephenson1172]

Yep, ran into the same thing, trying to replace the switch on mine. It only needs a switch & I love this thing ( It's the Sans Amp GT3). It gets a Marshall, Boggie,Fender or clean boost. Very versatile & thick sounding.

[@blakjack3053]

I really like the way that thing sounds! ..and the machine turn or motor turned or whatever the fuck you call that shit they did on the faceplate, it looks cool af to me! 😎

[@normanperkel139]

I think the official term is “swirly shit”, but I may be wrong.

[@nickdryad]

Its basically overlapping circles done with a wire brush. In plastering it’s called pargetting.

[@blakjack3053]

@@normanperkel139 oh right, swirly shit hahaha that works for me pal lmao 🤣

[@demantoid418]

Nice thanks Brad You ROCK ❗ 🤟😝

[@kimrice394]

Should’ve called it “The Genre Shifter”😜 Click- METAL!

[@seanfagan6998]

The guys patch cord has a sort in it. But the video was ok.

[@sweettoof9002]

Built to be disposable

[@abelincoln95]

True that!

[@davidledford6482]

a cool pedal...

[@tyschmidt7404]

I can’t believe how many adds came up to watch this short video. I think 15 times

[@dre3261]

🤘

[@dougtaylor7724]

Not sure why you would want that fixed.

[@capitanvonchickenpants8492]

Weren't there amps good too,

[@OtherTheDave]

I’ve got a Trademark 60 that I like. The FX loop has grounding issues, but I’m pretty sure that’s just my unit. I’ve gotta get it serviced on of these days anyway... pretty sure one of the pots is shot.

[@normanperkel139]

I use two Tech21 Power Engine 1x12 powered cabinets that amplify the signal from my rack in stereo, and rely on IEM’s for hearing the mix live.

[@russlora]

We smoke or vape in all Bars in Tennessee,,among other things :)

[@paulkielt9301]

That thing sounds like a bee!

[@valvenator]

Tech 21, just like the name implies, were ahead of their time. Why you may ask? Because just like all the crap made in 21 they are impossible to repair and meant for the trash bin after a few years :) Just kidding, actually have no experience with their products but the way the jacks were connected, makes you wonder. BTW, I've gotten a few good deals over the years on some semi working pedals and amps when all the problem was just a loose connection somewhere.