Adjusting the action of the switch on an older FX series DOD pedal
You will need some tools. A small crescent wrench, a philips-head screwdriver and an 3/32 inch allen wrench.
Remove the 4 screws holding the back plate on and remove the plate.
Remove the knobs. They should pull right off.
Using a crescent wrench, remove the nuts and washers holding the potentiometers in place. Be careful not to scratch the paint around the pots!
Pop out the plastic battery compartment and move it to the side.
Hold the pedal face-up and gently pop the circuit board out of the enclosure. Be careful not to pull too hard on any of the wires connected to the circuit board. There will be lock washers on each of the potentiometers. Remove those.
Remove the piece of foam protecting the circuit board from shorting out. Below each of the jacks, you will see nuts with nylon centers with springs underneath. This is what we will be adjusting.
Hold the nut in place with the crescent wrench. If your wrench is too big, you can use a pair of needle-nose pliers or some other kind of pliers to hold the nut stationary on the inside of the pedal. On the outside of the pedal, take your allen wrench and tighten or loosen the screw. On most of the DOD pedals I've seen that come from the factory have the screw just about flush with the nylon center on the nut... maybe a little lower.
Try out the action of the switch movement. At this stage, you can also carefully power up the pedal and try out the switch.
Once the switch action is to your satisfaction, put the pedal back together in reverse of disassembly. You might want to make sure that the battery wires are routed between the very inside of the enclosure and the pot on the far left when looking inside the bottom of the pedal. Also make sure that the battery wires are not pinched between the circuit board and the inside of the enclosure or the plastic battery compartment. When replacing the back plate, make sure the paper is centered appropriately if it's not glued in place. Also make sure the raised lip on the back plate is toward the battery door area.
Bob Scott
2010.05.13