Line 6 DL4
I love my Line 6 DL4 pedals. They sound great and are super versatile, but the crummy switches can make them almost impossible to use. So I found a pretty simple way to replace the switches with ones that will last longer and respond more predictably.
The first thing to do is to remove all the screws and nuts and the battery cover and put them somewhere you won’t lose them (I use little cardboard box lids that I have lying around the shop) You’ll also want to gently remove the knobs otherwise the board won’t come out. Also, the battery leads should slide out without too much trouble by gently pulling up on the plastic tabs
Once you have the board free, you should be able to pull it out and the old switches will probably just fall right out. Go ahead and throw those away now, or melt them down, or whatever you feel you need to do to exact revenge. Next, you’re looking for these guys shown above. They are technically the actual switches that the metal actuators would press, and now you can see why they don’t work so well. There are four of them and they all need to go. Get out the soldering iron and some desoldering braid and go to town.
Now to put in the new switches. These are momentary “push-to-make” switches, also known as “Normally Open” or NO, which means that when the switch is pressed down, the two contacts make a connection, and all other times they are disconnected. You can use a multimeter to make sure the switches are working properly before you solder them in.
Only two of the pads from the old switches are necessary to use. Solder in some wire to the top left and bottom right corner switch pads as shown above and attach your new switches. Solder one wire to one lug on the new switch and the other wire to the other lug. The order isn’t important, as long as the wires don’t short anywhere. Remember, you want the switch to make the connection when you push it down and to break it when you let go, hence the name “push-to-make”. You can use a multimeter to test it out and make sure it’s doing what you want it to. Once you have them all in you can put it all back together the same way you took it apart and you’re done!
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