Fixing a Ditto Looper broken switch (step by step)

 The Ditto looper from TC Electronics is really a good looper... In theory! Simple to use, no quality loss due to the high sampling rate, true bypass... Everything to make it the best looper for guitarists!

Bottom line is...

It is really fragile! Mine did not resist to 6 months of intensive use, and during a rehearsal it just stopped working. LED was still on, but I had to click at least 20 times on the switch before anything happens! It was impossible to record any loop... I guessed that the switch was broken, and I decided to fix it.

Here is a step by step guide if you ever have this problem one day!

 Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible if you break your looper by trying to repair it. The Ditto is quite fragile: it is all SMD components, sensitive to heat and shocks. Take your time and be cautious.

What do you need?

You do not need a lot of things to repair the Ditto (a broken one of course):

• Your broken Ditto
• A soldering iron
• Solder
• Desoldering braid (or a pump) can also be useful. 
• A small allen key to remove the screws that are not standard (thanks TC, another bad point for you).  
• A replacement switch, either a classic microswitch, or an arcade switch like me. 

It has to be "normally open" to function. The diameter should be 12mm. Beware of the size of the switch, there is not that much space inside the Ditto, so the smaller, the better

If you want, I bought a small stock of arcade switches, you can buy one. I still have a few left.

 Buy the switch

You will also need a cutter drill (not on the picture).

First step: dismounting the pedal

To do this, you need to remove the 2 plastic pads to have access to the screws.

Use the allen key to unscrew it, and remove the backplate. Also unscrew the side jacks. You will have something like this: 

Then, remove the knob by pulling it with pliers. There is nothing to unscrew, just pull it gently.
 

Pull out the circuit board. Hold it by the two side jack inputs. It should be easy to remove. Do it slowly and be cautious, there are pins that connect it to the other upper PCB that are quite fragile. 

Second step: desolder the microswitch (OPTIONAL)

This is THE painful part of the repair, but good news: I have just discovered that it is optional (read below).

I strongly advise you not to do it and follow instead the instructions in the grey box below.

You first have to desolder the 100uF capacitor to have access to the lugs of the microswitch. 
Soldering is fun and easy, desoldering is hell: long, hard, risky for the components...etc. 

 Beware!
Desoldering the switch is quite difficult. Moreover, I have just discover that with the arcade swith used here, you do not even need to do it! I have let this step in the tutorial just in case, but you can simply bend the lugs of the switch (it fits!), then solder each lug to the bottom of the PCB. Here is a picture:

It is really easier this way, so please do it like this!

Commercial circuits are particularly a pain to unsolder because most of the time, the solder is really dry so hard to melt. Moreover, there are two SMD IC just near the switch, so be cautious in order not to break it by overheating it. You can use a desoldering braid or pump (pump is better). I managed to desolder the 2 first lugs near the removed capacitor. However, lugs that are behind are really not accessible, so I just broke it by twisting the switch several times. 

The culprit: a faulty microswitch

 

The circuit once the capacitor and the microswitch have been removed

Next, resolder the capacitor, and solder two small wires (not too small) on each side of the microswitch (left and right). You should have something like this now:

We just have to replace the spring switching system by a real switch, using an arcade button.

Third step: remove the top PCB and removing the old spring switch

So we need to remove the other PCB. For that, you will have to unscrew two screw located at the top and bottom of the enclosure:

Then, pull out gently the PCB from the enclousre. You should have all of this on your table now:

Next, remove the spring switch. To do that, to not try to turn the inside bolt, but unscrew the metallic circle on the top of the switch. Indeed, the thread of the screw is on the top of the switch. A picture should be self-explanatory: 
 

Fourth step: filing the hole to be able to put the new switch in

In the old switch hole, there is a small tab to prevent the switch from moving. We need to remove it because our 12 mm switch cannot fit in with this tab.

For that, we will use a cutter drill. If you do not have one, I highly recommend to buy one. It can be quite expensive, but it is really useful for a lot of purposes. Using it, we can remove the tab to have a smooth hole:

Lets check that the arcade switch can fit in... Perfect!
 

We can then screw it inside, and put the top PCB back inside. The switch really just fits in, this is tight!
 

 

Last step: soldering the switch to the old microswitch spot.

To do that, we have to solder the wires we put before to the switch: one on each side, easy! 

We can then put the Ditto back together. I had to twist the lugs of the switch to make it fit well in height:
 

There it is: fixed Ditto!
 

It has now a great look, and it works again like a charm! Moreover, the new switch is quite practical because there is almost no latency between the time you press the switch and the activation of the recording / ending of the loop. It makes looping a bit easier.Moreover, I have ordered 10 buttons, so I can handle a lot of failures if it happens again!

I still have some arcade buttons, so do not hesitate to buy one here:

 Buy the switch

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