BCodispoti Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 I just purchased a Pocket Pod used and am getting a more than faint consistent click. In addition there is a noise / static in both sides of my headphones, but its like a crackling and is not "solid", as it changes. I performed a full reset on the device...both issues are still present. I tried different guitars, different guitar cables, batteries, 9v adapter, and also different headphones...both issues are still present. I cleaned the pots with contact cleaner and re-flowed the solder on the headphone output...both issues are still present. The clicking sound must be coming from somewhere at the input as it can be heard within the effects, and it does not matter what patch or patch type I am on (clean, dirty, etc...) both issues are still present. The unit is old, I did not pay a ton for it, but I was wondering if anyone on the forum has experience with this and knows what the issues have typically been with these devices over the years. I do electronics work, build pedals, repair devices, I've re-capped a few amps..and this thing does have a good number of electrolytic capacitors in it, so that's my first step with it...to replace all of the caps...just curious if anyone else has run into this and can shed more light in case that does not fix my problem... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_m Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 Do you have a phone in your pocket? I get a clicking noise in my guitar signal if I have my cellphone in my pocket and have the guitar jack anywhere near that pocket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCodispoti Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 I didn't / don't no, but that's a good thought. Also was not near any routers or other electrical equipment...and the power at my house is pretty clean. I also tested the unit on my main floor on both sides of the house...in my basement on both sides of the house....same thing. I'm fairly confident it's something in the device. I'm not sure how old it is, but caps do dry out. I had a Behringer V-Amp Pro (can I say those words here? :o ) that worked fine for years and then all of the sudden it started having issues with a similar noise / static (though not the clicking), which is why I tend to think it could be the caps. But it could be a hundred other things with all of the components packed into these units... The clicking could be some kind of cap charge / discharge near the input maybe...as it is rhythmic and not random. Any more advice is appreciated. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCodispoti Posted February 16, 2018 Author Share Posted February 16, 2018 I figured out the problem. The two 330uf Electrolytic Capacitors next to the headphone output had gone bad...even though my ESR meter said they were ok...odd. I also replaced a bunch of other caps (the ones that were easily accessible) but it was the replacement of these two that made the noise / static go away. Crystal clear now!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilWish Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 Hi, BCodispoti! I got same prblem with my Pocket Pod. Was your clicking noise the same? https://yadi.sk/d/1-U72Vjt3SkQFV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilWish Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Yes, it was the capacitors. I replaced the caps marked at the picture and only marked with green lines solved it. PP_noise.mp3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarZoo Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 Recently got a Pocket Pod & am having this rhythmic "motorboating" noise through the headphone output. Mine is quite loud. I tried DLing the example PP_noise.mp3 from the above post, but it was dead quiet. No apparent noise at all. Mine is VERY evident and I'm hoping that a cap (or two?) replacement will fix it. Another thing seems to be that EvilWish (above) mentions replacing caps (plural), but I only see one marked. Is there another capacitor on this board that needs to be replaced? Mark them perhaps, with values? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triryche Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 The way I read EvilWish's post is he replaced all the caps marked, but only the one marked green solved the issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarZoo Posted July 11, 2018 Share Posted July 11, 2018 Ahhhh, yes, indeed, it is simply the English wording that had me confused. The missing (pertinent) terms are "the one capacitor", as in; " . . . and only (the one capacitor) marked with green lines solved it." The post also states; "Yes, it was the capacitors." (and not, "Yes, it was one capacitor, even though I replaced several."), again, leading me to believe that it was MORE than one capacitor that was at fault. My bad.... ;-) Looking for or expecting too much clarity and specificity here perhaps? Onward; Opened up my own errant Pocket POD unit that is making a LOUD "motorboating" (common electronics term, easily Googled) / thumping / pulsing rhythmic putt-putt sound through the headphone output. The three noted caps in the image in the above post, the one marked with the green X, as well as the two marked with red Xes, are all bulging, puffed & swollen with some substance actually appearing to have leaked out of the top of two of the caps. Obviously bad or on their way out. Just ordered a bag of 50 new 1,000uf 6.3v electrolytic capacitors from eBay in order to replace these three caps (as marked in the image here). (The bag was under $6 bucks, including shipping.) Should be a fairly easy repair as there is plenty of room on this little PC board. I'll return with results, though I'm pretty sure (as EvilWish above stated) that this will cure the pulsing motorboating sound coming through the headphone out. Chalking this up to normal capacitor degradation over time, and a $10 or $20 repair is not bad for a (still) useful tool of this age. Here is a shot of my own Pocket POD board with the errant three caps marked out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubster Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 @ EvilWish. The same problem here and the green marked cap was also the culprit here. thx! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilWish Posted November 15, 2018 Share Posted November 15, 2018 On 7/11/2018 at 9:59 PM, GuitarZoo said: Ahhhh, yes, indeed, it is simply the English wording that had me confused. Sorry for any mistakes, English is not my native language. It's great, that the post was quite useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danrogers Posted February 21, 2019 Share Posted February 21, 2019 Hi This sounds like the issue I have with my Pocket Pod. I've opened the case and can see the capacitors but I'm confused as to how you have gone about replacing them. I presume they are soldered on the other side of the pcb? Have you taken this out (and if so how?) to solder the connection or have you done it from the "top" side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielprez Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Similar here, my pocket pod has some kind of "heartbeat" that beats every 2 seconds consistently, due to the cadence it sounds like a bad cap. I'd also like to replace them wondering the same as @danrogers whether you just solder them through the other side of the board. I'll open up my pod and come back with more =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielprez Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 After considering other people's posts I see that the issue I have only happens through the headphone port and not the AMP out port, which makes very likely that the before-mentioned cap is the issue Sadly after opening the POD no obvious damaged cap is visible, so I'll just start replacing them and see if it has any effect Just ordered some parts, let's see how this goes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilWish Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 On 2/21/2019 at 5:11 AM, danrogers said: Hi This sounds like the issue I have with my Pocket Pod. I've opened the case and can see the capacitors but I'm confused as to how you have gone about replacing them. I presume they are soldered on the other side of the pcb? Have you taken this out (and if so how?) to solder the connection or have you done it from the "top" side Hi everybody! As for me, I've made it rough. I've cut the pins and soldered the new cap to them. In my case the noise was through the headphone port and the Amp out port as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielprez Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Thanks for the info! My caps arrived recently, will post soon with more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felson Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 Hi. First of all thank you to all who shared their information here. Thanks to you I think I diagnosed my Pocket Pod. Similar issue here - background noise in the Phones Out port. In my case one of the 1000uF 6.3V caps is swollen (no 1). I decided to replace all three of them, so I purchased same-sized 10V 1000uF low-ESR caps that are able to withstand 105 degrees C. They should last longer than original ones. However I have a problem removing the small board with the display to get to soldering points. Do I need to unsolder the connection between boards? At first I thought it was only slipped on. If it has to be unsoldered and than soldered back it seems too much for my basic soldering skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilWish Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 @Felson, Hi! I've decided not to unsolder the small board. My PocketPod still works :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielprez Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 Replaced the cap just like @EvilWish stated, (I did quite a poor job at soldering as you can see in the picture) But the clicking/beating is gone! It works perfectly and sounds beautifully! Great post, has been very helpful, I used the same snip and re-solder method rather than trying to de-solder (tried at first but the tip of my soldering iron seems deteriorated to do this) Thanks for all the help everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belcik Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 I can add mine 5 cents. I had a drop of power. It behaved like to much input causing clicking and kind of, panning from center towards left channel. One capacitor was to be exchanged. After that, works flawlessly. So, any type of strange behavior mostly can be put on the fault of capacitors. R. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene1000 Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 Hello all, I have two pocket pods and one had a repetitive clicking sound while the other had horrible static. Both turned out to be a capacitor issue. But I made the repair very easy by simply using masking tape to anchor a new capacitor to the existing prongs on the top side of the board and then applying soldier. No need to work on the underside of the board. See the picture. Masking tape is used to hold the cap connected to the prongs while soldier is applied. The soldering is not professional, but the unit now works perfectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taffan Posted October 8, 2019 Share Posted October 8, 2019 Такая же проблема, пульсирующие щелчки в моем случае каждые пять секунд, были исправлены заменой кнденсатора 6.3в 1000мф. Спасибо парни! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Player87 Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 Hi to all of the previous contributors to this thread ref the clicking sound. A massive thank you to you all !!!!! I had the same problem start about a week or so ago - I replaced one capacitor - as per the one marked in green - and the pod now works silently again. Brilliant, thanks again! TS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belcik Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 And I am back with You! Now the problem is not in pulsing clicking, but in clipping! Now, any idea which one capacitor would that be? Available both on amp out and headphones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phaseman Posted May 11, 2020 Share Posted May 11, 2020 Thank you all for sharing this info. It helped me a lot for my Pocket Pod with the motorboating sound. Still, like Belcik, I get the clipping on input (at least it sounds like that). Overload/clipping problem was present along with the the motorboating sound. I have changed the middle 1000uF/6.3V cap which solved the motorboating, and after that I replaced 2 other caps 1000uF, and one 330uF (orange...). Still, I get the overloaded input or something (it is much more noticeable with humbuckers...). Anyone else (beside Belcik and me) has the same issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phaseman Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 I got some time to spend trying to resolve this issue last week, and I resolved it. So, to sunmarize: - the motorboating/clicking problem was caused by the bad 1000uF/6.3V cap (marked red) - the overloaded input was caused by the bad 100uF cap (marked yellow) Best regards, Marko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanoc Posted May 12, 2022 Share Posted May 12, 2022 I almost threw my pocked pod away, but then I found this thread. It turned out to be an easy job to replace the single cap, and it sounds great now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristos84 Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 Hi, I encountered strange issue with Pocket Pod - I use it with Boss WL-50 wireless system. When any (or both) is powered with batteries, then it's ok. But when I take 9V power supply and connect both (Boss WL-50 has power out) to the same power supply then Pocket Pod generates ~10mV 2kHz sine buzz. When Boss is connected to Fender Mustang Micro or Pocket Pod gets signal from Lekato wireless system, then all is fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielprez Posted July 3, 2023 Share Posted July 3, 2023 Posting here again, got another pocket pod with the same issue as before (the background rhythmic beat) and this one also produced a bit of more random noise Shoddily replaced the same pot as the previous posts and now works amazingly (it's noisy when using the AC adapter though) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryTheFrog Posted August 16, 2023 Share Posted August 16, 2023 I have the same problem and it is completely annoying. Are you really expecting me to know how to replace capacitors?? That sounds like a more costly service than the unit costs. Groan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.