Fulltone Boost pedal problems

[Tawm!]

Hey guys n gals...

I've been testing out a friend's Fulltone Boost and noticed that when I click the button down it pops very loudly through my amps, when I touch the gain knob it makes alot of hissing aswell. Any recommendations for fixing the problem? Is it fixable? Maybe its my setup?

[mhammer]

Just for my own edification, is this an actual Fulltone Boost or a DIY clone of one? I'm not passing judgment, just trying to figure out what sorts of troubleshooting recommendations to make. If it IS an actual one, is it an early issue or recent issue?

[Tawm!]

Thanks very much - I appreciate your interest. Its not a replica, and it is a recent model.

[mhammer]

Switch-related popping generally means there is a cap at the input or output that has a "floating" lead. In other words, when the pedal is bypassed, any stored charge in that cap has nowhere to bleed off, such that when the effect is engaged again, all that charge rushes out instantaneously, and is heard as a pop. While that thing is normally "cured" by a terminating resistor to ground at the input or output (whichever end the "free" cap is located at), it is hard to imagine that such a resistor is missing on a recent-issue Fulltone pedal. Not that I'm placing Fulltone pedals on any sort of pedestal, but for a company to have sold as many pedals as they have and NOT run into (and solved) this basic design issue, well it stretches the imagination.

So, that suggests perhaps a different kind of problem, OR possibly that such a pop-immunizing component has come apart or a PCB trace has cracked, or some other source of the same end-result.

As for the hiss when touching the knob, that one is a puzzler. Ideally, the knob should be nonconductive, so your touch should make no difference.