For The Guitarist With No Friends

Today on the bench we have the Boss DR-5.

It's essentially a very fancy metronome. So fancy, in fact, that it not only replaces the time keeping of a drummer, but also the drummer themselves, the bassist, the keyboardist, and so on and so forth. It's basically a backing band in a box, and specifically targeted at guitarists, as the grid of keys on the left hand side is laid out like guitar frets rather than the more traditional piano keyboard arrangement.

Sadly this backing band doesn't run on cheetos and lukewarm starbucks, so we need to either feed it batteries or plug it into the wall. As per usual with these sorts of devices, it takes 9v center-negative.

And this was the power supply the seller included... not really sure why.

Well anyway, I have no shortage of compatible wall warts so whatever. In the meantime I'll power this up with my bench supply.

And there it is, the reported problem. "BackUp Err!!" it says, having depleted its internal CR2032 lithium battery. Obviously we're gonna have to dive inside to fix this, so out come the screws.

Things are really clean inside, which is a refreshing change from the amount of soda-damaged gear I've been dealing with lately. The coin cell is up there on the main PCB, while the panel PCB remains fixed to the top shell for now.

I find it amusing how varied the lifetime of these cells is. I've had some gear from the mid 80s where I check the voltage and it's still hovering around 3v. This one, though, not so much.

The good news, at least, is that there's no sign of alkaline schmoo in the regular battery compartment. In fact there's no real sign that batteries were ever even installed.

Again, a welcome sight. Not everything escaped battery damage, though. The motherboard got a light dusting of lithium schmoo, which is barely visible.

Well, perhaps calling it "damage" is a bit extreme. The crusty trace of electrolyte wiped away with a bit of vinegar, per the usual cleaning methodology.

And, per usual, the old battery goes straight in the bin. In its place goes a 2032 coin cell holder, stuck down with a bit of velcro, and with its leads soldered into place.

In some number of years, someone will probably thank me for this. That someone might be me, who knows?

Anyway, the new battery is alive and well, so let's move on.

To revive this unit and get past the "BackUp Err!!" screen, we need to perform a quick factory reset, which is done by holding down the two "Fret" buttons while powering the unit on.

Then you confirm (twice) that you do, indeed, want to factory reset, and then everything is back to normal.

Well, normal save for all the filth. So out comes the panel PCB.

And here's a few final glam shots of the hand cheese before it's banished to the land of wind and ghosts.

It's time to Mr Sparkle this case.

And the switch membranes, while I'm at it.

Wash away the sins of your past life, you are baptized anew.

And with everything dried off and back together, it's looking, and working, almost as good as new. As close as it's gonna get, at least.

So what am I going to do with this box? Well that's a great question and I'm glad you asked.

Cheese Drums

This right here is the Roland CR-80...

... owner's manual, which I happened to spot for sale and couldn't resist picking up.

Mind you it did come with a free Roland CR-80 which needs a bit of service, so maybe let's take care of that. I guess. The manual can wait.

As can clearly be seen, the issue with this drum machine is that it's filthy.

And that's literally the issue. It's so filthy that some of the buttons have completely seized up with gunk.

So out come the screws so we can have a look inside and see about cleaning this up. Do note that there are two different types of screws used to hold the case together, the three slightly smaller screws are sheet metal screws that go into a bracket at the rear of the unit, while the rest are plastic screws.

It's a subtle difference and can be easy to miss.

So, first up, as per usual, is a battery check.

And it is quite flat.

Luckily it's not soldered in, so swapping a new one in is easy-peasy.

Moving on, we can see some of the filth on the front panel PCB that crusted up the tact switches.

So the tact switches come out, as well as one LED at the end that apparently did not survive whatever sticky liquid infiltrated this part of the unit.

Then it's time to take a bath in the sink.

Who wants a taste?

Whatever this goop is, it managed to stain this silicone somehow.

But anyway, the rest of the case also gets a scrub-a-dub-dub.

And the button caps finally break free of their grime-prison.

And with the board clean and dry, it's time to repopulate it.

And this process goes fairly smoothly.

But there's a teensy tiny issue. Or maybe a slightly less than teensy tiny issue. The new LED I put in sits just ever so slightly taller than the originals. It's also likely dramatically brighter, though I didn't actually check.

If I'm in for a dime I'm in for a dollar, so I might as well replace all of the LEDs.

I'll keep the old ones around, though, just in case they come in handy with a more seamless repair later on down the line.

Now I just need to put everything back together and... hang on, something's not right: when I screw the PCB down the buttons are clicking and saying pressed. That's weird, though, they're just the usual 5mm tall ones.

But the originals are... not.

Ok, fine, I guess I'm ordering some 4.3mm tact switches now. In the meantime, it at least looks a lot cleaner, even if I can't press any of the clicky buttons for the moment.

But moments are fleeting and soon the new, slightly shorter, tact switches arrive.

And they are indeed the correct height this time.

I got the 4-leg tact switches for this job, because conveniently the PCB has footprints for either type, and the short snap-in legs makes these way easier to install than the 2-leg variety.

But there's still a problem. I put the board back in the case and for some reason the Bank 3 button was stuck? That's peculiar, I wonder why-

Oh, yeah, that would do it I guess. Turns out that one (1) of these button caps has a clipped tab so that it doesn't get stuck on the LED here.

Lesson learned, I guess.

So with everything back together and working properly now, all that's left to address is the situation with the wandering feet.

It's time to fight fire with fire.

Or I guess fight glue residue with naptha.

Mmm, that's clean.

And a set of new feet goes on.

And it's all done and working at 100%.

This somewhat peculiar preset rhythm box is now ready to be set atop a home organ to provide hours (yes, at least two or more hours) of entertainment for the whole family.