6 Methods To Deal With Voicelive 3 Extreme Problems

Guitar skills are not enough to pick the right tunes for your guitar, especially when the guitar is electric. You have to be careful about other equipment as well. As far as the output is concerned, it is handled on the guitar, amp, and speakers.

If you want to enhance your overall audio experience on the guitar, you can add more effects, pedals, and equalizers to the system. Talking about the guitar effects pedals, Voicelive 3 Extreme is a pretty sleek one. It’s not just the presets effects that come along this pedal but plenty of other preferences as well.

With Voicelive 2 Extreme, it is easier to embed the output in the right manner on the guitar tune. One can just not go wrong with the Voicelive 3 Extreme. That being said, it is not free of problems. Users of this pedal have complained about a bunch of issues that they came across while using the Voicelive 3 Extreme.

Voicelive 3 Extreme Problems

In this article, we will address these issues one by one and present you with their troubleshooting tips. So, let’s move on to the problems without any further adieu.

1. LED Dying Out

LED is an important component of the guitar pedal as it helps you get the primarily important information. You can see the effects status and all the preferences on the LED. However, certain factors can trigger the LED, and its screen can die out, leading to the production of an unclear vision.

There is a certain voltage that a guitar pedal can take. If you plug it into a plug with a higher voltage, the LED light dies out, and the pedal is prone to burning out. It doesn’t matter how long you keep the pedal plugged in because it is just a matter of seconds for the pedal to pull in twice the current it needed and die out.

Sometimes even when the LED dies out, the pedal still works. It won’t be wrong to call LED courtesy light. It is not related to the supply of power to the main electronics. Neither is the flow of signal through it in series with the rest of the circuit.

However, you can start inspecting the problem by opening up the pedal first and looking for the scorch marks. Check the wiring as well. Sometimes a damaged wire can kill the LED. If there is a problem with the wiring, look for the fuse for the LED. Make sure it is now blown.

The last possible reason behind the LED dying out is an outdated bulb. It is common for bulbs to go out of order with time and use. As disappointing as a blown LED is, it is quite easy to replace it. Another way to solve this problem is to reflow some solder.

Considering today’s labor and parts rates, it is recommended not to take the pedal to the repair center. It is better to get yourself a new one.

2. Cable, Supply, And Battery Power Issues

It is mandatory to look for the possible problems in the guitar effects plug. A little maintenance every now and then can save you the damage in the future. However, check the outside of your pedal before opening anything up. Make sure everything is set up properly.

Plug in the pedal and play. If there is no sound, the problem usually lies with the cable. You can run a test on your cables by hooking up your rig like usual. Take the cables out of the input. Locate the jack and put your thumb on its tip. The sound of buzzing noise is a sign that the signal is coming through.

You need to plug it back and run a test on the next cable from the next output. In this way, test all the cables until you detect the problematic one. It is a slow process yet quite effective and methodical. Stay mindful of the strangled cables because the connection of the input and output devices is possible only because of the cables.

If the cables are no longer intact, you can expect a series of different problems. There is a possibility that there is no such issue with the cables, but the signals are still having problems. In that case, what you need to check is the power supply on each pedal. 9V batteries just need to be taken out and tested by a battery tester.

If an external power supply is in use, you have to try it on a different pedal. The next thing that you have to check is the polarity of your power socket. Looking like little tubes, power sockets are centered negative. If the pedal is older, it might have a positive center socket. It gives a look of a headphone jack.

Sometimes, the circuit is potentially damaged because the user is not aware of the voltage requirements. You must consult the manual before taking any measures. However, it is really a simple procedure. Just use the voltage, whichever is recommended.

Issues with the amperage are less likely because it only demands you to meet the current requirements of the pedal. If there is a single power supply for multiple pedals, you need to make the sum of the current requirements of all the pedals and ensure that the wall wart has more than enough amps to offer.

3. Damaged Footswitch

With frequent use, pedals are forced to take a beating. There are certain physical limitations for the footswitches, and they are prone to breakage after a while. You are aware of the damage to the footswitch when you lose all the signal. Another sign is the no longer clicking of the footswitch as you step on it.

However, it is quite easy to switch out a broken footswitch. You need to open up the pedal and inspect the connection of the footswitch. If you cannot memorize it, you can take a picture with your phone. Make sure you already have a replacement footswitch with you while you open the pedal.

While placing the replacement, make sure the connections are soldered the same way as the old switch.

4. A Loose Or Disconnected Jack

A broken input or output jack gives specific symptoms, including a finicky signal. Sometimes users can get the effect they want by angling the cable in a particular manner. Other times they fail to generate any sound whatsoever. There is a silly reason behind the broken jack, i.e., wiggling.

A loose screw causes a little wiggling in the input jack, which moves back and forth resultantly. With this movement, either there is a breakdown of a solder joint or the fraying of the wire. This problem is pretty common among the users of a clunker guitar.

The good news is that there is no need to get your hands on the replacement parts for their fixation. All you need to do is get the jack tight so that there is no more play. Now move on to checking the connections. In case you notice anything flimsy, get some solder reflowed.

It is probably better to make a fresh start with your wire so strip away a little of the casing. It is possible that this troubleshooting might not work out. So, consider other options. If you have a truly broken jack that is damaged by dropping it with a cable in it, old wires need to be matched to a new jack.

5. Dirty, Scratchy Pots

Most of the time, you ponder over the guitar effects pedals and other pieces of gear lying in your garage and think, why have you been neglecting them for so long. Either it’s the unreliability of the signals or the cutting out of the sound as you turn the knobs. A potentiometer is a device that you can find under the metal or plastic knob.

If the pedal stays unused for long periods of time, the pot can get dirty because of dust and dirt. It is recommended to use an electrical contact cleaner to get rid of the dirt in the pot. You can start this by unplugging your pedal and removing the batteries.

The next step involves the spraying of contact cleaner into the backside of the pot. Next, the knob needs to be twisted back and forth a few times so that the pot gets lubricated and cleaned. Get the excess cleaner dab dried with the help of some paper towel or cloth.

Since you have already started with the cleaning, it is better to clean all of the pots. Another thing that you need to be careful of is that this procedure must be done outdoors. The reason is that the cleaner gives doozy fumes which no homeowner wants.

Either way, the role of a contact cleaner in reviving an old guitar effects pedal is immense. If the problem with the pots resists, you should get the replacement pots. They are cheap, and their process of installation is complication-free.

6. Guitar Effects Pedal Not Responding

While using the Voicelive 3 Extreme, there is another common problem that you might come across. It concerns the unresponsiveness of the guitar effects pedal. But it is not a frustrating issue because it is mainly caused by some error or bug in the system. You need to do the factory reset to solve the problem.

It requires you to keep the volume button pressed for 3-5 seconds while holding the button inside the headphone jack. This reset is quite effective in making the pedal responsive again.