Many of you have seen the diagram to build an audio probe, but like me I'm sure you've run into problems just trying to simplify the setup. Hopefully my setup will help you come up with some good ideas. Here's the 5 major things you need:
Power! Power up your dead/malfunctiong pedal with preferably a 9V battery. 9V Power Supplies are fine too, but it's just one more wire to fight...
Now, you need a good mono input for your pedal. It's impossible to strum your guitar and trace at the same time right?
I use a loop from my Boss RC-20xl looper. You could use a single earbud cheap AM radio (like your parents used listening to the ball game) or rig up a cable from an MP3 player. It also helps if you can have something that sends signall ALL THE TIME with no dead spot between songs, which is why I like the looper.
Next insert your audio probe. Make that cable at least 3 feet long. Consider cutting an old 10' guitar cable in half so that you have plenty of length. Solder your ground to a tiny alligator clip, and shrink wrap/electrical tape it. Same with your input lead: shrink warp or protect that cap somehow, so that only the tip of the lead is exposed.
And lastly for your output for the probe, hook it up to a low wattage amp. Don't use your high wattage Bogner or Engl! Those pops can hurt everything. I use my trusty old Fender
mini twin, which is about 3 watts Solid State. And it's portable, about the size of a book, so I don't have to hook up to my guitar rig to hear all this! Also you might look for one of those Danelectro Honeytone amps. They're very cheap used!
Lastly, lots of patience. And don't tell anyone you'll have it back to them overnight, because you may need at least that long to t-shoot!
Good luck!
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