Buttons not working on Mastermind

Sammy

Member
Hi,

I've been using my RJM rig on and off for a few years now.
Depending on the gig I'm playing, I dont always use it. So really it as only had about 40 - 50 shows played on it at most.

Last time I used it, about 6 months ago, my mastermind was all working fine.
Now, the "2", "5" and "Bank Up" buttons don't work. I've tried running the Mastermind off of a different power supply but no luck. I tried to do a factory reset but I can't confirm the reset option since the "Bank Up" switch doesn't work.

Any suggestions?

I have a bunch of gigs coming up where it would be really good if I could use it!

Cheers

Sam
 
It's unlikely that a reset would help. You'll probably need to send it in for us to look at it... How old is this Mastermind?
 
Hi Ron,

Thanks for the quick reply. I purchased the mastermind in May '11 from deluxe guitars in Melbourne. I live in Sydney. So if I could avoid sending it to the US that would be great.

It seems very strange that the buttons should fail like that. As I mentioned, it hasn't had a great deal of use, and it has always been stored in its box in a cabinet or in the rack case when not in use.
 
That is odd - I'd recommend having a look inside. There's a button mounted on the chassis that uses a spring to press the actual switch on the circuit board. If some of the screws that secure the circuit board have come loose, or if a spring is missing, it could cause a switch to stop working.
 
I've taken the cover off and it seems that those buttons that weren't working have worn and gone intermittent.

I can make them all work with the cover off by applying extra pressure to the switch but they don't feel as positive as the others, they don't seem to have that subtle click the others have and some of the buttons that are working when the unit is assembled seem to also be going the same way.

What's the next step? Replace the pressure switches?

Is this something you've seen before? Maybe I just happened to get a batch of bad switches? The serial number on my unit is MM10436
 
That's very surprising - we've had a good track record with those switches, and they're rated for 10 million operations. The only time that we've seen the switches start to fail like that is when they've gotten water inside and corroded.

Replacing the switches is probably the next thing to do.
 
I've had the same issue. the "2" button stopped working. I pulled it off and the spring was still attached. I could get it to work if I pressed quite firmly on the button itself, but the spring wasn't applying enough pressure to do this.
As a temporary fix I've swapped the "2" and "Function" switches and it seems to be working, although the "Function" switch doesn't work all the time (as it's the old "2" switch). I can live with this short-term.

What are the switches? I'd like to get a couple more to replace the dodgy one and have a few spares just in case.

By the way I'm also in Australia (Perth). Maybe a batch of switches with some issues made it on to a few units that got sent to Australia?
 
The switches (the actual switches on the circuit board, not the switch buttons) are ALPS part number SKQEABA010
 
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