Line 6 Helix Floor DIY I/O board repair/replacement

burningyen

Groupie
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If you ever need to replace the I/O PCB in your Floor, here’s a step-by-step guide. DO NOT DO THIS IF YOUR UNIT IS STILL UNDER WARRANTY. I fried the mic preamp in mine by stupidly plugging in my mic while phantom power was on. Then when I went in to swap out the preamp IC (a $16 part) I compounded the stupidity by rushing the desoldering and lifted one of the pads. So I had to resign myself to swapping out the entire PCB (a $239 part, sigh). The good news is swapping out the PCB isn’t too hard if you’re patient and handy with a screwdriver, hex key, wrench, flush cut pliers and a glue gun.

Step 1) It’s not listed on their site, but you can special order from https://fullcompass.com the *populated* (not blank) I/O board, PCBA REAR/IO HELIX, part # 50-02-0515.

Step 2) WAIT.

Step 3) Unscrew the bottom panel. Keep the screws organized.
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Step 4) Unscrew the expression pedal end cap.

Step 5) Unscrew the rear I/O jacks’ nuts and screws.
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Step 6) Peel off the goop from each molex connection that you need to disconnect (leave the goop on the ones that can stay put). I was able to do most of them with my fingers, but you might have an easier time with pliers.
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Step 7) Label each connector and the corresponding header on the new board in the order that you disconnect them (1,2,3… or A,B,C…).
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Step 8) Use flush cut pliers to snip the tips off the white daughter board mounting posts. I couldn’t find mine and used pliers and a chisel but wouldn’t recommend it. Carefully pry off the daughter board.
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Step 9) Connect the wiring to the new I/O board in reverse order from how you disconnected the old one. Use a glue gun to goop the connections.
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Step 10) Snap the daughter board into place.
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Step 11) Put everything back together.
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I've been trying to find a replacement preamp ic I can find the PGA2505I but the last numbers are different my ic is 42z30yv but can't find that same number. Does that matter? Can any PGA2505I work? Thanks in advance
 
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