How I Rack-mounted my Line 6 Pod Guitar Effects Processor

Step 3 Time to get de-soldering...

Before desoldering anything, I wanted to make sure I knew what went where... so I took a snapshot of the front and back of the loaded PCB and marked it up in Photoshop with all the appropriate connection points what what went where - unfortunately, I can't find these images to upload - but if you do decide to hack your own rack-mounted Pod - remember to do this! It'd be kind of silly to remove all the components only to realize that you don't know which was the positive and negative ends of the LEDs...

Anyhow - so, I busted out the old trusty Weller soldering iron, desoldering bulb, wick and suction-thingie and went to town... I removed all the jacks, potentiometers (which were all a pain in the butt), the rotary encoders (which were an even bigger pain in the butt to get out without breaking the leads), the 7-segment display, the LEDs, and the power jack. I didn't want to bother with the RJ-45 plug that they have to connect to a foot pedal, mainly because I knew I'd be controlling my unit via MIDI and my Behringer FCB-1010 footboard anyhow... why bother...

The image attached shows the desoldered board (three of the potentiometer wires have been attached too - I didn't stop to take any pictures while de-soldering, unfortunately)