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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 9:11 pm 
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I'm a bit confused by this build, as I thought it went quite well. Anyway. The pedal works in true bypass but no sound occurs when it's engaged. In addition, the LED doesn't light up when engage. I've only tried it with a few 9v batteries, as my pedal board is not currently at home. Therefore, I don't have an adapter.


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 9:16 pm 
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more pics

I've triple checked the DC adapter wiring and it appears to be correct. The RED wire connects to the - on the pcb, The GREEN wire connects to the first + that is closest to the - on the pcb, and the BLACK wire connects to the + that is on the very edge of the pcb.


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 9:19 pm 
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Ok, You can see a glob of solder on one of the lugs of the C250k pot. This is because I accidentally tore off half the eyelet on the top part of the pcb. I decided to add a little solder to the bottom, as the track is on the bottom.

I noticed a couple of bridges on the underside of my pcb. Just wondering if they could be causing a problem. I did my best to get rid of them but to no avail.


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 9:36 pm 
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Do you have access to a multimeter and know how to use one?

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 10:18 pm 
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YEs


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 10:30 am 
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The first thing I would suggest doing is to check if the circuit is getting power, since the LED isn't lighting. With your power source connected and an instrument cable inserted into the input jack, test the following points of the circuit with your multimeter set to read DC voltage (use the 20V range setting if it's not an auto-ranging meter). Be sure that the black probe of the meter is grounded:

  1. Top leg of the 4.7K resistor next to the LED
  2. The square (bottom) solder pad of the LED
  3. The bottom leg of the 1N4001 diode at the lower left corner of the PCB just above the battery connections

Report your results back here.

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 11:37 am 
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Hey,

First off, thanks for being so clear in your instructions. It certainly met my level of competence. Much appreciated!

Sadly, all my readings were 0. Therefore, I assume that my pedal isn't getting any power. Would it be wise to re-solder the dc adapter?


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 12:34 pm 
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oldschooldirt wrote:
...Would it be wise to re-solder the dc adapter?

Before you do that, let's check to see if you're getting power from the battery adapter up to the DC jack. With the same testing hookup you used before, test the following points:

  1. Disconnect the battery that your using for testing and check its voltage--black probe to - and red probe to +. Reconnect to the adapter.
  2. The solder joint where the red (+) wire of the battery adapter connects to the bottom left corner of the PCB
  3. At the top of the board, the middle + eyelet's solder joint
  4. The tab that it's wired to on the DC jack (assuming you can get to it underneath the heatshrink insulation)

Lastly, after the battery has been hooked up for a minute or two, hold it and see if it's noticeably warm or even hot to the touch.

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 12:39 pm 
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Ok, I'll try that this evening. I don't have an adapter right now but will this evening.

Quick question: Do I have to plug a guitar into the input jack of the pedal or can I simply plug in a 1/4 jack of any sort. I've been plugging in a 1/8" to 1/4" adapter jack.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 12:47 pm 
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Sorry, I miss read what you were writing.

"Disconnect the battery that your using for testing and check its voltage--black probe to - and red probe to +. Reconnect to the adapter." - Essentially, this is testing the voltage of the battery. Is that correct. I've done this and I'm getting a voltage reading between 9 and 10.

The solder joint where the red (+) wire of the battery adapter connects to the bottom left corner of the PCB

At the top of the board, the middle + eyelet's solder joint

The tab that it's wired to on the DC jack (assuming you can get to it underneath the heatshrink insulation)


For the three steps above, am I just measuring the voltage on each of those spots? Therefore, battery connected, with the black probe on ground.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 1:02 pm 
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oldschooldirt wrote:
Ok, I'll try that this evening. I don't have an adapter right now but will this evening.

Sorry, I should have said "Reconnect to the battery adapter." Don't use an external power supply for any of this testing (though we may get to that later, so do have one handy).

oldschooldirt wrote:
Do I have to plug a guitar into the input jack of the pedal or can I simply plug in a 1/4 jack of any sort. I've been plugging in a 1/8" to 1/4" adapter jack.

Any 1/4 plug will do--the key thing is that the ring of the stereo jack will then connect to the sleeve of the jack through the cable plug's sleeve, completing the ground path for the power circuit. That's why the negative tab of the DC adapter jack is wired to the ring of the stereo input jack.

oldschooldirt wrote:
Essentially, this is testing the voltage of the battery. Is that correct. I've done this and I'm getting a voltage reading between 9 and 10.

Correct. So you're all set on this one.

oldschooldirt wrote:
For the three steps above, am I just measuring the voltage on each of those spots? Therefore, battery connected, with the black probe on ground.

Yes. Multimeter set to read DC voltage, battery connected, 1/4" cable plug in the input, black probe grounded and red probe on the desired test point.

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 4:59 pm 
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Ok,

My answer for the first two questions gave a reading of "0"

Quote:
At the top of the board, the middle + eyelet's solder joint
The tab that it's wired to on the DC jack (assuming you can get to it underneath the heatshrink insulation)


My answer for the third question gave a reading that vacillated between "0.06 and 0.15". I took it twice. It was .15 the first and .06 the second.

I'll await your advice for the next step.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 5:19 pm 
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Sounds like you have a bad battery adapter. That's easy enough to check:

If your multimeter has a continuity mode, set it to that. If not, turn it to the lowest range resistance mode it has. Disconnect the battery. Now check for continuity (i.e. a continuous, unimpeded circuit with virtually no resistance to current flow) between each battery snap-on terminal and the solder joint where it connects to the PCB. So touch one probe to the snap-on terminal and the other to its corresponding solder joint; it doesn't matter which probe goes to which test point. The larger, hexagonal snap-on is the positive side (red wire) and the smaller, round one is the negative side (black wire). In continuity mode, the meter should beep if there is circuit continuity. In resistance mode, the meter should read zero to a couple of tenths of an ohm resistance at the most. If there is no continuity, the meter will either fail to beep or show an infinitely high resistance.

You should also test the pedal as soon as possible with a DC power supply adapter (9V DC regulated power supply, center-negative plug), as this will bypass the battery circuit completely.

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 8:35 pm 
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Ok,

I tested the battery snap as you suggested above and I got a reading of .006 for both the positive and the negative. I will test it with 9v dc adapter after I get the kids to bed.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 8:52 pm 
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.006 what?

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:28 pm 
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My DMM doesn't have a beeping continuity tester so I placed the dial on the lowest ohm setting (2.8v max test, less than 2K) and it read 0.006.

I plugged the pedal into a dc adapter and the LED stay on regardless of whether or not the switch was turned on or off. It's constantly on and there is a lot of buzz with no guitar signal at all coming through. Mind you, I don't have the guts of the pedal secured back inside the box. Everything is hanging out but I'm making sure that no metal on metal is touching to prevent it from shorting out.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:46 pm 
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It needs to be mounted in the enclosure for testing, since the output jack grounds through the metal enclosure.

BTW, did you ever check the battery for heat build-up, as I suggested that you do?

Re: the LED staying on all the time with the DC adapter, looking at the footswitch adapter board, it looks to me like there might be a solder bridge between pins 1 and 5. If so, it needs to be removed so that those two pins aren't connected. See marked up attached image below:

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 10:59 pm 
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Sorry, I forgot about the battery heat test. No, it didn't heat up at all.

After cleaning up that bridge, I used a jumper cable between the output jack and the box and I got the following results:

No LED and no sound, regardless of the pedal being engaged or not.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 11:03 pm 
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Wait 1

I screwed up that diagnostic test


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 11:10 pm 
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Oh my Lord! I think it may be working.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 11:51 pm 
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Ok, it's working but not well. Here's what happened.

I scrapped off the solder bridge and the LED lights up. It works in both true bypass and when engaged; however, the following problems occur.

1) The trimpot appears to make no difference when I turn it, I get the same tone regardless.
2)The Tone knob appears to have some kind of a strange 'hump' to it. It gets gradually louder when turned cw but then has a surge in volume and gain at about 2 or 3 o'clock, and then drops in volume and gain as I continue to turn it cw.
3) The Sustain and Attack knobs appear to do absolutely nothing when I turn them. No change in sound whatsoever.

Oh yes, it was fully back in the box when I did this test.


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 2:06 pm 
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Where do you have the ratio knob set. It is a wet/dry blend knob, so you need to have it full turn cw to hear only the compressed signal. full turn ccw, you won't here any effect at all.

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 6:50 pm 
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So I played around with the trimpot a little and noticed that the difficulties I was having with the tone knob changed and I started to get some diversity of tones when turning the other knobs as well. I have a feeling I need to set the trimpot properly. I followed the steps in the instructions but I think I need to be a bit more diligent when doing this, and spend some more time working at it. Any suggestions on how to get it set right would be greatly appreciated. Would I be able to hear greater variation in the pedal if I put some dirt before it?


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 9:44 pm 
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oldschooldirt wrote:
...I have a feeling I need to set the trimpot properly. I followed the steps in the instructions but I think I need to be a bit more diligent when doing this, and spend some more time working at it. Any suggestions on how to get it set right would be greatly appreciated. Would I be able to hear greater variation in the pedal if I put some dirt before it?

The directions for setting the trimpot on page 11 of the instructions are very explicit. I would suggest a very clean, twangy tone to best hear the effect of the compressor, since it should suppress the sharpness of the initial pick attack very noticeably. A clean Strat or Tele bridge pickup signal should work very well for this.

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PostPosted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 12:45 pm 
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Sorry for the very delayed response, just been very busy with life and haven't had a chance to finish this project. I'm going to now get back into it and I'll post as to how it's going. I was looking at it this morning and I have a feeling that I may have some bad soldering or possibly a short going on.


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