Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Finally got the pictures up.

http://www.freewebs.com/jimmychung82/pedal.htm

There is distortion when you play through the pedal (when the effect is on)- and I have all the parts in the right place- and did the best i could with the soldering, i think its pretty good. I even resoldered the connections on the jacks and 9v... and even on the switch.

the bypass works, the led works- when i take out the bbd- it still does the distortion noise.

*the trim pot is a dialed in a little off center- i tried fooling with it, to see if that was the problem.. it wasnt.

I tried everything i could think of- and even shortened the leads... hopefully someone can help me out.

The old board had a possible solution posted by Keith I think.
Was something like checking area around 2 through holes on the board and making sure the solder was especially neat in that area. I forget the exact post. Maybe this will jog Keiths mind.

interesting- so... just for my info- how do you know what area is what? like.. area 2... how is the board split up?

just curious..

It looks like you have a lot of little specs of solder splattered all over the board. You may want to check to see if any of them have formed a solder bridge across some of the traces.

hey stephen... thanks for checkin out the pics..

yeah, some parts actually look shiny cause of the way the light reflected (i put a lamp right over the board) i think maybe the iron got a little hot- and it kind of melted the plastic on the board while soldering...

maybe i ruined the board? if i try to redo those again- maybe ill melt it even further... i really dont think i did melt the board. it does look like it though in some parts. hmm.. if that is the case... i really wouldnt know what to do.

You didn't melt the board. It is made of epoxy and fiberglass. You can't melt it....at least not with a soldering iron. These boards are super tough so don't even worry about applying too much heat. I have had a trace come off once when I really abused that board, but the eyelets are plated through holes so unless you brake the trace, it can never completely come off.

Anyways...what you think is melted board is just flux from your rosin core solder. It just scrapes off.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

ah- that was my next question... just how durable these boards were. i feel a bit better now knowing that i probably didnt ruin it..

i guess i should get some more desoldering braid- and do each point over again on the board. i did all the connections over.. so ill work the board. hopefully this will clear up the distortion.

thanks everyone!

update...

went through and scraped off all that rosin core solder residue carefully- and it looks cleaner.

plugged it in, and the noise definatley is lower without the bbd. it is still there..but the distortion is a little lower. you hear it when you strum the guitar. when you turn off the effect, there is no noise. its very clean.

I put in the bbd- and there is a great deal of distortion. it sounds like a distortion pedal. hmm.. even if the bbd is ruined (which it seems like it is..) it seems that something else still isnt right, since the bbd can be removed, and a small amount of crackling noise can be heard when strumming... unless that is the nature of the pedal. but i doubt it is.

If you pull the BBD, it should sound the same in bypass or on.

Have you posted a pic yet?

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

Ah....there they are. I will give them a closer look in a little bit.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

when i pulled out the bbd, and cleaned up the soldering residue by scraping gently, the noise is a lot better. when the effect is on... but there is still some buzzing when the guitar is strummed.. hmm

the bbd is a seperate issue i guess- since it gives a large amount of noise... when inserted. thanks everyone for your help! i appreciate it...

I can't really make much of the pics. Can you take some more with better lighting that make the resistors stripes truer to the actual color?

If you have clipping in the buffer, it's usually an incorrect resistor value. Make sure you don't have the 3.3k mixed up with the 33k or the 6.8k mixed up with the 68k.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

Hey everyone...

I scraped off all the crud- and it still was buzzin without the bbd.

I checked all the parts - made sure that i didnt screw up the 3.3 and 33, and the 6.8 and the 68... im hoping that there is something i missed, because now, i really cant think of much else.

I got a lower wattage solder tool, and resoldered almost of all the points- and soaked up extra stuff with desolder braid... shortened leads.. i posted new pictures here with better lighting- if you all can take a look-

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http://www.freewebs.com/jimmychung82/newchorus.htm

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[img]buildyourownclone.com/31706.JPG[/img]

What's up with this joint?

I don't see anything wrong with the resistors. Check the caps real good.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

well.. checked all the caps... polarized and otherwise.. everything looks right.. redid the solder points.. and more. and redid some of the lead wiring on the board..

just tested it , and there is still the same buzzing without the bbd when strummed..

interesting that no one has this same problem.

Does the buzzing sound like some sort of solid state clipping/distortion or does it sound like something's not quite right?

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

it does sound like a "clipping (although, im really not sure what that is)" distortion sound. if clipping means.. that when i strum even a little harder, i hear a distortion nose. then, yes, i hear that.

its strange though, i cant find anything wrong... if i did, that would be great. Im guessing this is one of those needle in a haystack situations..

Someone had a problem like this a while back and we couldn't fix it. So they sent it into me and when I plugged into the pedal it was just fine.

Sometimes certain gear just doesn't get along. It maybe an impedence problem. Your pups maybe too hot. Who knows.

If you're up to it, we can try adjusting the gain of the in/out buffers so that it won't clip anymore.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

thats really interesting. I dont think my pickups are anything special. they arent emg's or anything. I also tried it with two different guitars. and two different amps.

1. I would definatley like to try to do the clipping changes and experiment.. Ill try any of your ideas.

2. I do have one more question though- are there any other pedals in your line like this chorus that may be very dependent/sensitive on things like pickups (not sound or tone, but like.. clipping and distortion?) ?

im thinking of getting another pedal after i get this chorus fixed, i just want one that works ... more universally, i guess.. I may have to get another chorus bbd with my next order at the same time, because it gives off a nasty distortion sound now when inserted. but, i need to fix the clipping distortion first...

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Update: 9 pm..

I retouched more joints, and played it through my tube amp. I switched pickups... When on the treble pickup (where i play most live) i can hear the clipping. when i switch to the middle pickup, and the neck pickup- the clipping is definatley less. just tyring to provide more details.

and the bbd is definatley busted- when i plug it in, it makes the pedal into distortion...

If you want a new BBD, return the old one.

Any of the modulation pedals could potentially have unwanted clipping.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

Ok. I think the first and easiest thing to try is adding a BOSS CE-1 style input level knob. That chorus clipped so easily they had to add a knob to attenuate the input level. Very simple.

100k - 500k pot (trimpot can be stashed inside the enclosure). connect the wire from lug 5 of the footswitch to lug 3 of the pot. Connect lug 2 of the pot to the "IN" eyelet on the circuit board. Connect lug 1 of the pot to ground.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

hmm.. thats a very interesting solution.. thank you very much.. ill try this out...

Update...

ok.. so i put in the pot.. it does short out if it touches stuff inside the pedal, ill have to put some tape on it or something.

i think it does help a little bit, if i move the knob too far , obviously it squishes the volume by too much... the noise is pretty much gone when using the middle pickup or neck pickup. and i can strum a bit when the treble pickup is on, but, not too hard, because it will clip. i can pick the strings softly and im sure it will come out all right.

I sent in the bbd to you today for an exchange.

if you have any other ideas, id be happy to try them. if not, then, then, im pretty happy with this... its just right now theres no effect without the bbd. so im looking forward to that. thanks for your help!

How's your unity gain?

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

what does unity gain mean for this pedal?