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Hi again.
Problem with the Echo Royal (v1.00) I just finished. I'm in no luck with delays
I still have to troubleshoot my Analog Delay (but waiting for the oscilloscope)
However: between those two I built the Mimosa and the Crown Jewel and they work perfectly

I know it should sound analog. But the repeats are really low quality with some sort of "farting" noise underneath. I compared for 10 minutes with the sound of the repeats in Keith's video, mine are definitely of lesser quality. The treble is rolled of (which is normal), but the "farting noise" bothers me. When strumming a clean chord, after 2 repeats its seems like there's distortion on the background.

I've read all the posts about the Echo Royal i think.
- so i swapped the 2399 to no avail
- i checked caps and resistors around the 2399 and found no mistake

Some things that came to my attention (that may or may not have to do with the problem) or might be problems on their own account:
- when I turn the blend knob without playing, I hear a "swooshing" noise
- the LED of the TAP TEMPO is a lot less bright then the other two
- the LED of the DELAY TIME flashes BUT the difference between MAX and MIN brightness isn't much
- trimpot: self oscillation start REALLY QUICK (as mentioned before in another post): if full CCW is 8 o' clock, I'd say self-oscillation starts at 10-11

Thanks for helping me out. I should figure out how to attach picks, but maybe there's an obvious solution...
Best regards!

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This is consistent with a couple of side effects of the PT2399 chips; low power and long delay times.

Check that you have 5 volts DC on pin 1 of each PT2399.

Check if the flatulence is only present at long delay times. Does it go away when delay times are short?

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MasterDelayer/Reverbrador/Ampaholic/TopJacker

Hi Morgan!

I feel really stupid
I was playing the pedal again, but now through my DRRI instead of my MicroCube at my workbench. The issue was even worse!
Then I turned it around again, wondering what it could be... and then I saw it...
The 571 IC, wasn't seated properly and some legs where bent... I know...

So, I reseated it and guess what: GREAT SOUNDING delays!

This experiences teaches me 2 things
1/ I should have checked the IC's better! (also because I had some problems installing them)
2/ My ear wasn't wrong: the repeats really weren't what they should have been

Could you please tell me what the reason could be for the LED issues?
Thanks!

PS: Can I take advantage of this to ask some IC questions i've been meaning to ask? I solder between 5-10 hours per week, and I want to improve my efficiency. Or do I have to ask this question in another Forum?
- normally I install the IC's before I mount the completely, this time I didn't, so is was harder to install them because of the height of the electrolytic caps... is there an order I should respect? problems with soldering heat?
- I read Stephen's guide, so I know how he installs his IC's. However, you can buy small tools, to insert, remove or restraighten the pins. Are they useful?
- about components: I find myself NOT always following Keiths order in the instructions. I usually put in my components according to height, so when I turn around the pcb for soldering, the components are pushed against the pcb. Is that ok, or is there a reason why Keith does it that way? (Heatdamage?)

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You may have resistor placement errors, which are a very common cause for dim LED's. Some good photos (meaning LARGE, well-focused, well-lit shots) would be useful in helping us troubleshoot this.


It is common practice to mount your IC's in their sockets last, after all the soldering is done. It just takes some extra care if there are tall components nearby. I would suggest gripping them gently on either end of the IC body with a small needle-nose pliers and setting them into the socket, then push them down with a fingertip. It helps to gently bend the pins inward slightly (since the IC's almost always come with the pins splayed slightly outward) until they are perpendicular to the plane of the IC body and parallel to each other. They'll align better with the sockets and be easier to insert if you do this. I just hold the IC body between thumb & forefinger and lay the pins down flat against my work table surface and carefully rotate the body toward the pins just a skosh; this method keeps them parallel and is much easier than trying to bend them individually.


As stated above, I just use small needle-nose pliers for this purpose.


I do it the same way as you describe. If you look at Keith's instructions, they're also installing the components by size, but grouped according to component type. But you can still get significant differences in height among components of the same type, capacitors in particular. In any case, this is purely a matter of convenience during assembly and has no functional implications for the build.

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Thanks! That's a big help.

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