Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Ok, so i know I SHOULD post pictures and try to adhere to the guidelines of the 'how to submit at tech support thread' post, but I'm growing really impatient waiting to get my hands on a decent enough camera, and I feel so close to having this figured out that i would rather just throw up what i can tell you, sooo..
I finished meticulously building the Reverb pedal as my first pedal project and really first big soldering project ever about a week ago now, and believe you me, i was excited. Of course, right after putting the finishing touches on at about 430am, i very anxiously went to my room to try the sucker out. However, my first disappointment came when i plugged the 9v battery in and got nothing, nothing as in no sign of life from the LED. Feeling as though i had been hit in the gut by the great and muscly fist of doubt, i began to sweat and swallow hard but figured quickly that i should shake it off not worry to much and just go test it on the amp, where it really mattered. Maybe the LED was just a dud. Right? ...
We'll as u can probably guess, i tried hooking up the little bastard between my guitar and amp about twenty times before i finally gave into the fact that i had done something wrong and until i fixed it i would only be getting bypass signal. Which i was getting atleast by the way, the dry bypass.
So, i tried fiddling with it on and off the the next few days, looking hard at all the soldering joints for anything that stuck out, checking this reverb forum for any similar symptoms and advice to others that might be handy, testing the circuit clumsily with my new (and very cheep) multimeter all while waiting for a camera to come along that might actually be able to take a decent close up (unlike my own) so i might be able to unvail it's flaws to a certain charming community of electroacoustic adventurers. BUUUUUT, ten minutes ago i went a-fiddling again and in the process of fumbling the open pedal with the 9v plugged in an protruding, i suddenly noticed a flicker of light from the LED, and now I've discovered that (conclusion; finally) when the side of the negative terminal on the battery (while hooked up the the pedal) touches to the side of the pedals housing, some kind of short is.. fixed? and i can push the switch for the reverb, the LED lights up and the reverb sounds.. glorious=O!

so, what does it all mean?
In short, i have no idea. I have no real knowledge or solid understanding of the workings of electronics, i simply have tried to solder and solder well. I'm assuming i am probably going to have to remove the reverb 'brick?' to fix something here, some kind of short by way of contact with the pedal housing, but I dont really know what to look for so i figured that rather than pulling everything apart again, i would display the situation to you fellers and see what you might have to say about it first.

So, i thank you for your time spent reading my unnecessarily long post and look forward to hearing any feedback.

Thanks a bunch!
-E

Welcome, - all of us here are familiar with the emotions you've described.

It sounds that, somwhere, the path to earth is incomplete.
I would tripple check the jack wiring visually, and better yet, you could use the continuity setting on your multi meter.
You've clearly got an earth connection to the case, via the sleeve of the jack, so it must be a problem between the neg connection on the board and the power source. This shouldn't be too hard to run-down.
BTW have you tried it with a power supply yet? If it works with a PS it would narrow the problem down to the the black wire of the battery harness or it's connection.

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"Spud knows tone"

codtone.com

Hi, welcome to the forum!

Your post is funny and all, but I'm having a bit of trouble following your symptoms. Would you mind reposting your symptoms in a more straight-forward fashion?

DON"T REMOVE THE BRICK! Most guys go ahead and do that way too quickly. No effect signal does not mean that the brick is not working. I get that you have bypass signal, but no LED and no signal in effect mode. It sounds like you got it to work when the negative terminal of the battery clip is touching the side of the enclosure. But is that with a battery installed or not? Have you tried any other type of power supply?

In the meantime, from what I can discern from your post, it sounds like you have a bad ground connection somewhere; likely on the ring terminal of the input jack, or the ground on the AC adapter. Triple check your jack and adapter wiring. Maybe re-heat those solder joints.

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MasterDelayer/Reverbrador/Ampaholic/TopJacker

Ok, so, reposting of symptoms/ADAPTER UPDATE:
-When battery IS plugged in and negative(-) terminal touches against the enclosure, the LED lights and reverb mode works

-HOWEVER, when AC adapter is plugged in NOTHING works, EVEN when the above mentioned battery/enclosure connection is made.

Thanks Mr.Mageddon and Morgan, i hope that helps.
Like you suggested I'm gonna double check and probably resolder or at least reflow some if not all of those jack connections and pay special attention to that adapter jack especially because of the new circumstance.

..ill be back..

Not making much progress here unfortunately..
I've double checked and reflowed all connections between the board and the jacks, and continuity seems fine.

could you tell me what kind of voltage readings i should be getting? im not really sure what else to look for here.
ill put some readings up as soon as i can get them all down.

I think we some pictures to really help.
In particular pics of the dc jack, and jack to board wireing, but also both sides of the board.

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"Spud knows tone"

codtone.com

Voltage readings aren't likely to help; your symptoms point to a bad ground connection. You can check continuity from the middle solder lug of the input jack to lug 2 of the stomp switch and the ground pads on the pcb. You should also have cont from the jack to pcb pad 2 when the effect is engaged and to pin 4 of the op amp. Let us know if the grounds check out. Beyond that, we need pics.

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MasterDelayer/Reverbrador/Ampaholic/TopJacker

some pics, more to come..

http://s1123.photobucket.com/albums/l542/rickerecordo/

Continuity from middle solder lug of input jack to lug 2 of stomp switch and ground pads is good.
Same goes for jack to pcb pads and pin 4 of the ic, when the stomp switch is in either position (any time i click it)

Just let me know what else you might need to see in these photos and id gladly get them up.

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MasterDelayer/Reverbrador/Ampaholic/TopJacker

UPDATE: when it's in effect mode and the AC adapter is NOT plugged in, and i plug into the INPUT jack only about half way, the LED turns on, but i get no signal.
i guess that just points further to grounding and the input jack but that jack looks fine to me

Need to see a clear shot of the input jack with the wire connections to the pcb. I can't see that in any of your pics. You can also compare your wiring to the pic below.

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MasterDelayer/Reverbrador/Ampaholic/TopJacker

Ok, there are some new ones up there, hope these help.

sorry about the lighting, it's been a bit tough..

With the back of the enclosure off, check and see if when you insert a plug into the input jack, none of the terminals makes contact with the pot below it.

Also, with a cable inserted into the input jack, check continuity from the middle lug of the input jack to the ground lug of the ac adapter and to the negative terminal of the battery clip.

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MasterDelayer/Reverbrador/Ampaholic/TopJacker

Inserted the trs cable in the input jack but none of the terminals are making contact, tried it in the output to just because, nothing touching there either tho.
Did those continuity checks with the cable in the input jack also, all checked out perfect.

Should i keep reflowing these joints? could it be a problem with the input jack its self?

Hey! So, right after those check ups all checked out and it kinda bummed me out cause i was waiting for a problem so it could ofcourse be fixed, buuuut i put everything back together, made extra sure that none of those terminals or pots were touching, hit the foot switch and it lit ! amazing ! So i went and plugged in my guitar and amp, and sure enough... I AM HAPPY AS A PIG IN SHIT !

Thank you guys so much for the help and especially your patience.
I wasn't really sure what to expect here at first from a tech support thread, but you guys have been supper helpful and i really appreciate it.
Now, i've got to go droll over this pedal!

Thanks again!
-E

Congrats!

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MasterDelayer/Reverbrador/Ampaholic/TopJacker