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PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2018 10:29 pm 
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I just finished building the newest iteration of the Lazy Sprocket just released last week or so. Everything seems in order regarding the build - sound with bypass, sound when on, even turns on. Yet, when on, I just get a gated effect - no swell. I twisted all the knobs, messed with the internal trim pot, and nothing seems to help. I'm wondering if anyone with the newest release is having the same issue. I can post pictures if needed, but I'm more curious to find out what people did if this issue occurred. This is my fifth build (booster, overdrive, compressor, reverb) so I feel mildly confident in my skills, since the other four work flawlessly. Just curious if anyone has any troubleshooting recs to fix the gate into a swell. Thanks.


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PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2018 7:22 am 
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It's pretty early on in the life of the 2.0 release, and it's never been the most popular effect anyway, so I wouldn't expect there are many people out there who have had your experience. But nothing significant to the circuit has changed; for the most part, it's just a new PCB. As you hinted, photos are your best bet. I've built probably 100 pedals at this point, and I still mess things up from time to time, so don't be shy about having us take a look at it for you. :)

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2018 12:29 pm 
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I’m having the same issue, did you ever figure this out?


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PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2018 12:55 pm 
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This behavior was brought to Keith's attention late last week, and we're just waiting for him to be back in the office after the long Thanksgiving weekend. I built the kit last Wednesday and have run into the same problem, i.e. no swell. The Sensitivity pot seems to work fine, which is what causes the gating behavior; if you dial up the sensitivity pot setting, you'll see the gating lessen and eventually disappear when the pot is up high enough.

I suspect some error made its way into the final commercial release of the PCB that is causing this issue; Moderator Stephen and I are both thinking that maybe there's a trace connecting a couple of points in the circuit that shouldn't be connected. But we'll see what the boss man has to say. Expecting that feedback soon, maybe as early as Monday....

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2018 1:55 pm 
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Thanks for the quick response! I’ll check back next week and stop troubleshooting for now! I was able to get a decent swell by dramatically increasing the value of the attack pot’s upper range to around 500k instead of 25, but it still sounded pretty bad. Looking forward to getting it working!


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 1:05 pm 
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So there's some good news and some bad news.

The bad news is that the batch of 2N5457 JFETs that were used in the kits are counterfeits. They are actually just normal NPN transistors that were reprinted. They even have the Fairchild logo on them. So they won't work.

The good news is that it's just a simple matter of replacing the 2N5457 with one that works. We have a some in stock that have been tested and verified as genuine. Please contact sales@buildyourownclone.com for a replacement.

I'm really sorry about this. We didn't consider 2N5457 to be an N.O.S. part that needed to audited. And certainly not something that was valuable enough to counterfeit. But I suppose now as discrete through-hole semi-conductors, especially JFETs, have almost all become obsolete and there is still a high demand for them from the various DIY communities, we'll need to be more vigilant.

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 2:33 pm 
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byoc wrote:
I'm really sorry about this. We didn't consider 2N5457 to be an N.O.S. part that needed to audited. And certainly not something that was valuable enough to counterfeit. But I suppose now as discrete through-hole semi-conductors, especially JFETs, have almost all become obsolete and there is still a high demand for them from the various DIY communities, we'll need to be more vigilant.

They're definitely getting more difficult to source. My plan as of right now is to reserve my through-hole JFETs for prototyping and DIY builds but do any production runs using equivalent SMT parts.

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 2:37 pm 
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I was fortunate enough to have a couple of (genuine) 2N5457 JFETs in my parts stash, so I swapped one in for the counterfeit tranny and--BINGO!--the pedal works like a charm. Just follow the trimpot adjustment instructions on page 9 of the instructions to get the maximum swell effect without noticeable volume loss.

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 3:04 pm 
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I also had some in my stash, so I tried swapping and got the same effect... Perhaps the ones I have are counterfeit too! I'll wait to receive the replacement--hopefully that'll take care of it, although it won't make me feel very good about my stash :?


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 3:28 pm 
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Two things to be mindful of:

1) Be sure to optimize the swell effect with the trimpot as described on page 9 of the instructions. Have the Attack control dialed all the way up and keep the Sensitivity at least at noon. FWIW, for the trimpot in mine, the optimal setting is about 2 o'clock (vs. a full pot travel range from 7 o'clock to 5 o'clock).

2) Keep in mind that the Lazy Sprocket, like the original Boss Slow Gear SG-1, is basically a single-note-at-a-time effect. It won't work well with chords or fast arpeggios. That's just a fundamental characteristic of this circuit.

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:14 pm 
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caleboaks wrote:
I also had some in my stash, so I tried swapping and got the same effect... Perhaps the ones I have are counterfeit too! I'll wait to receive the replacement--hopefully that'll take care of it, although it won't make me feel very good about my stash :?


A little google search reveals that this counterfeit JFET problem isn't an isolated incident. Apparently it's been going on for a while. It hasn't effected BYOC till now because I purchased a very large lot several years ago and only just now needed to purchase more. So unless you purchased them from an actual Fairchild/Central Semi distributor, there's a good chance they are fakes.

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2019 10:09 am 
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I’m glad I found this thread. I started at the oldest lazy sprocket help threads and worked my way to newest before finding a good answer to the no-swell issue.

Any hints on what values the real JFET should test out at?


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:47 am 
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Mlbole01 wrote:
I’m glad I found this thread. I started at the oldest lazy sprocket help threads and worked my way to newest before finding a good answer to the no-swell issue.

Any hints on what values the real JFET should test out at?


What are the markings on your JFET?

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2019 12:20 pm 
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byoc wrote:

What are the markings on your JFET?


f BC27
2N
5457

I replaced the JFET with a 2N5485 and everything works well. Either the other transistor is not a JFET or I fried it.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 1:50 pm 
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Mlbole01 wrote:
byoc wrote:

What are the markings on your JFET?


f BC27
2N
5457

I replaced the JFET with a 2N5485 and everything works well. Either the other transistor is not a JFET or I fried it.


Those are the markings on the fake 2N5457. Yes, a 2N5458 should work just as well. It won't bias exactly the same, but that's all relative.

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