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Nice! I'm making some progress with your help. I now get wah sound, but it's super faint. And only when the env/manual toggle switch is to the right. When it's left, I get no sound. I'm guessing I may have other bad eyelets. Would a signal tester allow me to go systematically and find these?
Thanks again.

Yeah, a signal tester is a very valuable tool for finding where the sound is going.

BTW, the circled joint pair below looks to me like it may have a solder bridge connecting the two joints.

Keep looking around for other potential problems.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Thanks. I found that I damaged the B100k pot from moving it too much to reflow. The tip came off. Can I solder a little wire lead and still have it function or is it best to just buy a new one?

Yeah, you can patch in a bit of wire or component lead to make the broken connection.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Thanks. A dumb question...but. I want to test my makeshift component lead here is working. If I use my multimeter and do a continuity test, touching the lead of the pot and then the solder joint on the other side of the board. IF there's continuity I can assume the lead is ok right?

Yes, that would indicate that the connection has been made.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Hello again. I just got the parts to make a signal tester and it seems to work. I get sound from some solder joints but not a lot of them. Is there a post that has info on the best strategy for this? I'm new to reading schematics so I'm not exactly sure where to begin. Thanks.

Not 100% sure what it means, but here's an observation. I'm following the schematic from D2 on the bottom. I get sound at D2 , and on R21/R22, and on VR3 for one of the pins I get sound (but it's crunchy/distorted/faint). I then do not get any sound on C9. Would this indicate a possible problem at VR3 or C9?

Lets take a more structured approach to the signal testing. Suggest that you begin with the signal output pins of the two IC's. That will give you a quick read on the major sections of the circuit and we can then focus on particular sections based upon your test results.

Start by turning all the pots to their mid-points and the mode switch to the envelope setting (toggle bat pointing toward middle of pedal). For the smaller IC (4558 or equivalent dual op amp), test for signal on pins 1 and 7. Both should have clean guitar signal present, but pin 7 should be quite a bit louder than pin 1 and have some noticeable background noise.

Next, test the two output pins of the large 13600 IC, which are 5 and 12. These should give the "wah" sound. Be sure to pluck the string of your guitar quite forcefully; at these pot settings, I find that the low E works well for this. If you don't hear anything there, try a couple of the higher strings.

Report your findings here.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Thanks again. Here's what I found:

On the smaller IC I get a low sound on pin 1 and loud on pin 7.

But on the larger IC, it's hard for me to tell. I can hear the faint wah sound on 5 and 12, but I can also hear it on pin 7 and 8. At first I didn't think there was anything, but if I really strum I can hear a faint wah.

Something else I noticed, I am missing another solder pad on the negative pad for the dc adapter. I am marking where it is in the attached. It's on the front of the board. Is this something that could be related? What should I connect to fix this.

Thanks.

Signal on pins 7 and 8 is normal. Please stick to measuring just the points I direct you to, otherwise it's pretty easy to get confused by the results.


That shouldn't be a problem, because the connection to that eyelet is on the back of the PCB. As long as you have a good solder connection to the pad on the back, you'll be fine. And you must have a good connection there, or you wouldn't have power to the PCB, since that is the ground connection for the power jack.

Just an aside here--missing solder pads are almost always the result of poor de-soldering technique. When removing a wire or component from the PCB, it's critically important to make sure that the solder connection is fully melted before pulling out the piece. If there's resistance, don't force it--this is how solder pads get torn off! Either apply more heat to loosen the joint, or use de-soldering braid or a solder sucker to remove the solder from the joint until the wire or component is loose.

Next, could you please test for signal at the top leg of transistor Q1 and at pin 16 of the large IC?? Turn the Sensitivity control all the way up (full CW) for this test. The signal on Q1 should be fairly evident, but pin 16 on the large IC will probably be quite faint.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

* I edited the orginal msg because I forgot to turn sensitivity up at first and didn't hear the wah *

Yes, I've definitely made a mess of the board learning. At least I have been learning!

With the sensitivity all the way up, I get sound on Q1. And on pin 16 I hear faint wah too. I can also hear the radio. And the louder I strum, the louder the radio.

Regarding the dc adaptor. I've been doing all this testing on the battery only. I tried powering it off the DC adapter just now and I actually don't get any power. I'll have to recheck that after we solve (hopefully) the other issues. Just wanted to call that out in case it's related.

And also just to confirm my signal tester is acceptable. I followed a guide I found on Youtube. It's really just sticking an alligator clip to the guitar cable tip with a 10uf capacitor to probe. It also has a clip on the base of the cable which is supposed to go to the ground. But it seems it actually gets sound even without that. I wasn't exactly sure what to clip for ground. I used the bottom two pins on the pushbutton which are jumpered together.

Thanks.

Doesn't sound normal to me. With the Attack and Range controls set at midpoint and the Sensitivity up ~3/4, I get a good solid output signal from pins 5 & 12. And you should definitely be able to hear signal at the top of Q1 with those settings.


I would check for this problem first, as it is by far the most common reason for a pedal to work from a battery but not from a DC adapter: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=52139


Yeah, that sounds correct. They mentioned using a 10nf cap, but 10uf will work just as well--its function is to pass audio signal while blocking DC voltage. You should make that ground connection, though, to get a clear, strong signal. As long as the pedal is fully assembled into the metal enclosure, I usually just clip the ground connection right to the enclosure. If it's out of the enclosure, then clip it to the solder tab of the sleeve of the input jack.

If you've been testing without the ground connection, I would strongly suggest repeating the tests.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

*Edited again, sorry!*

Sorry it looks like you replied before I edited the msg. I do get a signal w/ the sensitivity turned up. Now that I have proper grounding, the signal is much louder when I test these pins. Which components should I check next?

And thanks, that fixed my DC adapter issue. Now it powers that way too.

OK, you're hearing signal very near the end of the effect circuit, so there are only a couple more components between there and the output jack. Test for signal at these points:

• The bottom of R14
• The top of R18
• Eyelet 7 on the PCB above the footswitch
• Lug 7 on the footswitch

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

I get a signal on all of those. I don't hear the wah effect , is that right?

No, you should have the wah effect at those points. Recheck pin 8 of the large IC; you reported wah signal there before and that's the signal that should be feeding forward into those 4 points you just tested.

Double-check your pot and switch settings on the pedal: Attack and Range at mid-point, Sensitivity ~3/4 of full, and the mode switch on the envelope (inside) setting.

BTW, what kind of guitar and pickups are you using?

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

I'm using a Tele, stock pickups.
A bit of a clarification. I get a light wah effect on bottom or R14. But it stops there. No wah on R18, Eyelet 7 of Lug 7. It sounds like a clean tone.
Pin 8 of the large IC also gives me the light wah effect.

Hmm....

see what happens when you use a hotter guitar, or put a boost in front, just to check.

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The tone is in my hands?!
Email: nick@buildyourownclone.com

I put my confidence boost before and tried a Gibson 335 too. Same thing. Wah on R14 but not on R18. Also when you say to test the top of R18, for example. I get the same sound on the top or bottom. The Wah effect is pretty faint, if it confuses things even more!

Just for learning purposes - why do some components make a loud screeching sound when probed?

Then signal isn't getting past C6. Maybe there's a short. Maybe there's a cold solder joint. Maybe it's damaged. Use your digital multimeter and test for continuity to ground from the top of R18.

If you're getting a screeching sound from the signal tester, you're probably touching it to something that's connected to the power rail....not all the components carry signal.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

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

Thanks. There does not appear to be continuity to ground at R18.
Would it make sense to remove c6 and inspect the pads?

Unless I'm doing it wrong, the only places I seem to get continuity to ground is on the footswitch pegs 4,5,9.
To test, I'm unplugging the power and guitar cable, touching one probe to the input tip solder joint and the other to the component solder point. When looking at the schematic, if it shows the upside down triangle does that mean I should be getting continuity to ground?

Let's take a step back to what "continuity" means in the electronics sense: Two points in a circuit have continuity when they are directly connected with no other components separating them. In other words, there is no appreciable resistance (no more than a couple of ohms, max.) to current flow between them.

To measure continuity, you use either the multimeter's continuity setting (if it has one; the symbol looks like sound waves emitting from a point) or the resistance mode. For the former, most modern multimeters will emit a beeping sound when continuity is present; for the latter you look for a very low resistance reading--a couple of ohms or less. Many meters combine the continuity mode with the diode mode, whose symbol looks like an arrow with its point against a vertical line. If your meter uses this combo, you may need to push a "Func" or "Mode" button to activate the continuity mode. Check to make sure you're in continuity mode by touching the probes together.

To measure continuity to ground, one probe must be touching a grounded point and the second is then touched to the point you wish to test. As with a voltage test, I generally stick one probe into a corner screw boss of the enclosure for the ground, assuming that the pedal is fully assembled. If not, use the solder tab of the input jack sleeve. Unlike with a DC voltage test, it doesn't matter which probe is on which test point for continuity measurement.

The top of R18 should NOT show continuity to ground; the bottom of R18 should. Keith asked you to check continuity to ground for the top of R18 to determine if the adjacent C6 cap was shorted to ground. BTW, if you switch your meter to resistance mode and leave the one probe grounded, when you touch the other probe to the top lead of R18, it should read the resistance value of that resistor (100 Kohms or very close to it). Not all resistors can be accurately read when installed in a circuit do to the possibility of parallel circuit paths, which will give lower readings. I think you ran into this before with a 22K resistor. But it works in the case of R18.


Yes, it probably would. Do it carefully, though! The trace connections for C6 are on the back (solder side) of the PCB, so those are the really important solder pads.

To remove a film cap like that one, a method I have found to be effective is to melt one joint on the back and pull up gently on the body of the cap on that end. It should move a little bit. Then switch to the other joint and repeat this process. Go back and forth, applying heat and gently lifting the cap while rocking it from end to end. Eventually, one end will pop free from the board and then the other end can be easily removed. Clean out the residual solder from both eyelets and inspect the solder pads.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

That is helpful, thanks.

I wasn't hitting the tip for the grounding (it's out of the case). With that I am indeed getting continuity on the ground of R18 bottom and seeing 100k on the top.

Will work on C6 and report back.

Thanks guys!