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Hello all! Hoping to get some feedback on my trem pedal as I begin the troubleshooting process. A quick summary of what I need to solve:

• The pedal "works'. It turns on/off appropriately, all three controls operate as intended, the LED is in-time with the rate, I'm getting a signal, etc.
• The problem I have is that the pedal is distorted. At very low volumes it sounds okay, but as I increase the Volume knob on the pedal the signal gets a bit distorted a noisy.

I don't see anything obvious looking at the board, but based on past threads and research I'm sure the first place to review would be the solder joints on the jacks. Perhaps the issue I'm having points to an obvious cause?

Here are a few pictures of the pedal. It is still assembled, so I didn't take any shots of the back. I will of course un-assemble it if needed as I troubleshoot. Thanks everyone!!

I don't see any obvious errors. Are you sure that the two different types of transistors all went into the correct spots? A systematic reflow of all your solder joints might take care of the issue--that only takes a few minutes with a build as simple as the tremolo: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=52188

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

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

Quick update - from the pictures above I have gone through and reflowed all the transistor joints that I can reach (I've shied away from removing the pot so far that is hiding at least one transistor connection, but might end up having to remove it), I've cleaned up one jack that I thought might look a bit off, and I also resoldered a couple of the footswitch wires as they didn't look so great from the flip-side of the board.

After this work I have the same problem, but now the board has been removed from the enclosure so I've been able to take a picture of the back side too (attached).

For future build considerations, is there a relatively easy way to hook a board up to power before soldering the connections to the DC jack in the enclosure? Since the enclosure is an internally threaded type I'd have to cut the wires and re-solder from scratch to remove the entire pedal from the enclosure. In the future I'd love to be able to test the pedal before really strapping it down in the box. I'll do some research on the boards here for that one.

At any rate, the troubleshooting continues. Next I will reflow all joints again and then break out the Signal Tester and go from there.

I'd just de-solder and re-solder the DC jack, but then again I'm very comfortable with that process from many years of experience. You can also use longer wire connections (2" or so) on the DC jack, which will allow you to pivot the PCB up out of the enclosure while leaving the DC jack connected. A third option is to buy the kit with an external nut jack, which doesn't need to be disconnected to remove the entire PCB assembly from the enclosure. Even for the kits where the external jack isn't listed as an option, you can request that substitution.

One other thing I should mention is that there are several of the BYOC kits (mostly older ones) where the output jack grounds through the metal enclosure, so that the circuit won't work properly if it's not mounted in the enclosure. If it's necessary to test the circuit out of the enclosure in such a case, run a temporary jumper between the sleeve tabs of the two I/O jacks.


I think this is probably your best bet. I didn't see anything amiss in your build, and your solder quality looks quite good. I suspect that one of the transistors might be bad (one of the JFETs, most likely, as these are more delicate than the BJT's), but the signal tester should pinpoint it for you.

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

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

Quick update; I've been doing a good bit of troubleshooting on this pedal, and I'm wondering if perhaps my understanding of the circuitry/pedal itself is the issue here. I was able to clean up some general noise and some cutting out issues by going through the footswitch joints. The only remaining issue I have is that the pedal breaks up/distorts as the volume knob gets cranked. But I've also noticed that all the way up, the volume gain is greater than the normal signal. So if I turn the pedal off and bypass the circuitry the volume decreases. It seems to me, then, that the volume knob here is perhaps acting as a bit of a boost as well? If it is adding gain to the signal, is there sort of natural breakup that is part of the pedal? I suppose I'm not sure what to expect now. I had assumed it would be very clear, but it pretty much is a unity with the normal signal. It's when I continue to increase the volume that it starts to break up.

Edit: I've seen some other similar posts in doing more research. To help here, in testing I'm not running any pedals before this one, just my guitar straight into the pedal (then straight into the amp). I'm using vintage single coils, nothing high output (Lollar Blondes to be precise). So I don't imagine it's a too-hot signal issue. Going to take a break on this one to work on a build I'm trying to finish up for a friend's birthday, let the mind breathe here for a minute.

Yes, this pedal has plenty of boost on tap. If you crank the volume knob, you may overdrive your amplifier.

Here is something to try - turn the tremolo depth all the way down to get rid of the trem, then adjust the volume so that the volume output in effect mode is the same as bypass (unity volume). At that point, the signal should sound pretty much the same with the pedal on or off. Is the signal distorted at unity volume with the trem depth all the way down?

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MasterDelayer/Reverbrador/Ampaholic/TopJacker

I was able to run and do another quick test based on Morgan's suggestion, and yeah I gotta believe that I've learned something about the nature of the pedal here! If I turn down the depth completely so there's no effect, and then match the volume to the bypassed signal, there's no distortion or break up or anything. It sounds pretty much identical to unity. And at that level I can play with the depth and rate and still no issues. But as I crank up the level/volume I guess I'm just over driving up my amp with the boosting of the signal through the pedal. Cool, I think I've got this one! I'm playing through a 2012 Blues Jr. if anyone is curious.

Thanks so much for the help! I feel like I've needed a lot of hand holding through these first couple of builds, and everyone on here has been nothing but helpful. Really amazing. On to the Full Circle Bass Fuzz! haha