Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Gone over the circuit a couple of times... I'm very confused. I've seen posts about charge pumps and "you can't use a regular Tip (?) - power supplies" etc. In the instructions, it's saying + to + and - to - so what the heck? It works. Does what it's supposed to do but the output is SO low! Problem #2 is that the instructions show BOTH 100K and 10K potentiometers. I used a 10K cause it seems to appear more often in the instructions. Seems to be a factor of 10x is substantial enough to create havoc? I'm new here and NOT an electronics engineer, so please be gentle... I'm old and break easily.

Todd

It’s all good, you got this. First thing you need to remember is don’t overthink it.

Did you buy the kit or just a PCB and source your own parts? I don’t see a charge pump in the build docs. Did the trim pot do anything?

Finally, can you post clear well lit close up photos of both sides of your build?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

_________________
Pedal building is like the opposite of sex. All the fun stuff happens before you get in the box.

Let me try to clear up some of the confusion:

The BYOC Germanium Boost is a standard negative ground circuit, so you can use the same power supply that runs the vast majority of effects pedals, and daisy-chain it with other pedals on a single power supply.

It's a 9V circuit that does NOT use a charge pump, which is typically used only for effects that require 18V or 27V. So you can forget about all that stuff....at least for now!

It's true that the circuit does not have a ton of output because germanium transistors don't have a lot of gain, so you'll probably need to run the volume control up pretty high. The trimpot setting also affects the output, so you may need to play around some with that to get the mix of fuzz and output that you prefer.

An A10K volume pot is correct for the kit, but that value isn't critical because the pot is functioning as a voltage divider, meaning that what's controlling the output of the effect is the ratio of the two resistances on either side of the wiper (middle lug) of the pot. A 100K pot would work equally well for this purpose.

Hope that helps. If you still have concerns about the operation/performance of your new pedal, a set of good photos would be helpful, as jimilee mentioned.

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

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

Thanks Voodoo Man! Here are some images and a sound file. The sounds are OUT and then IN and then IN with 18dB increase in input gain at the console. Since BYOC board doesn't allow mp3's, I've placed it in my Soundcloud library at https://on.soundcloud.com/4F4wi

The gain on the trans was like 140 if I remember correctly.

Your audio clip certainly doesn't sound like a Germanium Boost should. A couple of questions & comments:

• Are you sure that the germanium transistor is correctly oriented in the socket?
• I really need to be able to see the wiring of the I/O jacks, which isn't visible in these two shots. Please provide another photo or two for that purpose.
• The DC jack connection to the PCB is incorrect--the red wire should be connected to the other + eyelet at the top of the board. The two + eyelets do NOT have the same function. Also, I see no connection being made from the ring tab of the input jack to the "ring" eyelet at the top of the PCB. I can't imagine how you could be getting 9V power into the effect circuit with these errors.
• What are you using for an enclosure, because it doesn't appear to be the one that BYOC sells in the kit? Are you repurposing an enclosure from another pedal?

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

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

Your pictures don't help all that much. They don't "explain" what's going on with your wiring. I'm guessing you've deviated from the wiring diagram, but I can't really tell what you've done.

Based on your sound clips, I'd guess you've either got a power issue or your transistor isn't oriented correctly.

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*patience is a virtue*

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

Oh. Yeah. He wouldn't be getting any power because he's connected the + to the battery terminal.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

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

1. Realizing that I didn't get what was happening from the "ring" to whatever... I connected the eyelet "ring" to gnd and I have power to the transistor
2. I had the transistor in the WRONG way.
3. Now that everything is "working", I have a little more output but still super weak... The effect sounds "correct"?

The waveform image is OUT, IN Sw1, IN Sw2, IN Sw3

https://on.soundcloud.com/55UD1

Take voltages of the transistor please

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

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

Well, it sounds like the effect is working and the tonal response to the toggle switch is correct. So now we just need to deal with the output volume issue.

Where was the volume pot set for the audio recording? Does it change the output volume smoothly/continuously as it's dialed up? Did you go back and adjust the trimpot after making the corrections?

You may want to try applying THIS PROCESS, which only takes a few minutes with a simple circuit like the Germanium Boost, and is amazingly effective in solving a variety of pedal ailments, including low output volume.

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

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

And what value trimpot did you use? It's hard to tell from the photos. If the value is too low, then it may make it difficult to get the transistor biased correctly, and it may also drag down the signal amplitude at the transistor base.

Even an appropriately large value won't help, if the trimpot is turned too far in one of the two directions. (I can't tell from the schematic which of the two directions that would be.) So checking that trimpot adjustment is important.