Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hi all,

I just finished installing the wah drop in kit in my Crybaby enclosure. It doesn't work. Bypassed, I get the unaffected signal just fine. When it is engaged, I get dead silence. I double checked all my wiring and component placement. Below are pictures. Sorry that they are so blury. My camera does like taking extreme closeups. Any thoughts?









Best,

Martin

nothing jumps out at me, did you double check the wiring of the switch/could we have some pics of the undeside of the board?

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Pfft, what kind of loser takes the time to make a signature?

I did double check the wiring of the switch. But I don't really know the difference between ring, sleeve, and tip. Everytime I have to look it up. That's the one area where I may have made a mistake. If you hold the jack so that the part where the plug enters is on the bottom, then the sleeve is on the bottom and the tip is on the top, right? And the ring (if it's a stereo jack) is in the middle? This is correct? I'll take a picture of the bottom and post it tonight or tomorrow morning. Thanks for your response.

Best,

Martin

Here's a photo of the back of the board. --Martin

Does you camera have a macro setting for close ups? looks like a picture of a flower. Close ups would show any errors better.

what i normally do is take a picture from about 3 feet away, then use a picture program to crop it. digital images are usually HUGE, so it usually works fine.

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safe? who said anything about safe? of course He isn't safe! but He's good. He's the king i tell you!

I'll work on getting better pictures. In the meantime, I've got some new information that seems relevant. I measured some voltages with my multimeter. The battery out of circut tested good. Then I plugged in the battery, set the multimeter to 10V, held the black probe against the sleeve of the input jack and put the red probe to the red battery lead where it met the circut board and got 250. Then I held the red probe to where the black battery wire meets the board and got nothing. I didn't get any voltages at any of the transitor socket pins either. So I desoldered and resoldered the black battery lead to the circult board, making sure that I had a good mechanical connection before I soldered. But I still get zero with the multimeter.

Martin

Here are some better pictures. Now I know about macro mode!







Martin

Are you sure the transistors are in correctly? From the looks of the one in the lower right hand corner you have it in backwards.

I just double checked that. The tab on the transistor lines up (more or less) with the tab of the socket if you straighten it up. Could an improperly socketed transistor cause the black battery lead to measure zero? --Martin

The tab on the tranny isn't supposed to line up with the tab on the socket.

Oh! That's good to know. How should it line up? --Martin

As you look down on the tranny in the socket the tab on the tranny should be 180 degrees out from where the tab on the socket is. You'll have to bend the tranny's middle connector (base) so that it sticks between the other 2 leads (emitter & collector). That will give the tranny's leads the V shape to match the holes on the socket.

sure it is

I think the problem is in the wiring. He has the out from the board going directly to the jack and not the footswitch.

Hmmm. Which one is it? The photo is misleading. The out from the board goes to the switch. --Martin

okay I see, they are hard to follow.

I'm gonna take a closer look. The pins have always been backwards when replacing the MPSA18's. Maybe Keith allowed for this.

oops! It's when the sockets are used on a CryBaby board that you have to adjust the tranny leads to match the socket. I stand corrected. Doh!

I fixed it. I didn't solder in the DC adapter since my enclosure doesn't have a hole for it. For some stupid reason I thought it would matter since I wasn't going to use it. But then I tried to follow the traces from the battery and realized that it had to go through the DC adapter before it could go anywhere. It works now. Thanks to everyone who tried to help.

Best,

Martin