Build Your Own Clone Message Board

So I just built my 1st BYOC Tremolo pedal. It is not the first time I have ever done this type of work either. Have lots of experience with SMT boards and assembly/soldering.
The Tremolo pedal works in bypass, the LED works, the Level control works. The Rate is very flaky. Not even sure the Depth has any function at present.
What happens when turned on is the following. The LED lights up and at anywhere from 1:00 to minimum, the rate does nothing and the LED is solid. If I turn the rate to maximum (about 5:00), it flashes but the effect is fairly minimal and as I decrease rate, the LED starts to slow down but at about 1:00, the LED remains solid.
I took some measured voltages based on what I read in another thread. This is what I found:
Q1:
9.5 V
7.6 V
4.5 V

Q2:
1.01 V
1.61 V
5.36 V

Q3:
0 V
~12 mV
0 V

Q4:
0.0 V
0.6 V
3.4 V

Attached are some pics. I have also read in another tremolo thread that there were some bad transistors out there. Is that a possibilty with mine?
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Thanks!

Is it possible you have switched your rate and depth pots? I can't see the values from the photos you shared. Double check that and report back. (Maybe even triple check if you, like me, have any spatial dyslexia and struggle to be positive which side is which when you flip the board upside down.)

_________________
Scott

My band, Austin Hollow

Good catch & OOPS on my part. Looks like the problem. Many thanks. Will swap them around and let you know what happens.

Scott, thanks again. Works as designed now.

So glad to hear it! I have a real fondness for the BYOC Tremolo because it was the first pedal I ever built. It still sounds fabulous to my ears. Enjoy!

_________________
Scott

My band, Austin Hollow

So another question - It seems my battery goes dead after about a week if i leave the patch cable plugged in even if the stomp swichc is off. Is that normal or do I have a short somewhere?

Yes, that's normal. As long as there is a cable plugged into the input, the circuit is energized. The stomp switch is not an on/off switch; it just changes whether the signal is routed through the PCB or straight to the output jack, a.k.a. bypass.

Best bet is to unplug the cable going to the input jack when you're done playing. One interesting thing about the DC jack is that if you plug in a wall wart power adapter, it disconnects the battery. So I suppose another option is to plug something into the DC jack, but if you're already bending down to mess with that… well. This feature is more useful if you use power supplies but have batteries installed as a backup. The battery won't drain as long as the power cable is connected to the pedal. Comes in handy with a pedalboard where it would be very inconvenient to disconnect all the inputs every time you finish playing.

_________________
Scott

My band, Austin Hollow

Understand. Thanks again for quick reply.