Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Very first build project...250+ to MXR distortion+ specs. I completed the project but upon testing I get very little change in tone when the box is kicked in. In front of a clean amp (tube or solid-state) I get an extremely mild overdrive when the volume and drive are pegged. In front of a distorted amp (tube or solid state) I get a very slight change in the character of the sound that has caused my wife to refer to this as the "sounds exactly the same pedal". Any thoughts on where to start troublshooting? All solder joints look good and all components are in place and correctly inserted into the circuit. I don't have a volume loss either. I plan on experimenting with the clipping section but don't want to start that until I am getting the most out of the stock specifications. I know that this circuit isn't supposed to give huge gobs of thick high gain distortion but it must do something musical or Randy Rhoads would have never had it in his signal path. The pedal as it sits has extremely low extraneous noise except at maxed levels and even then it is a very small amount of hiss. When bypassed the unit is completely transparent as expected. BTW...the directions were excellent and very easy to follow.

Post some close-up and in focus pix of both sides of the PCB and the wiring to the switch and jacks.

Will do...Thanks.

"sounds exactly the same pedal" that is funny

How do I post photos? Thanks.

make an account with http://www.photobucket.com

Let's try this...Partdon the long lead length...was trying to leave enough length to be able to do all of my upcoming mods with the PCB laying flat next to the enclosure. Started running out of wire toward the end and switched horses midstream. I will probably rewire at some point.

Sorry if this is common knowledge but I am new to the whole message board thing too. I realized the photos don't have very good resolution. Feel free to double click to enlarge. Hope this helps.

would you mind posting some close ups of the back of the board and all the wireing joints?

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

Hope these are more helpful. My photography is second only to my project wiring and soldering skill.

The only real obvious thing I see is you soldered clear through the rubber of one of your wires. Odds are that isn't the problem, but it's something you might want to get to fixing.

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

I see the issue with the burned insulation and will get that squared away when I shorten some of the leads and reflow all of the solder connections. I agree that this most likely isn't causing the issue. I listened to a soundclip of a mxr dist+ and it was much closer to what I was expecting. At least as far as the amount of gain and grit and output. My pedal with the drive and volume pegged seemed to be comparable to about half of the grit and volume of the soundclip. I know that's not a very scientific example or explanation, it just seems like I am missing the upper half of this circuits capability. Is it possible I have heat damaged the Ge clipping diodes or are there other likely avenues to look at? I know I need to reflow all of my connections first but am at a loss if that isn't the issue. Thanks again for the help.

Reflowed a couple of solder joints that were suspect and desoldered the 471 op-amp from the board installing a socket in its place. Unfortunately the only thing worse than my soldering technique is my desoldering technique. Fairly well mangled one of the pins on the chip but fortunately found a replacement at Radio Shack for 99 cents. The thing now sounds good! Very transparent so you can still hear the sound of the quitar. For leads it drives the tube amp a little hotter and it's effortless to let the notes decay into a warm, musical sort of endless feedback. Very cool!

I love happy endings! Congrats.

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