Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Nice to meet you guys - first post. This is my 5th kit build, and all have worked 100% first time, so I'll be the first to admit my troubleshooting skills are not very good. When I plug it in, LEDs do not light up when pressing the switches, power supply fan spins up, other pedals reboot on the daisy reboot, and out of the amp I hear a sine wave slowly increase in frequency until a few kHz before leveling off, kind of like a siren spinning up. My guess is a short somewhere, so I disassembled and looked at the pots - they have a good 5+mm of clearance, so it's not them. I didn't seen anything as a glaring problem either. Is there a place on the board where shorts are more likely that make this type of behavior? I'm reasonably confident in my component placement, but I did build this at 2am - so mistakes are a possibility. I did follow the directions and placed some components on the bottom left of the board on the underside, and subsequently reversed the transistor orientation (as instructed). Happy to hear your thoughts. I have a meter and can take measurements if necessary.

Also, just curious - why are we instructed to put a few components on the bottom?

Thanks for any help! It's greatly appreciated!

1) The reason for mounting some of the components on the bottom of the board is to make space for the add-on dry blend mini-board, if you purchase that option with your CJ kit.

2) Since you have a multimeter, could you please take DC voltage readings on the +9, +18 and -9V eyelets? You do not have to have the pedal plugged into your signal chain--just connect your power supply.

3) I know it's a PITA, but could you pull the PCB out of the enclosure and post a photo or two of the solder side of the board?

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

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

Well, I didn't have time to take the board out to take pictures, but I did get some measurements with my meter. Definitely not seeing what I should. When measuring across the power supply, I get 9 volts. When measuring across the positive and negative of the 9v jack, I got 1v. when measuring across the -9 (and +18) to ground I got like .1v. Any particular places I should be measuring? Electrical engineering is not something I'm adept at..

Yeah, sounds like something is shorting on the board. We really need to see that shot of the back of the PCB....

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

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

And make sure you have a cable plugged in to the input when measuring (and the power supply connected!). You probably know this, and so do I, but this happens to me a lot

Actually, this is NOT necessary on the Crown Jewel because it doesn't use the usual BYOC mechanical bypass system. Just connect your power source and the circuit is immediately energized.

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

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

Great news! I found the short last night (it was C1, the cap just under the boost first/last switch, for anyone curious). Once I fixed that the pedal came alive (mostly)! I have a new problem where the boost channel just kills the audio, so more to debug, but progress!

I had a question though - obviously there are numerous forms of clipping on the CJ - is it normal to have the volume drop when switching between them? I'm just trying to figure out what is a bug and what is a feature. Do you know any other quirks of the pedal that I should know about so I don't ask dumb questions later?

It's the diodes on the MOSFET module. flip them around.

_________________
The tone is in my hands?!
Email: nick@buildyourownclone.com

The clipping selections will have different output characteristics, yes. Also, when everything is turned to 11, there may be a bit of noise. This is usually normal for high-gain circuits, just slightly tweak the mids or presence to clear up most issues.

_________________
The tone is in my hands?!
Email: nick@buildyourownclone.com

^ This. You may have missed this in the MOSFET boost instructions (pg. 3). The silkscreen on the PCB is backwards and the diodes have to be mounted in the opposite orientation, just as the MOSFET did.

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

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

Thanks much guys! I'll give it a shot (and not try to build pedals at 2am ignoring directions!)

You guys rock! I now have a fully working pedal! Flipping those diodes was quite a pain though.. lesson learned - READ THE DIRECTIONS! Now I just need to experiment to discover its copious tonal variations!

Thanks much!

Maybe I spoke too soon? With respect to the different clipping options having different output levels, they are mostly comparable except for the germanium clipping - when I engage that, output volume is half as much as the other settings. I have to crank the level all the way up to match the output volume, and then when I switch back to hard SI, my amp blows out my ears. Is this normal? Is one of my germanium diodes bad maybe?

That is normal for germanium diode clipping. They have a much lower forward voltage (~0.3V) threshold than silicon (0.6 - 1V) or LEDs (2V+), so a higher proportion of your guitar signal is lost through them. Nature of the beast.

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

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

Good to know - thanks again! Loving the sounds of this box!