Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hi this is my first time posting,
I have a yellow overdrive I built about two years ago, I used it every few months and it worked fine, last time being last week. Today I hooked it up and it just made a horrible hissing sound and completely cuts off the guitar signal, signal goes through fine in bypass, the hissing gets louder when I turn the knobs up.
I have only built a couple kits and I don't really know where to start in trying to find the problem.

Thank you,
Kraatz

Suggest that you start here: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=6405

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

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

I read that thread I didn't really know how to apply it to my situation.

I know the thread says to post pictures of the pcb from both sides but I can't get it out without cutting wires from the power jack( I tried but it's internal thread ) and I know the pedal is getting power as the LED comes on. I also know signal goes through in bypass so the jack tips are wired correctly.

My pedal was working fine for almost two year and all of a sudden it only makes loud static, I saw somewhere that that could be a loose ground connection, I am going to get a multimeter later to check if both jack sleeves are connected when the switch is in "on".
Are there other things I should check first?

Malfunctioning in pedals that used to work is often caused by a poor soldier joint. It couldn’t hurt to reflow all your solder joints. If that doesn’t help, we’ll definitely need photos to be of much service to you. Good luck!

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Scott

My band, Austin Hollow

I reflowed all the solder joints and I'm still just getting a static sound, volume of the static sound is affected by volume and drive pots.
I took some pictures and attached them.

I'll let one of the experienced moderators check your components, but another easy step to take is to remove the IC from the socket, inspect the legs for any corrosion, and then reinstall it. Make sure it gets seated back in cleanly and firmly.

The quality of your soldering looks good to me. Joints that go bad are sometimes notoriously hard to track down. I recall Morgan saying once that he reflowed the joints three times on a build, and only on the last pass did it fix his problem. (Hold off on that until the mods come in and inspect your work, though!)

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Scott

My band, Austin Hollow

is your input jack grounding out on the back of the level pot?

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Oh, very good thought. (Although I must be pedantic and point out that it’s the output HSC over the level pot, haha.)

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Scott

My band, Austin Hollow

In that case, I wouldn't expect the pedal to pass signal in bypass.

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

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

the jacks and board aren't in the pedal now but when I took the pictures they weren't touching the pots.

Are pins 4 & 8 of the op-amp soldered? I’m seeing what looks like exposed solder pads in both positions.

The top of R6 looks like it needs work too as does the positive lead of C9.

It doesn’t have anything to do with the operation of the effect but the bottom of R16 also looks suspect. We shouldn’t be able to see any of the solder pad of a good solder joint.

The solder joints on the PCB connected to the stomp switch look very cold.

After checking those the next thing I would do is take a signal probe to the op-amp to see what’s going on with the signal there.

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"It’s your soldering."

Hi,

One thing to try, replace the opamp with a spare tl074 just to see if the opamp is the issue.

Thanks
Ernie
https://www.geargasstore.com

I don't see any evidence of component misplacement. It would be worth checking that there's no contact between the solder joints on lugs 8 & 9 of the footswitch.

A solder re-flow for the entire pedal is certainly worth the little time it would take. I would also recommend trimming down some of the long wire and component lead ends I see protruding from the solder side of the PCB. See details here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=52188

If that doesn't help, I'd either replace the RC3403 quad op amp or go the signal probe route mentioned by Stephen. I would expect that a more recent (and much cheaper) quad op amp like the TL074 would work as well as the old Raytheon chip.

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

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

Sorry for the necro-posting, I didn't get around to dealing with this pedal also I was frustrated from it.

I reflowed all the joints a couple times and checked for any connections that shouldn't be there, it still isn't working, I am getting a slight hum that increases with the gain and volume pot but no real signal. signal in bypass is fine. I pulled the RC3403 out and it looks fine but I'm not really sure if anything is wrong with it or not, I ordered a TL074 to try in it's place and will report back.

That sounds like a logical next step.

"necro-posting"

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

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

The TL074's I ordered finally came, I popped one in and the pedal works again so I guess the RC3403 died.
Sucks that it died, that was part of the draw of getting this kit.
Is there a reliable source for another one?

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=rc3403

Caveat emptor, as they say.

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

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