Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Just finished the Silver Pony II. The boost side works without issue, but when the drive side is engaged, a loud pop comes through the amp. (no sound when disengaged). The drive side also has a very high noise floor (boost side is quiet). All the pots on the drive side function as expected, including the diode switch. I have already reflowed all the connections, and the problem persists.Was thinking of swapping the foot switches to see if that was the problem. I appreciate any help, Thanks

Some of your solder joints look a bit lacking. For example, the treble pot B10k looks like lug 1 only has a pinch of solder. Fine for salt in cooking, not so much with soldering. Generally speaking, if you can see into the eyelet, there isn't enough solder. I recommend going over all your joints with some fresh solder and a hot iron and see if there are any changes.

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

Thanks, I'll give that a shot. Any other points that stand out to you?

I mean, not really. The in/out jacks could be soldered a bit more on the lugs of the jacks. Seeing the lugs open like that and wire tacked to them makes me nervous, but not because it would effect how it's working now, but more of a 'future proof' situation.

All-in-all, your build looks pretty good.

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

Yup, check all those joints where you can see eyelet - there’s a cluster of resistors in the middle of the board that need some TLC for example.

I have the original Silver Pony and it’s a quiet pedal/circuit on my board - so I’d say there’s definitely hope!

Best of luck.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

reflowed all joints again, with particular attention to the pots, but no luck. there is still the pop when engaging and there is still a ton of noise when on. any thoughts on my next step?

Is the noise there when on battery power?

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

Yes, its still there when running on battery

What if you turn the gain all the way down and set the treble at noon. Do the boost and drive sides sound pretty much identical? Are the noise floors the same?

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*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

there is ever so slightly more noise on the drive side, but as the saying goes, close enough for rock and roll....

If that's the case, then there might not be anything wrong with your pedal. Without hearing how noisy it is, it's hard to say if it's a normal amount of noise and you are just expecting it to be quieter than it is, or if there's something actually wrong with it.

The gain knob on the klon is a blend knob. With the gain full turn counter clockwise, you are hearing only IC1a, IC2a, and IC2b. So if there is indeed a problem, you can assume that it is localized to IC1b and/or the components involved with it because you've determined that the rest of the circuit is working fine. You can also assume that the footswitch is not the problem. If it was, the noise would be global.

And pop sometimes just happens with true bypass, and there's not much you can do about it. It may go away if you change the order of your pedals or if you switch outlets. You can add a 470k resistor between lugs 2 and 5 of the footswitch. That will reduce the pop if it doesn't eliminate it completely.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

I can can provide sound clips if you want, but there is definitely an a noise issue here. I would appreciate any help with how to test or trouble shoot the components you mention. Also, is not the Klon a buffered bypass? and is this not supposed to be a faithful reproduction?

Yeah, the drive channel is. It is even using the same 'odd' resistor values like 422k and 392k. The original also didn't have a boost channel.

Yes, we want to hear what the noise is. Also please include some pictures of your updated soldering.

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

OK, will post sound clips and pictures tomorrow. Have a bit of work to do. Thanks

No. That is not correct. The original Centaur had buffered bypass. The Silver Pony II does not have buffered bypass. It is true bypass. Sorry if that was confusing or misleading. It is referring to the active overdrive circuit, not the bypass.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

I was thinking more along the lines of different sections, like the bypass for the whole pedal is one section, the drive part is another, tone another, etc.

In that regard, the drive section is the same except for the clipping options, at least in how the gain is handled. Though you're right, I should have mentioned the buffered bypass in the original vs. TB of the SP2.

In any event, I think we can use an update image of the soldering and a sound clip of the noise to see if we can figure out the source (charge pump vs. single coil noise vs. 60Hz, etc.)

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

It doesn't look like I can upload an mp3 or wav, so the sound file is here; https://app.box.com/s/y6slvjmqgy5h3grrj5pm75pgt0emc5ua. Pedal is on battery, straight into amp. all pots are at noon. Clip starts with pedal off, 5 sec in Boost side engaged, ~13 sec boost off, ~14 sec Drive on, ~23 sec Boost and Drive on, ~30 sec Drive off, ~32 sec Boost off.
updated pics below

Just noticed something odd to me. When plugging in a cable to the input only one of the clipping LEDs lights up. (the one closest to the jack) Is this expected?

Are you saying that by simply inserting a plug into the pedal’s input jack causes one of the clipping LEDs to light up and stay ON? That isn’t normal.

If inserting a plug into the jack causes both clipping LEDs to light up for a moment and then go out again then that would be normal behavior.

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"It’s your soldering."

Yes, it is just momentary. Initially, I thought only 1 was lighting up, but both are actually flashing, its just that one is substantially brighter than the other.

That does sound like fairly common true bypass popping to me. It can be really frustrating to try and track down, and if you have a delay on afterward… no bueno.

Did you try this yet?


Another thing to check: sometimes with this type of pop, I can get it to go away by pressing the switch on and off several times (maybe 6-7 presses). Not always, but with some of my popping pedals.

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Scott

My band, Austin Hollow

Since I now understand the pedal is true bypass, I am not that concerned about the pop(will be picking up a resistor later this week). My main concern now is with the noise on the drive side, it is simply not usable,especially if the boost is also engaged. I have been working on coming up with a tester, but as I am just learning how to follow the schematic, my progress has been pretty slow

Noise seems to increase at r18 (100k to the left of IC2 if I'm reading it right) both r18 and r21 (directly on top of IC2) read 53K on the multi-meter. (r25 and r26 on the other hand read 99.9K) The really fun part is at the upper leg of r18 (and the lower leg of 28) I get radio when using the tester. Any thoughts on this?

It's not a good idea to measure components in-circuit. You'll rarely ever get an accurate reading do to the fact that they are almost always in parallel with other things.

It sounds like the noise is coming from IC2a, which is where the clean and distortion signals are mixed together and then boosted before going into IC2b, which is the EQ. Are you sure you don't have the 820p and 390p caps mixed up?

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

No, was kinda hoping that might be it, but they are in the correct places. Anything else I should look at?