Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Finished building a crown jewel a few weeks ago and had some trouble with it. Some of the switches were acting strange or not at all: not staying in position or not doing anything and the pedal only had output if the Boost was set to Post. When first trouble-shooting it, I noticed a couple solder points didn't look great and tried to address those. When I got it back together it didn't work at all. I checked continuity on the switches and found a couple bad ones, I think my iron temp was set to high and it melted the plastic housing of the switch on at least one. I put it aside for a few weeks.

I decided to just swap all the switches, I prefer ones with the short bat anyway. In the process of swapping the switches, I notice that one of the wires from the input/output section had gone further through the PCB than I realized and was making contact with the bottom of one of the pots. I addressed this and after finishing with the switches, it was back to working, for the most part.

It still makes no sound when the boost is set to Pre. When set to Post, everything works. I checked the new 3pdt switch and it's working exactly as it should be. I'm not seeing anything wrong on visual inspection.

I'm not too concerned as it works fine for me in the Post setting, however any ideas on what to check?

EDIT: Also, to clarify, when set to Pre there is no output whatsoever, even with both switches bypassed.

How exactly did you do that? Because it sure sounds like a bad switch!

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

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

By "visual inspection" I mean that there's no obvious bad solder joints, too much solder causing shorts or anything like that and I checked the pin-outs on the switch with a multi-meter. I find it hard to believe that I got two bad switches, because the first switch did the same thing.

Do you have a multimeter that can test for continuity?

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

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

Did you do this before installing the 3PDT toggle or with it in the circuit? If the latter, this becomes a significantly more complicated process due to the complexity of the connections through the switch. In addition to confirming that the expected lug-to-lug connections are being made in both switch positions (plus the three lug-to-lug jumper traces built into the PCB), you need to also confirm the lug connections that should NOT be made. And you need to do all of this with both the boost and drive sides of the pedal engaged, or you'll get misleading continuity between multiple lugs of the 3PDT switch, since the signal path bypasses the effect circuits where the resistance resides. (Hope that was all clear!)

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

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

With the switch in the "pre" position, you should get continuity from the tip of the input jack >boost input; boost output > overdrive input; and overdrive output > tip of the output jack. Do any of these 3 test points not have continuity?

edit: p.s. the best places to test for the boost and overdrive inputs/outputs are at the relay eyelets. You will see "BS" (boost send) which is the boost input and "BR" which is boost output. DS and DR on the other relay are drive send and return respectively.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

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

If the PCB is installed in the enclosure, these relay eyelets are very hard to access. Here are alternative continuity test points that are readily accessible from the component side of the PCB and are equivalent to the relay eyelets Keith referenced:

Boost input (BS): Top lead of R3

Boost output (BR): Top lead of R4

Drive input (DS): Top lead of C9

Drive output (DR): Middle lug of Drive Level pot

I have marked these points on PCB map below:

IMPORTANT: Remember that the pedal must be energized and have both footswitches engaged (LED's on) to do this testing correctly!

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

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

Thank you gentlemen, you've given me a lot to check. I'll go through each one when I have some time and reply directly. Your suggestions are much appreciated