Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hi there. After putting the kit together to the standard specs for a Dist +, I was shocked to find that when I plugged it in the pedal didn't work. The sound is fine when the pedal is on bypass, but when the pedal is activated there is no sound. The LED lights up but that is all that happens. I know that my problem lies somewhere on the circuit as opposed to the wiring of the switch and jacks because when the IN and OUT terminals on the PCB are shorted the sound comes through, bypassed, as it should.

Here are some photos of the front and back of the circuit board.






Any help is much appreciated

Thanks in advance,
Toby

Just the same my friend, it still would be cool to see some pics of your jack and switch wiring. This way, we'd have 100% of the picture for analysis as opposed to just 60%

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Keep 'yer tips tinned, 'yer sponges wet, and TELL THEM KIDS TO SHUT THE HELL UP!!!

I see a few suspect solder joints. Like the one in the lower left of this photo. There are a couple in the upper right corner too. You seem to have a bit of a lead dress problem too. The wires soldered to the edge of the PCB look rather sloppy. You might want to at least post pix of the wiring to the pots. If you have soldering problems on the PCB you probably have them there too.

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"It’s your soldering."

Thankyou for the swift replies.

I must admit that my soldering isn't quite up to scratch. However (classic case of workman blaming his tools) the poor state of the soldering could be because the pointed tip of my soldering iron literally "snapped off"! LOL. At the moment I am trying to solder with the remaining stump which is not ideal. Don't fear though, I plan to buy a new tip soon.

As for the pedal, here are some more pics. (sorry about the poor quality images and the untidy tangle of wires - it was the best i could do )





Thanks...

The blurry photos don't help much. From what I can see though the soldering and lead dressing looks pretty sloppy.

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"It’s your soldering."

I have to concur with Stephen. It might not be a bad idea to try and practice your soldering and come back to this one. Here's a link to an excellent primer for someone who's new to soldering:

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6718

You especially need to learn how to tin your wire ends. This will help you a lot. The footswitch looks particularly suspect. I can't even tell if the jumper between lug #4 and #9 is making it or not. Please, don't be discouraged though. This can be fixed. We'll have this working and you'll be a full-time solder junkie before you know it - LOL

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Keep 'yer tips tinned, 'yer sponges wet, and TELL THEM KIDS TO SHUT THE HELL UP!!!

Thankyou for your help. I'll get some new soldering iron tips and practice my soldering as you suggested.

UPDATE:

Well, I put my pedal to the side and bought a new soldering iron which I have been practising my soldering skill with on various electronic kits.

The other day i decided to test the pedal again and then try to work out where the problem lies. I have tested all my offboard wiring (excluding the pots) and there is no problem there. The switch works fine and the pedal works perfectly in bypass mode. When the switch is activated there is no sound at all, although if I short the IN and OUT lugs on the board I get the bypass (how I know that my switch and jack wiring works fine. The LED also lights up when the pedal is turned ON.

I connected the pedal up to my guitar and my amp and then I connected a loose wire to the tip connector of the output jack. I started testing the board, starting at the input lug and then moving along the board. All worked fine until I got to the IC op-amp. There was no guitar coming through when the wire was touched to pin 6 (output) of the IC. Should there have been a sound or not? I think I may have fried the IC whilst soldering it onto the board, however it shows no visible signs of damage and none of the solderings to it are burnt or blackened.

My question is whether you think it sounds like I have fried my IC and should buy a new one, or whether my problem lies somwhere else.

PS - If you couldn't make any sense of what I just wrote, don't worry as I think I explained it very badly. LOL.

Thanks in advance

Sorry to take so long to get back to you. I really hate to say swap out the opamp, but it could be the problem. the 714 opamp is a tough little bugger that can take a lot of crap without being damaged. The thing is, it is a bit suspect that you aren't getting any signal from pin 6 of the opamp. I would also take a look at your soldering to your pots. Try jumpeing accross lug 2 and lug 3 of the VR1 and VR2. If you can suddenly get signal with the pedal on with one or both of the pots jumpered, there's your problem. If none of this fixes the problem, it could very well be the opamp. I'd at least reflow the solder joints to the opamp if you haven't already and see if this fixes it. However, if you do decide to remove the opamp, and that's strictly your decision, make sure you use the proper technique for desoldering it. Of course you may need to pruchase a desoldering pump and/or some desoldering braid (wick). Here goes:

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Here are a few tips on how to de-solder a component. I usually use my de-soldering iron to remove components. This method usually works like a charm but the dual sided BYOC PCBs with plated thru holes can present a problem. Especially when too much solder is used and there is as much solder on the component side of the board as there is on the solder side. In difficult cases like that I'll use an iron and a solder pump. You'll need either a set of helping hands to do this or have a friend close by that can lend a hand to hold the PCB steady as you remove the solder. Start by heating up the lead on the component side of the board. Try to do this as quickly as you can to keep excess heat transfer to the component and PCB to a minimum.


At the same time press the pump against the board so it forms a seal around the solder joint. This makes sure that the solder pump pulls the solder out of the hole instead of allowing air to leak around the tip of the pump.


Now let's say that you successfully removed the component but one of the holes is still filled with solder like it is here.


To remove the solder hold the iron against the hole and the pump over the hole on the other side. Heat up the solder and hit the button on the pump to suck out the excess solder. Again, you want to try to do this procedure quickly to keep excess heat transfer to the solder pad to a minimum.


Presto! You're done. Another way to clear the hole of solder is to heat it up and then quickly tap the board against your bench top. A third option would be to use a small hand drill (NOT a power drill) and drill bit to remove the solder.


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One last thing; when and if you do remove the opamp, while you're Radio Shack getting new one (for less than $1), go ahead and get an 8-pin DIP socket to put the opamp in (You can get tow of them for less than $1 as well). This way you've much less chance of thermally damaging the opamp while soldering. If you put a socket in, the opamp will never come into contact with any excess heat and be damaged

P.S. - Once again, muchos gracias to "Stephen's Tips For A Better Build" for info on desoldering. Once again, this information has proven to be invaluable

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Keep 'yer tips tinned, 'yer sponges wet, and TELL THEM KIDS TO SHUT THE HELL UP!!!