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PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 12:16 am 
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I've completed assembling a Leeds Fuzz. Testing it, it passes proper sound when engaged, and sounds really good. However, in bypass mode, it passes no sound.

Any tips on where I should check for something? I've looked over the footswitch wiring, and it looks solid, to me.

I'll try to get some photos up tonight, or otherwise tomorrow.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 1:47 am 
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Here are pictures of my Leeds Fuzz build, which passes no sound in bypass mode, but does pass the fuzz sound when engaged.


Attachments:
power delivery.jpg
power delivery.jpg [ 835.57 KiB | Viewed 6833 times ]
solder side 2.jpg
solder side 2.jpg [ 587.73 KiB | Viewed 6833 times ]
solder side 1.jpg
solder side 1.jpg [ 579.29 KiB | Viewed 6833 times ]
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 1:50 am 
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One more picture.


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component side.jpg
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 4:44 am 
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Strange development:

I tried the Leeds Fuzz pedal again just now, without changing anything, or unplugging / plugging in anything different, just turned my amp and pedalboard on as I last left it, and now the Leeds Fuzz is passing sound in bypass mode. However, it is very quiet sound, and not as clear as the sound is if I take the Leeds Fuzz out of the signal chain.

Any guesses? I'll check it again tomorrow, and see if it's changed again then.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:34 am 
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Whenever there is an intermittent issue of “it worked one moment and not the next” the likely suspect is a bad solder joint. Since it’s a bypass issue I would start by checking the soldering of the stomp switch and IN/OUT jacks.

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 11:33 am 
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Stephen wrote:
Whenever there is an intermittent issue of “it worked one moment and not the next” the likely suspect is a bad solder joint. Since it’s a bypass issue I would start by checking the soldering of the stomp switch and IN/OUT jacks.

^ Word!

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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


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 11:26 pm 
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Hmm. OK.

To be honest, the soldering all looks solid, though I was having some occasional trouble with the soldering iron. I'll try reflowing the input / output connections, and the footswitch jack, with some flux.

Is there anything I can measure with a DMM, to narrow down the area of problem? I have a DMM, don't know much about using it, though, other than measuring resistance.


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 12:48 am 
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I've reflowed all of the input / output jack connections, and also the connections for the footswitch. After doing that, the pedal was passing even less sound, being barely audible, at all.

So, I thoroughly cleaned out the flux reside from my solder re-flowing, and a lot of the volume returned, basically so that the pedal again sounds just like it did before.

But the pedal in bypass mode is still causing a bunch of volume in the signal path to be lost, and also some top-end.


Ever since after the first time I tried the pedal and got no sound, the issue has not been intermittent, but persistent. I'm suspicious that maybe the complete lack of sound when I first tried the pedal was due to some flux residue that was robbing the signal at the output, and perhaps cured a bit in the following hours, and wasn't impacting the sound as much. Or, maybe shock damage to a component, that slowly reduced its affect over a number of hours? I don't know, but the issue is now as it's been since the second time I tried the pedal, and hasn't changed in all my testing, other than due to flux reside that I now have cleaned off.

Also, I didn't crank my amp way up the first time I tested the pedal, and maybe if I had I would have heard very faint sound, like I did immediately after re-flowing many solder joint just now, and before cleaning out the flux residue.


I'm not sure what to check next. Any ideas? And like I said, I have a DMM and could measure stuff, if I knew what to measure.


Last edited by Delicieuxz on Wed Jan 17, 2018 3:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 2:09 am 
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Also, I've just recently noticed that when the Leeds Fuzz pedal is in the signal chain, this intermittent crackling noise is quietly coming from the speaker cabinet.

(I recorded the audio with my phone held close to the speaker cabinet, and the phone keeps compressing and uncompressing the intermittent audio)

https://youtu.be/D5750YMeK4w

When the pedal is taken out of the chain (though there are still many other pedals in the chain), that noise isn't present.


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 4:55 am 
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Delicieuxz wrote:
Also, I've just recently noticed that when the Leeds Fuzz pedal is in the signal chain, this intermittent crackling noise is quietly coming from the speaker cabinet.

(I recorded the audio with my phone held close to the speaker cabinet, and the phone keeps compressing and uncompressing the intermittent audio)

https://youtu.be/D5750YMeK4w


When the pedal is taken out of the chain (though there are still many other pedals in the chain), that noise isn't present.


I've found that the source of that noise is that the output jack for my Leeds Fuzz kit is microphonic. It's grounded as soundly as can be: The soldering has been re-done twice, and I've tightened its bolt down extremely well, and tried using both washers, and also with just one washer.

Here's a demonstration of the output jack's microphonism:




And to compare, here is the output jack a BYOC El Distorto Segundo that I built:





So, I've figured out the secondary, issue, but still not the primary issue, which is the volume drop and lack of top-end from my Leeds Fuzz build when the pedal is in bypass mode.

I've re-soldered half or more of the pedal trying to fix this, including all the input / output jack solder connections, and all the footswitch solder connections. I used rosin core 60/40 lead solder for the build, and when re-flowing or re-soldering the pedal, I've used additional flux on each solder joint that I've treated. And I've cleaned the flux residue up thoroughly, afterwards.

So, I'm thinking that it might be a faulty component behind the volume drop / high-end loss issue. Perhaps the foot-switch, itself?


Last edited by Delicieuxz on Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 7:57 am 
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Here's a video demoing the volume drop and top-end loss when the pedal is in bypass mode.

The first section is the sound through my amp without the Leeds Fuzz build in the signal chain. The second section (0:22) is with the Leeds Fuzz in the signal chain, in bypass mode. The third section (0:41), is with the Leeds Fuzz pedal engaged.




I left the microphone gain the same for the first two sections, while I had to lower it a bit for the third section, to keep the recording from clipping. And that is with the pedal volume turned far down.


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 9:09 am 
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I can’t help but think it’s an issue with your soldering. There is no circuitry to suck tone in the signal path when the pedal is in bypass. You’ve got the input jack, the traces on the PCB to the stomp switch solder pads, the wire from these pads to the switch and then back again to the PCB. Then you have the traces on the PCB to the output jack’s solder pads, the wires to the jack and then the output jack itself.

Can you post another photo of the stomp switch? In the one you already posted we can’t see the solder joint for lugs 7, 8 or 9. The bare wires I see on the wire going to lug 7 makes me think you didn’t tin the strands before soldering. Not tinning is poor technique. What little I can see of lug 9 looks suspect to me.

A few pix of the IN/OUT jacks are also needed to inspect their soldering. For a lot of folks the soldering of the jacks is a problem due to poor heat transfer.

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 10:14 pm 
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Here are pictures of everything.

Some wires and components have gotten burnt, in the process of redoing the footswitch wiring 1 - 2 times, depending on the wire.

Image


Attachments:
footswitch wiring bottom.jpg
footswitch wiring bottom.jpg [ 685.84 KiB | Viewed 6783 times ]
Input & output jacks.jpg
Input & output jacks.jpg [ 704.04 KiB | Viewed 6783 times ]
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 4:29 am 
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I can’t help but feel that your problem is with your soldering. Very few of your solder joints have that smooth liquid mercury look to them that we like to see. Most of your solder joints look ruff and have an almost porous look to them. Some have a dome shape to them which in my experience is a sign of poor heat transfer. A few of them still have the solder pad showing when they should be completely covered with solder.

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:30 am 
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Stephen wrote:
I can’t help but feel that your problem is with your soldering. Very few of your solder joints have that smooth liquid mercury look to them that we like to see. Most of your solder joints look ruff and have an almost porous look to them. Some have a dome shape to them which in my experience is a sign of poor heat transfer. A few of them still have the solder pad showing when they should be completely covered with solder.


I bought a new soldering iron, and with this one I'm able to get the smooth appearance that you mentioned. Also, re-flowing the bypass circuit with this soldering iron has fixed the volume and tone loss in the bypass mode. So, you were correct about that. So, thanks for the information!

I'm now going to redo the footswitch wiring with my new solder iron.


Last edited by Delicieuxz on Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 3:26 am 
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All done! The pedal is now completed and is performing perfectly. And it sounds great.


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:16 am 
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Glad to hear that the new iron "ironed out" your problems! :wink:

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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


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