Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hi all,

My second pedal build after a bit of time off.

All seemed to be going well and when I was happy I popped the dc power and no light. A quick check and I had connected the negative cables the wrong way around! Doh..

Corrected the above and powered up via 9v battery first (no issues) and then DC input (no issues)

Stuck some audio through it and the thing's making a hell of a racket once the volume is opened up. Audio passes through but it's making a horrible random noise. The noise gets louder as I increase the volume.

I've stripped it back down to just the board, checked/re-flowed the component joints and reassembled. Still the same..

Any advice appreciated.

Regards,

Simon

Hi Simon, welcome to the forum! We'll be glad to help. I have several questions about your post:

1. What do you mean by "popped the dc power"?
2. What do you mean by "connected the negative cables the wrong way around"?
3. You say you had "no issues" but then also that it makes a lot of noise. What did you mean by no issues?
4. What do you mean by "stripped it back down to just the board"?

Sorry if I'm being dense, but it's important we're all on the same page if we're going to figure out what's going on.

Finally, the best thing you can do is show us some good, clear photos of your build. Show us both sides of the board and all your off-board wiring.

_________________
Scott

My band, Austin Hollow

Scott,

Thanks for coming back to me and apologies for the lack of clarity;

1. What do you mean by "popped the dc power"? I inserted a 9v DC negative earth power lead into the DC power input.
2. What do you mean by "connected the negative cables the wrong way around"? I meant the two positive connections from the DC input connector to the board were incorrect. They were wired to the two positive board inputs but the wrong way around as described in this post to common wiring issue - viewtopic.php?f=9&t=52139
3. You say you had "no issues" but then also that it makes a lot of noise. What did you mean by no issues? By no issues I meant that the pedal powered up correctly (LED on) when either a battery or cable was use to power the pedal. Audio passed through the pedal and was amplified as the volume knob was increased. This pedal is completely silent with the volume knob fully off and amplifies as it is increased. The audio signal is however accompanied by a significant amount of noise (cracking/popping etc)
4. What do you mean by "stripped it back down to just the board"? I disassembled the pedal back to a populated circuit board (components left in place) and the checked/re-flowed the component joints. I then rebuilt the pedal connecting up the in/out jacks, switch, DC power input socket as per the instructions.

I will try and get some photos up shortly.

Regards,

Simon

Could be a bad Ge transistor, which isn't uncommon with these NOS trannies. If you have access to a PNP silicon transistor, such as a 2N3906, you could pop that in there and see if the noise stops.

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

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

Thanks for the input.

I have ordered a couple of the 2N3906 and will test this to see if it's the Ge that's the root cause of the noise..

Regards,

Simon

Turned out to be a faulty transistor..

Thanks for all the help.

Simon

Glad you got it figured out! Send an email to sales@buildyourownclone.com and tell them about this thread. Since it was a faulty part, they should send out a replacement germanium transistor.

_________________
Scott

My band, Austin Hollow

Cheers Scott.