Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hello, new to building this is my second build. I took the included confidence boaster and made it into a full pedal with LED, Volume pot, footswitch & DC adapter. Works great and love it! Put together my fuzz today plugged it in and LED and Bypass worked also works when I turned it on but no change in sound unless I turned everything all the way up. On thin setting it did this weird faint distorted delay kinda sound, fat and full both had a faint distortion, no delay. Went back to check over my work and noticed I swapped the bias and volume pots by mistake. Took the out to place them correctly and a few of the small gold solder pads came out with them (DK if that's what's causing the problem?) When I went to solder them it was very difficult to get a good flow without the solder pad but did my best to secure them. Went to try it and again LED and bypass work, I get sound but it's 100% clean (same as bypass). I went back and reflowed the pots again and a few other spot I thought could use but didnt want to over do it as I feel the PCB, especially for the pots, got worked in the process but still the same.. get sound but just clean. I definitely know my soldering isn't the best..feel like it may be FUBAR'D. Any saving her? Or is it toast? Thanks!



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Anybody have any ideas on what the issue maybe? Maybe a transistors since I get sound when it's on just no fuzz (same as bypass). Or is it possible the footswitch is only turning on the LED and not the effect? Or could I have fried the pots or PCB? If any of the above components are faulty would I still get sound in bypass and when it's on? Sorry for the noob questions. I'm not ready to give up just don't know where to go from here. Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!

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Your photos aren’t the best to go on but from what I can see the soldering of the pots look a bit suspect.

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"It’s your soldering."

Yes definitely suspect..I swapped the bias and volume pots by mistake and the soldering pads came out when I removed them so I had a tough time getting them to stickbonce I put them in the right spot.. I reflowed a couple times but didn't want to over do it. Would you suggest I do it again? If the issue is that the pots are poorly soldered would I still get sound when it on? Thanks for your response appreciate you

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I would suggest using a DMM to check continuity. You need to confirm that each pot’s 3 connections have continuity where they should have continuity and where they should not have continuity.

_________________
"It’s your soldering."

^ This. If you ripped solder pads off some of the pot connection eyelets, there's a very good chance that the affected pot(s) are doing nothing.

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

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

Everything seems to be in order 10.2 on the 10k pot, 96.7 on the 100k pot, and 1 on the 1k. I tested end to end, end to whiper and opposite whiper to end. I also turned the pots each way and seem to have smooth transitions to 0

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You need to check the continuity of the pots not their resistance.

Refer to the circuit schematic on page 27 and the mapped out PCB on page 28 of the build doc. Look at VR1 in the schematic. One end is connected to resistor R3 & the Emitter of Q2. The other end is connected to ground. The wiper is connected to the positive end of C5. These connections need to be confirmed by checking their continuity. You also need to check that there is no continuity in places where there shouldn’t be any. Like from the end of the pot that is connected to R3 should NOT also have continuity to ground. These checks need to be made for VR2 and VR3 as well.

When touching your probe to a pot do not test by using the place where the pot is soldered to the PCB. Instead touch your probe directly to the each metal leg of the pot. The solder joint may have continuity with the circuit but that doesn’t necessarily mean the lug of the pot has continuity to the circuit.

_________________
"It’s your soldering."

It's not the pots themselves you should be worried about--it's the connections between each leg and the other components they're attached to. These are the connections that may be broken when you tear off a solder pad.

Take a look at the schematic that I've marked up below--for each pot, I've circled the other components that it's attached to using the same color. You can then locate those components on the PCB map (also attached below) and check for continuity between them. The pot wiper connections are clear from the schematic, but check each of the outside legs for continuity to the other circled components. And be sure to check both legs of the resistors and caps, since it's not always clear from the schematic which side the connection is to on the PCB. For the top fuzz pot connection, test at the emitter of Q2. For the ground connections on the fuzz and level pots, you can just use one of the corner screw bosses, assuming that everything is mounted in the enclosure.

EDIT: Stephen beat me to it (by one minute! ), but we're saying the same thing. Between our two posts, you should have all the info you need.

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

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

So the 1k fuzz pot seems good getting continuity where it should and isn't where it shouldn't. The two (V2&V3) I swapped got nothing though. Nothing to C6 on either and V2 has nothing to R5 or R6. Anything I can do to remedy that? Thanks for all your help fellas

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Yep, not surprising--detached solder pads are usually a bad thing!

Basically, what you need to do is to run wires between the pot legs and the components that they are no longer attached to, replacing the circuit paths that were broken when those pads lifted. The easiest way to do that is on the solder side of the PCB, soldering one end of a wire to the pot leg and the other to the solder joint at the correct (!) attachment point for the component. You should be able to just "tack solder" that end of the wire to the joint. Be sure to keep the stripped end of the wire very short. (This last comment only applies to the connection from the Level pot/VR3 to C6 in the diagram below.)

For the Level pot repair, it's very straightforward--just run a wire from the inboard pot leg down to the side of C6 right next to the toggle switch. For the Bias pot, it's a little more complicated because the wiper and inboard legs should be tied together, but probably no longer are from the pad damage. So what you want to do is to wrap a piece of trimmed component lead (a short piece of completely stripped wire will work, as well) around the wiper leg, solder it in place, then tack solder it first to the inboard leg and then to the adjacent solder joint of R5. You do NOT need to run a wire down to C6 because there's already a board trace connecting to it from that same side of R5. Lastly, use the same component lead repair method to attach the outboard Bias pot leg to the top of R6. I've indicated each of these repair connections with colored lines on a marked-up PCB map attached below, but make the connections on the back (solder) side.

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

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

Well this keeps getting stranger and weirder. So I did everything you said I attached the two Legs on V2 then attached the far to R5 then attached other leg to R6. Confirmed continuity between all said joints as well as R5 to C2. Then attached V3 whiper to lug 7 and far leg to the opposite end of C2 (also follow the tracks on PCB to make sure I was connecting the right parts) and again confirmed continuity. Threw it on my pedalboard and got no sound bypass or when it was on, LED worked but was very faint. When I turn the bias knob the LEDs birghtness turned up. Then I turned up my boost pedal (which is 3 pedals in the chain before where I put the this pedal) and when I turn it all the way up I can hear the guitar signal in bypass and when pedal is on but is still clean no distortion and is still faint, not even close to what my bypass signal in the chain is without it on my board. This also caused LED to go out. So got faint sound with my boost pedal maxed out but LED went out. Then when I turn my boost pedals knob the opposite way it turn up the brightness on the LED on my fuzz!? So turned all the way the opposite way I get no sound but LED at full brightness. When I unplug the DC adapter but leave the input and output plugged into my board my guitar signal goes back to normal volume. I'm so lost haha I don't understand first how the V2 pot was controlling the LED but then a completely different pedal effecting the LED = mind blown..

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Sounds like maybe you have the DC adapter jack wired wrong. Can you post a clear close-up photo of the jack wiring showing the connections to both the jack and the PCB? Have you tried running the Classic Fuzz with a 9V battery?

What happens if you run guitar --> Classic Fuzz --> amp? How does the pedal behave then?

I'd also like to see how you have the input and output jacks wired. Again, need to be able to clearly see the wire connections to the jack solder tabs and to the PCB eyelets. Can't make out those connections in any of your initial group of photos.

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

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

You were right it was my wiring on my input/output Jack's. Works like a charm now! Can't thanks you both enough for all your help!



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Great! Enjoy!!

(I like your paint job, too!)

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

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