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I feel bad bugging you all, but I've been over this thing a bunch of times and I'm stumped. I put together the Large Beaver Triangle kit, and it kind of works, but not really. Bypass works, and hitting the foot switch turns it on, the light comes on, the tone stuff works, but there's almost no gain or sustain. It's very similar to the problem in this thread: http://www.byocelectronics.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=59281

I'm not sure what actually fixed it for that person other than reflowing all of the solder joints. I tried that (not literally all of them, but things that looked like a potential cold joint or maybe not enough solder). This is only my second pedal, and it's way more complicated than the first one, so maybe I'm just missing something.

I don't think it's a power source problem--I didn't even put the battery leads in (that's ok, right?), and I'm using a power supply that works fine with other pedals and is reading 9.3v on a meter. I tried doing the Q1 test in that thread. This is going to sound dumb, but I don't know which way the leads are supposed to go or which things I'm supposed to test, so I tested them all and just explained the leads (hopefully that didn't blow anything up in the process):

When I test C to B (with my neg lead on the B) I get 3.9v
When I test E to B (with my neg lead on the B) I get -0.6v
When I test C to E (with my neg lead on the E) I get 4.7v

Any ideas? Thanks!

Hello, and welcome to the forum. We'll do our best to get your rocking. Thanks for posting good photos of the top side. A few comments:

1. Your soldering looks pretty decent, but it's hard to evaluate it without a photo of the back side of the board. Also, when we recommend a reflow, we recommend all the joints, because it can be really hard to see a cold one, especially if you're new at this.

2. I don't see any component misplacements, although there are people who are better at that who might correct me.

3. To measure the voltage, you need to put the black probe on ground (I recommend the sleeve of one of the jacks, or you can just drop it into one of the empty screw holes). The red probe goes on the test point. I've embedded BYOC's video on how to take voltage readings, in case it helps.

_________________
Scott

My band, Austin Hollow

Hoo boy, I botched that test.

Actual Q1 values when tested to ground are:

C: 4.8v
B: 0.7v
E: Essentially zero (technically 0.045v, but I assume that rounds down)

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. Getting the board out to take a photos of the bottom will be a bit more elaborate, and I'll have to wait until after work.

^ This. More guidance on the reflow process here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=52188

Your Q1 voltages look good. But it would be a good idea to get the analogous values for the other three transistors while you have the back of the PCB exposed for photos. Q2 - Q4 are as shown on the diagram below. I've also listed the tranny voltages from my own Triangle for comparison:



Q1: B=0.62V, C= 4.1V, E=24mV
Q2: B=0.66V, C= 4.7V, E=60mV
Q3: B=0.60V, C= 4.0V, E=22mV
Q4: B=1.8V, C= 5.3V, E=1.2V

Do you by any chance own a signal tester? https://buildyourownclone.com/collectio ... gnaltester

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

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

Thanks so much. I think my Q2 is wonky.

Q1 B=0.66V, C=4.7V, E=45mV
Q2 B=1.6V, C=9.1V, E=0
Q3 B=0.66V, C=4.8V, E=52mV
Q4 B=1.47V, C=5.5V, E=870mv

I took the photos...it was a little tough because there are a bunch of things in the way, but they're attached just in case. I imagine that the Q2 values might be more helpful though...

South:


East:


North:

Looks like I can only do 3 photos in one post.

West:

I did reflow all of the joints on the back. In some ways, it kind of looks worse to me now, with rosin all over and stuff, but maybe I don't know what I'm looking at. The behavior is the same after, plus some extra noise, which I assume (or hope) is just that it's half out of the case and not shielded. I imagine that my Q2 readings are indicating something more specific though.

Also, I do not have that signal tester. If it's just a quarter inch jack to probes, I think I have the stuff on hand to make one. If there's more to it than that, I'll get one. I might need to get a new transistor anyway...

As cheap as NPN bipolar junction transistors are, I would just go ahead and replace Q2 before I did anything else. Contact sales@buildyourownclone.com and let them know that you got one bad one in your kit and they'll send you a replacement. Tell 'em "DVM" sent you!

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

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

Cool, thanks. New transistor on the way. I'll report back when I get it installed.

I just got the transistor today and dropped it in...the pedal is totally working now!

Thanks for your help. I would not have figured this out on my own.

My wife is a retired veterinarian and she resembles that remark.

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Twisting and tinning is for chumps.

I could only play it DI last night because it was late by the time I got it back together, but it's really great through an amp. Thanks again.

It also has the dubious distinction of being the pedal where I learned how to use a solder sucker, so here you go:

By a weird coincidence, my first wife was a veterinarian. Not that that has anything whatsoever to do with my user name here. Which is explained HERE....


Nothing dubious about how it turned out, plus learning how to use a solder sucker is a critical skill in this hobby!

That pedal looks GREAT--please post that photo + the obligatory "gut shot" in the Show Off Your Completed Build sub-forum.

P.S. Love the little graphic you used to show the flat-scooped-humped EQ toggle settings! Très clever!

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

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