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PostPosted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:29 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:24 pm
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Location: Albany, NY
It's one of the most common scenarios we see posted here:

"I finished building my pedal--it works fine in bypass, the LED lights up when I engage the footswitch, BUT THERE'S NO EFFECT/OUTPUT!! HELLLPPP!!!"

Or maybe you have effect output, but the volume is low, or the tone is very thin, or obviously doesn't sound right in some other way. Well, take a deep breath and chill out. It happens A LOT, and we can almost always get such a pedal working. Between the forum moderators and many knowledgeable & helpful DIY'ers here at the BYOC forums, there are plenty of us to help out. But you may be able to solve the problem yourself using a simple technique that has been proven effective again and again. Read on....

Assuming that you've already taken the basic steps of double-checking to make sure that you've wired everything correctly and that there aren't misplaced components or other obvious errors, there's a high probability that your issue is a bad solder joint (or two, or three, or....) somewhere on the PCB. There are already a couple of potential problems that you can reasonably eliminate based upon your observations of what IS working:

  • With the possible exception of a couple of connections, your input jack, output jack and footswitch connections must be good or you wouldn't get a signal in bypass mode.
  • The pedal is getting power, because the LED lights when you engage the footswitch.

So there's a good chance that there's a bad joint somewhere on the PCB that is causing your signal to "dead-end". Sure, there are several other possibilities that could cause a mute pedal, like a signal short to ground or a bad component, but those are less likely, especially if you are a relative novice at pedal building.

Which brings us to the simple troubleshooting technique I mentioned previously. It's elementary and distinctly inelegant, but effective oh-so-often: reflow all your PCB solder joints. Yup--all of them.

By "reflow", we mean simply re-melting the solder joint using a clean, well-tinned hot soldering iron. Typically, you hold the tip against the joint for 2 or 3 seconds--long enough to see it liquefy and perhaps change in shape as the solder flows more deeply into the eyelet and around the component lead or wire end. It's a standard way of fixing a "cold" or poorly formed joint that isn't making electrical contact. You can also use the iron tip to dab away excess solder, if the joint is blobby, or melt on a bit of additional fresh solder, if the joint looks "thin" and doesn't have the ideal conical shape. Also, as you do this, be on the lookout for other solder-related issues, like excess solder "splash" on the board, or solder "bridging" between adjacent eyelets that aren't already connected with a trace on the PCB. Clean up these problems, if you see them. And as long as you're at it, if you have long component leads or wire ends protruding from any of your joints, clip those down the the top of the joint, since they could potentially cause shorts. And one other point: remove any IC's from their sockets before going through the reflow process, and replace them when you finish.

I know it sounds tedious, but with the exception of a couple of the BYOC kits that have an unusually high component count, it only takes maybe 20 - 30 minutes to reflow the entire board. Isn't that modest investment of time worthwhile if it gets the pedal working? You'll frequently spend a whole lot more time than that working through more rigorous troubleshooting methods, like taking DC voltage measurements across multiple components, or using a signal tester to trace out the signal path of the circuit and determine where the signal is dropping out. Plus you don't have to interpret the results--when you get done reflowing, plug the power and cables back in and see if it works. If it does....GREAT!! Enjoy your new pedal! If it doesn't....well, we're still here to help you through the more involved troubleshooting methods.

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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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