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So I just finished building this pedal and it seems to work, but when I first set up the pedal the trim pots for the tremolo did not seem to adjust the tremolo at all. they just seemed to adjust the volume of the outputs. All the way left, no sound at all, all the way to the right unity gain with my guitar signal. Is this how these trim pots are supposed to work? I thought they would adjust the depth of the tremolo so that all the way to the left would be just my guitar signal and as I dialed them in the tremolo would get stronger. My tremolo seems fixed and all the bias pots do is change the volume of the output.

The trimpots do a little of both. You want to set them for maximum depth. But because they affect the voltage that's applied to the gate, they will also have an effect on the overall volume. It varies from build to build. Depending on tolerance build ups, some trimpots may have more of an effect on depth rather than volume and vice versa.

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Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

Well in that case, on one hand the pedal is brilliant, but, on the other I do wish that I could make the tremolo just a tad deeper. If only my trim pots went to 11. Is there anything I could do to enhance that just a little bit? The panning effect with a clean signal and slower speeds is really subtle and I feel that just a little bit more emphasis on the tremolo on each side would really enhance this. Other than that, I LOVE This pedal. I love the phaser, it is one of the best phasers I have played through. This is my 4th BYOC pedal and I have loved them all so I apologize for the minor criticism, as you say, tolerances can have an effect and I am starting to understand how the electronics work just a little but that is like a janitor saying they understand what an atom is to a particle physicist at this point and I am not solving equations on chalk boards at M.I.T. so I have a long ways to go.

It would probably be a good idea for you to post some photos so we can be sure that you didn't misplace a component or two, a very common mistake we see here and which can give rise to problems such as you are describing. Photos need to be LARGE, well-lit & well focused. Given the nature of your problem, I think we can start with just the component side of the PCB.

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

Also, make sure you check out the tremolo from both outputs. IIRC, they are out of phase and one might sound deeper than the other depending on the guitar/amp combo used.

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I will get around to some photos when I get a chance, just in case, but I am pretty sure the pedal is working as intended based on what I have read and what I am hearing. Phaser is amazing, one channel Tremolo is pretty sharp and saw tooth like, the other channel is more subtle.

I believe I am just being a little picky and just wondering if anyone knows enough about the circuit to guide me to an easy mod to try deepening the oscillator evenly across both channels. It was the behavior of the trim pots that made me post at all since I was expecting unity volume and then just a strengthening of the tremolo effect as I turned them up. At the moment it could be anything from the amps I am using to the separation of them in the room that is making the effect seem so subtle. For example: When I have the phaser set to one side, set the panning to a medium-ish speed and then kick on my extra special ESV 2 knob bender, just wow... I could not be happier with the pedal. Kick on some reverb and some delays and I get a sonic wall of moving sound that is even better than I had hoped for. Any dirt at all makes the effect more obvious.

This has been the most complicated pedal I have put together but other than breaking a resistor and having to learn how to navigate ordering a replacement it was also one of the easiest. My soldering skills have gotten a lot better. Except wires, I am still learning the tricks of soldering wires... less about how and more about when and in what order. Those foot switches get crowded sometimes.