Messages

So, it's been awhile, and still no progress. I took lloyd17 up on his offer to test out his chips in my pedal, and the chips didn't fix anything. I'm assuming I probably have a dead transistor, or something of the sort, since I have checked everything meticulously. I'm half-tempted to just buy a new Pork Barrel board, and start over, but I wanna finish what I started! Haha. Is there any easy way to check and see if a certain transistor is dead? Does anyone have the voltages I should be looking for on the trannies in a properly functioning board?

Thanks!
Blake

Hi Blake,

I haven't heard of any way to check except to put the chips in a working pedal that doesn't have issues.

If you have those symptoms though, I would guess that it would be bad chips. Have you got an audio probe to see where you're losing signal? If you could work through the chorus side of the circuit and find out where you lose signal that would probably help. If it happens at the chip, it's a good indicator.

What happens when you turn the trimmer?

Jacob

Hey Jacob!

I do not have an audio probe. I've heard the term used before, but I don't have any experience with one. When I turn the trimmer though, nothing seems to happen at all. I guess I'm just not excited about spending an extra $10-20 for extra chips in case that doesn't end up being the problem, but I don't have any other pedals with 3007's in them, so maybe I just need to bite the bullet and get some new chips. Hmm.

I tried building a Pork Barrel a long time ago, and it didn't work, so I shelved it for awhile, and I'm trying to fix it again, but still not having any luck.

The problem I'm having is that the pedal works in bypass. I do get a clicking sound when the pedal is bypassed which changes as I move the rate knob. This seems odd to me as it goes away when I turn the pedal on, but I've checked over and over, and the wiring should be right. When I turn the pedal on though, there is no chorus, but my clean signal works fine. Once I flip the vibe switch though, the signal cuts out, so it's obviously a problem with the effected part of the circuit.

I've checked all the basic stupid things like if parts are in the correct direction, if their values are correct, etc. and everything appears good on that front. I found a thread where a guy had a similar problem, and once he bought a new 3007 his pedal started working properly. I bought my chips from Small Bear though, so I doubt that would be the problem. Is there any way to check and see if my chip is faulty without buying a new one? Anyone else have any suggestions for me?

Thanks!
Blake

Yeah... I just spent an hour trouble shooting my Fuzz Face because I had an old version of the Zygote instructions that didn't say to include C4 on the Road Rage board. Let this be a lesson to all you kids out there. Download the newest instructions before starting. Haha.

In the passive circuit with the 4PDT, you would put the resistors in series with the yellow wires coming from the Out A and Out B terminals.

Interesting. Would that make any sort of difference when the switch was set to be in series though?

In the splitter blend circuit, notice the 25k pot strapped across the outputs of U2A and U2B. Those are the outputs to which I'm referring. You could replace the pot with two 10k resistors in series, one end of each tied to the electro caps on each output, and the junction being the mixed output. HTH.

So, in the picture with the 4pdt switch, where the orange jumper is in the top right, if I just added a 10k resistor to ground from each one of those lugs, would that probably solve the problem? I'm curious if that would work, or if I'm misunderstanding you somehow.

You can't just tie the outputs together, as each output will look like a dead short to the other. You need some resistance on each output to mix them together. It can be as low as 1k, but 10k on each is probably better, that way each output sees 20k to ground, which it should have no problem driving. Because of the voltage divider created, each output will only contribute half of its signal voltage to the mixed output, assuming fixed resistors. If using a pot, like the splitter-blend, you can get full output from one or the other output, or any blend in between.

Just to get a bit of clarification, which outputs are you talking about? He has a lot of things labeled as "output" in that picture like the return from circuit a, return from circuit b, the output from the first footswitch, the output from the second footswitch that goes to the output jack, etc. Thanks for the help, I just want to make sure I know exactly which one you're talking about.

this is what I came up with for a series/parallel switch. The biggest problem I see is that I cannot ground the input to either effect in bypass while the switch is in series mode because it would mute the input of the other effect to ground. I generally like to mute the input wire to ground in bypass to prevent buildup in the caps which would cause a pop. I can't really figure out a way around that.

the other potential problem I see is that when the pedal is in series mode the extra wire going to input A and the other extra wire going to the output jack will just be hanging loose which is a potential problem for noise.

also if there was a way to simplify it to use a dpdt that would be great. I had to use a 4pdt to figure it out. if anybody can verify or help me out I would appreciate it. I am probably going to build my "camel toe" in the next week and I will try it out.

-mike

I'm curious about this exact same issue. Did anyone ever test Mike's diagram to see if it worked well?

Thats so rad! I like the final finish a lot. Which version did you build?

Can't believe I forgot to reply to this! Sorry! I built the v3205 version, but I bought a double delay time board too, so I'm running the pedal at like 600ms. I'm really happy with it though. Nice, dark, dark repeats. Just what I wanted.

Finally got around to fixing the graphics. Say hello to the Sparkle Puss!





Then here it is with its big brother.

Just wanted to add a bit on the diodes.  I tried the small bear NOS Ge (they say are 1n34as) and 'real' 1n34as. They sounded very different.  The 'work alike' diodes were way too harsh.  The 'real' 1n34as were much like 1n270s but just a bit more compressed.  I left the 'real' 1n34as in for my next gig.

Good to know. I'm using BAT41's in mine still, but I noticed in another build I used the Small Bear 1n34a's, and I wasn't as happy with them as the ones I bought from Mouser. Glad to know I wasn't the only one.

Brian, I'm also very interested in this topic. I just sent you an e-mail. Hope to hear back soon!

I still owe some voltages on a Wolfshirt, so I will add this one too. I will get both of these done by tomorrow. I've been too distracted futzing around with an idea...time to buckle down and take care of business around here!

So, I haven't had any time to build an audio probe or anything yet, since I had to trouble shoot two other things first, but if you ever had a chance to check those voltages, I'd appreciate it. Like I said, I have a feeling one of those transistors might be bad, so I'd just like to compare and see what I get, if you had a chance. If not, that's totally cool too.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Looks like I may just have to build an audio probe at some point when I get free time.

I'm going to agree. Voltages may help, but I'm not going to invade my build to get them for you. If you don't have an audio probe as I suggested earlier, then make one. I think that will help you much faster than the voltages will.

Jacob

Sorry if it sounded like I was wanting someone to take apart their pedal and get voltages for me. I was just hoping that someone had happened to write them down as they were building the pedal (Madbean, for instance), so that I could do a quick spot check. Again, I wasn't trying to talk you into taking your pedal apart or anything!

Again, if anyone had a list of the voltages I should be getting on my ICs and trannies, that would be awesome, and I would greatly appreciate it. I'd love to get this thing up and running, but I don't really know what values to expect..