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Flintlock Flanger build problems hum

Started by Spenzerleehorton, July 28, 2018, 01:16:33 AM

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stringsthings

Quote from: Spenzerleehorton on August 17, 2018, 02:25:56 AM
I've also shortened all the wires and tested outside the box.
I'm pretty sure the frequencies are not 69khz to 2.6mhz!!!
Does this matter?

Spenzer,

Is this your first pedal build?   What kind of guitar are you going to use with this flanger?
And what kind of soldering iron are you using?
All You Need Is Love

Spenzerleehorton

Not my first build, I got Les Paul and other guitars, and my iron is an adjustable digital one.

stringsthings

Les Paul's are awesome.  Excellent choice.

Have you built any distortion/fuzz boxes?  I'm asking this because the flintlock is a complex build
and I'm wondering if you've bitten off a bit more than you can chew. 
Learning how to trouble-shoot is a very important part of pedal DIY.
All You Need Is Love

Govmnt_Lacky

Quote from: Spenzerleehorton on August 17, 2018, 02:25:56 AM
I'm pretty sure the frequencies are not 69khz to 2.6mhz!!!

Do they matter to be exact?..... NO

However, if you do not dial them in close to these numbers you can experience clock whine at the ends of the sweep as well as other noise.

Spenzerleehorton

Well I've built an mxr flanger, tremolo, phase 90, electric mistress, arbiter fuzz, 2 x SSL4000, 4 x 1176 Rev d compresssors, 2xLA2A compressors, 4 x DBX 160, about 20 valve mics and a fender champ.
So I think I know my way a soldering iron, but some circuits are difficult to pin down when they are small and compact, I'm always learning but have never been taught anything academically.

stringsthings

Quote from: Spenzerleehorton on August 17, 2018, 07:36:35 PM
Well I've built an mxr flanger, tremolo, phase 90, electric mistress, arbiter fuzz, 2 x SSL4000, 4 x 1176 Rev d compresssors, 2xLA2A compressors, 4 x DBX 160, about 20 valve mics and a fender champ.
So I think I know my way a soldering iron, but some circuits are difficult to pin down when they are small and compact, I'm always learning but have never been taught anything academically.

Excellent.

Have you had to trouble-shoot any of your builds?    Such as problems with the MXR flanger, or the Electric Mistress?
All You Need Is Love

Spenzerleehorton

#36
Yes all builds have some problems, mxr flanger had a wrong cap value which stumped me, silly mistake but I figured it out in the end.
Electric mistress went fine and worked first time but I did manage to make it into a weird delay pedal at one point!!
The Ada all works now just need a bit more time to fully get my head around the circuit and now I know I don't have to dial in the exact frequencies as per manual. and I've got flanging now so just need to get shot of the high pitched chirp in the flange sound.

Scruffie

Right, the chirping is likely heterodyning which is when two clocks interact, in this case the 4047 and the LT1054, this build can be built without it so it's likely one of 3 things;
1) It's out of the enclosure.
2) Your wiring (if you can make those pots in to onboard pots with resistor/cap offcuts like some do that would eliminate this question) is causing cross interference. You could also just poke them around and see if it gets better as you move them.
3) Your clock settings are off and causing the issue, the LT1054 runs at 35-45kHz if I recall correctly, if your lower 4047 frequency was too close to that it could cause an issue. If you have a way of measuring frequency you really should use it, it'll definitely help get the best out of the pedal anyway.

Do not install C37 unless you're willing to go through more debugging, while it was added as a safety net for this problem it was never actually tested and was just taken from the data sheet, someone on here recently built the Countdown phaser and added it and it caused all sorts of issues.
Works at Lectric-FX

stringsthings

If I was a betting man, I'd put my money on reason #2.  I gave up on offboard wiring
unless I have no choice.  The person that invented onboard pots deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.
All You Need Is Love

somnif

For what its worth, my Flintlock could never calibrate to the exact frequencies in the calibration doc, no matter how much I played with it. I'm guessing a couple caps may have been at one extreme or another of their tolerances. I got about the right range, just a little shifted. It still sounds great to my ears.

Spenzerleehorton

Thank you all, now I know these things I think I'll be fine, happy days!!!

Spenzerleehorton

I will add that in the MXR flanger i had chirps in the flange and i had a wrong cap in there, will double check i haven't done the same thing here!!
Pedal sounding pretty good now, does a great job at a nice chorus, some really wacky sounds in there, love it!!
Now to make a big muff PI and get this envelope filter working better.