Just finished soldering up my Sharkfin. Put the IC's in so I could rock it before I box it. Plugged in the guitar and nothing. That of course is followed by the usual moment of depression. I mean, who wants to trouble shoot a Sharkfin. Am I right guys? Then, as usual I'm confronted with my own stupidity... A sharkfin won't work when you forget to put ALL SIX transistors in. It's touchy like that.
Put those bad boys in and it fired right up. I'm a happy boy again.
Build report soon. Gotta finish the box now.
Been there, done that... You are definitely not alone. I love when I build a Rat and forget to plug in the IC. Dont that one twice. Most of it is from building after 2:00am. lol
Did that with the Ring Stinger. Put all the ICs in... except for the VCO's quad opamp. I don't think much happened without it.
I find it funnier when I plug the guitar cables around the wrong way (in -> out and out -> in) :D
I know that feeling ::)
My first build was a ZenDrive kit a couple of years ago, with no soldering experience whatsoever. I was extra careful and made sure to follow the instructions to a T, but when I plugged it in - nothing. The following half hour or so was devastating, I checked everything and couldn't find a single mistake. Just when I was about to throw everything into the trash and give up building pedals for good, I found the IC sitting on my desk - put it in and of course it worked perfectly.
Now that I think of it, the feeling of joy after all that depression is priceless ;D Who knew that building pedals would be an emotional roller coaster ;D
hahaha, This is funny!
i forgot once to plug the Ispot on the electricity...after almost opening everything, i found the issue :P
Ha ha ha, I did that on....well...all of my builds usually go from no IC's to trannies to power to guitar not even plugged in.
Done that plenty of times. Did it last week, as a matter of fact.
Quote from: jimilee on January 29, 2014, 07:12:36 AM
Ha ha ha, I did that on....well...all of my builds usually go from no IC's to trannies to power to guitar not even plugged in.
maaaaaaan! i know its nice to build pedals with a beer or a glass of wine...but not several bottles!!!!
I once pluged the pedal wrong: guitar to the output and amp to the input, half an hour until I found the issue...
It makes me happier than it should when other people make the same stupid mistakes I've made.
I've check ICs two or three times before I realize that I'm looking at an empty socket.
I'M NOT ALONE!
I have only one thing to add: ME TOO!!!!
Paul
Everytime I plug a new pedal in, I forget to do something. Transistor or IC not in sockets, either end of cables not plugged it, amp not switched on, or my personal favourite, after a few drinks, I plugged the guitar into the amp, then plugged a cable from the input of the pedal to the output of the pedal, and wondered why it didn't work for about half an hour.
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It is a drag when a pedal doesn't work first time, but I find I actually learn much more when I have to troubleshoot it and think about how it works.
I find with experience I still make dumb mistakes, but I can find the errors quicker now.
Andrew.
I love it when I plug everything in correctly, but forget to turn on the amp.
Jacob
i did that once when i built a madbean faultline. i had to troubleshoot for about 30 minutes before i realized i didn't have any of the jfets in their sockets.
my favorite was a few months ago when i was testing something, and i thought it didn't work because i wasn't getting a signal, just a lot of hum. evidently, it helps to plug the cable into your guitar.
I do that this way! First I forget to plug the DC power. When I remember to plug it in and it won't play again, I then remember that I haven't put the ICs in the damn thing! (Several curses have already been told in the process)! ;D
Hector
Well, I do have something to add: I once spent at least 45 minutes de- and resoldering wires, trying to find the reason why the input of my build was connected to ground. 'T was the 3PDT, faithfully connected per Madbeans standard wiring, which was in the bypass position.........
Paul
Yeah, I've done about all of those at some point 8)
Josh
I think threads like this really help us new guys feel confident about our mistakes and shows us that EVERYONE does it at some point. I love hearing fail stories since we all can relate no matter how long you have been building.
Cody
Got to tell another one on myself. I think this was my worse.
I built a Porkbarrel Chorus and was so excited. Plugged it in and it was really distorted. Spent quite a while going through it with a fine tooth comb. Checking all the resistor values etc. Came back to plug it in and noticed the signal chain. Guitar > distortion pedal (which was on) > test rig with the Porkbarrel > amp.
So here is a great tip. (Probably should be a sticky mods). When you have a distortion pedal in the signal chain and its turned on your chorus will distort. How do you miss something like that? I think it would really help my pedal building if I was actually smarter than the pedals I build.
i just did this yesterday on my most recent build. forgot to put in the IC's for my boss fa-1 clone.
Quote from: jkokura on January 29, 2014, 10:54:11 AM
I love it when I plug everything in correctly, but forget to turn on the amp.
Jacob
Oh yeah! That's another one! The amps in standby 'dam...doesn't work...back to the workbench'. :D
Done that too many times!
For me it's guitar>output, input>amp. Or my favorite, volume pot on guitar is down because someone who is actually sophisticated enough to use that knob was playing my guitar.