Build Your Own Clone Message Board

i just built this last night. It was pretty easy, instructions were well laid out and written. The pedal seems to be working and sounds good (read below) but there is definitely an issue that I believe is with a few of the pots.

1) On the Attack, Sensitivity and Range knobs, the knobs themselves are very easy to turn for the first 30% of the rotation, then the next 40% is tough to turn, then the last 30% is really easy again.

2) If I have the attack setting at anything other than zero (turned all the way CCW), initially there is nothing coming out until I let the strings resonate long enough then some sound starts coming. When on zero, the strings ring normally.

3) sensitivity needs to be at 60-100% otherwise there is no sound. Also when the sound starts diminishing to a point of "cutoff" where the pedal wants to cut off the sound completely, it sounds very digital as it dies out over a second or two...

4) Despite the strange rotation, the range knob seems to function properly.

These things don't sound normal. I have checked all the soldering. I have soldered quite a bit in my life and as I said, the pedal works, the soldering looks great when you look at the PCB. With the attack all the way off and sensitivity cranked up at least 70% or higher, the pedal sounds great but only for this limited range of settings.

1) Loosen the set screw and raise the knob a little. It is dragging on the nut beneath it.

2&3) Have you checked to make sure you have the correct pots in the Attack and Sensitivity locations?

Stephen, I will check both items you suggested and post the results. While I'm taking it all apart, I'll check all the soldering, lead lengths on the underside, etc and stuff, as well. I noticed in some other threads people put some white pads (foam?) between the back of the pots and the PCB board (I'm assuming to prevent a short out). What is that material, just regular foam? Was that supposed to be in the kit? Thanks so much for your help.

You can use anything that is non-conductive to insulate the back of the pots. And no it isn't meant to be a part of the kit. I use adhesive backed plastic discs on the back of pots in my builds (see photo). You could also use electrical tape. Do a search here on the forum for "pot condom" for more.

1) set-screwing the knobs a bit higher on the post did fix the rotation issue.

2) the problem with the attack and sensitivity is still there. Pots seem to be correct see photo. I took the pedal apart and took photos and also hooked it up while dismantled. I made sure everything was separated by rubber pads. When I have attack at zero and sensitivity at max, it works great.

As attack gets turned up, within the first 5% the pedal dies out
As sensitivity gets turned down, at about 50-60% pedal dies out

Any help is greatly appreciated. Here's the pictures:

So I put it back together and the attack pot is functioning properly now! WTF. I am wondering if the sides of the attack and sensitivity were touching since they are so close. The sensitivity pot is still only giving me the 50% useable range at the 50-100% settings but I'm good with that.

Time to take it apart again, put some elec tape on the side of the sens/attack pots, paint it, etc and put it back together.

The pots touching each other isn't the problem. The casing of the pots are all grounded by their common connection to the enclosure when the pedal is assembled. So in a sense they're already "touching" even though they aren't.

Well I've had bad pots before and actually they somewhat behaved the same way though never as "severe" as this (going from 0-10 in a 50% rotation).

Do you see anything wrong from the pics? (aside from a handful of crappy solders...)

At this point, everything is working well except the sensitivity knob. I will say on manual, it doesn't really do to much but muffle the sound in a way - not sure if that's right. But the filter switch works well...

I see a wire from the power input thats not soldered on the PCB or at least from one angle it looks like it isn't...

Make sure you understand what the sensitivity knob does:
SENSITIVITY: Controls how hard you need to pick in order to trigger the envelope.

Its more for the input signal, and affects how the envelope filter effect is triggered.

The manual control is the only pot that should have a major effect on the pedal when the switch is to the right for manual/fixed wah pedal mode.

The other 3 control the filter when set to the left... So sensitivity should not be doing much of anything in manual mode...but I'll have to double check if what yours is doing is normal.

Yea, it does look that way from the pics but if you look at the other pic you can see on the other end it is firmly soldered.

I agree with the rest of what you said. If on manual only the manual knob does anything, just saying there's not much wah going on. More like a tone pot than a wah pedal.

With the switch to the left on filter/env. the sensitivity gives me nothing no matter how hard I crank on the strings from 0-50% - I'm using Seymour Duncan AlnicoIIs in a LesPaul. Are these really low output pickups?

In fact, now that I put the box together AGAIN, the attack knob is acting up again...sigh. But it does sound good at these settings:

Attack=3%
Sensitivity=95%

I see several suspect solder joints. A quality solder joint will have a cone shape to it. I see several of yours have dome shapes which can possibly be cold solder joints. Your soldering of the stomp switch looks dull and a bit clumpy. The solder should have a smooth almost liquid look to it when you're done. Look at the soldering in these two pix. Notice how smooth the soldering looks. Compare that to your soldering of the stomp switch and jacks. Notice the difference?




Someone who isn't color blind will have to check your resistor placement.

I've disassembled and twisted this thing enough where I'd think they would pop if they were cold, but I'll retouch. On pin "7"? (bottom right of photo), i retouched it, but I'll do it again. On 2 adn 9, that's a doubled up lead wire twisted so it looks clumpy in the photo but I dressed the whole wire and its pretty tight. On 2, where it meets the other wire, there's just a bunch of wire there, but I'll retouch.

I don't see the switch being the problem but I don't know. I think I'll retouch the pot legs again. After that I'm outta ideas. Hopefully that works. Honestly I'm wondering if I should just leave it, at the settings I posted above it sounds great (I play reggae so I don't need a whole lotta adjustment).

Ahhhh, okay I'll do it...

I didn't mention the switch as a possible cause of your problem. Only to point out an example of poor soldering.

EDIT (2nd time)...I played it again this AM (working from home). I think the attack knob is working properly. Weird but seems like every time I turn the pedal on it gets a little better without me doing anything. This AM the attack pot was acting quite a bit smoother than before. there is still a peak at the 10% mark or so, but whatever.

Sensitivity knob is still weird
under 50% (CCW to "noon") pedal produces no sound. I could tape a stick of dynamite to the pickup and blast my guitar into 10,000 pieces and the pedal will produce no noise.
50%-100% (fully CW) here's a description of what happens while attack is maxxed at about 7.5% (max attack):

50% - nothing
60-80% - strum all strings hard, faint sound increasing
80-100% - getting near full volume to full volume

Here's a new pic, I just saw you wrote you're color blind. I'm curious, how do you know which resistors are which when you build? EDIT - I checked these resistors 3 times vs the PDF instructions. They seem right but would certainly appreciate a second opinion. TIA

The sensitivity knob as I stated in my previous message, does not make/produce a sound on the output, it controls the amount of the signal on the input needed to trigger the effect, but is not the effect itself. Turning that knob while not playing anything or having any audible signal going into the pedal will not do anything. The position this knob has to be in before it starts to trigger the effect may vary from guitar to guitar based on things including but not limited to the type of pickups, output of the pickups, and how hard or soft you pick.

Unless I am misreading or misunderstanding exactly what the issue is.

WHILE playing i get no sound from the amp if sensitivity is below 50%. Is that a proper functioning pedal? I would think i would get dry guitar playing out at least with no wah/filter effect if sensitivity was set too low.