Build Your Own Clone Message Board

just built it LED comes on then dims immediately. pedal works with LED on and produces wet signal. switch to bypass signal and LED shuts off and the pedal goes quiet. also experiencing loud pop when toggle switch is pushed. i had to remove a capacitor due to accidentaly placing it in the LED spot. possible damage to it? LED i beleive is in the right way. what is my problem? thanks.

No pictures means no one on this forum can visually examine your build for mistakes. Your description is too vague - for example which capacitor (I'd assume C14 10uF connects to the balance control wiper) ? and what did you do with the LED - place it in the cap position ? Did you try powering the pedal before you spotted the cap mistake?

The LED is probably in the right way - it won't illuminate at all if it is in the wrong way around. The LED has its own very simple circuit - LED, resistor, switch and power - that's it. If the LED is doing weird things you almost certainly have screwed up the switch wiring or you have a solder short on the PCB. A loud thump from the switch would also indicate a switch wiring mistake.

If you did not apply power with the cap in the wrong position and you did not apply to much heat and force removing it and placing it in the right position it is probably OK.

Switch was wired wrong re-wired the switch and now no pop and LED works correctly I had put the switch in with the posts going vertical instead of horizontal so that was my problem. Unfortunately . Now there is a clean signal and the LED work as it should but when I toggle from clean to distorted there is no effect signal . Here's your pictures. Thanks

The wiring and solder looks bad but I have both side.of the board well soldered I only lost the effect signal once I re-wired the switch correctly notice the black cap. That's the one I accidentally placed in the LED position I replaced the original green one with a new one for fear it was bad. 10 uf 15 volt

Nothing jumps out at me except if you are testing outside the case the output jack will need a connection to ground which it normally gets from being bolted to the case.

And just to check - the diagonal bare wire link across the switch isn't shorting on the centre pin is it?

Next I would suggest you go through the circuit with an audio probe to see where the signal disappears. For example does the audio signal get as far as the top of VR1.

I don't think its shorting but good eye. So audio probe and say I lose signal at a component then it is likely bad? Or a short as well? Thanks

Well what you need to do is use an audio probe to home in on where your problem lies. The audio signal follows a distinct path through the circuit and there are key points along the way that should exhibit a strong signal.

Identify those points from the circuit diagram - tip of the input jack, switch end of R1, collector Q1, emitter of Q2, top of VR1, dual transistor end of R21, top of VR3, collector of Q(6?).

Then you can work forwards from the input jack, backwards from the input jack or start in the middle somewhere. Lets say you work forwards from the input jack - once you find a point where the signal disappears then you know your problem lies just upstream of that point. Once you have it narrowed down you can give those components a really close visual inspection. And perhaps check some DC voltages to see if the DC state of the circuit is as designed. For example you might expect the emitter of Q2 to be somewhere near + 4.5V and the collector of Q1 to be about 0.6 volts above that.

Your problem could be values in the wrong place, a short, a bad joint or a dead component.

Thanks I'll try that