Build Your Own Clone Message Board

I cannot post pics just yet but basically, my chorus pedal bypasses fine when off, but when it is on, the led lights up but the signal still bypasses and there is no effect. would this be something to do with connections at the switch or something to do with the ICs.
Many thanks for any replies.

Have you tried dialing in the trim pot on the PCB yet?

Yep at first there was an ugly distortion so i adjusted the trimpot and its just clean now but still no effect, in any of the trimpot positions.

Time to post photos then. Include shots of both sides of the PCB as well as shots of the wiring. Make sure they are up close and in focus. Blurry pix are no help to us. See the pix in this thread to see a great example of the quality of photos we need to see.

viewtopic.php?f=51&t=38177

Okay these were the best I can do, the soldering looks a bit messy but all the contacts are good and there are no shorts from what i have tested. It looks as if the switch leads are not soldered properly but they are soldered from the other side. Il resolder those too and see if there is a change.

Over all your solder joints looks pretty good but I still see several that are suspect. The soldering of the stomp switch lugs is a mess. The soldering isn't very good and you shouldn't have stray strands of wire all over the place. This is poor wire dressing. Have you given this thread a read?

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6401

The two solder joints in the lower right corner of this photo with the leads sticking thru them look suspect...


And the one in the upper right corner of this photo with the lead sticking thru it...


I'd recommend going back over all your solder joints. Some that look like a spike need to be re-done since they are possibly cold joints. Any joints that look like a donut with the lead pocking thru the center are also suspect. You should also clean the spatter off the board. These little blobs of solder can create shorts. Someone that isn't colorblind will have to confirm if you have all your resistors placed correctly.

Okay I have: gone over all solder joints, cleaned up switch area, made sure all caps and resistors are correct, checked for shorts and bad solder joints. Still got the problem. The fact that it is not engaging the effect makes me think that it is sonething simple like a wire going to the wrong place but I can't find anything like that.

I suggest getting or making yourself a signal probe next...

http://buildyourownclone.com/signaltest ... ctions.pdf

You can make one easily from a short instrument cable you don't need and a 1uf cap. The rest of the hardware shown in the pdf file isn't really necessary.

Okay many thanks, I'll try that.

My Chorus does the exact same thing. Did you ever figure out what was wrong with yours?