A/DA Flangers 1 works, kinda 1 works, sorta

[BDuguay]

I have 2 of these pedals, both MN3010 versions. The one works fine but the effect fades out. The other has something going on but,, well, I dunnoh.
Today I'm going to try and borrow a meter that has a sufficient frequency range (mine doesn't) to do the clock calibration but in the meantime I'm looking for any and all suggestions.
As always, thanks for your help.
B.

[Mark Hammer]

"Fades out" is a phrase that merits some elaboration. 

Do keep in mind that, like the Boss CE-1, the A/DA Flanger uses a FET as a gate for noise-control.  When the input signal goes below Threshold, the FET gets turned on, and forms a low resistance path to ground for the delay signal, returning to high-resistance once you start playing again.

So, "fading out" might suggest an issue with the envelope-following/noise-gating circuitry...assuming you mean that only the effect fades out and not the entire signal, wet+dry.

[StephenGiles]

Best  - well you could try disabling the noise gating circuitry and then see if output is OK.

[Mark Hammer]

That's an excellent idea, Stephen.  Brian will get some noise during non-strumming parts, but if he continues to get delay signal, then that isolates the source of the problem.

[BDuguay]

I borrowed a meter but I'm not sure what I'm doing. I tried following the youtube video for the moosapotomus A/DA clone calibration but I'm not getting anything. I have a full ADA Depot (adadepot.com) manual and I'm following the instructions to calibrate the clock using trimpots 4 and 5.
I'll try and post links later. Right now it's off to work where I don't dare even think of visiting the place for fear of Big Brother coming down on me. Seriously.
B.

[BDuguay]

Thanks to a super cool like minded co-worker with way more E.E. knowledge than me, it turns out I'm using the wrong meter. He has the one I need and I will borrow shortly. In the meantime here is the calibration video I was referring to.

[BDuguay]

Let's try again...
[ftp]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4JCAFanSog/ftp]

[BDuguay]

3rd time's a charm?
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4JCAFanSog/url]

[BDuguay]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4JCAFanSog

[BDuguay]

I found the problem with the not so good sounding one. There was a bad quad opamp. I replaced it and now it's working. As for the other one that seemed to have it's effect fade out, I realized that had to do with the threshold setting. It works fine.
The one problem I'm having still is I cannot seem to get either to calibrate like the moosapotuamus one in the video I was finally able to post. I'm following the video but using values found in a copy of the owners manual, downloaded from the adadepot website, which list 34.8Khz to 1300Khz. Either way it doesn't matter because the frequency readings I'm getting are bouncing all over the place. I'm taking a break before I do something I'll regret.
Does anyone know what the heck is going on/wrong?
B.

[BDuguay]

I just tried calibrating this again with a friend at work who really knows hot use an oscilloscope, which we used, and though we were getting a pulse, it was all over the place and the scope kept giving the message "Frequency not found".
Even he was baffled. The thing is, both pedals work! I just want to get them calibrated properly for full potential but I keep hitting these road blocks.
Again, does anyone have and idea here?
Thanks,
B.

[BDuguay]

I'm bumping for wanting to learn....and make right!
B.

[Fender3D]

...Again, does anyone have and idea here?

Sorry Brian...
but no, no idea.

I mean, your pedal(s) works, then VCO works almost ok.

If you wanna set it up "right", you should know how use an o-scope and, of course, where you must check.

You can't have

the frequency readings ... bouncing all over the place

unless your RANGE control doesn't go to 0...

The same for the message

"Frequency not found"

if you check 4046's pins 10, 11 or 13, you can't get no frequency and the pedal working at the same time.

Write down a note, explaining everything you do, trying calibrating it, and we may help better

cheers

[BDuguay]

I guess it doesn't help that I've only used a scope once and it was 30 years ago. I just followed the moosapotumas video posted as a guide and tried using the frequency counter on a Fluke 189 DMM. When that didn't work, I had a more experienced tech/coworker use an o-scope and according to the message displayed on the scope screen it was "no frequency found". Even though I'm not well versed on using a scope, I could tell by what I saw that the frequency was not consistent.
We both figured maybe it was that inconsistency that was making it impossible for the scope to give us a reading and instead read "no frequency found". Or, we were just doing it all wrong.
One thing I know for sure what we saw was definitely a negative pulse(?) A square wave that dipped below the line, not above. We hooked up to the test point on the board that connects to pin 13 of the 4047 (IC 6 on the Rev 4 scheme)
Now, I trusted that my more learned colleague knew what he was doing and to this less educated doofus, it certainly looked that way so the question that's begging to be asked is, were we doing it right? Or more to the point, what is the procedure exactly?
Now, I have a scope that was given to me (KB Electronics model 33330) and can't think of a better opportunity than this to start teaching myself, with some help from here of course.
What scope setting do I need to accomplish this calibration?
B.

[BDuguay]

One thing that occurred to me after unsuccessfully calibrating with a DMM was maybe the leads I was using were picking up interference and needed to be shorter. I'm just spit balling....
B.

[Fender3D]

...What scope setting do I need to accomplish this calibration?

lol

I'm always too much lazy to estimate the proper base time, but 1MHz=1uS ain't it?
I usually hook the probes and tinker with time div. (H position) until I see a good wave...

BTW
o-scope isn't strictly needed for clock setting (it will show how clock behaves though...), rather it will be useful for bias setting, showing signal distortion.

Clock setting can be accomplished with just DMM.
Now, what I don't understand is why you have a "floating" frequency and you do not hear the same floating when pedal is on.

When RANGE control is set to 0 (fully CCW), VCO must be steady.

[BDuguay]

...What scope setting do I need to accomplish this calibration?

lol

I'm always too much lazy to estimate the proper base time, but 1MHz=1uS ain't it?
I usually hook the probes and tinker with time div. (H position) until I see a good wave...

BTW
o-scope isn't strictly needed for clock setting (it will show how clock behaves though...), rather it will be useful for bias setting, showing signal distortion.

Clock setting can be accomplished with just DMM.
Now, what I don't understand is why you have a "floating" frequency and you do not hear the same floating when pedal is on.

When RANGE control is set to 0 (fully CCW), VCO must be steady.

I did some internet digging and thanks to the info I found on Moosapotamus' site, I had the wrong rev instructions for the units I have. Rev 3 and 4 instructions differ from what I had so, armed with that I had another guy help me out with another even more current digital o scope and we were finally able to calibrate. Since then, I've been messing around with my own scope and trying to learn what I can on my own.
B.

[snap]

Are you powering that unit with a switchmode powersupply? If so, try it with a linear one.

Ooops, wrong thread, was supposed to be: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=111471.0