DIYstompboxes.com

Hello people I'm brand new to this site and I'm going to make a tubescreamer. :icon_biggrin:
Its for a school assignment called Personal Best, where you do/make something totally wicked and challenging what you want to do and its encouraged you do something you aren't familiar with.

I AM SO NOT familiar with stompbox construction but i am a good guitarist i love guitar therefore i really want to make the Tubescreamer (http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=90&Itemid=118). (click it) :icon_cool:

i was wondering who else might have made this? i just want to know if theres any advice or anything at all you could tell me.
I'd like to keep this thread here so further along i can ask questions to experienced people :) .

Peace to all,
R-Man. :D ;D

welcome! thats a cool project! I would start with reading the WIKI and getting an idea as to how each part of the process is done. I'd probably order the circuit board from GGG unless you are wanting to learn to do that right away as well... do a search for Tubescreamer as well, especially if you run intoprobs....chances are, someone has run into that prob before

HAve fun!
-NAte

http://www.diystompboxes.com/cnews/FAQ.html
http://www.geofex.com/effxfaq/fxfaq.htm
http://www.diystompboxes.com/wiki/
http://www.geofex.com/
http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/TStech/tsxfram.htm

whoo

Component wise the only 2 unique features are the two 1uF NP or BP caps and the two .22uf tant used.  I found some 1uF axial NP's when I built mine and I used metal film caps for the tants.  I'm not sure how crucial these four caps are but for what I used I can say it sounds great.  For the 4558's I've use TL072's and (TL082's available at Radio Shack) with decent results.  Are you prefboarding this project?  I did and I've been using it regularly with no problems.  Welcome to the board, good luck and keep us posted.

oh man your all awesome! thanks for the links and the warm welcome

oldrocker, im sorry  im not sure what you mean by prefboarding... do you mean etching into the PCB? no, i'm going to order the kit which has a ready to soldier PCB.

R-Man,

Welcome to the board.

I think you have your head on straight when it comes to ordering a kit. Everything is there for you so you don't need to worry about making your own PC board, drilling an enclosure, etc.

The only thing that you may want to do is use a socket for the IC this way you have a minimal chance of damaging it while assembling your kit. IC's are not expensive but if you do damage it while soldering it on the the PC board, it would be difficult to remove it (this comment is based on an assumption that you are new to soldering and the last thing a newbie will want to do is remove an IC from a PC board).

I do not believe the kit comes with a socket but you should be able to pick one (or two) up at your local Radio Shack for just a couple of dollars.

Have fun.

GF

Your assumptions is correct :P
The last thing i want to do is damage anything so I will use a socket indeed.

Thanks!

r man,
you are going to love it. the first thing i ever built was a ts-808, and it's absolutely my favorite.

good luck and welcome!  let us all know how everything is going

jonathan

Well once you finish there's a good chance you'll be addicted to stompbox building.  :icon_lol:  Now you'll need to find an effects pedal building rehab center near you. :D

My TS808 clone is still on my pedalboard. I don't think it will ever be off of it.  :icon_cool:

Quote
oldrocker, im sorry  im not sure what you mean by prefboarding... do you mean etching into the PCB? no, i'm going to order the kit which has a ready to soldier PCB.

Perfboard
(http://www.viennawireless.org/balloon/hardware/overlay/perfboard_sm.jpg)

One of a handful of ways folks around here build/prototype new toys, gizmos, and gadgets.

You're better off building with the PCB because it'll be cleaner and easier, and in the end, you'll probably be happier.  But a perfboard version could win you brownie points for how homemade it would look (and be, frankly.)  Have fun with it!  Should be a blast!

ohhh alright cool

I'm getting a kit from BYOC as GF suggested to me. There was an issue with the postage and handling costs but i found out that they have a shop in Perth (Western Australia) so I'm gonna have it ordered from there! :D
this kit's instructions make oh so much more sense and the PCB is better. Plus the acutal result is a smaller pedal it just looks cooler  8)

Sounds like a great idea to build a pedal as a school project. Starting out with a kit is also a good idea. Building a well-known project that *everyone* in the DIY community has built is also a good idea, since you'll get all the help you could ever need from this forum.

However... *EVERYONE* has a Tube Screamer, it must be one of the most common pedals on a typical effect board. If you build one, you can tell your friends: This is MY Tube Screamer, it sounds exactly like... a Tube Screamer.

Perhaps you should trying something different, something unique to the DIY community. That way you can tell your friends: This is MY pedal, it sounds UNIQUE!

My suggestion would be the BSIAB2 kit from www.generalguitargadgets.com, or the Eighteen kit from www.olcircuits.com. These are fairly well known projects in the DIY community, so you should be able to get proper help if you need it.

Back in 1979 when I was in electronics class I had to build a project like you also.  Back then there was no internet and most pedals made then seemed like mystery circuits.  I etched up a board using that old tape stuff used to create the traces back then.  I found an old fuzz pedal circuit in an electronics magazine.  I dug up an old Fuzz Face type ( I don't think it was a FF) empty shell and used parts from the old radios and TV's that we had stored for parts in the back.  I got an A for going the extra mile because I built it from scratch.  Some guys built some Heath Kit projects and even though they were more clean and professional than mine they got B- since according to the teacher they were painting by numbers.  If it was me and decided to build a TS I would at least etch the PCB myself or perfboard one.  It would make more of an impression IMHO.  But it's up to you.  Good luck and most of all have fun.  To me there's nothing more exciting then plugging in and testing a circuit you built for the first time.

well Personal Best project is anything i mean it isn't an electronics class thing (i don't take electronics  ;) ), they won't be specific on things like whether i etched the PCB

and i'm going to do some modifications to it (haven't decided exactly which but I will) because when i paint it and stuff i want to have R-Man written on it, therefore its also only right that it's different to the original Tubescreamer.

it has been ordered now i shall receive it in 2 weeks :)

i have a question, is the switch which you press with your foot the IC as well?

No, the switch just re-routes the signal from jack-jack (bypassed) to jack-board-jack (effect on). The IC in your project will most likely be a small black plastic "chip" with several legs on each side... so it looks like a little insect or something! :icon_wink:

Sounds like you need to do some research...

Failing that, the kit will come with instructions...

Matt

Quote from: R-Man on April 20, 2007, 03:55:51 AM
it has been ordered now i shall receive it in 2 weeks :)

If you value your grades, you'll consider a different project.  And it's not good for someone as young as yourself to get involved in anything addictive.  Drugs, alcohol, chicks, and effects are all just paths to misery.  The worst part is that you won't even notice it.  It starts with a tubescreamer or a mosfet boost, but pretty soon someone comes up and says "Try a zombie chorus."  You try it and realise it's pretty cool, but there's a tick in it.  So you start debugging.  That leads to even differenter choruses and flangers.  Pretty soon you've got a twin-sized pedalboard and no where to sleep.  The whole time, your grades are suffering, no one will talk to you because you keep mumbling stuff about "NOS germanium something or other."  After the Fuzz-faces and treble boosters, you fall face-first into tube amps.  At that point, there is no rescuing you.  You have entered the abyss. 

But at least you'll be amongst friends.  :icon_twisted:

Good luck, you'll have fun.

Matt

speaking of which, i really should finish some college work... but on the other hand my random number generator needs finishing...

Matt

Hey morcey2 that's pretty funny. :icon_lol: Besides the fact I'm too old to be in school, the rest fits me to a tee. :icon_cry:

Morcey 2, thats funny man, Im still a newb,(effect building that is!) so thanks for the warning! as far as im concerned, its too late for the chicks,  I have already tasted so im doomed...I can tolerate the drugs though!, but one thing for sure is that I will never venture into amp making, lunacy and high voltage WILL always be very dangerous to me!

Quote from: momo on April 21, 2007, 07:32:58 AM
lunacy and high voltage WILL always be very dangerous to me!

Danger. Lunacy. High Voltage.

Sounds very "rock and roll" to me! ;D

Quote from: momo on April 21, 2007, 07:32:58 AM
I can tolerate the drugs though!

:icon_rolleyes:

I hope he means he can tolerate living without them!

it has been a while since i posted back here, because theres been NOTHING going on!

update: Tube Screamer kit unavailable :( i am making a D.O.D 250 from the "250+" kit found on BuildYourOwnClone.com

i received it today and will start work on it tomorrow soldering on resistors :D

The OD 250 is cool anyway... plenty of mods to be done!

Matt

My favourite diy is the Red Llama. Great sound, very touch sensitive, low parts count, easy on perf. Actually, on perf it's probably smaller than on pcb, or at least with the lay outs I've seen so far.

Hey Matt, is there a seriously cooler-than-the-rest mod that you could recommend to me? I think that would definitely boost my grades a little if I make it MINE! not Division of DigiTech's :)

You can do loads of things...

Try experimenting with diodes for the clipping section: use different ones: 1n4148, 1n4001, 1n270, 1n34a, 1n914, 1N60, LED

You can wire up a switch that could allow you to select different kinds of diodes into the circuit. Or to go from symetrical to assymetrical clipping.

You could add a knob to allow control over the clipping.
You could add a tone stack/control, to allow more control over the circuit.

You can also swap out a couple of caps to make the distortion more usable with a booster.

If you decide you want to do any of these, then we'll be able to help you pretty easily...

Matt

ok i would like to do something with the diodes, but im a total no brain about it, what i do see is basically:

options
1) Make a jumper in this spot
2) Add a diode for clipping experimenting

I would use this for lead guitar (soloing!) so what should i replace the jumper with?

Reference: http://buildyourownclone.com/250instructions.pdf (http://buildyourownclone.com/250instructions.pdf) Page 4

remember i am building this to DOD 250 specifications (except this modding bit) ;)

What this is saying is, if you want to build it to 250 specs then put in TWO 1n914 diodes, the little orange ones with a black stripe at one end, and make a jumper in the third (left most) position...

What you can do however, is put one of the other diodes you have in this third position, it doesnt really matter which way you put it in, or which diode you use, just go for whichever sounds best to you... It will change the distortion sound, some people think assymetrical clipping sounds more like tubes... Solder another diode in and see what it sounds like, you can always de-solder and put the jumper back in... If you want to make it as close to the original as possible then use 1n914s, just two of them, and include the jumper...

Clipping sections (which is what this is) are great for playing around... just have at it... there is no right or wrong answer...

Matt

ok awesome I am making it Tube-like its like this

the right most and centre diodes are the 1n914 orange ones and their black stripes are matching the diagram, in place of the jumper i have put another orange diode NOT matching the diagram

is that assymetrical clipping?

Certainly is!

I did asymetrical clipping in my 250 and it's sounds awesome.  It's one of my favorite distortion pedals.  Even before I did the asym changes it sounded great already.  Nice circuit and is s very useful distortion pedal.  I use mine ALL the time you won't be disappointed.  Great ready for a wild ride into stompbox building.  WEEeee! :icon_biggrin:

oh wicked!  :) :) :) :)

now circuit will be resting in a designated anti-static bag for a while while i move onto part 2 of my project

Painting the Enclosure!  :icon_cool:  8)

now once more please excuse my lack of knowledge and quite frankly newbie-ness, but what paints do i use?  ;D
i'd like to do Metallic Red. will i need to sand it too? how many coats?  ???

your words of wisdom on the matter of circuit building has assisted me greatly thanks so very much, I hope you can assist with the painting too

Well, I have been experimenting with painting these last few days, but I got hindered by the fact that I locked my garage keys inside the garage! haha

1. Get some paint: Etch-primer will work best for the undercoat as it etches into the surface of the aluminium and makes things more chip resistant. Do a couple of light coats of this, nothing spectacular.
2. Get your red metallic, and spray a coat or two of this, wait for it to dry in between coats, I would normally look at doing 4 or 5 light coats of this, making sure its nice and even.
3. Wait for that to dry and add any decals you want.
4. Get some clearcoat and put a fair few coats of this on, this will make you finish a little more hardwearing, put as many coats as you want, but not too many in one go, otherwise it will take weeks to dry. Try about 5 or 6 medium to heavy coats to you get a nice even finish with no little orange peel type finishes...
5. Wait for it to be touch dry, and bang it in the oven to bake it, some of the guys use a toaster oven but they dont really have loads of them knocking around the UK, just wait until your mum goes out the house and make sure she doesnt find out! haha
6. The baking was to speed up drying times. Although the laquer appears hardened and dry to the touch, it can still be tacky underneath. If there are any imperfections on the surface get some fine wet/dry sandpaper, wet it, and *lightly* sand the offending areas to get the finish smoothed out. Then you can use some kind of abrasive paste, like metal polish, toothpaste, brasso, etc... to get an even smoother finish... I use toothpaste, you should be getting a nice finish now. Finish off with car body polish, the abrasive kind, like T-cut to get a good shine!

Job done...

Be careful about what kind of paints you use, some paints with lots of solvents in can cause damage to decals/labelling... The other guys will be able to help you with that. The main offenders are car paints, but I dont find I have any problems with it, yet...

Matt

Quote5. Wait for it to be touch dry, and bang it in the oven to bake it, some of the guys use a toaster oven but they dont really have loads of them knocking around the UK, just wait until your mum goes out the house and make sure she doesnt find out! haha

*sensible old fart voice*
Not advisable to use the same oven as is used for food. All kinds of toxic solvents etc come out of the paint as it bakes. Next time Mom makes one of them homebaked apple pies it`ll have some extra ingredients. In any case it`s debatable whether this step provides any benefit beyond speeding up the drying process.

Speeding up the drying process is a definate benefit for someone as impatient as me!

Yeah, ok, dont put it in the oven...

I might buy a combi microwave oven to start curing my enclosures.... and I found the microwave is great for drying laquer on decal stock! About three minutes and a big thick coat of laquer is dry... I dont know if aluminium will fizzle in the microwaves though, so dont try it until I do! haha

Matt

well step one is underway
about the colour i may have to rethink, seems metallic red isn't very popular...

i bought some Spray Etch Primer and will get to it soon, not tonight though time for me to snooze i have school tomorrow.

good night  :icon_exclaim:

Nah, if you want it metallic red dude, paint it metallic red!

Screw us old farts... get going on it...

my 2 considering plans are these:          (made in photoshop so not entirely realistic)

(http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/6929/newpedaluz0.jpg) (http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/4331/blackpedalperhapsor9.jpg)

what do you reckon?

My computer will only let me see the black box with green flames... thats not your fault, I will jsut comment on that one.

If you plan to use decal transfers for this design, you should know that the decals will not turn out too good. Printers make a colour by accounting for the colour of the background. In most cases this is white, when you change the background colour, the printed image will look a lot different...

I remember seeing a picture of a box a guy on here did. He wanted yellow graphics on a black background, the turned out a very light green colour which wasnt very noticeable.. You might be able to get around this by fiddling with the print densities to get the best results, although I wouldnt expect much better...

You can use white decal paper which is opaque, but it means that you will have to cut around each individual flame to get the black background you want. Or you could use green paint and paint the flames on by hand.

Matt

i was thinking there might be some kind of totally transparent printable decal paper so i can cut a shape around it u know?
hmmm :icon_confused:

otherwise i'll get me some green spray paint and make a template... Bobs your uncle Fannys your aunt done as a bun :) hahaha

Quote from: R-Man on June 05, 2007, 07:35:38 AM
i was thinking there might be some kind of totally transparent printable decal paper so i can cut a shape around it u know?
hmmm :icon_confused:

The problem is, you'd paint your box black first right? Then print your green flames onto decal paper. They'd look great cos the the decal backing paper (which eventually gets removed and thrown away) is white. When you apply the decal there will no longer be a white background, it'll be black, and because the printer bases its colour mixes on using the white background the colour will change.

Matt

so it prints Green as Green-on-white which looks different when its black in the back ground

i will look into this further but hows the idea of green spray can + template cut out?

Yeah that could work. For a really neat stencil you could spray the box green get a mailing sticker (you can get really big ones) and cut your flames out, stick it on the box, spray over with black, and then peel back the label.

Matt

non paint related but this is itching me now,

i would like to test to see if it works, would i just wire on everything and place it neatly somewhere? so im not installing it into the enclosure im just wiring it all together

is this a good idea?
if the wires are longer than they should be then when i put it in the enclosure will it cause me greif:(

oh i just remembered another thing, my friend Matty Booth told me about multimetre, it can tell me if its a complete circuit but i dont understand it could someone shed some light?

I would say it`s actually a good idea to test it before putting in the enclosure. As for the wires being too long in my experience it is the opposite that has caused me problems. You can always cram the extra length in somehow.
If you intend to build more pedals a Multimeter is a good investment. It will have two probes one of which you place on the grounded part of the circuit, the other on the point of the circuit you are testing for breaks. Some of them have a continuity tester function that emits a beep if the circuit is unbroken.

  I like trim wirings, short input and output wires.
  Build a testjig...
  It can have an insulated box [cardboard works] fastened on top of a large RACO [or other conductive] box with input and output jacks installed, I turned the RACO upside down and used the bottom screws to screw on the 'right sized cardboard box I got from Mouser instead of the raco bottom.
  Ending up with a RACO wieghted base, and a circuit tray on top.
  the only other thing I did was run a ground wire to a testclip, run the input tip wire to a testclip, run the output jack tip to a testclip, the wires poke through the tray, testclips then attached.
  Oh I drilled some potshaft holes in the sides of the box too..
  So then just put the circuit on the testjig, connect the Gnd., in, and out testclips,
  plug your guitar/amp in the RACO's input/output jacks...test for shorts in the battery clip, add battery...test and tweek.
  Slip the testclip insulators over the three wires before soldering the testclips...you'll want insulated testclips.

well what a surprise it doesnt work

im not sure what is wrong, i'll probably have to buy new components and start all over again

the bypass works fine but that doesnt get me anywhere that just proves the switch is fine,

from what i can work out its the components on the circuit which arent right probably burnt out i assume

Don't give up on those components just yet.  Unless you see smoke I wouldn't jump to conclusions that components are fried.  In fact that's hardly ever the case unless you supplied bad or over voltage to it.  One reason not to go overboard on the enclosure with a great paint and design right away is, none of that matters unless the circuit works.  Put all your efforts into a working nice sounding circuit.  Test it, even jam with it unboxed for a couple of days to see if you really like it and everything is working OK.  Then get a nice enclosure going if that's what you're striving for.  I myself don't really care what my pedals look like as long as they're functional a sound good.  It gets dissappointing when you put so much time and money into a housing for a pedal you haven't got debugged or even heard yet.  Especially when there's a problem.
I would take a step back maybe make an audio probe and buy even a cheap meter, learn to use them and hone your troubleshooting skills.  It's all part of the learning experience and you'll get great satisfaction when you do get it working.

ok then so how do i make n audio probe? and i will get a meter (you do mean multimeter yes?) ;D

oh and also i thought i may as well go into a bit of details,

once switched on, NO sound goes Out (meaning i dont hear my guitar in the amp) i hear a fuzz noise, i turn the drive full up the fuzz is more extreme, turn it down its less extreme but still there
i turn up volume it does what it should, volume is increased and decreased when turning down. just no guitar sound!! also the LED doesn't glow!!!!!

the positive square of the LED area on the top of circuit works because i touched the negative lead to the battery and positive to the circuit... so the negative solder spot of the LED isn't working  :o

thanks, Raahem.

Debugging your first circuit is always hard, because you dont know what you are looking for...

Read the "what to do if it doesnt work" thread. Its stickied at the top of the forum!  ;D

once switched on, NO sound goes Out (meaning i dont hear my guitar in the amp) i hear a fuzz noise, i turn the drive full up the fuzz is more extreme, turn it down its less extreme but still there
i turn up volume it does what it should, volume is increased and decreased when turning down. just no guitar sound!!
  I think you might have most of the gain staging wiring correct, but the guitar signal isn't making it much past the input.
also the LED doesn't glow!!!!!
  No guitar and no LED...sounds alot like the bypass switch is 1/4 turn 'too many' [may need unwired, turned 1/4 turn, rewired]...but I'd verify that with the switch results using DMM and switching...bypass mode should connect the input and output jack tips, effect mode...you should be able to trace continuity from the input jack tip through switch to circuit, same for circuit output/switch/output jack tip.
  The LED uses two 'circuit side' lugs of the unused row, and that should be verifiable via DMM as wired correctly using the DMM. I like to hook the resistor and LED circuit, than put that to the power first so it lights and I have the LED right way around...then wire it the LED resistor circuit that lights throught he switch.

the positive square of the LED area on the top of circuit works because i touched the negative lead to the battery and positive to the circuit... so the negative solder spot of the LED isn't working 
  Matt, this is correct.
  A full debug report would help, entered in the forum under its new dedicated thread.

Yes a DMM (multimeter) is what I meant.  I put a pic I got from DIYguitarist.com for an example of an audioprobe.  You'll need a 50volt 0.1uf (104) cap.   Instead of a female mono jack you could use a 1/4" male mono plug so it plugs right into your amp.  Which is where it plugs into anyway.  Then ground the sleeve on the circuit and use the capacitor end to probe around the circuit.  Starting at the input and working your way to the output.  Keep track of where the guitar signal sounds and where it stops sounding and that's where your problem might be.

http://www.logmonster.com/images/full/?pic=audioprobe_1177763530-422-15027.jpg

Quote from: R-Man on April 16, 2007, 04:59:42 AM
ohhh alright cool

I'm getting a kit from BYOC as GF suggested to me. There was an issue with the postage and handling costs but i found out that they have a shop in Perth (Western Australia) so I'm gonna have it ordered from there! :D

Where in perth? im in perth too :D

me too. are you guys on perthbands.com??

http://www.ormsbyguitars.com/contact.html
(look at the very bottom for BYOC brochure)
thats the shop in Fremantle (sorry i thought it was perth), i actually live in Melbourne but ordered it off the shop the owner's name is Perry Ormsby

as of yesterday they have updated the catalogue with all the good stuff

ah yes, perry is great, he makes really good guitars. i will be getting him to make me one soon  :icon_twisted:

cool!
i was looking closer at my wiring and um a bit embarassing...

from the battery the negative lead goes to negative terminal of ac jack and vice versa for positive right, then another wire goes from that negative terminal into the INPUT jack....

i had that wire that goes from AC jack to INPUT Jack going from the POSITIVE terminal  :( :( :( :(
i fixed that up but i have the same problem as posted earlier, nothing's changed!

and im working on the debug report i was reading up but had to cut it short and go help dad with some work :-\

Keep at it young 'un... you'll make it...

Matt

Hey man,

You sound a lot like me when I was your age.  I had the same kind of project challenge for school and I recorded and mixed a song I wrote.  I haven't read through this entire thread so I don't know if these links have been given to you already, but I made that TS-808 a little while ago and I wanted to throw some links your way that I found useful.

http://www.tonepad.com/getFileInfo.asp?id=81 - This was the project schematic and PCB layout that I used.
http://www.tonepad.com/getFileInfo.asp?id=76 - This is a schematic chart for all the different offboard wiring options.  (Offboard wiring basically means all the wiring that is not on the PCB.  i.e. the I/O jacks, power, pots, stomp switch, etc)  Just find the one that has the component setup that you are using and follow that.
http://www.tonepad.com/photoessay.asp?photoEssayID=24&sequenceNo=1 - This is a photoessay of the tubescreamer build from the same website.  It's pretty cool cause it gives you photos of different steps in the build process. 
http://www.geofex.com/fxdebug/newfx.htm - This is a great article on how to get a brand new effect running.
http://skreddypedals.com/music_gear.htm - This is a bit unrelated, but it is just a big list of music/guitar/DIY/whatever related links.  You might find something useful there.

Good luck man.

Jeff

Quote from: R-Man on June 11, 2007, 12:32:54 AM
http://www.ormsbyguitars.com/contact.html
(look at the very bottom for BYOC brochure)
thats the shop in Fremantle (sorry i thought it was perth), i actually live in Melbourne but ordered it off the shop the owner's name is Perry Ormsby

as of yesterday they have updated the catalogue with all the good stuff

oh...fremantle, due to football, i hate freo

Quote from: theblackman on June 10, 2007, 09:11:17 PM
me too. are you guys on perthbands.com??

Nup :( need a band haha

Quote5.Whether or not it's a positive ground circuit like a PNP fuzz or a Rangemaster that has been hacked to work with negative ground. This is a special case, but a common one. "Positive ground" means that the positive/red lead of the battery clip is connected to signal ground. "Negative ground" means that the negative/black lead of the battery clip is connected to signal ground when the effect is operating.

what the flying duck does this mean :( ? i seriously have no clue about what ground my pedal is or what exactly the term means, assistance please!

The BYOC 250+ is Negative Ground.

thanks man :D

now just so i actually know what that means... what does that mean?

To put it in simple terms it`s how the power supply connects to the circuit. You`ve probably noticed that the battery clip has a red and a black lead. The majority of circuits will be Negative ground where the black or -V terminal is connected to Ground. In some cases, usually with older effects like Fuzz Faces or Rangemasters for example, these two leads are reversed so that the +V terminal goes to ground. I may be wrong but I believe this has something to do with the fact that PNP transistors were the standard when these circuits were first designed. In the 1960s.
Some people claim that a Positive ground Fuzz sounds better but I have my doubts. It`s not really a major concern unless you want to copmbine a Positive Ground pedal with a Negative ground on the same power supply. This will end in tears.

DUDE I FIXED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!


a resistor's solder was touching someting it shouldnt.... BUT IT WORKS NOW AFTER I FIXED IT!!!

now as happy as i am about that i have a bit of an issue, it doesnt sound that great  ??? it seems to be only slightly distorted, did i do something wrong or am i being picky...

yeah, ts-808s don't distort all that much, but see if you can find some sound samples to check though (via google)

try doing some double stop hammer ones + bends (hit the strings hard) and listen to that sweet tone..

i love my ts808 with an NE5532 + one diode changed with a germanium. With the gain turned down a bit to where it's just starting to distort you may find that it sounds better.

Perhaps if you built a booster to drive it a bit harder you may get  the sound you are looking for??

this isnt the TS-808, its a DOD 250

could any clipping section modifications make it more distorted? even with drive on 100% its very little

i looked at some sound samples well video actually, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_3cvUu6d7w

and mine is definitely not right  ???

any ideas? would you like to hear a sample?

Sounds like something could be wrong...

A sound sample might help people confirm the problem...

Matt

ok here it is, the first piece i play actually sounds wicked because it was meant to have slight distortion but the rest doesn't sound good.

all of this is played on my Squier Affinity Strat, on a Fender Frontman 15G (set to clean channel of course) with flat EQ settings and on the pedal i built the drive knob is on full throttle

DOD not good (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9M6ILZ1L)

I'll have to listen later dude, I'm at work at the moment...

I finish in two hours though... Whats the time difference between OZ and UK?

Matt

we're ahead by 10 hours, its 9:30pm here i assume its 11:30am right now in UK

had a listen yet bro?

the LED still doesnt work hmm.... i dont really care but still i thought i'd tell you guys ;)

Well concentrate on getting the sound done first...

I couldnt listen to the sound sample, my PC wouldnt let me download from that site... Is there anywhere else you can upload it?

Also, read the debugging thread and make a more detailed post, and search for 250+ threads to read what problems other people had with theirs...

Can describe what is happening again for us, any suspicsions you have, etc?

Matt

Problem is even on full throttle Drive Knob i get only slight distortion like the intro to Pieces by Sum 41 pretty much

Suspicions? i have one,
the square solder spot on the circuit for LED works, the round one does not! the component directly connecting to the round spot is a resistor.
my guess is that THAT resistor isn't working and could that be causing the distortion level problem as well?

It is highly unlikely that this is being caused by the PCB, or in fact one of the components... its most likely down to human error and probably something shorting out or wired up wrong...

Did you get the IC in the socket the rigth way round?

It might help if you post a few pictures of your box, pcb (both sides), and the offboard wiring. As well as a link to the instructions from byoc, and maybe a schem.

Matt

Quotethe square solder spot on the circuit for LED works, the round one does not!

What do you mean by this? The square one works but the round one doesn`t? I don`t mean to sound blunt but every bit of info helps.

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o44/RANCHERO23/250PCBRGB-2.jpg)
This is the area you meant, right?

Here`s a link to the build instructions if anyone cares to check it out.

http://buildyourownclone.com/250instructions.pdf (http://buildyourownclone.com/250instructions.pdf)

Yeah, what do mean by "doesnt work"? Did you DMM it with something?

Matt

sorry for being uninformative, i wasnt entirely sure what i could say to make most sense but i'll have a whack at it, well what i did was this (its a bit weird i know):

i put the LED into its spot and it didn't work, so i thought i'd do a strange test, i touched one leg to the Square solder spot (switch currently in "on/distorted" mode) and got a battery and touched the other leg to Negative side of battery and *Glow* it worked

do you get what i mean?  :-\

Well that could mean that there is no continuity on the board between the -ve side of the LED and the -ve of the power supply... Which would (maybe) lead to me to the suggestion that there is a solder bridge, or short somewhere...

With PCBs sometimes the solder can slip across to form a bridge to another trace where it shouldnt be! And in some cases if there is enough solder forming the bridge it can look like an actual trace. Check the solder side of the board, check all the other components are placed in the correct orientation.

As you are getting low output, then this suggests that the circuit is having problems long before the LED, its just the LED not working is a side effect of the problem, and its just easier to see its not "working" because it doesnt light up. The problem is that other components dont look any different whether they are "working" or not. I use quote marks on "working" because its probably not the components that are not working, its more likely that the power/signal is getting misplaced somewhere meaning the circuit is not operating correctly.

Check things over. Has anyone suggested an audio probe to you?

Matt

alrighty i've looked it all over and found a little short i think, anyways i fixed that and now the LED glows nicely!

but get this (are these issues never ending...) theres absolutely no distortion now! first there was a little bit and no LED, now there IS LED and no distortion!

the Volume Knob works the drive does as well except im not really sure what it does, its not distorting it its more like making it a more boomy sound...

Matt i agree with you man that its a short and components are probably fine

i have a theory, my switch wiring is truly shocking i've fixed it so many times and still not good, i think solder log 4 (middle column on the top) and solder log 7 (right most column at the top) are touching. i'll have to fix it up later i need to practise some guitar.

Let me just tell you about something slightly related now, Personal Best Celebration Evening is on this wednesday and thats where all term's work gets presented (mine being the 250+) there will be performances and i'm in three of them! I have to do backup vocals any tips on vocals you can give me? thanks!

  Let's see if this post takes' this time, I posted in this thread last nigth...can't find it today..
  Here's the best pedal board I've built so far.
  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/petemoore/SpyderPS001-1.jpg
  Right in the middle is the Spyder, which has made a major improvement !
  The top rack board is mounted with two accessible 4'' screws, and four 'feet' [which shim the 2x4's to exact level of the PS box.
  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/petemoore/SPyderPS005.jpg
    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/petemoore/SPyderPS001.jpg
  I finally figured out [after 10+ long hours of accumulated gazing and contemplations], how to mount easily and securely, a Wah pedal...a metal strip for the back screws, a metal plate for the front screws...wayy better than the funky mount systems I'd tried before.
  The boxes can be removed by loosening the two screws.
  The 2 remaining Spyder secondary coils will get 7812's, as the 12vdc output tested on the OS Comp's, Tremulous Lune's and Boosters improved performance.
  These effects went directly from a daisy chain/battery pedalboard to the Spyder dedicated PB, and showed marked improvement.
  Features:
  Spyder ! [lower noise/neater wiring, with 'dedicated voltage' outputs
  Rigid/lighweight construction, uses very hard/stiff [mahogany] feet/struts and  2x4 'towers'.
  Easy removal/exchange of anything on it [loosen 2 screws], including top rack and PS.
  AC cable [removable], and solidly mounted AC jack, much more substantial for stage crossing than a daisy chain wire.
 
 

i did what the Debug page said and its on another thread lets hope i get some progress  :)