From Breadboard to reality

[LightSoundGeometry]

Hello everybody, got a few things been stumping me and I cannot figure out how to get past these particular hurdles.

First is the echoplex. I can bread board it now no problem, and it sound fantastic but I am unable to p2p wire it on any medium; I tried perf, stripboard and a vero. killiing me! I burnt up all my expensive parts trying to build this thing after breadboarding it several times with great results ( thank you cozy). there is a connection or flow someplace I am not getting just yet. However, I got my rangemaster wired p2p and it now sounds awesome..for some reason it changed. it was insane treble to all of a sudden a fat, warm, trebley boost..maybe sticking it 2nd in the chain after my octave helped but I now understand all the hype. it makes other pedals sound better to. I had 4 transistors from small bear and ended up with the 0c140 npn in mine. also, I did a positive grounded effect for the first time with the small bear US rangemaster and it turned out very nice as well. So I can do a rangemaster and a preamp similar to the EP, just not the EP ..I dont know why this is giving me such fits...lol.

The other thing is now everythign I do is squealing - I shorten up wires and separate them but it either does not work, or isolates the squealing only when input jack is disconnected from instrument and turned up. I tried super huge power filter caps like 330mf and lower pot values. I have not tried the in series resistor between input and pot though.

The reading I did, and could understand (some is over my head in physics), is that, the IC's could be bad, fake or other. I was reading sometimes the IC chips in these pedals are not up to spec and will cause hissing and squealing. the Ic's I used were the cd4049ube and the lm386l - both from respectable vendors ..so I am thinking I have errors someplace. I cant find them, they are pedals i have built with great success several times over now following numerous online web searches for layouts/veros etc.

other news with me I would like to share: This week, I am talking to the head of the electronics dept. out at SWIC College to see if I can get into a program this fall and switch my declared program from a general applied science to electrical design and technology.. keep your fingers crossed for me. my financial aide is up and I would have to get accepted and appeal but I have a good chance at it. I am scared of the advanced physics and math...but liek I once read on this very forum, the first step at being good at something is being really bad. Another thing I take away from this forum is failure does happen to everyone and you must keep on pushing to succeed. I am in my 40's now, I wish I could go back in time and do all of this when I was a younger. They say its never too late.

[LightSoundGeometry]

* mammoth has 1590b's on sale for 3.50 cents



* is there a "who are you, " thread on here? I am really interested in learning some things about the forum members especially educational backgrounds etc ..we do a similar thing on the hockey forums once in awhile

[Brisance]

step one: before soldering anything to a vero, make a drawing of it. then check every connection on the drawing and schematic... twice. then cut vero, cut traces and THEN start putting parts on

[duck_arse]

step one: ....... check every connection on the drawing and schematic... 

... and the dataheets .... twice

[digi2t]

step one: before soldering anything to a vero, make a drawing of it. then check every connection on the drawing and schematic... twice. then cut vero, cut traces and THEN start putting parts on

+1

Validate the schematic. Make ultra-sure that what you're dealing with isn't bogus.
Draw vero. diylc for vero is great.
Tighten up vero. This will require several redraws, but vero is big already, no point making it bigger. Besides, the exercise will sharpen your visual skills.
Back trace vero to schematic. I do this exercise a minimum of 3 times, over a couple of days. Must keep eyes fresh. If you find error(s), then make corrections, and repeat the entire back trace from the top. Don't skimp on this step, you'll ultimately regret it.
If you're using a layout creator, like diylc, then do a screen shot of your final layout, but lock the components and board, and print a reverse (mirror) image. This will make the cuts standout, and will make sense to your eyes when you're looking at the trace side of the vero.

step one: ....... check every connection on the drawing and schematic... 

... and the dataheets .... twice

Add another +1 here as well.

[karbomusic]

step one: before soldering anything to a vero, make a drawing of it. then check every connection on the drawing and schematic... twice. then cut vero, cut traces and THEN start putting parts on

Only twice? When I used to do Vero, I eventually ended up printing a transparency or similar to make sure all the parts/cuts/slices were in the exact right spot. I loved Vero but I found it worthwhile to be methodically methodical on the layout so you don't mop yourself into a corner you can't fix later.