Basic (seriously basic) question - UPDATED WITH DEBUG

[nocentelli]

  beaten to it - but pics might help...

Bunny what else should go to the output jack? Currently that's wired to middle right of the foots with.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B83-kEo90gB9V2MxS2RxZGl2dHc

It's hard to tell for sure, but from the second picture it looks like there is nothing connected to the output tip ("hot/signal") lug (yellow arrow), and the middle right footswitch lug (circuit output, blue+white wire - cool-looking wire, btw) is connected to other lug, which would normally be connected to the circuit ground (or not if you wish to leave the output grounded connected via the enclosure):

[jatkin16]

It's hard to tell for sure, but from the second picture it looks like there is nothing connected to the output tip ("hot/signal") lug (yellow arrow), and the middle right footswitch lug (circuit output, blue+white wire - cool-looking wire, btw) is connected to other lug, which would normally be connected to the circuit ground (or not if you wish to leave the output grounded connected via the enclosure)

So if I swap those two around it may work..?

[nocentelli]

If the rest of the circuit is correct, yes.

[jatkin16]

Here's to hoping! Word tomorrow!

[bluebunny]

Good luck with that.  BTW, Happy Birthday for Tuesday!  Shoulda spotted that - me and Mick (Ice-9) too. 

[jatkin16]

Thanks for the birthday wishes, you too!

I've come back to this after a couple of weeks off and...

So I swapped the wires around as suggested as have left the other lug empty, now when I try to turn it on the LED flickers for a second and goes out, whereas before it stayed on. Does this mean I have bad ground and should connect the other lug to the ground that I have got on my input jack? If not, please help again!

Sorry to keep coming back to this - first pedal and I appear to be experiencing any and every problem under the sun!

[lethargytartare]

Here's what you should do now:

Go back to the guide you were following, and step through all of the diagrams and carefully trace your own wiring and make sure you wired it correctly.  Not to be too harsh, but you said earlier " I followed the guide exactly" and you clearly didn't.  Diagram 67 shows very clearly how to wire from the switch to the output jack, and you did it wrong.  Mistakes happen, but that is a difficult step to mess up, especially with a picture showing you exactly how to do it.  So at this point all of your wiring is suspect (again, don't want to sound mean here, just pointing out how an outsider's analysis works).

Start with Part 5, Diagram 51.  Carefully compare your wiring to the diagrams.  If you get intermittent power to the LED, there's a bad or wrong connection somewhere.  So you have to review your work first.  Then remeasure all your voltages and post the latest figures.

And you should post a pic of the solder side of your board -- with that type of build, and novice soldering skills, there's plenty of room for a short.

Keep at it!

[jatkin16]

Ok so I have gone back over the wiring and I'm now very sure that everything is correct, the LED now works. Here is the updated debug -

1.   LED works, no sound with effect on or in bypass
2.   PG Distortion build
3.   http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/21291-build-your-own-stompbox?page=1
4.   Y
5.   Y -swapping out of transistor (2N5088 or 89 – can't remember – for 2N3904); changed C1 to 683 and chose own diodes
6.   Negative ground (black to ground)
7.   7.85

Voltages (with input connected)
Red end - 4.66
Black end - 0

Q1
C - 0.87
B - 0.58
E - 0.07

D1
A 0
K 0

D2
A 0
K 0


So obviously that looks pretty bad. I've put updated photos in this GDrive - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B83-kEo90gB9Tk45M3dmU095NkU/view?usp=sharing

Any help or advice in what is continually going wrong would be greatly appreciated. As I have stated before I am a complete beginner, however I must stress that the circuit was working before I boxed it up (i.e. on the breadboard), so I'd say that the problem has to lie post that.

Thanks again guys.

[PRR]

> PG Distortion build

6 pages of detailed beginner instructions. But for "how do it work/not-work?", the schematic is useful.


> Voltages (with input connected)
> Red end - 4.66
> Black end - 0
> Q1
> C - 0.87
> B - 0.58
> E - 0.07

4.66V is supposed to be a 9 Volt battery? Seems near-dead.

Q1 C is low, but not = to B. R2 voltage-drop is large, but consistent with R3 voltage-drop. My (time for nap) guess is that R1 is a too-low value. But not a solder-blob (short).

And I'd think it would "pass signal" if you BEAT on it. Grossly distorted and cutting-out, but not silent. So I may have missed a hint.

0.000,132mA, 0.11ma.... wait a second, 0.3V voltage-drop across R1 *is* the expected value.

Are we sure this plan has been proof-read?

To just amplify (no thought of distortion flavor), R2 should be more like 4K to 7K. Maybe 6-POINT-8 Kay?? Not 68K?

Can you yank the 4.7K LED resistor (or any handy 4K-10K resistor) for a moment and tack-solder it across R2? That should give (with 9V battery!) maybe 3V to 6V at Collector, which should be a happy amplifier.

[jatkin16]

Thanks for the reply but, as I have said before, the board itself works, or did before I put it in the box, which leads me to believe that this is not the problem. The battery, measured off the snap is nearly 8V so not dead but is experiencing the voltage cutting in half between the snap and the board.

[duck_arse]

not between snap and board, but between red wire AT board and black wire AT board. the problem seems to be a short or low resistance on the board somewhere across the supply and ground.

measure the resistance from the batter snap lugs to the + trace on the pcb, and the ground trace. what results?

not to be picky, but - "on the breadboard" means nothing if you then pull the parts off and solder them to a pcb and then install into a box. unless you had the parts on the pcb and then lashed into the BB to test, in which case you could expect the BB working board to be a boxed working board.


also - modern art, paul?

[PRR]

> modern art

Aztec.

[tubegeek]

> modern art

Aztec.

Pretty cool! Spring refresh?