Shouldn't my UglyFace be doing this?

Noplasticrobots · June 03, 2006, 02:55:40 PM

I'm in the process of finishing up an UglyFace (I had to swap nearly all of the 1 and 3 lugs on the pots...). I'm playing an SG copy and leaving the UglyFace in oscillator mode. If I set one pickup's tone to 0 and the other's to 10, I should be able to toggle between the two and get two seperate tones, correct? If so, I have something miswired because mine won't do it now that it's soldered together. It will just stay the same frequency regardless of my guitar's tone control. Also, the vactrol effect only seems to really work on the E A D strings. Anyone know what could be the culprit (more miswired pots?) I'm perusing the perf as I type...

Noplasticrobots · June 03, 2006, 03:18:53 PM

Ok, I just went to Tim's site and listened to his samples with envelope control. Mine doesn't sound anything like it. I have a CMOS 555 in mine. I'm using a homemade vactrol but it sounded fine on the breadboard. I followed ROG's wiring diagram so I wouldn't mess up the pot's wiring again.

What I am getting is octave down effects and the nasaly tones, but the vactrol just doesn't seem to want to put out that wah sound. I did have some permanent marker on one of the leads to identify it as the positive lead but I don't think that would cause it to malfunction, would it?

tiges_ tendres · June 03, 2006, 04:24:41 PM

the wah sound only happens at certain settings of the sensitivity. I think it's the 1k pot. Also check the polarity on the led end of the optocoupler. I had mine wrong the first time, and changing it helped.

Noplasticrobots · June 03, 2006, 04:39:12 PM

I've got the polarity right on mine, I can still see some of my red marker on the lead. I know for a fact my pots are wired correctly now and my board looks fine, but now I'm hearing the 555 oscillating through the effect when it's bypassed! I can even control it with the frequency knob. It's not loud, but it's very noticable. Is this some kind of grounding issue? I'm mounting it in an aluminum box (first time) so do I need to use plastic washers on the in/out jacks or something? I don't know if that would even help considering it oscillates out of the box also.

Noplasticrobots · June 03, 2006, 04:59:50 PM

Well well well, looks like my damn vactrol was backwards...I think this is about the 100th emberassing thing I've posted this week.

tiges_ tendres · June 03, 2006, 05:25:47 PM

Quote from: Noplasticrobots on June 03, 2006, 04:59:50 PM
Well well well, looks like my damn vactrol was backwards...I think this is about the 100th emberassing thing I've posted this week.

if it wasn't wah'ing, I knew that would be the problem!!

$uperpuma · June 03, 2006, 06:25:04 PM

How do you like the Ugly Face? My buddy wanted one after he heard mine... oh, and I put the vactrol in backwards on my Trem Lune the first time i built it....it was a nice booster but no trem... now its the best!

Noplasticrobots · June 04, 2006, 12:29:11 PM

As bad as yesterday was, I'm kinda glad this build didn't go as planned. First of all I was building it on pad per hole perf, which I hate. I much prefer the Rat Shack boards that match the breadboards or the boards that have the positive and negative strips down the middle, they not only look cleaner when finished but there's less running of jumpers. So right there I felt as if I was battling the build. Add to that the fact that my vactrol was destryoyed when removing it! But it had a regular sized LED in it and everyone here seems to use the 10mm LEDs. This makes more sense because if you have a smaller LED, the heatshrink will come over the sides of the LDR making a little less light available to it.

Even if all this stuff went as planned, I ran out of solder yesterday, forcing me to stop working; which was good because my stress levels were through the roof at this point in the project.

$uperpuma, I love the UglyFace! It's all the nastiness anyone could think of to put a guitar through (or anything else for that matter). Imagine the UglyFace combined with a Scrambler or fOXX Tone Machine! I'm getting all salty just thinking about it.

Noplasticrobots · June 05, 2006, 09:30:18 PM

Ok, so I've got a completed UglyFace. Everything works fine, the vactrol is oriented correctly and I'm getting a great octave down and synth tones out of it. But I have a few questions. If I have the UF in oscillating mode and I turn my guitar volume down, the volume doesn't go down! is this right? Also, I can't get the "Space Gun" sounds out of it by turning the sensitivity down and banging my guitar (I could do it fine when it was on the breadboard). However, if I have it oscillating and have the "tone" turned to it's highest frequency, I get the space gun sounds at the beginning of my pick attack. I know this pedal has a ton of tones in it but something doesn't seem right. Off the top of anyone's head, does it sound like a simple miswiring? I've been going over the schematic and my board and I'm not seeing anything wrong; but I know there is. Anyone?

$uperpuma · June 06, 2006, 11:12:37 PM

Some of the sounds that thing makes are very finicky, as far as getting them dialed in just right. Sometimes I can find a sound, sometimes I can't...

goosonique · June 07, 2006, 03:50:51 AM

the knobs are sensitive .... but its all there..

Should have control from guitar volume on the gain...thats the bit i like most.
If the volume is massive put a ~ 650k(+/- to taste) after the output cap goin to the 100k vol pot. Enjoy annoying your neighbours and their pets

Noplasticrobots · June 07, 2006, 01:27:04 PM

Strange stuff. I'll retrace my wires once again....

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Shouldn't my UglyFace be doing this?