Single-Loop true-bypass box -- What am I doing wrong!?

[Masonrussell]

Hi there! This is my first post with you guys - hoping I can get some help on what should've been a very simple pedal.

I recently acquired a late 60's Electro Harmonix "Muff Fuzz," and an absolutely beautiful 1981 Ibanez TS808 "Tube Screamer" through a trade. I love the sound of "Muff Fuzz" box and want to use it on my pedal board, but the thing uses a standard slider switch instead of a foot switch, so I decided I'd build a single-loop true-bypass box to go with it. Simple enough, right?

So, I followed this digarm here: http://www.singlecoil.com/tb-strip/images/single_loop.gif I got from singlecoil.com, and few runs to Orvac Electronics and Radio Shack later, I was done. I plugged everything in, and wouldn't you know, something was wrong! With the pedal turned off, everything seemed fine. The signal from my guitar ran through no problem. But as soon as you engage the pedal: nothing. No sound at all. I checked and double-checked my work to the wiring diagram, and found no errors. I've since taken it all apart, and rewired it following a different diagram (http://www.diystompboxes.com/tbbox/tbbox.jpg), but ended up with the same results. Sound when the pedal's off - no sound when it's on.

Anybody have any clue what the heck might be going on? I mean, the circuit is all jacks and wires, so there's really no excuse for this to be happening, is there? I've heard of other people using both of these same diagrams and having no issues at all, so I can't call shenanigans on the diagrams either. The only thing I can think of (and if this is some beyond stupid mistake of mine I should've known better about - I assure you I will feel as embarrassed as this guy here:    and will never bother you again) is I'm using closed-circuit jacks instead of open (Orvac wanted three bucks before tax for a single open-circuit jack, and Radio Shack wanted two bucks for a bag of two closed-circuit jacks - Decision made). I figured it wouldn't make a difference as long as I left the third "switching" terminal open, but like I said, please do correct me if I'm wrong.


Anyway, let me know what anybody thinks. I know as well as you do these boxes should be the simplest of builds. I really can't understand why these issues are happening, so any insight as to how to aid the situation would be sincerely appreciated.

Thanks so much for your time!

[Top Top]

Have you tried patching a regular cable from the loop send to the loop return, just to make sure that it is not the effect somehow causing problems?

Also I would check to make sure the tip of your loop jacks are not shorting to ground for one reason or another (just continuity check them with a meter).