First Time Tube Screamer - No Audio - Debug Info. Please help!

[pgorey]

So much to learn!  Thanks Gibson!  This gives a really nice summary for me to choose the avenue of next dirt pedal.  Sorry, I've been offline for a week here due to work / life being a little crazy but got a little time to finish up my Tremendous Fuzz pedal.  Not to be bragadacious, but the dirt is very bigly

Pic here:

http://imgur.com/a/NLZ9C

I'll be back soon once I finish the decals / enclosure for the screamer and have a finished product.  Thanks again and be back soon!

[GibsonGM]

Very nice, ha ha!! 

You're welcome, helping is what we do here, and soon you will also help new people! 

Enjoy the screamer!

[pgorey]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting to the point where I can lend a helping hand instead of just asking for help!  If you can teach something effectively, it likely means that you have a really good understanding of it and I definitely do not.  I can follow instructions though!  I'm on the fence regarding what to build next.  I really want to keep digging into different distortions that employ different gain /tone designs so I can understand those better but I also really want a compressor, reverb and delay pedal.  So many options!

[duck_arse]

pedal not finished = false news.

[GibsonGM]

pedal not finished = false news.

FAKE news, Stephen, LOL!     

Pictures or it did not happen!!   

[duck_arse]

no, no, it really did happen, GM.

[GibsonGM]

Ah, pedal not built = false
Pedal built = true

pedal built >= true

[banjerpickin]

Not to be bragadacious, but the dirt is very bigly

Pic here:

http://imgur.com/a/NLZ9C

AMAZING

[pgorey]

 I'm really struggling with a graphic design on The TS / deciding on the right enclosure.  I'm tempted to use the same I used for the fuzz just to have real estate to space things out but most builders can put two or three screamers into an enclosure that big!  I am so impressed by how small the enclosures are that some builders squeeze these designs into.  Really good planning and execution for sure!

[pgorey]

Welp, I got the enclosure all drilled out, components installed and nicely soldered and there is no audio on output and my power transformer's LED drops in brightness when plugged in - no LED, no sound etc.   I'm guessing a short or multiple shorts from the JB weld (metal epoxy) that I accidentally dropped a dab of right onto the board when lining up the standoffs - DOH!  I thought I cleaned it off sufficiently, but there could be a small film over the area and since it has metal in the mixture, I think that could be the issue...
At this point, the board has been soldered / re-soldered so many times with so many lifted pads that I decided to order another board and start over...It's frustrating but I want this to work well over a decent period of time and look good too.  I also ordered parts to build an Orange Squeezer simultaneously but am being heavily tempted by Merlin's Engineer's Thumb - really cool design.  Anyway, I'll be back in a week after the parts arrive and I have another go at it.  Insert sad trombone sample...

[bluebunny]

What DC jack are you using?  Hopefully not one of those shiny metal ones...

[pgorey]

The ones from small bear that have 2 plastic washers / spacers to keep it from shorting on the enclosure.  I wish that was the issue!  I have committed to rebuilding just to clean up the build and get the soldering  practice

[pgorey]

Ok, rebuilt this pedal and everything worked first power up this time around including the foot switch and LED in the enclosure.  I'm powering from a Morley 300mA transformer and no battery.  Though I'm pleased with the fact that is works and looks decent, I'm second guessing the dirt amount.  I don't have my original TS9 to compare to but a quick youtube demo shows TS9s that just seem to have more distortion available.  What I have built sounds great but it's almost like a loud booster pedal with a little bit of dirt, tone and post volume control.  I built the TS9 / asymmetrical version from Tonepad and though we have discussed different diode options in this thread, shouldn't the pedal have more drive stock?  I have a 500k pot in as specified for the drive.  Would a 1M open up more distortion headroom?  Is it just the diodes that create the dirt?

[pgorey]

Hey guys, I thought I had posted this but here is the completed pedal.  I ended up modding the circuit a bit to get the higher gain and cleaner gain at the lower side of the pot.  Replaced two resistors and one cap - allows the pedal to distort at around 320hz instead of 720 and passes more bass in general.  Gain sounds about 3 x as dirty with the mod from here:

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/5_DIY_Mods_to_Perfect_Your_Ibanez_TS9_and_Boss_SD-1?page=4

Here's the new pedal:

http://imgur.com/a/4Jrjp

[bluebunny]

Good job.  (I like Cape Cod.)  That's one hell of an LED!  You might need these: