Aion Electronics Cygnus

[chongmagic]

I built the Aion Electronics Cygnus, but am getting no fuzz sounds from the effect. I am getting signal with the effect on or off and the volume, sustain, and tone are providing a sound but it is pretty much just a boost of the original amp tone.

Could it be that the diodes are placed backwards, I matched the solid line with the silkscreen of the PCB.

[GGBB]

Probably all of us here either don't know what this circuit is, or do not have it memorized. Please follow https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=29816.0. Aion is active here under the user name "aion" if you want to contact them directly.

[chongmagic]

I apologize for that, first time posting a debugging question here.

Here is the schematic of the Cygnus, it is the Cornish G2



I will have to post the voltages of the 5088s later, but I am getting 3.5 to 4v on the base of each one from memory.

I got some 1n34A Ge Diodes from Mammoth Electronics to use in the circuit, my guess is that they are not installed correctly or are bad and they are not clipping. The pedal works on or off, but the sound is just basically boosted with the volume and shaped by the tone control, sustain works as well but the signal is never clipped or distorted.

[Mark Hammer]

The board is double-sided.  While not absolutely crucial, since pads are generally "plated thru" from the top side of the board to the bottom, it's still a good idea to verify that the solder joint appears to run from the bottom to the top of the hole where the component is installed.

The diode orientation is actually pretty moot, so long as one in each diode pair is oriented opposite to the other.

Perhaps more critical is the question of whether all those transistors inserted into sockets are firmly seated.  Since your choice of transistors and pinout seems to be established, maybe consider removing the sockets and securing the transistors directly to the  board.

Finally, we can't see the "copper" side of the board, so there is a possibility you have an unintentionally solder bridge somewhere.  The board's pretty tightly packed, so the possibility exists.  Take out your magnifying glass!

[chongmagic]

I am going to pull the board out this evening and I will take a picture of the other side. I inspected the board for solder bridges before I boxed it up, but I will double check. I did check the sockets for the transistors to make sure they were firmly placed in the socket. I normally don't use sockets for trannys but since there were so many I figured that would help with troubleshooting.

I will double check the other side of the PCB and the transistors this evening.

[Mark Hammer]

I hate to keep bringing it up, but I will anyway.  I like to use an old toothbrush and methyl hydrate or similar substance to  to clean the flux off a board.  Flux is shiny and has a way of obscuring small solder bridges.  When pads are spaced far apart and boards don't have many components, there's no need for it.  BUt when boards have lots of pads close together, you need all the visual aid you can get to verify that there are NO solder bridges, no matter how small.

[anotherjim]

I see that when the distortion circuit is bypassed, it gets grounded by the footswitch at the sustain control to silence the effect. So that switch should disconnect the ground when you want the distortion. Can you check that part is working properly?

[chongmagic]

It was one of the tranny's not being seated correctly. I checked them all and it works now.

Thank you everyone!

[joer3155]

Hey Chongmagic - I'm thinking of building this pedal. How do you like it?

[chongmagic]

So the pedal is working bypass and I can get some fuzziness when I crank it up all the way. However, it is lite fuzz at best nothing like the demos.

Just wondering if anyone might have built this and had the voltages at the trannys that I could look at?

[Frank_NH]

The Cornish G2 should give you lots of fuzz so double check all the components.  It is very possible that you used a wrong resistor value (e.g. 10K for a 1K) or an electrolytic is in backwards.  So how do I know this?  Ummm...well...experience...

I would also use your DVM to get some voltages from the C-B-E of each transistor and post them here.  That will tell us a lot.

I should mention that I have gotten away from using sockets for transistors because (as in your case) I've found they often don't the transistor legs very well.  So I test the transistors then solder them in for good.  ICs, however, always get a socket! 

[chongmagic]

The Cornish G2 should give you lots of fuzz so double check all the components.  It is very possible that you used a wrong resistor value (e.g. 10K for a 1K) or an electrolytic is in backwards.  So how do I know this?  Ummm...well...experience...

I would also use your DVM to get some voltages from the C-B-E of each transistor and post them here.  That will tell us a lot.

I should mention that I have gotten away from using sockets for transistors because (as in your case) I've found they often don't the transistor legs very well.  So I test the transistors then solder them in for good.  ICs, however, always get a socket! 

I will measure each transistor and post it here. I will double check the resistors as well. Thank you!

[ElectricDruid]

I should mention that I have gotten away from using sockets for transistors because (as in your case) I've found they often don't the transistor legs very well.  So I test the transistors then solder them in for good.  ICs, however, always get a socket! 

I'm the same. Unless it's something super-special or heat sensitive (like a germanium tranny) I don't put transistors in sockets. They cause as many problems as they solve, and anyway transistors are cheap. ICs are a different story and I generally socket them all.

[chongmagic]

I checked all the resistors and electro caps and they are fine. I will have to test the transistors.

I tried to be careful because of all the transistors and it ended up most likely backfiring on me. 

[a_e_a]

Sorry to resurrect the thread but I was wondering if you ever found a solution. I've just built the same pedal with the same result. Very little fuzz. Sounds great but only a light fuzz which I would expect well below Max...

[andy-h-h]

Sorry to resurrect the thread but I was wondering if you ever found a solution. I've just built the same pedal with the same result. Very little fuzz. Sounds great but only a light fuzz which I would expect well below Max...

The G2 will have less fuzz than you average big muff, and is usually darker sounding, which is especially noticeable on chords.  You might be experiencing G2 disappointment - not uncommon for people to make them, only to then mod them to be more like a regular big muff.

[a_e_a]

The G2 will have less fuzz than you average big muff, and is usually darker sounding, which is especially noticeable on chords.  You might be experiencing G2 disappointment - not uncommon for people to make them, only to then mod them to be more like a regular big muff.

It does have a little bit too much bottom but overall I do like it as a lighter fuzz. Got a great character with the bridge pickup into a dirty amp. Might drop some bass out of it to make it play nicer with other pedals.

[Jarno]

I built mine with BC547a transistors, so lowest gain range, so mine also has a bit less fuzz than other muffs I built (this one is for bassguitar use), but still quite a noticeable fuzz past two o'clock on the sustain knob.  Way louder than ever needed on the volume knob.

I'd start by replacing the hunkin' big input cap by something a bit lighter.