Tonepad Boss CE-2 Chorus – aargh! What are these noises?

[sovtek50]

Since the EH Chorus didn’t quite do it for me, I was happy when Francisco added the Corrrral Chorus Layout to his wonderful Tonepad site. It was quite a challenge to build it (using Perfboard), but I got it to work… almost. I mean it sounds great and the pots do what they’re supposed to do, but the circuit creates these ugly crackling noises, whenever I touch the board. I haven’t boxed it yet, first I wanna get rid of this phenomenon. The noise is caused by even the lightest vibration, it doesn’t matter where I touch the board, making it hard to locate the mistake. I figure that maybe one of the ICs is faulty, but I could only swap the 4558, not having replacements for neither the TL022, the MN3007 nor the MN3101 at hand. The transistors are okay. Haven’t checked the diodes yet, though. Has anybody ever had this, maybe with a different circuit?

[collie_doggy]

Maybe putting it in an appropriate box might actually solve the problem?
Just a thought, and purely speculative.

[nelson]

It probably isnt a faulty IC. sounds like a loose wire or component lead/solder joint.

[nightingale]

I feel sort of funny giving you advice,
as I could probably not get that circit going without a PCB.

Before you put it in an enclusure, look over the bottom of the board with good light. Make sure there are no unwanted tiny solder bridges, questionable looking solder nodes, including the pot/jack switch connections, and double/tripple check your layout against the schematic befere you box it.

Then you might want to put it in an enclosure,

Wiggle the wires around when it is boxed up to find the problem area.
[sometimes a  completely unsoldered pad on a PCB lead will crackle like crazy]
Then i would try bending the perf a little [be gentle], and see if you can find a bad solder joing, short, or locate the problem..

This is usually my routine,
hope it helps,

[StephenGiles]

I feel sort of funny giving you advice,
as I could probably not get that circit going without a PCB.

Before you put it in an enclusure, look over the bottom of the board with good light. Make sure there are no unwanted tiny solder bridges, questionable looking solder nodes, including the pot/jack switch connections, and double/tripple check your layout against the schematic befere you box it.

Then you might want to put it in an enclosure,

Wiggle the wires around when it is boxed up to find the problem area.
[sometimes a  completely unsoldered pad on a PCB lead will crackle like crazy]
Then i would try bending the perf a little [be gentle], and see if you can find a bad solder joing, short, or locate the problem..

This is usually my routine,
hope it helps,

I couldn't agree more, exactly what I would do.
Stephen

[A.S.P.]

do all IC pins stick inside of the socket "clamps", or is there maybe 1 pin
bent under the IC, and only touching the socket every now and then... ?

[Fp-www.Tonepad.com]

It was quite a challenge to build it (using Perfboard), but I got it to work… almost.

PERFBOARD, not a good choice for this project.

Fp

[sovtek50]

Yup! It was a bad solder joint (what else?) that had something to do with an extra lug I had added for the Vibrato option. Those who are interested can read my build report at tonepad.com, I'll post it tomorrow.
Thanx, dudes, I luv ya.

[PharaohAmps]

It was quite a challenge to build it (using Perfboard), but I got it to work… almost.

PERFBOARD, not a good choice for this project.

Fp

Agreed.  It never ceases to amaze me how many DIY'ers shun PCB's in favor of perfboard and veroboard.  Veroboard is okay, I've used a lot of it myself, but you gotta have some real skills to build anything complicated on perf and have it work.  My hat is off to you, sovtek50!

Matt Farrow