Beavis Breakout Box Woes

[audiolife]

I built the Beavis box found here:

http://www.beavisaudio.com/bboard/images/io_diy.jpg

I have an issue, it produces only silence when engaged .It bypasses clean and fine, but when the circuit is engaged it's nothing, no white noise or anything. It's wired exactly as in the diagram.

Thanks!

[Jdansti]

If you could please provide photos, it would help us figure out where the problem is.

[audiolife]

Apologies for the messy wiring, and the gargantuan photos  

The jack furthest from the switch is the input, the closest the output. Everything is routed to a terminal strip and on to the breadboard.





Wired exactly as the beavis board schematic. I get power, LED, the only issue is no sound when the effect is on.

[tony grazioso]

um, i dont know if this will help..but, i built one a while back that i still use to this very day..i also had the same problem until i wired all the pedal "ins" to the breakout box "outs"...it might work for ya it might not, but its worth the try.

[audiolife]

tony, could you be more descriptive?

by ins do you mean the hot of either jack or the input? how does your wiring differ from the beavis schematic?

Thanks for the advice, I can tell this is a really useful product, hope I can get it working soon.

[Jdansti]

Place a short jumper wire between the effect in and effect out screw terminals to simulate going through a "clean" effect. If you still get no sound when the effect is supposed to be engaged:

1) Check for stray strands of wire and solder bridges between terminals on the stomp switch.
2) Check for bad connections on the stomp switch terminals and on the terminal block.
3) Check for stray strands of wire and solder brides between the terminals that go to the effect in/out terminals and the chassis.
4) Check the wire insulation going through the unprotected metal holes. For future reference, Radio Shack sells a cheap grommet assortment. Always use grommets on metal holes that have wire running through them.
5) Check for continuity between the screw terminal for the ground and the ground at your in/out jacks.

If you don't find anything there, we'll dig deeper.

[scuzzphut]

It looks to me like you have the sleeve and tip connections on the jack sockets the wrong way round.

[davent]

And to make life much much easier for yourself and troubleshooters, get some more colours of wire, use one colour for your inputs, one for outputs, another pair of colours for power and ground, etc., etc.

dave

[audiolife]

Thanks for the input everyone!

@jdansti:

Did a quick test before work this morning. Totally disconnected breakout box from breadboard. Placed the jumper wire between the fx in/out on the terminal strip and got clean bypass as well as when the effect was engaged! Took this as a good sign.

Proceeded to remove the jumper and test the box without it: same results. Worked when the breakout box was bypassed or engaged.

@scuzzphut:

Do you mean that the jack closest to the switch should be the input? I've looked at how the manual had everything arranged and Beavis' is the same way: farthest jack from the switch is the input.

@davent:

I know!  This has been something on my xmas list: more color wire. I usually color the ends since I'm broke right now: black for ground, etc. Didn't do it in this build b/c I *thought it would be simple enough... 

[Jdansti]

>Did a quick test before work this morning. Totally disconnected breakout box from breadboard. Placed the jumper wire between the fx in/out on the terminal strip and got clean bypass as well as when the effect was engaged! Took this as a good sign.

Great!  It looks to me like the problem is now:

1) The connection between the BOB and the bread board,

2) The bread board is bad, or

3) The circuit on the bread board has a problem.

What do you have on the bread board and what sound do you expect when the effect is activated by the stomp switch?

[audiolife]

I have the wires going into the terminal strip, and out onto the bread board.

I have V+ and ground attached to their respective rails, and have those rails jumpered to the other side of the breadboard for ease of use. I've attached a picture of the entire thing for reference.





To test out this breakout box project, I've tried the simplest Beavis project:

http://beavisaudio.com/bboard/projects/bbp_BazzFuss.pdf

Here is the conclusion I'm coming to: there is something wrong with every project on that site. I have tried the EA tremolo, the Boutique Tubescreamer, and the Gretsch controfuzz projects and have gotten this same result time and again. Hmmm... I have built other pedals, and while I'm no expert I'm beginning to think the problem isn't me (for once  ).

[Jdansti]

^ Unfortunately (fortunately?) Beavis Audio has a pretty good reputation and many folks on this forum have had good success with Dano's projects. I guess it could be possible that his drawing of the bread board doesn't match up with the schematic. Tonight I'll take a look at your photos and compare them to the bread board layout and schematic at Dano's site and get back with you.

[scuzzphut]

@scuzzphut:

Do you mean that the jack closest to the switch should be the input? I've looked at how the manual had everything arranged and Beavis' is the same way: farthest jack from the switch is the input.

No.
There are two solder tabs on each jack socket. One is connected to the sleeve (ground) and one is connected to the tip (signal).
It looks to me like you have the signal tabs commoned together and connected to the ground terminal on the DC socket.

Look carefully at the construction of the socket to see what solder tab is connected to what part of the jack plug when it's in. 

[audiolife]

I totally agree, the Beavis site is awesome and I meant no disrespect. I only meant that every build I've made outside of that site has worked fine, every circuit build from it has not worked. I'm sure it's me, but there's just so much that can go wrong here it can get out of hand. 

If Beavis is reading this I would like to thank him/them, as without that site I likely wouldn't even have the meager knowledge of this stuff I have today.

@scuzz

I have the orientation correct. The red wires are hot and the orange are ground on the 1/4" jacks. If I had them reversed wouldn't that yield no signal at all?

[Jdansti]

Well, the schematic and bread board layout on the BA site match each other, and your bread board also matches as best I can tell from your photos.

Looks like it's time to go through the debug process for the effect, but before you do, just check the voltage across the rails of the bread board and let us know what you get.

Edit: One more thing: I can't see the color bands of the resistor in the photos. Could you please let us know what they are? You might want to temporarily remove it and check its resistance.

For the complete debug process, go here: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=29816.0 and follow the instructions.

[scuzzphut]

@scuzz

I have the orientation correct. The red wires are hot and the orange are ground on the 1/4" jacks. If I had them reversed wouldn't that yield no signal at all?

I don't think you do.



In this picture the orange wire is connected to the tip (signal) and the red wire is connected to the sleeve (ground).

[Jdansti]

Good catch, Mark.

I've put some notes on the photo to show how the jacks should be wired: 



Maybe your effect will work after you rewire the jacks.

[audiolife]

A big thank you on my part. Can't believe such a noobish oversight 

I'll mess with the wiring and see if I can't fix it.

Cheers all!

[therecordingart]

Yep. You have your tip connections wired together and going to ground.

[audiolife]

So I got a chance to rewire last night...same results haha. Now I'm even more confused.