Hey everyone. I'm new here. this is my first post, I'm having an issue with my f

[joedaddio]

I've read the rules here and I'll try to abide by them, but if I make a mistake, please let me know and I'll fix it.

I built myself a boutique bass fuzz as my first project. I love the sound of it and, despite the mess that are the guts, it all works properly and sounds great.

However, the simplest part of it all, the LED indicator light, is giving me trouble.

I blew out three LEDs in the beginning. My fault: I had used a 22k resistor rather than a 2k2 resistor (still learning!).

Then I had the wrong resistor in there, the pedal worked flawlessly, all that happened was that the LED lit for a half a second and then went out. It didn't affect the sound at all (which I don't believe it should because it's not in the audio signal path, right?)

However, I changed out the resistor to the 2k2 one and plugged it all in, thinking I'd solved the minor issue.

However, this time, the LED would blink on and off and the sound would fade in and out with every blink, the sound was also very choppy.

I thought there might be a short somewhere so I pulled all the wires out of the box, double checked that nothing was touching (it was all separated, outside of the enclosure), tried it again, and I still had the same issue.

I cut the LED out and now it's working fine. I don't know what the heck is going on.

Having the LED out is not affecting the sound and has been reliable for me for the past few weeks (I built it on x-mas eve) and sounds great. However, it's driving me *nuts* that this aspect of it isn't working.

I'll post a photos of the guts, but, like I said, it's a mess. I'm not sure it'll show you what you need, so if another photo is appropriate please let me know. Please remember that it's my first build. I'm thinking of redoing the insides, but since it sounds good I'm hesitant to work on it.



Thanks, guys. If I'm missing anything, or you need more info or anything, please let me know.



joe

[Kipper4]

How is the board mounted in the enclosure?
Not that i'm going to be able to help you as a newbie to pedal making.
Just curious if the boards are shorting on the inside of the enclosure.
As you said the led shouldnt affect the audio as its not in the path. So maybe there is more than 1 issue going on here.

[joedaddio]

How is the board mounted in the enclosure?
Not that i'm going to be able to help you as a newbie to pedal making.
Just curious if the boards are shorting on the inside of the enclosure.
As you said the led shouldnt affect the audio as its not in the path. So maybe there is more than 1 issue going on here.

To go along with my "I don't know what the heck I'm doing" personal, I'm going to have to tell you that there's nothing holding the board in place other than the load of wires it's nested in when it's all put together.

I am as surprised as anyone that the magic smoke hasn't escaped yet, but other than the LED issue it works great. I've been carrying it around in my effects/cable bag to gigs and practice along with my other pedals and haven't gotten any issues. And when I tested it I made sure that everything was pulled out and nothing was touching.

I may just re-wire everything. I discovered little boards that you can attach to the foot switch that seem like they'll make my life much easier. I may just build another one seeing as I bought double the components and would really only need a few things to make another one. With the things I've learned from this build I'm sure my next one will be of much higher quality.


joe

[gcme93]

You must feel a certain attachment to your first build though?

http://www.muzique.com/schem/led.htm

Use that (by the mighty Jack Orman, you'll soon find many other great things from him), and add in the forward voltage for the resistor colour you're using. Recommended LED currents are anything between 5mA and 20mA (higher = brighter, lower = longer battery life). If your resistor is within that range, there's something else funky going on...

[joedaddio]

You must feel a certain attachment to your first build though?

http://www.muzique.com/schem/led.htm

Use that (by the mighty Jack Orman, you'll soon find many other great things from him), and add in the forward voltage for the resistor colour you're using. Recommended LED currents are anything between 5mA and 20mA (higher = brighter, lower = longer battery life). If your resistor is within that range, there's something else funky going on...

I had an orange LED in there. I just searched for the forward voltage on them and got either 2.0 or 2.2, depending where I looked. According to that site, with a 2.0 forward voltage and a 2200 ohm resistor the LED current is 3.1mA. With a 2.2 forward voltage and a 2200 ohm resistor it's 3.2 mA. Would that make it blink? (I thought I might have bought blinking LEDs at first, but that's not indicated anywhere on the packaging).

You're saying I should be somewhere between 5mA and 20mA, but even if I use a 2200 ohm resistor in there and use the forward voltage for a red LED, I only get 3.2mA (assuming I'm doing this right. A 2k2 resistor means 2200 ohms, right?).

As far as a connection with my first build: that may be part of the reason I'm hesitant to tear it apart, and probably why I want this darned LED to work.

Thanks for your help!


joe

[gcme93]

I would try something around 1K really, that will give you a pretty good current of 7mA. Just to double check the basics (I hope this doesn't sound patronising but everyone makes obvious mistakes here and there) are you definitely connecting the LED the right way?



That's just there as a reminder diagram, but if it was flashing before, I'm sure you had it the right way around. You just weren't supplying it with enough current. The 5mA current is a minimum to keep it on, and the 20mV is a high value to make it extra bright, but I doubt theres much difference at all between having around 5mA or 20mA.

As I said earlier, try 1K and you should be ready to go

[joedaddio]

I would try something around 1K really, that will give you a pretty good current of 7mA. Just to double check the basics (I hope this doesn't sound patronising but everyone makes obvious mistakes here and there) are you definitely connecting the LED the right way?



That's just there as a reminder diagram, but if it was flashing before, I'm sure you had it the right way around. You just weren't supplying it with enough current. The 5mA current is a minimum to keep it on, and the 20mV is a high value to make it extra bright, but I doubt theres much difference at all between having around 5mA or 20mA.

As I said earlier, try 1K and you should be ready to go

Thank you so much for your help, gcme. I will give it a go this weekend and let you know how it turned out.

As far as feeling patronized: not a chance. I'm totally new to this and I at least know enough to know that I don't know much of anything when it comes to these things. So any and all advice is certainly welcome.

Thank you again for your help.


joe

[gcme93]

I would try something around 1K really, that will give you a pretty good current of 7mA. Just to double check the basics (I hope this doesn't sound patronising but everyone makes obvious mistakes here and there) are you definitely connecting the LED the right way?



That's just there as a reminder diagram, but if it was flashing before, I'm sure you had it the right way around. You just weren't supplying it with enough current. The 5mA current is a minimum to keep it on, and the 20mV is a high value to make it extra bright, but I doubt theres much difference at all between having around 5mA or 20mA.

As I said earlier, try 1K and you should be ready to go

Thank you so much for your help, gcme. I will give it a go this weekend and let you know how it turned out.

As far as feeling patronized: not a chance. I'm totally new to this and I at least know enough to know that I don't know much of anything when it comes to these things. So any and all advice is certainly welcome.

Thank you again for your help.


joe

Good stuff! You'll find the more you play around with these things, the more you learn. As for the silly mistakes, I'm sure you'll find most people on this forum would confess to things like spending an hour debugging a bad circuit only to realise that the chip isn't in the socket, or it isn't plugged in. Sometimes anyone can just need an extra set of eyes to work it out

George

[joedaddio]

[quote author=gcme93

Good stuff! You'll find the more you play around with these things, the more you learn. As for the silly mistakes, I'm sure you'll find most people on this forum would confess to things like spending an hour debugging a bad circuit only to realise that the chip isn't in the socket, or it isn't plugged in. Sometimes anyone can just need an extra set of eyes to work it out

George
[/quote]

George,

Thanks for your help. The led is working perfectly. I went with green (well, yellow green cos I'm cheap )to match the knobs.



It works great. Now I just need to decide what color to make it.

Thanks again!


Joe

[chptunes]

What are the four controls?  The Bazz Fuss is a five component circuit.. Mine just has two controls (Gain and Vol).. i could add a Tone filter for a third control I guess.

Give us an overview of your unit.?..  By the way, that looks way better than my first build.

-Corey

[snarblinge]

nice work, for a first build, i wish any of my early ones looked that good.

so whatto build next eh

[joedaddio]

What are the four controls?  The Bazz Fuss is a five component circuit.. Mine just has two controls (Gain and Vol).. i could add a Tone filter for a third control I guess.

Give us an overview of your unit.?..  By the way, that looks way better than my first build.

-Corey

The controls are, from left to right are volume, EQ, pinch, and fuzz. The pinch does some weird things to the sound and in its extreme clockwise position acts as a really harsh gate. The fuzz goes from "nasty" to "stupid nasty."

The forum rules made it seem like talking about boutique pedals was off limits so that's why I haven't come out and said exactly what it is a clone of, but knowing that its a bass fuzz pedal and that the fuzz controller is called the "wool" control it should be easy to find. If in doing all this side stepping for no reason let me know. The vero layout is easy to find as well, and if its okay to link to the layout I used I'd be more than happy to. I just don't want to step in any toes.


Joe

[joedaddio]

nice work, for a first build, i wish any of my early ones looked that good.

so whatto build next eh

I'm not sure what's next. I'm thinking of a nice simple compressor for bass.


Joe

[Tony Forestiere]

The controls are, from left to right are volume, EQ, pinch, and fuzz. The pinch does some weird things to the sound and in its extreme clockwise position acts as a really harsh gate. The fuzz goes from "nasty" to "stupid nasty."

The forum rules made it seem like talking about boutique pedals was off limits so that's why I haven't come out and said exactly what it is a clone of, but knowing that its a bass fuzz pedal and that the fuzz controller is called the "wool" control it should be easy to find. If in doing all this side stepping for no reason let me know. The vero layout is easy to find as well, and if its okay to link to the layout I used I'd be more than happy to. I just don't want to step in any toes.


Joe

IIRC: Aron and the rest of the forum honored a Gentleman's agreement with several boutiquers to not post schematics, nor reverse-engineering layouts. Around the time ZVEX released the Invento-Box, Zachary allowed DIYStompboxes to post and discuss his works and schematics for prurient and esoteric experimentation. If your WM clone has a drawn-by-you schematic, you can post it. If a drawn-by-you layout you are proud of...post.

Mods: I am not incorrect, am I?

EDIT: It goes without saying. If you think you want to take this design and mass produce for profit BAD MOJO>

[joedaddio]

Thanks for the background.

The layout I used isn't mine, it came from Tag Board Effects.

I'm certainly not planning on mass producing any of these things.

This was my first build. I'd like to do a couple more to learn the basics and then try experimenting on my own. The Beavis site is awesome (and how I heard of this place). I've been doing a lot of reading there. After a successful first build and a bit of Internet learnin' I'm feeling like I know just enough to be dangerous

However, I don't have any of my own schematics or anything. I'm in the very early stages of this and appreciate that there are builders out there, pro and amateur, who are kind enough to share their hard work with me so I can learn. That's why I'm trying to be respectful to the rules and trying to get a feel for what they are. I've read some, but until I participate and ask I don't think I'll fully get them down.


Joe



IIRC: Aron and the rest of the forum honored a Gentleman's agreement with several boutiquers to not post schematics, nor reverse-engineering layouts. Around the time ZVEX released the Invento-Box, Zachary allowed DIYStompboxes to post and discuss his works and schematics for prurient and esoteric experimentation. If your WM clone has a drawn-by-you schematic, you can post it. If a drawn-by-you layout you are proud of...post.

Mods: I am not incorrect, am I?

EDIT: It goes without saying. If you think you want to take this design and mass produce for profit BAD MOJO>
[/quote]

[LucifersTrip]

I blew out three LEDs in the beginning. My fault: I had used a 22k resistor rather than a 2k2 resistor (still learning!).

cool that you got it going, but I have to ask how you blew out an led with a resistor that is too large. the only thing that will do is give you a dim light or no light at all. if it was 22 ohm, then you could have blown it

byw, it really doesn't matter how many you blew, when:
http://www.taydaelectronics.com/leds/led-5mm-green-water-clear-super-bright.html

[joedaddio]

I blew out three LEDs in the beginning. My fault: I had used a 22k resistor rather than a 2k2 resistor (still learning!).

cool that you got it going, but I have to ask how you blew out an led with a resistor that is too large. the only thing that will do is give you a dim light or no light at all. if it was 22 ohm, then you could have blown it

byw, it really doesn't matter how many you blew, when:
http://www.taydaelectronics.com/leds/led-5mm-green-water-clear-super-bright.html

I should have said "cut them out and trashed them because they lit for half a second and went out so I thought they were blown because I don't know what I'm doing"


Joe

[joedaddio]

I blew out three LEDs in the beginning. My fault: I had used a 22k resistor rather than a 2k2 resistor (still learning!).

cool that you got it going, but I have to ask how you blew out an led with a resistor that is too large. the only thing that will do is give you a dim light or no light at all. if it was 22 ohm, then you could have blown it

byw, it really doesn't matter how many you blew, when:
http://www.taydaelectronics.com/leds/led-5mm-green-water-clear-super-bright.html

I didn't check that link before because I was on my phone, but holy crap... I'm now reserving my electronics store runs for emergencies.


joe