Tube Screamer 9 need help..

[aldistannos]

Hi everybody, this is my first topic and I just want to ask a question.

I just finished my TS 9 and got everything soldered and wired but when I went for a test, my headphone (I plugged it to steinberg ci2+) only produced noises. And everytime I touched steel parts of my guitar the noises got smaller.. But my guitar still didn't make any drive sound. Can someone help me solve this? I got my schematic from tonepad.com. Pardon my english for I am an Indonesian.

[GibsonGM]

Go to this forum page:  http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=29816.0

Post the information we need to help you make your circuit work!   

As soon as you post the necessary information, many people will try to help )     We will get it to work, don't worry!  It is most likely only a small wiring error or a part installed backwards. 

And your English is very good.

[aldistannos]

okay thanks.. I've collected the voltages and here we go

IC1 (TL072)
P1 = 4,4
P2 = 4,4
P3 = 4,1
P4 = 0
P5 = 4,2
P6 = 4,2
P7 = 4,4
P8 = 8,8

Diodes (1N914(s))
D1
A = 4,2
K = 4,1
D2
A = 4
K = 4,2
D3
A = 4,2
K = 4,1

Transistor (2n5088)
Q1
C = 8,4
B = 0
E = 2,1

Q2
C= 8,4
B=  0
E = 4,2

I thought there were something wrong with the transistors but after I changed them, the bases still gave 0v.

And by the way, I printed my own board
I got the circuit from here : http://elkit.web.id/wp-content/uploads/tube_screamer_pcb_layout.jpg

Please help.. I've tried perfboard and failed and still failed even after I printed my own board

[R O Tiree]

The best thing here would be to provide high-quality pics of both sides of the board. There is something badly wrong with the base voltages of both transistors. Sharp eyes will probably be able to see what is wrong, as long as the pictures are crisp and clear, high-enough quality and size.

[aldistannos]

well, it was badly done.. and there are two parts I didn't wire a 2m2 resistor and a capacitor, but they had nothing to do with the problem.. I guess.

[gjcamann]

Hummmmm. How to put this nicely....

[cortezthekiller]

Comparing your build to this layout:

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/7097/86477008.jpg

I've notice the following:

-The component to the right of the 3 diodes should be a 51k resistor. It looks like a capacitor of some sort, like the one below it which should be 51pF.
-All of your 10k resistors should be 1k, and all of the 1K resistors should be 10k. Must have mistaken them for each other.
-The 2k2 resistor in the middle (red, red, red, gold) should be 220 ohms (red, red, brown, gold.)

The missing resistor and capacitor you mentioned shouldn't cause non-functioning issues.

Hope this helps.

[aldistannos]

@gjcamann : yeah, i know.. you don't have too hahaha

@cortezthekiller : wow nice eyes.. thanks a lot! gonna throw it away and make a new one

[R O Tiree]

Look bottom right - 6 resistors in a row... second from the right should be 470 ohms, not 470k.

[gjcamann]

You may want to try watching a couple soldering vids on utube, I picked up many great pointers from them. Also be sure to use flux if your soldering to copper traces - it will help the solder stick and keep you joints from looking "Bally".

Also, you may want to try something simpler to get started, like an LPB, SHO or Electra drive (lookup some lovepedals on revolutiondeux.blogspot.com), they're super easy builds and sound killer, they're also way easier to troubleshoot.

Finally... try using sockets for your chips and IC's. It's easy to put too much heat on them and totally cook them.

Hang in there, your skills will improve the practice, we all started somewhere.

I suggest getting a roll of desoldering wick and desolder some of the components on this board and just practice getting some nice solder joints. Once you're getting good joints, try again with a fresh board.

[GibsonGM]

...and finally - Hey, Aldistannos - not a bad try for someone new trying to make a pedal!   

Keep trying, and it will get easier....it doesn't take long to become good at soldering and learning how to keep track of the parts and everything.
Keep going!  )   Read everything you can about how to solder, how to keep heat from affecting transistors, and the post above this is full of great tips!

[J0K3RX]

it almost looks like you may be using lead free solder also... I could be wrong, but if you are using it, that stuff is garbage and hard to solder with even if you are good at soldering! Make sure you are using some rosin core standard 60/40

[aldistannos]

@R O Tiree : oh yeah you right... I picked some of the parts wrong.. geez thanks man

@gjcamann : will do, sir! yeah i should have used flux. It's some kind of liquid tin, isn't it? the thing is, it is kinda rare in Indonesia but I'm gonna try to find one tho

@GibsonGM : thankss just realizing there's a long way to home haha but I'll keep going

@J0K3RX : just checked, and yep you're right.. gonna update my shopping list

[PRR]

Solder is "blob", didn't "wet" the copper.

I think the copper on the PCB was dirty. It has to be shined-up BRIGHT. ScotchBrite is traditional.

Copper micro-tarnishes in seconds-- good electronic-grade flux is needed to break the tarnish.

Solder iron has to heat the copper enough that the flux will bite and then the solder will flow.

Lead-free solder *can* work. Bad old lead/tin solder works better for me.

Be sure it is For Electronics. (Radio Shack is a safe source, though costly for more than a few projects.) Plumber's Solder is very different stuff.

[R O Tiree]

You're welcome, aldi. Actually cortezthekiller spotted most of them before I got back to this.

I hope you get it working

[aldistannos]

Hi everyone! I got my TS 9 finally worked, but my friend said it was more like a distortion pedal, the drive was too loud and the bass was cut off. Then I moved on to TS 808, and it happened again.. Little help please

[mistahead]

What happened again?

What was the TS9 running into amp/other pedal wise?

[aldistannos]

@mistahead : it goes straight to clean (no drive or so) Line6 amp. it sounds more like a distortion not a drive pedal, and kinda treble-ish.. I'll throw some samples.

[mistahead]

Maybe no need - gotcha problem there I suspect.

Line 6 amps are mostly (if not all?) solid state and digital front ends, if not completely solid state (memory serving correctly) - you're not going to get a proper TS sound out of it, the fact it sounds like a distortion box and not just plain horrible is actually a bit of a step up on what I'd expect.

TS type circuits, and most "true" overdrivers need to drive something hard to clip into their signature sounds - when you do this to hot tubes its amazing, when you do it to a digital processor/solid state amp its.... not nice sounding.

Maybe, and this is a BIG maybe as I'm still catching up chops with some of these guys, a cut FET / Red LED combo acting as antiparallel clippers on the output could give some of that tube-y-ness back to the sound.

Doesn't the Line 6 do some nice drive modelling? It has been a while since I sat down in a music shop but last time I did I spent about half an hour cringing at the salesman talking up a Line 6 modelling amp over a tube pre-amp hybrid Peavy (or something similar), they're good but they a different beast to just flogging a preamps 12AX7's into oblivion.

[Mustachio]

I agree with mistahead there ^^  tube amps are great

Tube screamers are used all over the place, very popular circuit , I find they sound better when there's a compressor slightly above unity gain in front of one. Some famous people are known for using 2 ts's at the same time. The first as a low gain boost and the second for the higher gain lead sound (first one on for rhythm both on for lead). this works but really isn't the best way to go about it imo. Maybe a compressor into a klon into a ts would sound nice 


I built this SRV special tube screamer a while back and I gotta say I was pretty pleased with the sound. Here's a link to it.

http://www.lynx.net/~jc/pedalsSRVspecial.html

And like mista mentioned try out different clipping diodes red 3mm leds etc some of em open up the sound . I put dpdt mini toggle switch on mine with silicon/red led/and something else I cant remember, may have been a led and a germ or something. I tend to use the silicon almost always the red leds are louder cleaner.

Hope ya find the tone your looking for!