Maestro FZ-1A

[pupil]

what the voltage of the battery you're using? 1.17v?

[Riinehart]

Sorry, the last ones weren't very close up.

[Riinehart]

It's 1.22 with no load. Has it gone down too low?

[Quackzed]

just had a small convo about the confusing 'positive ground' naming convention, but the short answer is that with these 'positive ground' pedals, what is labeled as ground is more positive than the - battery supply voltage, so instead of referencing voltages (black probe) to the - battery lead (normal negative ground pedals), you reference(black probe) to the +battery lead and measure negative voltages for the emitters or whatever you're measuring.all of which are more negative than 'ground'. usually ground is the most negative reference in a circuit, but with the 'positive ground' circuits, its the most positive point...

[Riinehart]

Just to make sure I understand ...

I should remeasure the voltages, but with the black probe to the + battery lead, and the red probe to each leg of the three transistors? And that I should expect to see negative voltages instead of positive?

[Quackzed]

not too low for finding a short, or working properly... might sound a tad different with a fresh battery... can you maybee bend move those leads a bit so the parts leads arent almost touching,, also one of the transistor leads looks like it could be touching its case... maybee GENTLY bend some of those leads away from each other and the tranny case? also that 1m resistor away from the tranny case...

[Riinehart]

Ok, will do.

Also, here are the new measurements:

Q1C: -1.22
Q1B: -.34
Q1E: -.31

Q2C: -.03
Q2B: -.03
Q2E: 0

Q3C: ranging from -.1 to -.4
Q3B: 0
Q3E: 0

Thank you guys again.

[Quackzed]

yes, but you're already doing that, because the + battery lead IS ground... or its directly connected to ground through the input jack when a plug is inserted to the jack... look at the schem you'll see the +battery connected to the 'ring' of the input jack, and when you plug in a mono cable the cable sleeve connects the 'ring' connection to  the sleeve which is connected to 'ground'...not trying to confuse you... i get confused enough all by myself. dont sweat over my way of thinking just keep measuring how you were doing it. and look for the short... and dont flip the battery around backwards or anything...

[Riinehart]

Sorry, ignore the previous measurements. After securing the pots and output back in place, I have different measurements:

Q1C: -1.13
Q1B: -.45
Q1E: -.42

Q2C: -.76
Q2B: -.05
Q2E: 0

Q3C: -1.05
Q3B: 0
Q3E: 0

[pupil]

hmm, those measurement seem ok to me...

if you set up to play with your guitar and amp and give a REALLY hard strum (i mean don't break a string or something) do you hear anything form the amp?

[Riinehart]

Actually, yes! Just cranked the volume up on the amp, and with the volume and attack knobs all the way up, I get a little something coming through.

[Riinehart]

It's barely there, though, and not loud enough to tell whether it's affected or not by the fuzz. I can just make out the decay of the reverb if I leave the reverb up.

[pupil]

hmm interesting, i was expecting the sound to come barreling through at a certain strumming threshold, not to just barely be there...

the battery getting hot definitely indicated a short though like Qauckzed said though

I think the signal path is involved with this short as well, and so your guitar signal is being grounded unintentionally. Try looking around the q2 and q3 connections.

i'm gonna sit on this for a bit and stop muddying the water

and it's been my pleasure trying to help btw, good luck!

[Riinehart]

Well, the only update I can offer for now is that:

1) The battery is no longer getting hot. Even with a freshly charged rechargable in there. Not sure what this could mean. I've been going through all the connections making sure nothing can be shorting ... perhaps I unknowingly got rid of a short? But the pedal still is in the same state of not working.

2) With the fresh battery, the voltage measurements have changed. Doesn't seem like anything major, but figured I'd post just to be safe:

Q1C: -1.38
Q1B: -.52
Q1E: -.51

Q2C: -.81
Q2B: -.05
Q2E: 0

Q3C: -1.88
Q3B: 0
Q3E: 0

Pupil, you mentioned before that nothing should read over 1.7v. Is Q3C a problem? Or is it different now that the readings are negative (sorry if that's a ridiculous beginner question)?

[pupil]

I was under the impression that a fresh AA battery is 1.7 volts. Whatever a fresh AA battery voltage is should be the max voltage of any point in your circuit.

What's your fresh new unloaded battery voltage?

[Riinehart]

Only 1.38v ...   

[pupil]

hmm, at least that makes sense as to the measurement at Q1C.

A capacitor must be involved to get a voltage point higher than the actually voltage source?

I'll pondering this

[Quackzed]

 wiggle the input plug a bit while you strum? maybee a not-great connection there... otherwise your voltages aren't far off...

[Riinehart]

Many many thanks to you both.

No luck on the input wiggle. Also, again, signal is completely fine when the pedal is turned off at the footswitch.

[Riinehart]

Minor update: I figured out the battery short. Where the leads are soldered to the battery holder, there's a bit of a swivel on both sides, and both sides were swiveling down so that they were touching the metal C bracket that goes around the battery, and shorting out.

Fuzz still not working, but that explains that, at least.