Tayda Zevex BOR Clone Troubleshooting

[1152lefty]

I populated the board from Tayda Electronics with components from them too. I read somewhere that a 1590B would fit...nope, certainly not with a 9v batteryand the PCB is just a bit too wide. I have also read that their components are of questionable quality, and I have 2 versions of a Ruby amp that don't work yet that I also used their cheap parts for. Can't figure them out, and I've been over many schematics dozens of times.

Anyway, the BOR works, is really LOUD (I was looking for a boost pedal and always in search of OD/distortion), but I think there is something wrong with the boost switch. When the boost switch is switched on the volume goes way down and the boost knob doesn't work. I'm not sure how to explain it any better. I'm not new to building pedals, but have no experience with the BOR. I have crackle when the boost is off. Is there a way to wire a switch backward? Maybe I should post a youtube video? What are the values I should be checking?

Thanks!

[pappasmurfsharem]

Read this and provide the data is possible.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=29816.0

Also picture of the board and wiring is usually useful.

[slacker]

How do you know which position of the switch is on and which is off? Is there a LED or some other indicator? From your description it sounds like what you think is on is really off.

[1152lefty]

Anybody else having trouble with Photobucket?

The LED comes on when the switch is on, and that's when the volume goes way down and it sounds like a dying battery in a transistor battery, but I switched batteries and even used a freshly recharged 9v.

What else? I've read all the troubleshooting guides from that link and other forums, which is what led me to posting here. (DUH!)

[1152lefty]

http://www.taydaelectronics.com/box-of-rock-diy-pcb-guitar-effect.html

http://www.taydakits.com/instructions/box-of-rock/pages/designators-and-components--10

The only thing different I did was use green LEDs.

[pappasmurfsharem]

What else? I've read all the troubleshooting guides from that link and other forums, which is what led me to posting here. (DUH!)

If you read it you would know that in order to help its best if you provide us all the info from that post (DUH ) 

Look at the part after "Here is the checklist to fill out:" and provide those details.

[1152lefty]

Alrighty then. I'll get back to you when I finish pulling my hair out. On all my circuits that don't work. And I don't know why. Even though I've gone over and over them. Even built a second know-to-work circuit to see if I missed something. And it didn't work. Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Instant results...pfft! 

[mth5044]

Who promised instant results?

[1152lefty]

Nobody promised instant results, but that's what we all want - right? 

I'm back on this but getting some whacky readings on my DMM. I'm not even sure I'm doing this right. Going to change the battery and post my "tidy" checklist. ADD gets in the way of my OCD, but I'm procrastinating on another project with this one, so hopefully I can stay focused...ah! Lost it!!!

I appreciate everybody's patience. I NEED to learn this!!!

[1152lefty]

Got back to this again, halfway through testing and writing values down. I noticed some capacitors had ZERO value. I plugged it into a guitar and amp and NOTHING WORKS.

Bad components? I still can't get either Ruby amp to work, and I've changed out the ICs and transistors with known-to-be-working, and still are, parts.

Help?

[PRR]

> Bad components?

Bad joints are far more common.

[1152lefty]

Bad joints - noted. All are shiny, no bridges where there shouldn't be. All my solder projects before these are still working properly, some after continuous abuse. Even the ones where I used old plumbing solder before I was told NEVER.

This is driving me nuts! Time better spent elsewhere.

[pappasmurfsharem]

Bad joints - noted. All are shiny, no bridges where there shouldn't be. All my solder projects before these are still working properly, some after continuous abuse. Even the ones where I used old plumbing solder before I was told NEVER.

This is driving me nuts! Time better spent elsewhere.

If you could provide the details from the Debugging thread, somebody could tell you whats wrong pretty quickly.

[1152lefty]

Tayda Box of Rock Clone

OOC Battery Voltage = 0.01

C1 100n = 2.55
C2 22n = 2.13
C3 470p = 2.13
C4 22n = 4.50
C5 1uf = 4.69
C6 100n = 0.00
C7 22n = 0.00
C8 1n = 0.25
C9 1n = 2.35
C10 100n = 3.13
C11 10u = 4.33
C12 47u = 8.72
C13 1n = 8.65
C14 1n = 2.35
D1 (D3) 1N4001
A (anode, the non-band end) = 0.00
K (cathode, the banded end) = 8.99

Z1 (D2) 9.1V
A = 0.00
K = 2.13

Z2 (D3) 9.1V
A = 0.00
K = 2.13

Q1-4 BS170
C= 4.34
B= 2.13
E= 0.00

Q2
C= 4.55
B= 2.27
E= 0.14

Q3
C= 4.74
B= 2.35
E= 0.25

Q4
C= 4.34
B= 2.14
E= 0.00

R1 1M = 2.13
R2 1M = 2.13
R3 1M = 2.16
R4 5.1K = 4.31/8.69
R5 470K = 2.26
R6 1M = 2.26
R7 1M = 4.54
R8 5,1K = 4.54
R9 180 = 0.14
R10 1M = 2.36
R11 1M = 2.36
R12 5.1K = 8.69
R13 330 = 0.25
R14 47K = 0.00
R15 82K = 0.00
R16 10K = 0.00
R17 10K = 0.00
R18 1M = 0.00
R19 1M = 2.13
R20 1M = 2.13
R21 5.1K = 4.33/8.64
R22 47K = 0.00
R23 82 = 8.90/8.64

VR TONE 100K-B = 0.00
VR VOL 100K-B = 0.00
VR BOOST 5K-C = 1.56
VR GAIN 5K-C = 1.49

This might have taken longer than building it.

One of the LEDs came loose and touched the other side, glowed really bright, and then burned out. Pretty hot!

And now back to what I wasn't doing...

[bluebunny]

OOC Battery Voltage = 0.01

Unlikely!      You're getting plenty of voltages elsewhere way more than 0.01V.

This might have taken longer than building it.

We only needed the active components (transistors, diodes, ...).

And for all those passive components, you only gave one reading.  Depends which end you measured.

One of the LEDs came loose and touched the other side, glowed really bright, and then burned out. Pretty hot!

Congratulations!  You made a DED.   

[1152lefty]

So what's the verdict?

[pappasmurfsharem]

Nothing obvious to me, but I'm not the one of the smart guys here.

So going back to your original post

"When the boost switch is switched on the volume goes way down and the boost knob doesn't work."

What make you thing that the boost is ON, what does ON mean to you. Do you have some LED wired up and since it lights up its assumed to be engaged?

The boost knob is out of the circuit when the boost is OFF, so it sounds like you have it backwards.

[1152lefty]

What make you thing that the boost is ON, what does ON mean to you. Do you have some LED wired up and since it lights up its assumed to be engaged?

The boost knob is out of the circuit when the boost is OFF, so it sounds like you have it backwards.

You mean the switch? the knob is soldered to the PCB. How do I know which way is backward - is there supposed to be a indicator on footswitches? This is what I had suspected, but...

And ON means when the LED lights up and the volume goes away and sounds like a dying transistor radio.

[pappasmurfsharem]

What make you thing that the boost is ON, what does ON mean to you. Do you have some LED wired up and since it lights up its assumed to be engaged?

The boost knob is out of the circuit when the boost is OFF, so it sounds like you have it backwards.

You mean the switch? the knob is soldered to the PCB. How do I know which way is backward - is there supposed to be a indicator on footswitches? This is what I had suspected, but...

And ON means when the LED lights up and the volume goes away and sounds like a dying transistor radio.

yes the switch. Got a video of when the boost is actually off?.

[1152lefty]

I'm back working on this. It turned out one of the footswitches was bad. I replaced it, put in new leds, drilled a new green box, and installed everything. No overdrive now. Everything came back out of the box. I can switch it on, but no guitar signal comes through, except some hissing like you would normally hear in an overdrive circuit. The boost works fine, on and off. Sounds great!

I don't understand. Everything was working. I'll try replacing the other switch. Seems Tayda is known for poor quality switches. One of the pots doesn't have full range of mtion, either. LED holders aren't consistant, and the knobs are junk. One of the pads came out of the PCB in one of the solder joints, but I fixed that, along with the pads under one of the PCB pots. Seems not worth saving $230...