Debugging my first two DIY boxes (EHX LBP-1/Fulltone OCD)!

[Gfighter]

I srsly need your help I can´t figure out what the heck I did wrong. After about 2 days of rage I purposely left my baby´s with one of my basses in our rehearsal space for a week to cool down. I carefully checked the layout but nothing seemed wrong.

What I build:
So I tried to build two pedals I like to have for gigging. I bought every component as stated in the schematics. Although I wasnt sure on outboard stuff but I think I got what I needed even though the OCDs flip switch is kinda overpowered. Any normal On-Off switch would have done the job equally good. But I think I implemented it like that.
LPB-1: http://www.muzique.com/schem/lpb1.gif Self build to vero board.
OCD: http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.de/2012/02/fulltone-ocd-all-versions.html I have gone for Version 3.

First Debbuging:
LPB-1:
So I got on to checking the outboard wiring. First thing I noticed was the absence of any voltage readings on my board. I quickly figured out that I had made a mistake on buying my DC-Inputjacks. I havent got isolated once so I had to make the outside Ring negative to avoid shorting my battery. About 8V creeped into the wrong side of the LPB tranny. I think I broke it cause it says max 4V on the grounded pin I got voltage on but I am certainly not sure. I went to a local electronics dealer and bought a BC414C which he said meets the same technical details and is only wired internally the other way around. So I just turned it 180 degrees to the original and put it in.  I now measure 2,23V on the top Pin. 0,8V on the middle pin. And 0,2V on the bottom (grounded) pin. With no consecutive rows meeting each other except for the bottom left resistor which bridges to ground. Im now stuck on this one.
Pics:https://goo.gl/photos/NpUXepjPeN6cdGfM8 (Overview)
https://goo.gl/photos/v9QmyChUDQHdv7FH6 (Backside)
https://goo.gl/photos/iEErgqxjtF51JNLz6 (Frontside) The green line represents the schematic. The black line is the bridge. And the black dot is the cut I made in the vero tracks.

OCD:
As i now was aware of the DC-jack issue I could avoid that and started working on that. I accidentally messed up reading the vero schematics and ended up putting everything onto the vero mirrored leaving me with a twisted brain but a kinda working schematic. (Problem stated below.) The IC pins are also mirrored so I ended up twisting the legs backwards to make em fit the right orientation. I will call the Pins as stated in the technical sheets.
Pin(V): 1(4,15) 2(4,31) 3(3,9) 4(0) 5(4,1) 6(4,1) 7(4,1) 8(8,3)
Tranny L  4V/4V/4V // Tranny R 4V/4V/4V (Top to bottom)
I know I could have done the wiring on top and through the vero but its my first build and i realized many things to be done next time.
Pics: https://goo.gl/photos/XHm3CdTxqkdeG6oA8 (Overview)
https://goo.gl/photos/gZWfTHn2hUpXLL3K8
https://goo.gl/photos/k9Xu4m51rtjyMMGb8 (Backside) Sry its very tight in there.


My Problem:
I got it somehow to make Sound but...

The Lpb-1 does NOT have a good Signal to Noise ratio. The noise increases to a normal level when I turn the pot to max "gain" but the level is significantly lower than the bypassed signal and somewhat hissy.

The OCD suffers from the same problem but instead of random noise I get a decently loud sweeping in frequency when I turn the gain knob. Bypassed it goes from high to low. And activated it goes from low to high exceeding the human ear at about 2/3 of the way.

I would appreciate any help and if you have any more questions or i forgot something just let me know.

[EBK]

Tranny L  4V/4V/4V // Tranny R 4V/4V/4V (Top to bottom)

Those have got to be bad or shorted out.  I would recommend socketing transistors.
Some of your vero work looks "coarse".  Maybe some of your trace cuts are incomplete, or some adjacent traces are bridged. 
The IC on your OCD build looks "off".  Where did you buy it from?

Just a few brief observations. Not trying to be too negative.  I really want these to work for you eventually, but I only have a brief moment  to comment, so I hope it is at least a little helpful.

[Gfighter]

For sure your not negative on my build Im open for any feedback as long as its reasonable. I am a passionate DIY´er but I dont have the experience to go balls to the walls first time  . I checked the Mosfets and wondered why the hell they are wired the way they are. They both have a bridge between the D and G part. And those are linked with the opposing S ... I took my DMM and checked for any shorts that are not from bridges and voila i got one but oddly only in one switch position. I then got to look for the cause and found a tiny bit of solder dropped onto the consecutive track. And boom Everything works. Now on to the LPB-1.

The IC probably looks "off" cause I had to mirror the Pin out on the IC ending up bending the Pins to the other side. (Your actually watching the underside.) I marked the top with an edding to get a directive indicator. Here are links to my supplier:
https://www.conrad.de/de/linear-ic-operationsverstaerker-texas-instruments-tl082cp-j-fet-pdip-8-175340.html (German Re-seller)
http://www.produktinfo.conrad.com/datenblaetter/175000-199999/175340-da-01-en-IC_TL082CP__DIP8__TID.pdf

I just have the problem with the frequency sweep. I read about that on tagboard though Im going to dig it out later. I might go and socket the tranny. Maybe I got a bad one. Any chance of measuring? But what really drives me nuts is I got signal but its really quiet and without any bass frequencys. Thats such a good indicator but Im to dumb to solve it. hahaha.

[chuckd666]

D and G are wired together because they're being used to clip the signal in the manner of a diode, not to amplify. There's information on that somewhere with more detail.

Tbh I think your solder work needs to be improved - do you have a cheapy soldering iron? The solder looks dull and lumpy, but it should be full and shiny.

[Gfighter]

I have an Ersa Multitip 231 its kinda old but does the job. The dullness may come due to improper soldering technique. Ill try to reflow the LPB. I get about half the voltage I should get on the transistor collector side. I reflowed now, checked for any shorts and measured the resistance of any resistor. Put every thing into a simulation to get exact voltage assumptions and I´m stuck again. What can cause the voltage to be half the expected value in this quit simple schematic?

[EBK]

Think you've got an incorrect resistor value in there.  I can't see all of the color bands, but it looks like the upper left one has a red band on it....
NM: That looks like a 825k (gray, red, green, orange), which should be fine.  I see your 10k clearly too.

Is your 100k grounded? (Double check)

[Gfighter]

Hi thank you for your idea but i measured every resistor value with my DMM now to be sure and excat I didnt put in faulty ones. As you previously statet I changed the 830k to a 825k because I didn´t wanted to wait four weeks for restock. My resistor values are 822k; 97,1k; 9,81k; 353R. Have I mesed up anything with my tranny? I´m lost.

[Gfighter]

And I still got the squealing on high gain with my OCD.

Can anyone pls confirm the orientation of my transistor on the LPB?

[EBK]

And I still got the squealing on high gain with my OCD.

Can anyone pls confirm the orientation of my transistor on the LPB?

As near as I can tell, you have it oriented the right way.  On lower gain, does it work fine?  Are you running it off of a battery?

[Gfighter]

LPB: Ok I ordered new transistors maybe i accidentally destroyed one.

OCD: Yep running it of a battery. Lower gain works perfectly until about half way. Then the gain gets kinda extreme and the squealing starts. On max gain the distortion starts to cripple down. Reducing max gain might help but I don´t know what to change.
Here is a Pic https://goo.gl/photos/meuihtX1CvwSRtVR8.

[EBK]

LPB: Ok I ordered new transistors maybe i accidentally destroyed one.

OCD: Yep running it of a battery. Lower gain works perfectly until about half way. Then the gain gets kinda extreme and the squealing starts. On max gain the distortion starts to cripple down. Reducing max gain might help but I don´t know what to change.
Here is a Pic https://goo.gl/photos/meuihtX1CvwSRtVR8.

I would guess that your transistors might be bad and aren't clipping your signal.  Instead, you may be hearing only op amp clipping.

[Gfighter]

Ok I am in the process of ordering so I might pickup some of those as well. I may accidentally destroyed them as well. Do you think a sound sample would be helpful?

[EBK]

Ok I am in the process of ordering so I might pickup some of those as well. I may accidentally destroyed them as well. Do you think a sound sample would be helpful?

Nah.  My ears aren't good enough to debug by sound.   

[EBK]

Very important question I forgot to ask:. Does it squeal when there is no input?
It is possible that you are driving the circuit too hard....

[Gfighter]

Yes it does squeal when i dont connect a guitar to it.

Its possible that I´m driving to hard but why? I havent changed anything from the verified schematic. And I dont have an idea what to change to drive it less xD.

[EBK]

Yes it does squeal when i dont connect a guitar to it.

Its possible that I´m driving to hard but why? I havent changed anything from the verified schematic. And I dont have an idea what to change to drive it less xD.

With no guitar connected, you aren't driving it too hard (or at all).

[Gfighter]

ah ok i think you meant internally driving too hard. The interesting thing is when I play the whistling goes away I just cant stop playing then hahaha.

[Fndr8875]

id say get a pcb since its your first builds. you can get an ocd from aion pcbs for like 10 bucks. switches and pots are mounted on board and maybe its just me but iffy pot wiring has caused me issues like youve mentioned. if you measure it with a multimeter a 100k pot will jump all over the place , show like 800k sometimes,  then drop to like 5k w a fraction of a turn. I think if i had a better soldering iron, and better workspace i could produce better results, but cant afford a 90$ hakko, had to settle for a yihua and temp for sure doesnt match what temp says...anyone off topic, but if your re ordering stuff, thats what ive always done, salvage you parts off vero  like resistors, caps, etc, IC should be fire since it was socketed then just order a pcb, it will be more reliable, look cooler and be alot easier project. good luck

[EBK]

It is possible that op amp doesn't like being upside down (that creative solution still makes me smile).
You might consider starting fresh with someone else's verified vero layout if you don't want to buy a PCB.  If you search Google for "fulltone OCD layout," you'll find plenty of options.

[Gfighter]

Yeah that was a creative way of a real problem haha. I might just use it as it is I quit like it I just cant turn the gain. To high or maybe one day I find a real upsidedown opamp xD.

I´m going to wait for the transistor. And see if that changes the outcome.

Thank you for your help. I´m going to report when I´m done.