First time (newbie) builder - AionFX Azimuth no signal on effect

[adamtc]

Okay new update - I got the audio probe working this morning (thanks, Amazon, for prime overnight delivery of parts :-P).

In just playing with the probe a bit, I figured out that something seems to be wrong with the volume pot.  When the pot is all the way down, I could hear my test tone loud and clear.  The moment I turned the volume pot up, the tone would disappear.  I double-checked it with a regular connection (test tone to pedal to amp with the pedal engaged) and could hear my test tone through my amp (yay progress!).

Whenever I turned the pot, the signal would go away and it got to the point where if I wiggled the PCB a little, the tone would pop in and out.  So I'm going to go resolder the pots and then go back through the whole schematic.

Thank you all so much for your help!

[matopotato]

Let us know how it went ("emoji impatiently jumping up and down, like a dog waiting for a stick")

[idy]

If the sound is reaching the volume pot, no need to go through the whole schematic!

that is weird, signal when pot is turned down.

The volume pot, check that. After reflowing the solder, and power off;
check that terminal 1 is grounded (continuity to ground)
check that terminal 2 has continuity to the output
check that terminal 3 has continuity to R5.

Measure resistance from 1 to 3. Set pot to middle of range and measure R from 1 to 2, 2 to 3.

It looks like the back of your pot is not touching the PCB. Yours have dust covers... but many a signal has vanished mysteriously into one of those metal cases.

[adamtc]

Great news!  The pedal works!!!

Long story short - I reflowed the majority of the solder points on the board and that was essentially the entire issue from the beginning (as pointed out deftly by bluebunny - thank you!).

Once I established the signal at the volume pot and realized that the connection on that pot must be bad, I reflowed all the pots and just got in a rhythm where the reflows were easy so I redid all the connections that were remotely questionable.  Turns out, that's exactly what was necessary.

All 4 pots are working, have good clear signal, and even the 9v connection works as well!

Today's lesson - I've gotta get a new soldering iron, my tip is useless and it was way easier to get heat from the side than the tip of my iron.

Thank you all for all of your help!  My one last question for now - is there a good resource to go to in order to understand the signal processing that's actually happening on the board?  I get the basics of what capacitors and resistors do, I'm not actually clear on what's going on with the IC, and just in general I'd love to understnad more of what makes an overdrive work from all of these electronics.

Y'all rock - thank you so much!!!

[matopotato]

Great news!  The pedal works!!!

Long story short - I reflowed the majority of the solder points on the board and that was essentially the entire issue from the beginning (as pointed out deftly by bluebunny - thank you!).

Once I established the signal at the volume pot and realized that the connection on that pot must be bad, I reflowed all the pots and just got in a rhythm where the reflows were easy so I redid all the connections that were remotely questionable.  Turns out, that's exactly what was necessary.

All 4 pots are working, have good clear signal, and even the 9v connection works as well!

Today's lesson - I've gotta get a new soldering iron, my tip is useless and it was way easier to get heat from the side than the tip of my iron.

Thank you all for all of your help!  My one last question for now - is there a good resource to go to in order to understand the signal processing that's actually happening on the board?  I get the basics of what capacitors and resistors do, I'm not actually clear on what's going on with the IC, and just in general I'd love to understnad more of what makes an overdrive work from all of these electronics.

Y'all rock - thank you so much!!!

Great to hear you made it!
I have a Thumb Sucker that might be up for similar treatment. Although everything works, just distortion/oscillation in a few settings.

About learning what makes a pedal circuit donwhatbit does, I had much help fro. Brian Wampler on youtube. There is one on how to design and construct an overdrive. Should be googlable.
I used his schematics and added on diodes in various settings. About how the ICs (guessing Op-Amps) work maybe a little bit less, but a good start. There are many other ICs that do other things like Bucket Brigades etc..
There are more clips on how circuits work by Wampler and also on his blog. Keep in touch if you find anything more I might have missed.
Jack Orman has http://www.muzique.com/ with loads of examples. I find it easier to google than finding on tjebsite though so varied tactics help here. I am especially trying to learn Saturation control and Asymmetrical clipping from his pages.
Cheerd