Wah Buffer Mod - No wah!

[Noplasticrobots]

Hi, I built the buffer to stop tone sucking from my wah found here:

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/wahmod/wahmod.htm

I decided to build the buffer off board on perf (except for the 1M) with the transistor (I'm using an MPF102) socketed. I removed the 68k input resistor from the board completely and put it on the perf with the buffer. Everything is connected via wires so there's no shorting to hardware or other components of anykind.

I have the buffer conected via alligator clips to the correct spots and when bypassed works fine. However when I switch the wah on, there's no noise, although I can hear the pedal wah-ing the radio station coming in through the amp. My wah board has the exact same layout as the one pictured in the tutorialexcept for the fact that the resistor where you tap off ground from is 100k on my board and it's 83k in the photo, but due to tolerances I should be fine. I did manage to get a little bit of solder on the cathode side of the diode itself. Could this have destroyed it?

The modded picture confused me a little at first but after reading the text I swear I have everything wired correctly (looking at photo):

Lift right end of 68k input resistor.

1 Meg resistor has one end connected to ground side of 83k resistor (in my case 100k) and the other end connected to the open hole of inout resistor.

Gate of JFET gets grounded to where the 1M connects to where the input resistor was lifted.

Source gets connected to 10k which gets connected to the non banded side of the diode. Also gets connected to open end of 68k input resistor.

Drain gets connected to 100 ohm which gets connected to banded side of diode.

Any suggestions? Obvious things have been checked (tried tapping off +9v from resistor, transistor is in the right way, no free radical solder blobs, battery is fine, etc)

[formerMember1]

probably something simple, it is always something simple 

take a break and come back and you might find it,....

something has to be wired wrong....

[Noplasticrobots]

Well, I got the SOB to work! But something very odd is happening.

After I got everything soldered together and installed, it played fine. Then after about 3 minutes, the volume got lower. I thought it was because of the buffer, but when I bypassed, my regular signal was a lot louder, this wasn't just a slight decrease in volume. Then about a minute later, the notes I was playing turned into severely gated crackles.

HOWEVER, if I barely touch the lower of the two red wires coming from the 9v adapter jack, it stops and goes back to normal. On a side note, I do not use an adaptor, only batteries.

The only other mods I performed were replacing the electrolytics (with their exact equivalents) and I replaced the 33k with a 68k resistor. What in the world can be causing this one wire to mess everything up? 

[formerMember1]

THe 9v connection is shorted or the batery clip/wire broken/intermittent.  What you hear is the pedal getting no more power, then it is using all the power it has charged until there is none.

battery have enough power left?

so check your solder joint for the 9v connection.  Do you have a DMM with continuity?  use that and move the wire and see if it goes off....

[Noplasticrobots]

The continuity didn't go off, but I looked inside the cheap vinyl covering of the terminal and it's all orange under there. So I hooked up a new terminal via some clips and it appears to work fine. I'll replace it tomorrow morning and see how it goes. Thanks for the help!

[formerMember1]

So the terminal had orange inside of it?  Probably battery leaked.

Need a battery clip?   PM, I will send ya one free. 

[Noplasticrobots]

I've actually got a bunch laying around here. I stocked up a while back but I haven't been comitting a lot of projects to perf like I thought so they're excited to see active duty. Thanks for the offer though! Now if you've got any nice enclosures laying around.....