small stone phaser

[wintersport]

Hi,  Just completed a small stone phaser with the layout found on Tonepad.  But when I hooked it up, the signal sounds the same in both the bypass and when engaged like it's not going through the circuit at all!  I checked the wiring and all components seem right.  Getting very frustrated.  Any suggestions?
g...

[Mark Hammer]

Are the chips soldered to the board or in sockets?

[wintersport]

they are in sockets.  i'm using the older chips (in the can).
thanks,
g...

[Mark Hammer]

One of the problems of phasers, and especially OTA-based phasers, is that so many pin contacts have to be guaranteed or else the phase-shifted signal just stops dead somewhere long the way.

You may want to consider one or more of the following options:
1) removing all the chips, verifying that the pins have not been accidentally bent under, then reinserting them, making sure they are seated properly
2) possibly scraping the pins of the chips with you utility knife a bit if the pins seem dull and possibly tarnished (it happens)
3) possibly tinning the pins a bit to increase their thickness and likelihood of making socket-pin contact
4) verifying that the socket pins are not deformed in any manner

Personally, I have found applying a dab of Stabilant (TM) contact enhancer to be particularly useful in these instances, by bridging those teeny micron-wide gaps between pins and sockets, but the stuff is not readily available everywhere so I'll set that suggestion aside.

If you are confident that you won't damage the chips via your soldering technique, and if you are fine with commiting the chips to that pedal, you may want to remove the sockets andsolder the chips directly to the board so that the quality of contect can be above reproach/suspicion.  That doesn't mean it will necessarily resolve theproblem, but that wet path really does need to have a bunch of contacts guaranteed to work right.

[wintersport]

great, thanks for the advice.  i believe my father in law has that exact compound you're talking about.  i'll try it out next time i see him.  keep your fingers crossed.

thanks again,
g...