Personal Best Project

[mattpocket]

It is highly unlikely that this is being caused by the PCB, or in fact one of the components... its most likely down to human error and probably something shorting out or wired up wrong...

Did you get the IC in the socket the rigth way round?

It might help if you post a few pictures of your box, pcb (both sides), and the offboard wiring. As well as a link to the instructions from byoc, and maybe a schem.

Matt

[GREEN FUZ]

the square solder spot on the circuit for LED works, the round one does not!

What do you mean by this? The square one works but the round one doesn`t? I don`t mean to sound blunt but every bit of info helps.


This is the area you meant, right?

Here`s a link to the build instructions if anyone cares to check it out.

http://buildyourownclone.com/250instructions.pdf

[mattpocket]

Yeah, what do mean by "doesnt work"? Did you DMM it with something?

Matt

[R-Man]

sorry for being uninformative, i wasnt entirely sure what i could say to make most sense but i'll have a whack at it, well what i did was this (its a bit weird i know):

i put the LED into its spot and it didn't work, so i thought i'd do a strange test, i touched one leg to the Square solder spot (switch currently in "on/distorted" mode) and got a battery and touched the other leg to Negative side of battery and *Glow* it worked

do you get what i mean? 

[mattpocket]

Well that could mean that there is no continuity on the board between the -ve side of the LED and the -ve of the power supply... Which would (maybe) lead to me to the suggestion that there is a solder bridge, or short somewhere...

With PCBs sometimes the solder can slip across to form a bridge to another trace where it shouldnt be! And in some cases if there is enough solder forming the bridge it can look like an actual trace. Check the solder side of the board, check all the other components are placed in the correct orientation.

As you are getting low output, then this suggests that the circuit is having problems long before the LED, its just the LED not working is a side effect of the problem, and its just easier to see its not "working" because it doesnt light up. The problem is that other components dont look any different whether they are "working" or not. I use quote marks on "working" because its probably not the components that are not working, its more likely that the power/signal is getting misplaced somewhere meaning the circuit is not operating correctly.

Check things over. Has anyone suggested an audio probe to you?

Matt

[R-Man]

alrighty i've looked it all over and found a little short i think, anyways i fixed that and now the LED glows nicely!

but get this (are these issues never ending...) theres absolutely no distortion now! first there was a little bit and no LED, now there IS LED and no distortion!

the Volume Knob works the drive does as well except im not really sure what it does, its not distorting it its more like making it a more boomy sound...

Matt i agree with you man that its a short and components are probably fine

i have a theory, my switch wiring is truly shocking i've fixed it so many times and still not good, i think solder log 4 (middle column on the top) and solder log 7 (right most column at the top) are touching. i'll have to fix it up later i need to practise some guitar.

Let me just tell you about something slightly related now, Personal Best Celebration Evening is on this wednesday and thats where all term's work gets presented (mine being the 250+) there will be performances and i'm in three of them! I have to do backup vocals any tips on vocals you can give me? thanks!

[petemoore]

  Let's see if this post takes' this time, I posted in this thread last nigth...can't find it today..
  Here's the best pedal board I've built so far.
  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/petemoore/SpyderPS001-1.jpg
  Right in the middle is the Spyder, which has made a major improvement !
  The top rack board is mounted with two accessible 4'' screws, and four 'feet' [which shim the 2x4's to exact level of the PS box.
  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/petemoore/SPyderPS005.jpg
    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/petemoore/SPyderPS001.jpg
  I finally figured out [after 10+ long hours of accumulated gazing and contemplations], how to mount easily and securely, a Wah pedal...a metal strip for the back screws, a metal plate for the front screws...wayy better than the funky mount systems I'd tried before.
  The boxes can be removed by loosening the two screws.
  The 2 remaining Spyder secondary coils will get 7812's, as the 12vdc output tested on the OS Comp's, Tremulous Lune's and Boosters improved performance.
  These effects went directly from a daisy chain/battery pedalboard to the Spyder dedicated PB, and showed marked improvement.
  Features:
  Spyder ! [lower noise/neater wiring, with 'dedicated voltage' outputs
  Rigid/lighweight construction, uses very hard/stiff [mahogany] feet/struts and  2x4 'towers'.
  Easy removal/exchange of anything on it [loosen 2 screws], including top rack and PS.
  AC cable [removable], and solidly mounted AC jack, much more substantial for stage crossing than a daisy chain wire.
 
 

[R-Man]

i did what the Debug page said and its on another thread lets hope i get some progress