BSIAB II help

[mhartington]

So i've completely failed at putting together the BSIAB II pedal from general guitar gadgets. I have decided to take it apart and start from scratch again. Does anyone know where i could get step-by-step instructions or a video showing it being put together. Just looking for help, this damn thing is getting me very aggravated

[liquids]

I saw the previous thread.  Learning to debug is a necessary evil of doing this hobby.  It is agrivating when it doesn't work like a charm, even when you're following a paint by numbers layout, but trust me....relax, grab a beer, and do the debugging.    "What To Do When It doesn't Work" etc is long and time consuming, but it's worth it in the long run....besides, you have a breadboard to try it out on first to hear the sound, right?  

Taking it apart is bad news - you'll invariably damage some of the components if you are a newbie, desoldering is about as aggravating as it gets, IMHO.  Unsoldering all that will probably Take twice as long as debugging.

Look it over carefully, or post more up close photos of your build.   It's probably a bridged trace, missing component, or mistaken wiring.  Look closely to make sure everything is attached.  And are you getting voltage at the transistors at all? If so, where and what voltages?   Likewise, Audio probe from the beginning of the pedal and see where in the circuit path it 'dies'  Rig up an audio probe, breadboard often makes that easier....

Learning this stuff is painful, and we've all done it...and doing it for a while, you get faster, but still make plenty of mistakes.  Again...walk away, ride your nike, play your guitar, have a beer, play civilization IV...whatever you like to do.  Then come back, take a fresh look, audio probe and or follow the instructions on the debugging threads.  You'll get it, and it will be worth it!  

Then, after that, you'll want to breadboard it, so you can expiriment with modding it!    

[oldrocker]

I just finished perf boarding the BSIAB2 and the Dr. Boogey.  I first bread boarded both and got them to close to what I wanted.  I had problems getting the BSIAB to sound right but eventually both pedals are up and working.  Make sure the transistor pinouts match the PCB and double check component values.  And yes building and learning to use an audio probe is essential to debug circuits.

[mhartington]

so i debugged the pedal and found out the mistake i made. I put in the diode backwards and i may or may not have put in the the Aluminum Electrolytic backwards. Now that just brings me to another question. How can i check for the Aluminum Electrolytic  polarity if i already trimmed the wires on it down?

[compuwade]

so i debugged the pedal and found out the mistake i made. I put in the diode backwards and i may or may not have put in the the Aluminum Electrolytic backwards. Now that just brings me to another question. How can i check for the Aluminum Electrolytic  polarity if i already trimmed the wires on it down?

There should be a line on the side of it...That line represents the - negative side.

Read this artical. And pretty much everything else on the site. There's some great info there.

http://www.beavisaudio.com/techpages/Caps/

[mhartington]

GREAT NEWS!!!  I've gotten the pedal to work  and now working on putting in the contour switch for the mid rang shaping. As soon as that is done i'll post some photos and a audio clip of how it sounds.