Building the Echo Base PCB

[glops]

dang fine looking board!

[Thump-Lump]

Thanks everyone    I have since found a source for 3 wire ribbon type wire of a good quality and gauge.  The colors are red/black/yellow or white.  It is used in radio control models so if you have a hobby shop locally that does R/C, you may want to stop by and see if they have any.  I know it would clean up my off board wiring.

http://www.hitecrcd.com/products/accessories/switches-battery-boxes-wiring-and-adapters/heavy-duty-servo-extensions-and-wiring.html

[screechingowl]

Built mine up a few days ago and have been enjoying it immensely. Great quality PCB. I built it with the LFO waveshape mod and the dub madness mod on a momentary footswitch. I used a 2N3906 instead of the BC560 (reversed pinout) and a 78L05 instead of the 7805. I might just have to build another one.

[LaceSensor]

When implementing the Dub Madness mod, does the 3rd lug of the feedback knob need to be connected to the board and then you additionally wire the throw of the SPST to it (to connect or disconnect the extra 27 k resistor)

OR simply the dont solder the 3rd pot lug in, and then run the wire to the board?

Also, do you still have to have the 20k resistor on the board for this mod? It isnt mentioned to remove it?

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks

Ian

[slacker]

Yes the feedback pot is connected as normal and you keep the original 20k resistor.

There's a schematic here that shows the mods, might make them clearer http://www.eskimo.plus.com/fxstuff/audiomods.jpg

[LaceSensor]

cheers Ian

[LaceSensor]

Ok, just testing this build.
Dub mod works.
Tails swtich works.
Clean kill works.
However, LFO does seem to work. Put it on a footswitch. Also the LED isnt blinking for the LFO rate.
Any ideas on first things to check ? Ill be back with voltages shortly....

Delay works fine. LFO Depth knob affects the delay time with LFO either on or off...

[LaceSensor]

Dumb ass, fixed it. Missed a connection on the speed pot to the Waveshape. DERP!

[JohnL]

So I am having the problem talked about  here and want to try this fix:

i built it and i'm really pleased, it sounds really really good!!!
btw what value do you suggest for R17? on mine i used the standard 20k resistor, but it's too low, already before 3/4 of the feedback pot it start selfoscillating!!!

Gila, Slacker suggests trying a 100K resistor there.  I found that mine would oscillate very quickly with the 20K resistor so I changed it and now it won't start oscillating till about 4 O'Clock.  Further on from that gets pretty crazy which is great.  Hope that helps.

thank you! it's what i allready did and now it works fine! maybe i'll give a try to a more higher value but with 100k it really better than before!
btw awesome sounding delay!!!!
i'm glad i built it!

Am I correct in assuming that the 20K resistor is the one directly under the Feedback pot?

[slacker]

Yes that's the one.

[JohnL]

Thanks Slacker, thought so but needed confirmation. Now to find some time to do it...

[forsakenrider]

I ordered a PCB a few months back but didnt get a chance to build it until this week. It went together super smooth and worked off the bat! what a fun pedal! When I get it cased up I'll post some pics!

[Hankster]

  So I finally got one musicpcb's projects to kinda work for me. 5 boards, pads lifted in vital spots while trouble shooting them. A board was sent when I complained but the same damn thing happened to it. I'm using a little 20w iron too. $$$ WASTED!! I got this Echobase to halfway work and I treated it like a babies heart. The bypass doesn't work, the tails switch doesn't work, the dub madness mod doesn't work, LFO ticks and swirls spill out into the clean sound faintly, and the clean kill mod didn't work. I'm no dummy, and the directions were simple. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the static when I max out the time. Has anyone else had these problems? Can anyone help?  One more question, does anyone know what to do with 2 Christine's, 2 Echobases and Meatshere boards? All of them have lifted traces and missing pads.
   
Maybe change out where your boards are made?

[StereoKills]

I never had anything like this happen with Taylor's boards, they worked with little/no debug for me. Whatever board house is making them seemed quite on par for the other board houses' work I've dealt with.

Maxing the time will make the delays pretty dirty on any PT2399 based delay, it's inherent to the limitations of the chip.

How long do you have to hold your 20W iron on the pads to get them hot? If it's more than a few seconds, it could be that the iron doesn't get hot enough and that extra time can put more stress on the board.

[Hankster]

2 seconds to warm it, 2 for solder and flux flow, I remove the solder wire and remain 2 seconds more to let it spread. What sucks is when I've had to remove anything the pad comes right off with the part. I'm just a whiner and was tired of feeling like I'm the only one with this problem. These boards in particular I've had NO success with. It's hard for me to deal with it. Time to start makin my own I guess. Then I can only gripe at myself.
  I removed the diode lift and put the clean kill back on the board (they were rigged on their own munchkin board). Changed the pole I was wired to for the temp. stomp on dub madness, and rewired tails. Now lets see what happens...

[StereoKills]

Sounds like your iron is fine. Removing parts is always sketchy - even the best pcb's have a risk of delaminating when popping out parts.

[Hankster]

Still no tails and dub madness is LOUD madness. Had a bad TL072, replaced it. It bypasses now. I found the tails! It's between the switch's poles. Wired it wrong I guess....

[Taylor]

Hank, I am definitely sorry to hear about all the trouble you've had with the boards. I've offered several times now to give you full refunds. You've never taken me up on it. That offer still stands. I would normally prefer to discuss this stuff privately, but since you bring this up on the forum, and you mention your money being wasted, it seems reasonable for me to point this out.

I do appreciate feedback on the boards, and if anybody else here has had similar problems please let me know about it. So far this is the only instance in which I've heard about issues like this.

If you would like help debugging, I'm happy to help - that's what this thread is for. If you would like a refund for the boards, I'm happy to do that as well.

[Hankster]

I have Echo lift off!

[Hankster]

Did I say it sounds great and I love it?