Building the Echo Base PCB

[slacker]

Forgot to mention before the voltage on pin 4 of the right hand opamp is fine, there's a 220 Ohm resistor between the pin and ground so it is supposed to be slightly above ground.
Sounds like the problem is around the BC558, the modulation signal appears to be reaching its base but it looks like the transistor is permanently turned off, so there's no modulation this is also why you can't get short delay times. I'd double check all the solder joints on the transistor and check the joints and the value of the 220 Ohm resistor between the depth pot and the transistor and the 39k across the collector and emitter. Also make sure the transistor is the right way round, I haven't checked but the pin out might be different to the BC560 so don't assume it should go in the way the silkscreen shows. If you don't find the problem after doing that, I would try replacing the BC558.

[9aul]

Thanks for the help Slacker! That all makes sense. Glad I don't have to mess around with the opamp. I'll check out those resistors and the transistor tonight.

[9aul]

Perfect! Thanks for the help slacker. You were absolutely right it was the BC558! I think i had damaged the plating on the board when swapping transistors in a hurry, so I've just soldered it straight to the 39K and 220R and its working perfectly now. great effect! I've only had a few min of playing around with it but you can get a huge range of sounds from it. Thanks again!!

[slacker]

Excellent glad you got it working

[televisiondown]

almost done with my echo base and i don't want to screw this up...what is the correct pot numbering? if you're looking at the printed side of the board, is it 1-2-3 or 3-2-1?

[Taylor]

The counter-clockwise lug of each pot faces the left side of the board, clockwise on right. I find the numbering confusing because not everybody uses it the same way.

[televisiondown]

Thanks for the quick reply, Taylor! So, if I use board mounted pots, facing down and behind the board, I'll be ok?

[9aul]

Thought I'd finally post a pic of this build. I've ad it working for some time now and just want to emphasize how good this pedal is! great range of sounds. best home build pedal I've tried yet.
The transfer is starting to peel off but hey, here it is.

Thanks for all the help in fault finding (finding my faults that is, as always if you just put the right components in the right way; it will work, first time. A lot easier than rushing and then having to find out what you did wrong )

[slacker]

Looks great.

[Ginsengbob]

Is anyone else having trouble going to the music pcb site?

[bcalla]

My AV software has been giving me virus warnings for months.  I can open his home page & it says this:
Update May 23, 2014: Everything is currently out of stock except the Tap Tremolo and Christine Fuzz. However, new PCBs have been ordered and the projects will all be stocked by about June 14, 2014.

[Ginsengbob]

Is it Taylor's site or Slacker's?

[bcalla]

Taylor's.  I don't know what "Slacker's" is.

I tried again just now and got a dead link.

[Taylor]

Hmm... OK, first, I have PCBs for all the projects on my site in stock as of a few days ago. But, I'd certainly like to get this website issue resolved once and for all before adding the purchase buttons back. FWIW, none of my computers or mobile devices ever give browser warnings so I can't even reproduce the problem locally to figure it out.

I'm kind of baffled by it because I have another domain which receives probably more traffic, using the same technology which has never had this issue. Perhaps "pcb" is a search target for hackers?

In the meantime, anyone who can't get on the site and wants to place an order can email me at taylorlivingston [the 'at' symbol] yahoo.com. Just let me know what you're ordering and the country in which you're located and I will send a Paypal invoice to you.

[karbomusic]

FWIW, none of my computers or mobile devices ever give browser warnings so I can't even reproduce the problem locally to figure it out.

Firewall/Proxy/Realtime malware apps etc, are looking at the content and something is flagging them. I went to the site from work the other day and the proxy blocked it thinking it is malicious. If I could get it to repro from home, I could probably diagnose it for you. For everyone else, best I can tell it is a false positive, been to the site and made purchases a few times without issue.

[Taylor]

I have totally rekajiggered the website and shopping cart. Hopefully everything works more smoothly now. Please let me know if you have any problems with the new site.

Also, all the boards are in stock again.

[Ginsengbob]

The Music PCB site still doesn't work for me.

[Taylor]

In what way? Malware warning? A bunch of people have used the new site to place orders without issues, so perhaps certain malware detection software just has blacklisted the site because of getting hacked a long time ago?

[karbomusic]

In what way? Malware warning? A bunch of people have used the new site to place orders without issues, so perhaps certain malware detection software just has blacklisted the site because of getting hacked a long time ago?

I've only seen it when going through corporate proxies that may have previously flagged it FYI. I haven't seen local machine malware software throw any warnings. If someone who is having issues could post a screenshot of exactly what they see that may be helpful.

[slacker]

For me Google search results used to show a warning that the site might have been hacked and Seamonkey used to warn you of possible Malware if you tried to access it, this was based on some sort of blacklist, neither of them complain any more.