Building the Echo Base PCB

[djaaz]

It's not about the battery. It's about the power supply.
I use a well regulated 9V DC supply and i have this hiss.

Tried with another supply unregulated providing 10,2 V: Some hum but no hiss anymore.

Is it safe to try a regulated 12V supply?

[djaaz]

bump?

[slacker]

Yes, assuming your capacitors are rated for more than that,  it's safe to use a regulated 12 volt supply. You can use any voltage between 9 and 15 volts, over 15 volts and you will damage the CD4066.

This is a very strange problem though, I can't think what could be causing it, I'll have to think about it. With the 9 volt power supply have you measured the voltages when it's powering the Echo Base, just to make sure it is able to provide 9 volts to the circuit.

[ugly_guitar_guy]

Forgot to add my Echo Base to the mix. Behold, my Echo Burst!



I love this pedal. Just need to dial in a resistor value for the dub switch that isn't quite as drastic. I'd prefer the feedback to climb slowly as opposed to taking off like crazy as soon as the switch is stepped on. Thanks for the great PCB!

[slacker]

Nice.

[Barcode80]

Forgot to add my Echo Base to the mix. Behold, my Echo Burst!



I love this pedal. Just need to dial in a resistor value for the dub switch that isn't quite as drastic. I'd prefer the feedback to climb slowly as opposed to taking off like crazy as soon as the switch is stepped on. Thanks for the great PCB!

I wired a 25k trimpot in series with my dub switch and mounted it on the switch body. that way you can dial it in.

[angrykoko]

Trying to avoid parting from multiple vendors and getting hit with multiple shipping charges.

That said, the 4066.. I found an NTE 4066 locally but I've heard comments about using NTE parts only if the other option was gnawing your arm off at the shoulder.

Is this true?  Or should I be ok with this NTE part?

I know this is a bit subjective but, just curious.

Thanks

[Taylor]

I really don't know the situation with NTE, but the 4066 is just used for switching, so this is not a very critical application. I think you'll probably be ok with that part.

[angrykoko]

The 2 mods for humbuckers,  (resistors & diode lift).
Do you typically do them at the same time?  or try one then the other?

Asking because it seems like it would be simple enough to make a sigle switch (humbucker/single coil) so that I could have optimum EB depending on which guitar I was playing 

What do you think?

[slacker]

Yes you could do that, personally I wouldn't bother making the resistor mod switchable I'd just use the humbucker values, they are fine for any guitar.
The diode lift is worth putting on a switch, you may find sometimes you want it and sometimes you don't, it's not just a "humbucker mod".

[angrykoko]

Awesome! 
simpler is always best in my book.

Thanks a ton slacker!

[angrykoko]

One more question.
I've read that the PT2399's vary greatly from chip to chip.. is this your experience and should I order a couple of them?

[add4]

juste took the board back from the pile of 'not working perfectly' boards, and i solved the issue i had: i had a 100n cap at the place of the 1n cap in the feedback loop of the audio signal and i was surprised to hear a lot of highs sucked out .
that is solved now, but i have an issue i didn't have before: motor boating (or i think it's that..)
when the effect is powered (on or off, but i guess that's normal, because it's not bypassed anyway), i hear a kind of 'ptppptptptptppttpt' sound, not unlike an old motor.... i guess that was filtered out before by the 100n cap that was placed by mistake.

Is that motor boating? if it is, how can it be solved? is it PT2399 dependent? do i have bad chips?
also i hear distortion on the high notes when i play louder (with a very low output guitar)
Any ideas?

Thanks

[Taylor]

Do you hear the motor boating noise regardless of how the delay time is set, or only at long times?

[garcho]

Not to stretch the thread needlessly, but in case anyone is on the fence about ordering the Echo Base PCB, I just finished building it with the 'Clean Kill', 'Dub Madness' and 'Mod Shape (SPDT version)' mods. The board is laid out perfectly, the PDF is great, the PCB itself is very high quality - good materials, very sturdy, easy to solder. It probably took me a week of noodling to put together my first Echo Base; with this PCB it took a few hours. Highly recommended!

[djaaz]

It's not about the battery. It's about the power supply.
I use a well regulated 9V DC supply and i have this hiss.

Tried with another supply unregulated providing 10,2 V: Some hum but no hiss anymore.

Is it safe to try a regulated 12V supply?

Issues (almost) solved. My build is very power supply sensitive but i could find a 9V boss power supply, it's working with without noises.
I'm quite happy with what i have.

Thanks Slacker for all your help and thanks Taylor for the board!

[Taylor]

Glad it worked out.  Have fun with EB.

[pieca]

Hi,

I've just builded my EchoBase, great board !!!!!!!

I've got an issue with the led (a bright yellow one)... the light is really low (I have to put it in the dark to see it)
The LED resistor is a 50k, there is 5V at the input of the resistor and about 1.8V at the output, is it sufficient for a led?
this is my led :
http://www.musikding.de/product_info.php/info/p3200_LED-3mm-yellow-bright.html

Is my led faulty, or do I need to change the 50k resistor, if yes what would be the right resistor value?

Thanks for your help

[Taylor]

Yes, lower the value. If they list the on current for your LED you could figure it out, but I'd just make a guess. You can parallel a smaller resistor value with the current one, so just hold a smaller resistor value to the resistor pads until you find a value with the brightness you prefer. Then pull out the 50k and solder your new one in.

[greyscale]

My EB seems to have a ridiculous hum regardless of where the knobs are set. What sort of issue would cause this?

It does this with my Voodoo Lab PP2+ and even worse with a One Spot.