pedal only works when guitar vloume is on 7 ?

[joeboo88]

i just built a clone dod 250. the volume and gain both work, but isnt very loud. The pedal only works when my guitar volume is on 7 ?    anyone come across this. I am new to this sport.

[JKowalski]

You mean on 7 and above? Is your guitar signal just really weak? Distortion pedals need a certain amount of signal to distort, though usually it doesn't take much Maybe you messed up somewhere in the build and as a consequence the gain was reduced? Are your resistors the right values?

If it's just on 7 only that's pretty strange.

[joeboo88]

yes volume only works on 7 (guitar) cuts out at any other setting, i triple chk'd all the solder conections and i used the values Beavis audio said to use, maybe i'll have to start replacing resistors one by one? Oh i had to use a b100k volume on the effect pedal, whereas the schematic says a a100k... would this do it?

[petemoore]

  Sounds like the guitar volume is biasing the input...
  Do the Debug stick thread routine, then we can be able to work with the circuit.

[joeboo88]

yes i'm new and just read Aron's post about debugging, i have an old analog meter but should help me get the values, thanks i will start checking....what does biasing the input mean? dont laugh at me! har 

[petemoore]

  Specifically that everything that is shown on the schematic is represented by the circuit board, exactly.
  Generally that equates to popping into bias/performance parameters as soon as 'it' is located, identified and solved.
  DMM is much easier to work with, they are at various locations, best investment a debugger can make.
  I used a battery as a comparator with an analog meter to get an idea of where a voltage would put the needle, then chose the index [on the face of the dial] which was...right around 9v ! or 1.4v with a D cell. Referencing a known voltage made the meter reading [and finding the relevant settings and dial-index] easier.

[joeboo88]

thanks for wasting time on me.....i thought to my self, "okay dummy you've built a grand total of three pedals, and have been lucky so far, start over and quit wastinf peoples time. I found the problem b4 i left to but a dmm, which i will anyways....on the input jack i had the - batt lead and the input from pedal backa%%wards....i fixed and wow what a sound. thanks again guys