troubleshooting a boost pedal

[Quackzed]

 
cool. i'm impressed that you ran a sim, and used it to get 'good' voltage readings to compare to. nice.
and you did it on your own. which is a good feeling.

[cgibsong002]

yeah! i was real happy about all of that. i mean, i ran into way too many difficulties for such a simple circuit, but it was my first one, and i learned a lot from it.

I also really like being able to use the simulation. While I haven't figured it out yet for being able to simulate an effected signal, it's incredibly useful for trouble shooting as it gives me more or less exactly what i should be getting. if i'm not putting a guitar signal in, all i have to do is match my DC supply with my measured DC supply, and i should be getting quite accurate results. definitely a good tool!

now, if you all don't mind, I'm going to start a new topic on how to modify this circuit... it's not quite what I was expecting  no.. but seriously  oh well, live and learn

[Cardboard Tube Samurai]

Oh, so you triple checked the transistor pinout and it worked? Wow, if only someone had suggested that days ago 

[runmikeyrun]

a lot of people have done that on accident so don't feel bad.  Whenever i'm building something with transistors i use a multimeter to confirm the transistor pinout.  You can get cheap meters that have a little socket to test transistors, and they have the orientation marked on the socket.  If you plug it in the wrong way it won't read, so once you get an HFE reading you know which legs are which.  added bonus of having a way to get your gain reading at the same time   I picked up my meter for $10 at an electronics store.  I don't trust it for other readings, but for identifying the pinout on your transistor it works fine.  It's easier for me than sifting through pages of transistor infosheets or doing a google search.

[cgibsong002]

Oh, so you triple checked the transistor pinout and it worked? Wow, if only someone had suggested that days ago 

don't roll your eyes at me dude, I'm the new one here, I posted pictures, and no one else noticed it either. I have no reason to feel bad or stupid for messing that up. I've never used a stripboard layout schematic before, and to my perspective, I was 100% positive that I had the transistor in correctly according to schematic. It was a misunderstanding with how to read the layout.

I really appreciate everyones help. I ended up learning a lot through this project, and I actually learned much, much more due to it not functioning correctly. Because of that, I learned how to properly simulate my circuits in software so that in the future I can trouble shoot much more easily and learn how things work

thanks 

[Cardboard Tube Samurai]

Hey don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you should feel "bad or stupid for messing that up". Don't put words in my mouth. Just saying, don't go discounting or brushing off advice people give here. There were a few of us who suggested checking the pinout of transistor but you insisted that it looked right, based on the diagram. I too have done this before and know how easy it is to do. Truth be told, I've only been at this a few years and have asked plenty of similar questions and I've only recently over the last year or so been able to actually provide insight to "noob" questions. Fact is, most of us have been there before and can offer these suggestions based on experience. Sometimes though, it's not a great deal harder to just desolder the thing and turn it around or to look up a pinout diagram on the net and this approach will save you a lot of headaches. +1 on the advice of a cheap meter that can test transistors: I have one of these handy at my bench too.

[cgibsong002]

Hey don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you should feel "bad or stupid for messing that up". Don't put words in my mouth. Just saying, don't go discounting or brushing off advice people give here. There were a few of us who suggested checking the pinout of transistor but you insisted that it looked right, based on the diagram. I too have done this before and know how easy it is to do. Truth be told, I've only been at this a few years and have asked plenty of similar questions and I've only recently over the last year or so been able to actually provide insight to "noob" questions. Fact is, most of us have been there before and can offer these suggestions based on experience. Sometimes though, it's not a great deal harder to just desolder the thing and turn it around or to look up a pinout diagram on the net and this approach will save you a lot of headaches. +1 on the advice of a cheap meter that can test transistors: I have one of these handy at my bench too.

Yeah dude, I fully understand what you're saying. But when you're frustrated and there's a lot of possible things to look at, you miss things. I didn't discount the advice... I didn't have a schematic that I was going off of. I looked up the pinout, but then realized the pinout does nothing for me without a schematic. So it wasn't that i discounted the advice, it was just a mistake on my part. In fact it was that advice that in the end gave me the idea to flip the tranny in the schematic and realize the mistake.

[Cardboard Tube Samurai]

So is this the part where we hug? 

[cgibsong002]

[MikeH]

Also double check the pinout of your transistor. 

Thats what I meant by this.  FYI taking proper voltages can show you that you transistor is backwards.  In the future I'd recommend posting the voltages using the method described in the "DEBUGGING" sticky thread.  Mist people around here wont even offer any help if you haven't posted the checklist from that thread.