Colorsound Vocalizer vero

[digi2t]

I was looking at your picture again, and I was wondering, is that a bare ground wire connected to the underside of the board, or just the excess lead of the cap?. I'm talking about the 100uF cap (just above the zener), on the underside, it looks like a bare wire connected to the + side of the cap. What is that?

This really intrigues me. Jimi and I did ours on vero, and both worked well. I can't see why it shouldn't work on a PCB.

Man, I'd love to have that sucker on my table. It's almost personal now  . 

[pinkjimiphoton]

hmmm....sounds a bit like mine's issues, too.

also sounds like a cap or gain problem..tough call.

gonna wait til my pot comes in, and i'll post what happens.

[Ronan]

If the overlay is correct, it looks like at least two of the electrolytic caps are in the wrong way around. Might be your problem.

[digi2t]

If the overlay is correct, it looks like at least two of the electrolytic caps are in the wrong way around. Might be your problem.

Holy crow Ro, really? Geez, I must be going blind. I did the split window thing with the two images this morning, and I didn't catch that. Which ones? 

[Ronan]

No....I meant it looks like Paulyy's got a couple electro's in the wrong way around. The cap closest to pin8 of the CA3080, and the cap connected to pin 5 of the 4136. Using these images.
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=92202.msg814984#msg814984
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=92202.msg815148#msg815148

[paulyy]

Well heres some pics of the pcb right now. All electro caps have been changed.




Hope this helps.

[Ronan]

Caps are OK in that shot. Maybe you can cut the circuit in half to find out which bit isn't working. You can test the input stages by disconnecting the wire from the centre of the 10K clean/fuzz pot, attach a 100n or whatever size cap to the centre lug and run a wire from the new cap to the output jack. Then you should hear clean and overdriven guitar from it, depending on where you set the pot. It will be a boosted level however.

I did notice one thing. When I unplug the power and put it back in, The pedal sounds clean and undistorted but after 5sec it starts to distort again.

Is something causing too much current to flow I wonder? Anyway, good luck.

[digi2t]

Jimi bro,

You were spot on for the 330R resistor. Initially, without it, everything was hunky dory since I was using it alone. With other pedals, a pot here is critical here to set unity. I was getting an insane in/out volume difference with my Uglyface chained to it. A 1K pot is perfect here, better than the resistor IMO. You can then adjust to different pedals in the chain.

I think I'll add that note to the vero. Three thumbs up muchacho.

Cheers,
Dino

[pinkjimiphoton]

hey dino, i re-visited this pedal last night to try and figure out wtf was wrong with it...

went back to the 330r  for r22...somewhat of a boost when kicked in, but not so much as it was with the 500r trimmer.

found two problems..

first off, the dang dpdt switch, which i recycled from the original dunlop wah this thing was, was messed up. sometimes, it worked..sometimes it bypassed the effect, but then wouldn't pass signal; sometimes it was only switching partially. very weird. swapped it out for a known good one, now that part is buttoned up.

it works ok now, but i have to "tune" the wah pot a little higher than i want..the post on that double ganged 22k pot where the white wire attaches is messed up a little, if i mess with it, it's a whole different story as to the yoy...

still waiting for that freekin' pot to arrive from across the pond. i think when i replace it, that will cure the problem.

so, as it stands, it's a cool wah more than a formant...weird!!

when the last part comes back in, i'll post the results...it's ionly been like 2 months now i've been waiting....arrrrgh...

[digi2t]

Hey bro. As far as tuning the sweep goes, I had to play with mine on a couple of different levels. 1) The angle of the pot. 2) The thickness of the rubber bumpers on the toe side of the pedal, and 3) the thickness of the bumpers on the heel side.

I ended up buying a bunch of Dunlop bumpers, and gently shaving them down to where I could get the max sweep, with out clacking the metal casing, or inadvertently tripping the switch. I guess the Colorsounds had a tad more mechanical sweep than the Dunlops. Albeit that some Colorsounds actually had a linkage setup to turn the pot, instead of rac and pinions.

As for the pot, once I got the angle just right, I shot hot glue into the gusset, on both sides of the threaded collar of the pot, to freeze it in place.

You know, you could put a small mode switch on it, to enable/disable the formant side. Sort of a "Vowel/Wah" mode switch, that kills, or enables one side of the pot. 2 birds, one rock, dinner for two  .

[pinkjimiphoton]

lol...well, FIRST, i just wanna get it to work RIGHT, ya know?
lol



hopefully some day soon the gosh dang pot will come in...shoulda been here by now!!!

[paulyy]

lol...well, FIRST, i just wanna get it to work RIGHT, ya know?
lol



hopefully some day soon the gosh dang pot will come in...shoulda been here by now!!!

If you needed a 22k pot. I have an extra one you can have. I cant seem to get mine to work anyways.

[pinkjimiphoton]

hmmmmm....thanks for the kind offer, pauly, but i'd rather see you get yours running!!!

maybe try the vero version rather than the pcb...i know on the other forum boris had supplied the layout and all for the pcb, but i bet there's mistakes on it.

that said, if it's one of them damned conductive plastic 22k stacked pots, i have a feeling once they get heated a couple times, they are spent.

mine worked reasonably well til i re-wired it a couple times...i'm gonna try hitting the suspect pin with some heat and downward pressure to see if i can make the intermittent part stop.

now if the damn thing would show up from freakin' england....lol...i'll put it in, solder once and be DONE with it!!

[paulyy]

Lol! Id like to see mine running to. I never tried vero but maybe I'll give it a shot. I just hate to start all over again .
As far as the pcb goes. It seems correct but I could be wrong. I need to post some of my issues on the other forum to see if Boris could help but for the time being. It just sits in the corner of my work bench staring and laughing at me.
I haven't had any issues with the 22k pots yet. They seem ok. I try not to mess with them to much.

[pinkjimiphoton]

mine was ok til i re-wired it for boris a couple times...they don't like heat!!!!

since i'm generally and genuinely sick of waiting, what do ya want for one of the pots? i can maybe paypal ya something?

[paulyy]

No worrys. You can Have the pot. I have two sitting around any ways. Just PM me your address and call it good.
This way when you get your other pot you'll have an extra one in case you over heat this one.

[pinkjimiphoton]

thanks paulyy!!

pm being sent as soon as i post this.

yah, maybe boris can help...i know he was hot on building this pedal, too..but i dunno if the pcb was EVER right.

it's probably something stupid...usually is.

the one thing i DO know, is the vero version DOES work!


thanks bud!!

[pinkjimiphoton]

wouldn't ya know it....lol...

back in june or something, i ordered a ca3080e from ebay.

it never arrived.

wellp, to make a long story short, it arrived today via airmail....dated july 19, 2011


lol....wonder if i should try it, just for s-n-g's

it's different from the other ones, marked

CA3080E
ho223


gotta love "free, fast shipping from hong kong"...

i have a feeling i damn near coulda walked and picked it up there in 5 months time!!

[digi2t]

Hmmm... seems that storm you guys got was worse than advertised then

[pinkjimiphoton]

f*cked sh*t up all the way to china, bro...lol