B.Y.O.C. screamer or similar

[_tom_]

The guys at BYOC think my switch may be nackered in my screamer. They said to bypass the switch by moving the in and out leads to their respective jacks. However I did that and theres no sound at all but the led still switches on when you use the footswitch :?

[sjwebb90]

If you have connected input jack to output jack direct with the wires, then obviously it should work unless you are grounding the signal somehwere else.

With everything "manually" bypassed (ie switch out of circuit) you should at least get signal to pass from guitar to amp.

Have you got a meter, whereby you could check for continuity. That's the easiest option when fault finding. You may have a knackered lead or duff interconnect or even a dry soldered joint.

Can you post a photo a clear photo of connection to switch and jacks and to and from board?

[HTH AMPS]

an audio probe is perfect for fault finding in pedals as you can probe around the circuit following the signal path through and actually hear when the signal goes dead - that will be where your problem lies (unless you've botched the whole thing).

I can hear the next question, "what is an audio probe".  pretty basic...  a single 0.1uF cap (voltage rating not important) connected to a length of wire and hooked up to the 'hot' lug of a 1/4" jack socket.  You should also have another wire with an alligator clip on the end from the jack socket for your ground connection to the circuit. 

Plug your guitar (or signal generator) into the effect, and plug your amp into the audio probe.  Start with the beginning of the circuit and see where the signal stops.  If you have no signal at the input jack, you have most likely wired it wrong and are grounding the singal right at the input (just for example).

[_tom_]

Thats how its wired to bypass the switch, dont know if its right. As you can see the switch is nackered because I carelessly burned it pretty bad.. my soldering now is way better than it was there though somehow :lol:

[badgermark]

Tom that's horrible. That's classed as an illegal torture method in some countries. That poor switch. Whap a new one in there and don't cook the bugger and it might work.

Looking at the schematic- lug 7 (top right) should go to the hole marked 'out' on the board. I'm guessing you knew that when you tried to troubleshoot by bypassing the switch all together?

For the connection between pins 4 and 9 i used a longer piece of wire, running along the side of the switch, so going around instead of thru. Means i didn't cook it when doing the other tags.

[_tom_]

Yeah I know its really bad, sorry :lol: :oops: I followed the wiring diagram correctly so I dont think therel be any problem there. Good idea with the wire going around rather than through it was a pain in the arse to get right! Part of the reason its so buggered is that my solder wouldnt melt for some reason (the iron and parts were hot enough as I tested with some new solder - seems like the solder was dodgy somehow!), but obviously the parts were still getting really hot..

Where can you get 3pdt switches for cheap? I need some more thin single core wire as well by the looks of things, mines disappeared.

[badgermark]

http://www.banzaieffects.com is a good place for effects gubbins. Just received confirmation my next build is getting shipped, a distortion kit based on the Soldano SLO100 distortion channel. Might be tricky but I like a challenge. Might throw up a build progress thread like my mighty mouse build if anyone is interested.

[sjwebb90]

Hi Tom,

I would have to agree with badger the soldering looks very dodgy to say the least. (Nice clear photo though).

Whenever wiring things up its always easier to use different colours for different things. IE Red for battery positive and Black for the earth, some other colours then for tone, distortion and level pots etc.

1) If the the DC input is orientated the way I think it is then the unsoldered terminal should have an earth lead attached to it. As there also appears to be no battery connector you won't getting any power to the circuit.

2) It looks like the "out" from the board is going to earth on the output socket, it should be going to the switch. The loose wire hanging by the switch is probably the earth. Also there appears to be no wire running from the switch to "in" on the board.

3) 3PDT can be sourced from http://www.smallbearelec.com/home.html  USA
  or http://www.watfordvalves.com/products.asp?id=6 UK.

I don't think it will take much to get it going, although i may suggest a bit nmore practing on the soldering front. ( mind you we all had to start somewhere!!!)

Hope this helps

[_tom_]

Yeah as I said I moved the wires from the switch because I was trying to bypass it.. You should've seen the soldering before I got a new iron and some solder that actually melts properly :oops: As for the dc socket I didnt put the battery clip in because I never use them. Theres definitely power going through as the led lights up when the pedals switched on, just no sound (well there is but its really quiet)

[sjwebb90]

OK, I now have the orientation of the DC socket and as you say it should power up the board.

However, if the wiring is still the same as you previously posted then you need to take the "out" wire off the "output socket" and put it on the other terminal of the "output socket".. As it stands you are grounding the output signal from the board. Hence no output.

The "JACK's" from the board should be going to earth.  The JACK lead (top right) should be going to where the "OUT " terminal is now.  (Although, you are probably also getting an earth, via the earth on the INPUT jack, via the metal box anyway.)

The BLACK wires on my screamer denote the earth connections. The SEE-THROUGH wires are the signal connections. NB The previous postings circuit board was a TONEPAD variant.

Here's a shot of the internals of my BYOC Screamer. (Sorry the pictures not as clear)

[_tom_]

ahh thats why it wont work then :lol: I'll try that again tomorrow to see if the switch is indeed broken (I should probably replace it anyway because it looks horrible). Is the out wire going to the right jack lug?

[sjwebb90]

Yes the "out" is going to the right jack..... but the wrong terminal.

If the unit still doesn't work and you were using an inapproriate iron. I.e too hot you may have cooked a component.
Out of interest could you take a picture from a different angle (side angle of the pins) of the DC socket.

As it didn't attahced on the last posting heres a picture of my BYOC screamer wiring

[MrBump]

http://www.banzaieffects.com is a good place for effects gubbins. Just received confirmation my next build is getting shipped, a distortion kit based on the Soldano SLO100 distortion channel. Might be tricky but I like a challenge. Might throw up a build progress thread like my mighty mouse build if anyone is interested.

That's an EXCELLENT site!

[indysmith]

http://www.banzaieffects.com is a good place for effects gubbins. Just received confirmation my next build is getting shipped, a distortion kit based on the Soldano SLO100 distortion channel. Might be tricky but I like a challenge. Might throw up a build progress thread like my mighty mouse build if anyone is interested.

That's an EXCELLENT site!

I couldn't find any kits on there - am I blind or are they really well hidden?

[Kilby]

Tom,

just a question where you using the lead free solder 1st time around, as it has a pretty high melting point.

Personally I hate the stuff and prefer traditional solder