Suggestions for troubleshooting The Vibe kit?

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I recently completed a build of a “The Vibe Pedal Kit.” (This is my 4th pedal, the first three were various boost pedals which seem to be much simpler.)

I tested each component with a multi-meter before soldering, and verified that they were within tolerances. The joints all look good (to me anyway). However when I plug the pedal in, I’m observing the following:

When footswitch is not engaged, the signal passes from the guitar through to the amp and sounds fine. When I engage the footswitch, the sound disappears for about 2 seconds, then I get about 1/4 second of signal and the LED lights up. Then it goes quiet again for about 2 seconds.

The only deviation from the build doc I did was swap out a green LED I had for the red one that came with the kit. I can’t imagine that making a difference but wanted to mention anything that could help diagnose.

Pics below. Any suggestions appreciated.

 

 

 

[Barry]

Yes a Phaser is at the opposite spectrum off a boost in difficulty however its nothing terribly difficult.

Check your off-board wiring. It sounds like an intermittent issue.

For example it looks like your ground and 9v could be making contact.

Also you should strip your wire and insert through the pad until flush with the PVC and then solder from the other side the same as a component lead on all wiring jobs and that will give you a stronger wire contact as well as prevent other issues down the road.

Once you have constant activated signal you will need to tweak the trimmer for the sweet spot.

After addressing all of that if you still have trouble you will most likely need to post FET and IC voltages according to the datasheet.

 

Here are another few areas of concern.

Check you do not have bad contacts or bridging on your power adapter.

Also with regard to the Jacks you should always have a strong mechanical connection between the wire and the lug before soldering.

[Author]

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