Super simple audio probe

[Billy]

For those of you that don’t have an audio probe here’s a super simple version built and tested works fine

All you need is a mono jack a croc clip a capacitor and 2 bits of wire and voila

Attach your ground wire to the ground lug of your jack and croc clip to the other end of said wire (blue in mine)

Attach your capacitor (100n up to 1u film or ceramic) to the tip lug of the jack then solder your other wire to the other end of the cap I used a 1u MLCC ceramic cap and solid core wire and stripped the end off for the probe you can solder on a cast off component leg as well if you wish, for your probe end

Quick and easy

Shown below thrown together quickly for demo I’d advise you use a longer wire for your probe end to make probing easier

[Cybercow]

I went a bit simpler for mine. Just a gator-clip, a cap and piece of wire. (In this case, I used breadboard jumper wire.) I plug the pedal in as normal with a source (or guitar) and to an amp. Then I clip the gator-clip to the output prong of the output jack. I then use the bared end of the wire to “probe” about.

[Big O]

I guess I have a more complex setup.  Below is my audio probe and an adapter cable for an mp3 player, phone, etc. The 1/4 inch jack is placed in the input of the pedal and of course the audio probe is connected to ground and the guitar amp using a 1/4 inch guitar cable form the output jack of the probe to the amp input.  You don’t have to worry about strumming your guitar into the input while trying to probe the circuit which can be quite cumbersome.  I just connect my phone or mp3 player to the input and play any type of music or even just a recorded tone and then probe around.

 

[Author]

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