@barry
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Coincidentally where I am from we are called Pennsylvania Dutch which is anything but direct but for good reason since most do not understand it has nothing to really do with Dutch:
https://www.thoughtco.com/how-pennsylvania-dutch-get-their-name-4070513
“Want to” in my tongue means you must in a nice manner or we would say it is optional.
In other words if you take that pill you will want to eat first.
I completely understand so that is why I was extra clear with you. My daughter speaks German which was my next move.
That said congrats and you are welcome to try a different taper pot. We simply chose what the manufacturer did but we always encourage experimentation.
Also note that the Micro Amp is more of a Mod based on the more popular circuit varieties since it was so close schematically the Mod was too easy to pass up. That said all of our other builds are much more “straight forward”.
I am glad I have helped and you have a working circuit.
- The potis must be used in the Gain pads and you must:
- solder a fixed 10k resistor between “Volume” pads 1 and 2,
- and you must place a small jumper between “Volume” pads 2 and 3.
Then you will still need to make the connection from VB to IC3 in Purple above.
This can be done on the back side of the board best IMHO.
If it helps I think we are very close now.
The pot needs to be in the Gain pads. Also you need to have a 10K resistor and a jumper in the volume (level) pads per the directions.
Whether you hand wired the pot or not it does not matter you still need to do what the final directions say above. The pot must be in the gain pads and you need to solder a fixed 10k resistor between “Volume” pads 1 and 2, and a jumper between pads 2 and 3.
This is why I was asking for an updated picture because I cannot see what is happening.
Your pin 3 voltage is low. It should be 4v.
Most importantly:
I cannot clearly see the entire board. Update with a clear new board photo.
Because I cannot see everything please check that you followed these instructions from the build document for the MA build:
● The MicroAmp only has a single Level control. If you wish to keep your build true to the original, we suggest using a hand wired potentiometer connected to the “Gain” pads so you can center the single knob on your enclosure. If you do this, you will need to solder a fixed 10k resistor between “Volume” pads 1 and 2, and a jumper between pads 2 and 3.
“Tack solder” a jumper (short wire or leftover resistor lead) connecting both the anode and cathode sides of R10 (currently a diode) together and see what happens.
From our Guides section.
This is High Res so you can download and zoom using your favorite Photo viewer.
This shows how GuitarPCB projects can be wired. We provide excellent options using the Main Board (which has the most copper) to be your grounding source instead of the clumsy star grounding method.
An Audio Probe would make very quick work of your problem and benefit all future troubleshooting.
See the GUIDES page for more on Audio Probes.
For now here is a photo with proper voltages. Please update us with yours.
Also it clearly shows the Audio Path for testing.
You will not find a better way to learn than reading our GUIDES page.
There are Basic PDF build guides at the top of the page (see Orange links) and there are also photos you can download on the page and even a beginner soldering tutorial. This should be much better than just looking at someones gut shot.
These Guides are always available in the forum by clicking on the GUIDES button on out home page or the large red box at the bottom of the Forum Home Page.
Thank you for sharing and I am glad you are enjoying it.
I also found it to be a very satisfying distortion.
While I may be bias what is certainly true, I never release anything unless I think it sounds good.
- Dial in the trimmer a little more precisely since it is very fine point where it works best.
- Test only the pedal wired by itself with only two good cables and nothing else hooked up.
- Reflow your solder joints and all off-board wiring and check all jacks and reflow lugs.
That is where I would start and the order that I would do it.
Well executed and thanks for sharing.
Adding a Tone TwEQ to anything that has a simple passive tone control will Boutique the crap out of it!
It doesn’t matter what material the capacitor is made from as long as it fits well.
If you have film and it fits and you want to use it then that is fine. We left space for it.
MLCC material is every bit as good but more affordable and has a perfect 5mm lead spacing so that is why we like them. Tone is of no consequence which is why you see cheap ceramic tone caps in $1000+ guitars.
1.95″ x 1.73″
1.95″ width is the standard for most GuitarPCB boards so that they will fit into the most common enclosures then we adjust the height depending on how complex the build. The exceptions are of course tiny boards or the two supersize boards being the DVF or Super Drive 70’s.
Yes what Wilkie Said. All you are doing is putting the Stage 3 circuit (always on) on a switch to either be in the Audio Path or removed. Again the Buff N Blend was designed to be used mostly with a single “main circuit” so it can all fit in a small enclosure.
We us the Paramix (link above) for a larger multi-purpose application as you are demonstrating above. Yours will still work however as Wilkie1 has pointed out.
Yes we need voltages if you cannot troubleshoot yourself.
As for the pictures I can see the two arrows need reviewing. I will have to be critical on a few items so please understand it is just an effort to help.
- The LED arrow despite looking potentially correct in one photo does not look right in this photo.
I zoomed in and cropped but it is still to hard to make out but the “Status On” Cathode Lead is supposed to be connected to the “Non-White Pad” the White pad is only used for the Status “OFF” color when using a Bi-Color Common Anode LED. The LED must be common anode and not common cathode as well or it will not work. So you will have to determine those two things I cannot see from the photo.
2. The potentiometer wiring is a heavier gauge than we typically use (24 gauge) however that should still fit considering a 1N4001 Diode will also fit through the pad. That said I am not sure the potentiometers are secured will with the pads. I would sure up any questionable connections and re-flow the entire board as well as any questionable off-board wiring. Be careful not to damage the pads with excessive heat or movement while adjusting and re-flowing.
One final note is that we pre-bend the resistor leads before inserting so they fit flat against the board and then solder. I see some of yours are angled which can cause enough stress when soldering to end up with a cold solder joint. I see several suspect joints (NOTE: R3 above the 9v connection for one example) that do not have a shiny Hershey kiss type joint on them which can be a cold solder joint. So again the fix here would be to re-flow and adjust while re-flowing being careful not to damage the pads.
We have a larger project with Phase Switch and more called the Paramix.
The Buff N Blend was designed more for using in tandem (in the same enclosure) with a single circuit that does not invert the phase or as Wilkie points out you can use a Stage 3 at 1″ x 1″ giving you phase switching.
For a multi purpose setup to be used with an ever changing array of pedals I highly recommend our Paramix.
