@barry
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I received a nice email review from Ben Lively regarding the 60s NostalgiTone hand-built pedal I sent him last week.
“The NostalgiTone pedal is undoubtedly the best all-in-one pedal I’ve ever used, perfectly meeting my needs. It’s ultra-responsive and literally perfect! If it were sold at a large retail outlet, it could easily fetch $350. I’ve spent $400 on a pedal that can only do a fraction of what yours can, and it doesn’t even compare. I can’t help but pause every time I play it! I would say it’s easily the best overall pedal I’ve ever owned, and I’ve owned a lot.”
Hi Alan.
The hobby is fantastic, especially after solving problems which make you better each step along the way. Electronics is very much about troubleshooting, and problem solving, which I consider a large part of its appeal since if everyone could do it then it would be no big deal that you can.
That said I see a major problem area for you to fix.
You need to fill the solder pads with solder. Do not create blobs of solder but be sure you heat the pads first from the (opposite side as the components) and apply the solder letting it go into each pad. It should look like a hershey kiss on the pad. If you look at your build there are many unfilled pads and in this case particularly the clipping diodes.
This is easily solved by carefully reflowing the entire PCB to make sure every pad has solder forming a good solder joint. Be sure to re-flow everything. Then retest it.
Here is a video I did for proper solder joints.
Everything else about you build looks great so I believe that will help tremendously and get you having some fun.
NostalgiTone 60s Finished Build
Are you ready to elevate your game? The NostalgiTone 60s Edition combo is here to give you the ultimate sonic experience. We have combined the best of the best, squeezing three incredible circuits into a genre-defining combo. It features expert mods like Fuzz / Overdrive order-switching and a switchable 3-circuit tone enhancer.- Overdrive: Step back in time to an era when iconic guitar tones ruled the stage. Representative of the tones used by Cream, Alvin Lee, Stones, and Jimi Hendrix, you too can capture that sweet, creamy crunch reminiscent of the legendary guitar sounds of the 1960s.
- Fuzz: Dive into the lush, velvety fuzz tones reminiscent of the legendary vintage Fuzz Face. Our design integrates attainable NPN silicon transistors to bolster stability, guaranteeing that you capture that iconic tone and enjoy unwavering performance. Plus, with the convenience of an onboard trimmer, you can fine-tune your fuzz experience, from smooth, flowing tones to edgier, more gated textures.
- Tremolo: The Tremolo is a vital addition to the 60’s tone, infusing your guitar tone with captivating pulsing waves. But that is not everything. Thanks to the onboard toggle “kill” switch, you can deactivate the tremolo pulse while keeping the tone-enhancing portion of the circuit intact. This gives you the purest tone from all three circuits directly to your amplifier, granting you complete mastery over your sound, and resulting in impeccably crisp and crystal-clear notes. Additionally, using the Volume control in tandem with the foot-switch you can Boost your solos or just dial in a compressed always-on tone.
Onboard Order Switcher: Want to switch up your sound? Our onboard order switcher lets you change the sequence between Overdrive and Fuzz, so you can create your unique sonic signature.
Easy Wiring: No more daunting wiring hassles! Say hello to beauty under the hood. Enjoy all-analog tones with modern features that will slip into your gig bag, ensuring you are always ready to unleash your musical magic.
Included with the PCB purchase. – (1) Mainboard, (3) wiring boards, and (3) ribbon cables.
All “NostagiTone Series” purchases will pave the way for my new and upcoming releases.
If you like this idea, then purchase to support more genre and artist-specific combo PCBs soon.Each of the three individual circuits are also available as “Singles”
I concur with Playsforfun in that the Paramix is the ultimate tool for Parallel play and you can switch it up any time you like with ease and you will never have to worry about phase.
I have no idea about the main circuit you are using as to whether it is inverting the phase or not. At any rate that is not the issue at the moment.
If it were me I would remove the Stage 3 altogether, and then re-verify the main circuit by itself to be sure nothing happened, thoroughly checking off board wiring for loose or poorly soldered connections along the way.
Then I would add power to the Buff N Blend and take voltages to be sure the JFET is working properly. Re-flow any suspect solder joints and try again while being very careful to attach the wiring correctly, and making sure everything has a common ground. From the photo I cannot see if you are sharing common ground with the main board since the electrolytic is blocking the view.
Once you get it working then you can determine if you need the boost.
The audio probe should be revealing in that you follow the audio path using the schematic and listen to what is happening as you go from the beginning of the circuit to the end of the circuit. Along the way you will hear something that does not sound correct like a drop in volume or bad sound. When that happens you will know where to look for things like bad solder joints, solder bridges, bad component value etc.. Note that not every single point along the way is going to produce a sound since not every place is part of the audio path.
That said I highly suggest re-flowing the entire PCB as well as checking off-board wiring to make sure it is secure.
85% of the time issues are related to bad solder joints and sometimes solder bridges. Re-flowing will address that. Just re-heat and have some solder handy to use where ever needed. You do not want to create blobs but you do want to make sure the solder flows into the pad. An easy place to get a bridge especially if you are using a large solder tip is when pads are close together like transistor pads.
When I zoom in on your potentiometer wiring I see many suspect places since it looks like you are trying to solder the wire from that same side of the board. Ideally you should push the wire through till the PVC hits the board and solder from the other side. You are burning PVC and some of those wires may be hanging by a thread. Particularly Lug 1 of both the Volume and the Gain pots
Also I see a spot just above the Brite Gain potentiometer pads that may be a bridge. Hard to tell,
Many times over the years despite building up thousands of PCB’s I have corrected an issue by doing a re-flow and making sure my off board wiring wasn’t just hanging by a thread.
I found a v1 board batch same as yours and used J201 JFETs from a recent 1,000 piece batch that I sell.
You can see I am able to adjust the voltage.
Please be sure you are using the correct trimmer to adjust Q4 as it is real easy to grab the wrong one.
Also be sure you are using a 104 code Trim pot.
This would be an excellent opportunity to use that Audio Probe (you mentioned having) to find out where things are going wrong in the audio path and report back your findings.
Yes, if you look at the v3 Doc on the Guides Page you will see that R24 is a 33k resistor, and is only being connected to the Volume pot to ground to keep you from dialing it completely off.
As to which is easier that would depend on where and how you are going to mount the LED and where the enclosure was drilled for the LED. Also it makes no difference if the main board has the CLR installed or not. It is necessary if using the main board for the LED location. It does not need to be there otherwise. See schematic to see how that resistor is only connected to the LED and nothing else.
I suggest a complete re-flow of the board and a clean up of the off-board wiring as well.
The solder needs to flow into the solder pads. Not excessive but you will have cold solder joints if it is only sitting on top of the pads. So use your iron and reheat all of your solder joints and add a little extra solder while doing it.
Cold solder joints will affect your voltages and keep your project from working.
Here are some photos of my concerns:
In this image note in particular the Brick solder pads.
This image note in particular the POT solder pads, especially the DECAY pads.
In this image your ground wire is touching your +9v pad.
Ideally you should push the wire through and solder from the back so that your pvc is flush with the PCB.
Our build doc for the Version 3 is available on our GUIDES PAGE.
As for why they did not give you the two updated values, and one new part I would guess they forgot to update their store with the new board.
The solution would be to contact Das Musikding and ask them for a 1N5817, 33k resistor, 20k trimmer and potentially a CLR resistor (R23). Please note that R23 is the Current Limiting Resistor for the LED (see schematic) and may be used on either the main board (R23) or the 3PDT wiring board depending on where you like to mount the LED. (It is an option or preference)
I am sure they will get that out to you quickly.
The 33k resistor just keeps you from turning the Boost Volume pot the whole way off, which in turn keeps you from making the entire circuit too quiet by mistake.
The 1N5817 is a circuit protection upgrade on the new version. While you can still use the 1N4001 it will not offer the protection.
The 20k trimmer was also extended to 20k to be sure you are able to bias with newer JFETs. 5k may not get you there.
I would simply let them know that you received a version 3 and that they need to update their part-list for the v3 board and to please send you the required parts. Again, if you already soldered the R23 to the main board but want the LED mounted in the 3PDT wiring board instead then also ask them for that resistor too while you are at it. It can be any value from 1k8 to 4k7. 4k7 is not as bright as 1k8.
