@bigo
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Thanks for the follow-up and input Wilkie!
Sorry for a somewhat tardy reply. Yesterday before seeing your post, I placed a jumper between R3 and the Q1 Collector, and of course the measured voltages behaved more like they should. Now I am trying to dial in the Fuzz. I may have to increase the size of the Q1/2 trimpot to 20K from 10K. Thought about that before soldering the 10K trimmer to the board and now regret it.
Below images show the jumper passing right to left beneath the tone pot from R3 to the Q1 Collector.
I will continue with another post (Part 2) to complete the whole shebang.
There is also a “Test” part of the circuit involving Q1 and Q2 as below. This was confirmed by visual inspection and continuity testing.
Next are results showing Continuity involving the Test circuit.
Continuity of the Test circuit and Non-continuity relative to the Test circuit. Continuity = Green tracing and Non-continuity = Red Dotted Line.
My conclusion is that there must be a break in or absence of the PCB connection between the Q1 collector and Q2 collector as below (red dotted line). What do the experts on the board think from the test results? Continuity in Green, Broken/absent segment in Dotted Red.
As a final comment, I did place a temporary, non-soldered jumper (blue tracing on schematic below) between C2 and the Test eyelet. The voltages then tested more appropriately to what they should be in this part of the circuit. I believe I likely have a defective PCB. I would like to hear the experts’ opinions and input regarding my test findings because maybe I am barking up the wrong tree.
Okay, my 8th attempt to fix this post. I get so far in a somewhat long post and the post is lost after I submit it. Maybe it is timing out on me.
As I stated previously, I recently was building a circuit on a PCB and when finished, things did not add up. True bypass worked, but the Collector and other BJT voltages were not even close to what they should be. First I checked to make sure all components were the correct values, even though I confirm and test each component before soldering it to the appropriate site on the PCB. Next I performed continuity testing on the entire circuit. There was continuity between all components except those involving the Collector of Q1. I reflowed all the solder joints of all of the components involved in the non-continuity, but the non-continuity problems persisted, so it appears that the issue is not related to a dead solder connection. The non-continuity problem involves a Darlington pair configuration with non-continuity between the Collectors of Q1 and Q2. Continuity issues are as below (somewhat involved).
Area of interest in the circuit:
Non-Continuity involving Q1 Collector area:
Non-Continuity involving C2 to other components:
Overall Non-Continuity:
Continuity (first involving Q1 Collector then Q2):
Overall Continuity involving Q2 collector:
Absolutely thrilled that you are feeling better Barry!
I, myself have been working out to go skiing in Utah. I just got back from my trip (why my reply has been delayed) and things went very well, unlike last year when my legs quickly got tired and I fell several times. This year I did not fall once and my legs did not get tired or sore. Getting in shape really makes a difference.
I have been using Tayda lately for my enclosures and have been really pleased. Yes, it takes a week to approximately 10 days to get my order most times. They have several sizes and a few powder coat options. I mostly get non-drilled enclosures, but some of their pre-drilled ones for Pedal PCB projects have worked out fine for me (such as the Ornery Shrews treble booster I built and has been posted on the forum here). The prices have been reasonable, so if you are not in a big hurry to get your enclosures, Tayda may work out for you.
I’ve got three GuitarPCB projects in the works now. Probably will be a few weeks before I get at least one together. Working on the artwork first, which can take awhile.
Revisited the Fuzzrite like pedal. It just sounded too polite to me and the tone switch just made the low end more flabby sounding. I thought it might be the transistors. However, when changing out the transistors to different ones, I changed the position of the PCB with a popping noise and the pedal came to life. There must have been some sort of grounding issue.
It now has that classic Inna Gadda Davidda fuzz, which is not so polite and sounds just the fuzz did on the breadboard. The tone switch now makes a huge difference in sound. Much more lower emphasis when put into the “alter” mode. Happy accident and I am no longer disappointed with how the pedal came out. Maybe I can fool around with the American fuzz I have to make it more gnarly now.
For those of you who were Hogan’s Heroes fans, you may recognize the Gonkulator.
Extra points for those that recognize what album cover the snake came from. It’s definitely up there for one of my top 10 album covers.
Re: I thought the 3PDT board did have a trace from 1 to 6.
I checked every eyelet connection with a continuity tester. No connection from 1 to 6 using the standard numbering nomenclature for a 3PDT switch as below. And yes, I will be mounting the LED to the main board as shown above. So it looks like I am good to go.
I was using Microsol, but I had some trouble with it trapping tiny bubbles on occasion and further manipulation of the decal as it was setting with the Microsol was problematic. So, I went back to the Q-tip and gentle fingertip method for sweeping the bubbles to and off the edge of the decal.
Re: What do you use to smooth out your waterslide labels. Little bubbles can be a reappearing pain sometimes for me.
I use a Q-tip and unbelievably my finger. I also clear coat the clear coated waterslide decal once it dries for about 24 hours and that usually does away with some of the imperfections such as small air bubbles. Acrylic lacquer is what works best for me.
There are also many templates available on the internet. A “general” stompbox site that has kits and PCB’s has a pdf file that can be printed out and taped to an enclosure for drilling.
I primarily use paint.net for designing my layouts on blank enclosures. You build the graphics design in layers and then you can de-emphasize layers (uncheck the box), move layers higher or lower in emphasis order, etc. I usually first decide where the pots and other hardware need to go and then do a mock up for board location and to make sure they will fit in the enclosure properly. Since the location of the pots and hardware have already been decided and placed in the overall drawing, I de-emphasize the graphics/picture layers to leave the hardware locations and hole sizes remaining for a drill template. It takes a lot of measuring and arranging to get it done, though.
For example, after measuring and figuring out the spacing for all of the pots, switches and LED, I use the program to make my hardware layout and with the approximate PCB location in the drawing. From experience, I found that the wall thickness of an enclosure is approximately 1.5mm. So knowing the external top dimensions, I can draw the internal box dimensions and arrange hardware and boards accordingly, as below. The pots, jacks and switches have been drawn to scale (you have to know their measurements). The blocks in the lower part of the drawing are the spaces for the input and output jacks.
Then I subtract the PCB layout image by unchecking that particular layer box and get the drill template.
And of course I utilize the above drawings to arrange the final graphics placement and then deselect the appropriate layers to get a printable cover graphic that corresponds to all of the hardware drill holes. Of course when planning the layout, one also has to know the knob sizes, etc. to plan graphics placement and spacing.
And you hopefully end up with a final product like below.
Many times the hiss filter is not needed. So many opt to save time and effort by not soldering in the filter cap. If there is hiss, one can go back and solder the cap to the board. Probably just as simple as that.
Nice! I like the blue hookup wire. Every time I tried to get some it was out of stock.
This build reminds me of the Judas Priest pedal I built. Plexi Plus (needed the normal/bass channel voicing) + Tone Tweq + Rangemaster pre Plexi for the Classic JP setup. IMO, the Plexi Plus is a great circuit for combo builds.
