@billy
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Did you check that your socket tip catch has continuity with the solder lug like the red line below
In bypass with your cable jacks inserted check continuity following the red line below
Then check your ground to the IN and OUT jack ground lugs like this, black probe on a bare metal part of the enclosure (the screw hole makes it easy to use both hands) meter set to continuity and touch your jack ground points with your red probe
Once we get bypass signal we can move on to troubleshooting the circuit if required
When using the battery you must have a jack in the in jack socket you won’t get continuity to ground without a jack inserted it works like a switch so your battery doesnt drain, with no jack in it it disconnects ground and with a jack in it ground is connected via the ring
You should get bypass regardless of whether the pedal has power etc double check the bypass with Barry’s continuity diagram
It’s hard to see the ring connection etc, an easy way to make sure you’re using the correct solder lug is to put a jack in it and follow it round
If all your connections have continuity and the 3PDT is good you could have the ring and tip mixed up as you can see below the tip connects to your jack tip and the ring to it’s sleeve / ground
It looks OK but not all jack sockets are made the same
When the switch is in bypass mode also check you have continuity on 3PDT lugs 3 and 9
The small ‘T’ stands for tip (see this <span style=”color: #ff6600;”>GUIDE</span>) from the Guides Page.
Bypass Mode connects the In jack directly to the Out jack through the 3PDT Foot Switch bypassing the circuit and should work even if the Main circuit is not working. That also means that since there is an issue with Bypass Mode this could be the entire problem. Recheck all wiring and solder joints between In Jack, 3PDT and Out Jack since that is what Bypass Mode is.
The solder joints on your jacks do look dry I’d first of all re-flow all of those making sure it melts nicely heating the wires and jack lugs at the same time to get a good flow and connection
Also check continuity on the 3PDT switch in both positions in one position the middle row should connect to the top row clicked into the other position (throw) the middle should connect to the bottom so in this picture one position 1 and 2, 4 and 5 and 7 and 8 should have continuity (effects mode) click the switch and 2 and 3, 5 and 6 and 8 and 9 should have continuity (Bypass mode) checking this will let you know if your switch is damaged internally from heat etc
This may not give you effect but we’ll at least hopefully get bypass letting us know the 3PDT is working and the jacks have a good connection
It’s difficult to trace what your BI and BO pads are wired to on the 3PDT board can you confirm BI goes to the main pcb IN with the small ‘T’ and your BO goes to the main pcb OUT small ‘T’ pad
Do you get bypassed clean guitar signal when the 3PDT is in bypass mode
More or less
If you look at the schematic you can see
Looking at it your IN jack tip goes to I (input of main circuit) through the circuit to O (output of main circuit) then to the DIP or DPDT switch where you can switch to either position 1 after blaster active or position 2 bypassed / off , so you could theoretically use it as a stand alone by jumpering I and O and doing away with the DIP switches
I like the idea of it as an add on to liven up an anaemic circuit and being able to boost it add more gain etc as required
You can also bridge the after blaster I and O pads to have a listen to it once it’s biased
I used a breadboard jumper wire for a nice solderless connection, if you don’t have any a bit of solid core should do the job no problem
You can bias your fet prior to connecting the after blaster to the other circuits
Simply connect your dc jack power and ground to it then change your resistor till you get 5v on your drain
I used a J201 with 20K to get 5v on the drain so I’d say start at around 10K
Your solder joint at the IN ‘T’ pad on the main board looks a little ball like I’d try reflowing that one in particular
The first thing I noticed was your burnt wire and the exposed bare wire, it’s possible you could have damaged the 3PDT lugs internally with too much heat, to test it continuity check your 3PDT middle common row with the top row when you get the cutting out happening that’ll at least let you know if the 3PDT is faulty
The S4, 5 and 6 pads are all ground using a common anode bi colour LED
S4 grounding the LED in effects mode usually the green side and S6 on power up and bypass usually the red side
I personally wouldn’t use the 3PDT board and just wire it up as shown in the build doc without the 3PDT board it’ll still be neat with Barry providing ground pads for the jacks at the board IN and OUT and the S grounds for the LED
Obviously make sure you mount your CLR on the main board too
Saw it on Facebook Matt great looking build and great circuit
Nice to see gpcb builds on other forums too
Nice Michael
Looks well laid out and nicely constructed
Just in case I’d use a small croc clip as a heatsink and solder 1 transistor leg into each socket so there’s no chance of them falling out when it’s upside down or banged about
You’re hiss could be a number of things here’s an article about possible causes
Matt just used stock
I find it great with both humbuckers and single coils
Wilkie yeah rough brushing haha for some reason the clearcoat flaked a wee bit on this, think I slipped and whacked it a coupla times but I mostly do bare brushed effect now with ironed on transfer and typewriter text
Barry I’ve made a good few now might keep this one but I’ve got somebody looking for a fuzz and I’d expect him to keep it same as all the others who’ve tried it
Last one went to a guy that spends thousands on the best of gear who wasn’t a fuzz man and he said it’s the best he’s ever played and kept it I mean he was raving about it
In fact that reminds me I’ve got his Zen to increase the gain on oops had it 5 weeks and forgot!
Anyway cheers yawll
Defo the best 3PDT boards out there, placement is perfect and if you use them with gpcb boards even better using another small wire via the S5 pad to ground it
Your solder joint attaching R17 to the blue wire does look dry with too much solder on it I’d remove some of that excess solder and reflow there and where the wire attaches to the switch
Hold it together with a small alligator clip and run solder along the resistor leg and the wire and make sure it flows nicely, as Wilkie says unless Q5 is damaged its got to be a cold solder joint making a bad connection
Slightly confusing because 45 mode works taking out the last 2 phase stages from your description and R17 would still be in circuit in both positions as would Q5 so if it works in 1 position but not the other that would indicate they’re OK
The 3906 wouldn’t make a difference here the length of time you applied heat whilst soldering it in would 3 to 4 seconds is generally accepted as the safe limit
You’re definitely doing it right but even when a solder joint looks nice and shiny if there’s too much solder or it’s ball like it can be dry inside hence me saying make sure it flows nicely
We’d need clearer pictures of the mod wiring it’s very difficult to see, the brown wire going to R10 does look a little frayed
The part of the circuit where you describe the problem occurs is the mixing stage
If it happens when switched to phase 90 mode only then I’d check firstly the correct value resistor is being used and that you have good solder connections especially around R17 and R10 to the switch lugs 3 and 4, by what you describe it sounds like Q5 could be mis biasing giving you the distortion and volume changes
R10 is switched out in 45 mode, continuity check your switch lugs in phase 90 position, I’d reflow all the joints on the mod if you haven’t already
With the circuit working correctly aside from when it’s switched to phase 90 mode I’d guess your problem lies there with either a wrong value R10 or a poor solder joint
