Argggh - I'm not having much luck with my recent pedal kit builds. Just built a Pedal Parts Muff Gun which is a Blackout Effectors Musket copy...
With the circuit engaged there is a massive drop off in volume, however the volume comes back as you turn the Tone down... This is not such an easy pedal to do my usual limited fault checking of re-flowing joints, as the pots are soldered directly to the board and therefore get in the way of the solder points.
I don't suppose there's anything obvious to look for based on the fact the volume is so obviously interacting with the Tone control?
Thanks
Comments
While I haven't built one of these, I believe the Mids control is the AMZ mids mod for the Muff circuit, and I'm aware that it can drop the volume drastically when fully clockwise. Turning the tone control anti-clockwise takes that out of circuit, so it's a good place to start looking.
I said maybe.....
If neither of those things, some good, clear photos would help. :-)
I said maybe.....
I'll post pics up later. I don't think any pots are shorting against PCB - I've covered the backs with insulating tape and put a bit of card between them and the PCB, because they do sit close to the board.
PS: I didn't post picks of my Harmonic Percolator build when asking for help as I'd made an embarrassing hack that I didn't want to share Decided to write this kit off to experience and get another board from Fuzzdog.
I'd definitely check whether the problem occurs during the final bit of travel on the Mids pot though, as I have seen that happen before. I think it's what they call a "feature".
I said maybe.....
Last thought at the moment - while board mounted pots make everything so much tidier, especially in a pedal with six pots - it makes fault diagnosis a massive pain in the bum...
I said maybe.....
I said maybe.....
Not yet @lasermonkey I've not had much time over last couple of days. Although I did find a filament of copper wire kicking about near one of the pins on the tone pot, and I've removed the suspect short you pointed out - although I don't think it was quite bridging.
I will report back later:-)
I can't be sure I haven't fried any transistor, however I've never done this before and I was pretty quick soldering them.
I'm definitely going to carefully look for solder bridges this evening, although the board mounted pots are a bit of a pain in the arse - the question is whether I'll be able to bend the pins so I can get sight of the joints underneath, or whether I'll have to de-solder them, which would be really fiddly...
A quick update... I ended up sending this off to Owen Electronics cause I was getting nowhere... Glad I did because I had really cocked this one up. His diagnosis:
Might I suggest that you try something a bit easier next time? Something with a much lower component count and maybe not so crowded. Take your time, get everything nice and neat (that's actually quite important, as it prevents any bits from touching when they shouldn't) and check each stage for shorts and mistakes before you proceed to the next. Soldering isn't something that people are immediately good at. It takes practice, much like anything else that's worth doing! And remember, there's always people on here that will help or offer advice if they can.
I am surprised at the pulldown resistor error, though. I can only imagine that it's an mistake on the schematic which wasn't picked up. It's probably a good idea to let Mr Fuzzdog know.
I said maybe.....