It finally happened

sticky1138

sticky1138

Well-known member
A few days ago I was testing a crappy Torn’s Peaker PCB held together by a rat’s nest of wires and alligator clips. After about 20 seconds, I began to smell something burning. I looked down, and to my surprise it wasn’t my spicy 0-3-5 riffs, but a half-inch flame coming from the gain pot!

Fortunately, I was able to blow it out right away. It could have been much worse since it was sitting on carpet.

Stay safe, friends.
 
I think I've had smoke come out of two of my builds, one was Musikding's Die Factory kit where miraculously the germanium transistors were fine (I have no idea where the smoke came from since I was in such a rush to unplug it, nothing looked or behaved damaged afterwards). I think I also had it with my first silicon fuzz face kit build, but I'm not sure anymore. Nothing was damaged there either. Don't ask me how that is possible. Maybe it was flux that was smoking? Never had any flames, but I'm very careful when plugging things in the first time around just so I can unplug the power if something starts to smoke.
 
Dan0h said:
Who farted
Click to expand...
ys1ZMEj.jpg
 
sticky1138 said:
A few days ago I was testing a crappy Torn’s Peaker PCB held together by a rat’s nest of wires and alligator clips. After about 20 seconds, I began to smell something burning. I looked down, and to my surprise it wasn’t my spicy 0-3-5 riffs, but a half-inch flame coming from the gain pot!

Fortunately, I was able to blow it out right away. It could have been much worse since it was sitting on carpet.

Stay safe, friends.
Click to expand...
Welcome to the club, my friend. At first it’s kind of exhilarating, then the smell hits you.
 
benny_profane said:
Exceeding the power rating of the pot. It's the same thing as exceeding the power rating of a resistor, but the pot is a bit more dramatic. Ohm's law will tell you when to expect fireworks.
Click to expand...
I thought about that, but I thought (maybe foolishly) that if you design the pedal semi-rationally, that’s very improbable, and that maybe other components would be ruined first? I don’t know. It’s true that some people have a specific gift to break things up 😝
 
sticky1138 said:
A few days ago I was testing a crappy Torn’s Peaker PCB held together by a rat’s nest of wires and alligator clips. After about 20 seconds, I began to smell something burning. I looked down, and to my surprise it wasn’t my spicy 0-3-5 riffs, but a half-inch flame coming from the gain pot!

Fortunately, I was able to blow it out right away. It could have been much worse since it was sitting on carpet.

Stay safe, friends.
Click to expand...
Whaaaaaaaaa....? Flames??
 
damianvila said:
I thought about that, but I thought (maybe foolishly) that if you design the pedal semi-rationally, that’s very improbable, and that maybe other components would be ruined first? I don’t know. It’s true that some people have a specific gift to break things up 😝
Click to expand...
Oh definitely. This is most likely caused by a short rather than the circuit design itself.
 
sticky1138 said:
I'm guessing it was a short due to my haphazard offboard wiring mess. Regardless, it was a terrible sounding circuit and I'm glad it went out the way it did.
Click to expand...
I have a fuzzdog cone ripper that I also disliked so I modded it to be a Devi US fuzz as @Betty Wont suggested. If the board isn't fried, it's worth the trouble. It's still not my favorite Devi circuit (sodameiser/hyperion) and I haven't tried the aenima or never drive versions but I bet they're better than a torns peaker as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top