I was going to let the circuit dictate where the pots go, just ended up in the traditional 3-knob triangle.
Things I have learned so far:
Unlike resistors and capacitor legs that have remarkable plasticity, transistors really really don't like to have their legs bent back and forth. RIP 3 overpriced Interfet through-hole J201s. I will attempt a repair right at the body, but it ain't looking promising
Don't leave the mini sledge you use to marker punch close to the edge of the bench or it will snag on your shorts and crush your toe.
Be really, really careful with anything involving force once you start installing your fragile little circuits. I installed the first half of the circuit and was working on the bridge to the second tying into the gain pot. Was trying to muscle a pot leg out of the way and my big needle nose pliers slipped and smashed into the circuit. Broke a jfet leg in a complicated part of the assembly where a bunch of things tie in. Desoldering and resoldering is going to be a pain. Le sigh.
Well, I tried to repair the jfet at Q2. It's the first jfet in the middle going up. Packed the little stub with flux and verrrrry carefully aligned everything and just gave it some solder.
Stayed together, no working pedal, just some staticky frottements. I checked continuity to ground, continuity to vref and vcc, and continuity around the transistors and the socket everything looked good. I banged on the enclosure a bit to see if anything could shake the signal loose. This time I had a tiny bit of signal with all pots open. But, q2 broke loose again.
So I decided to bite the bullet and figured it just could be the smashed q2 causing the circuit to limp, so I decided to sacrifice another one of my Gucci j201s to the Sabbath tone.
Desoldered the old one with a minimum of collapses (PtoPers feel my pain), bent and fit things to make the new one match, keeping in mind what I learned not to stress the body juncture of the jfet legs and know I had to do it in a gentle minimum of bends and light light solder touches and......
....I have a churning raucous Sabbath/doom machine (!!!). Great pedal!
I guess the pedal gods verily heeded the incense and anointing of the holy troubleshooting apparatus.
Here is the pinup soft focus final incarnation. New q2 is the mustache looking one right above the socket. Less pretty than when I first laid it out, but I am so grateful it works! And it's my prettiest pedal to date (which ain't saying much but still...). I might audition some higher and lower hfe npn germanium transistors at q1--2 of the 3 I ordered have hfe in the 400s--but for now i am happy to let this little buddy rest.
These deadbug/PTP circuit builds seem like such a headache to me. I made a point to learn how to lay out my own pcbs just to get away from vero board construction, which is as primitive as I'd wanna go. Hope you get it sorted out.
These deadbug/PTP circuit builds seem like such a headache to me. I made a point to learn how to lay out my own pcbs just to get away from vero board construction, which is as primitive as I'd wanna go. Hope you get it sorted out.
I actually prefer PtoP for the creative/aesthetic/ problem solving aspect, and the direct interaction with components. Like if it's a good connection, it's a good connection. Also a different set of assembly, soldering and spatial building skills ( flux is key!). And it is very doable for simpler circuits.
I encourage everybody to try at least one.
Next up: flanger. Juuuust kidding. It will be the scarab/dung beetle. There is a dude that did a crazy PtoP clock or something. It was huge and nuts. I will try to find
Which distortion?[edit: Distortion+, got it. Was reading without glasses]
Funnily enough, I just don't click with breadboarding at all. I actually did my first PtoP because I tried following BuddytheReow's two sticks of Derm tutorial and got impatient/couldn't hack it.