SOLVED Ritual fuzz no output signal

[Pawrlight1]

Hey everybody, inaugural post here.

I'm doing my rite of passage fuzz build and it was going well until I got to the trouble shooting phase.

I get good bypass sound but when the effect is on I get no signal coming through the clean channel on my amp and maybe a little barely distorted signal coming through on the dirty channel. That last bit was after I flipped pins 1+3 on the pot but I also try it on the dirty channel before.

A little diagnostic history;
First I thought there was a solder bridge on the strip board between the input and ground rail. Turns out it was because the input and ground wires were connected by the foot switch. Only found that out after I desoldered the input wire from the board. Far as that goes I'm stuck in a bad way.

Pictures are below aswell as the PCB diagrams and the off board diagram I got going on.
If you need better pics or more info let me know.

Thanks

 

[Pawrlight1]

Forgot diagram. Lol

 

[BuddytheReow]

Here's some general advice for stripboard builds. For the record I know those layouts work as I have build an iteration of them. Does the LED light up when engaged?

• Confirm the layout is correct. Make sure your jumpers and cuts are complete. I've been guilty of not completing a cut on stripboard, but a drill bit can fix that in a few seconds.
• Confirm the pinouts of your BJTs are correct and match the layout
• Confirm all resistors/capacitors are correct values.
• Double check there are no solder bridges. Run your iron in between the tracks a few times

 

[Pawrlight1]

Here's some general advice for stripboard builds. For the record I know those layouts work as I have build an iteration of them. Does the LED light up when engaged?

• Confirm the layout is correct. Make sure your jumpers and cuts are complete. I've been guilty of not completing a cut on stripboard, but a drill bit can fix that in a few seconds.
• Confirm the pinouts of your BJTs are correct and match the layout
• Confirm all resistors/capacitors are correct values.
• Double check there are no solder bridges. Run your iron in between the tracks a few times

Hey, so I checked the tracks and apparently a piece of copper got un-laminated. I fixed it with a scrap wire and now it works!

There is however a slight hiss now when the pedals on. Research in the past couple days has told me this is a grounding issue. I'll leave the thread open for now if somebody wants to come in why it's hissing but this is an absolute win in my book.

 

[pingpongcomputer]

Some amount of hiss seems normal with a high gain pedal, but everything acts as an antenna, so any wire you can make shorter, or lead you can trim down closer to the solder connection should help reduce noise, but it may not make a difference in the hiss. A buffer in front might help with noise, but I think those one knobs in the diagram are based on the fuzz face, so it might not sound great.

 

[Pawrlight1]

Some amount of hiss seems normal with a high gain pedal, but everything acts as an antenna, so any wire you can make shorter, or lead you can trim down closer to the solder connection should help reduce noise, but it may not make a difference in the hiss. A buffer in front might help with noise, but I think those one knobs in the diagram are based on the fuzz face, so it might not sound great.

What I figured, I imagine it doesn't help I'm running a wireless receiver from the input into the amp. Or would that not matter?

 

[pingpongcomputer]

What I figured, I imagine it doesn't help I'm running a wireless receiver from the input into the amp. Or would that not matter?

Easy test for that one is to use a cable and see if there's less hiss, but I bet wireless introduces more noise than a cable.

 

[Pawrlight1]

Alrighty, in getting better signal for sure now, however a new thing that's just started happening is the volume knob starts getting sporadic with me. At first it was face meltingly loud all the way to the left and now when I go to turn it it'll randomly get really loud and then quiet again, with the knob not seeming to do much consistently when turned up it down.

Side note, is it good etiquette to start a new thread about this particular issue or keep it going through here? I'll find a way to share videos here aswell if that would help.

Y'all are great

 

[BuddytheReow]

Sounds like some iffy solder joints on the pots. Rewire lugs 1 and 3. If full counterclockwise is loud, you’ve wired it backwards.

 

[jwin615]

Qnd make sure you didn't over tighten the pot nuts.

 

[Pawrlight1]

Sounds like some iffy solder joints on the pots. Rewire lugs 1 and 3. If full counterclockwise is loud, you’ve wired it backwards.

It's not so much full CCW is loud. It seems to be that the pot wiggles and touches something and then it gets really loud. I'll double check the connections and post pics here in a little bit.

Qnd make sure you didn't over tighten the pot nuts.

What does that cause?

 

[jwin615]

What does that cause?

Can force the wiper into the carbon track. Can feel gritty, have/cause dead spots or odd changes in taper from damage to the track.

 

[Pawrlight1]

Sounds like some iffy solder joints on the pots. Rewire lugs 1 and 3. If full counterclockwise is loud, you’ve wired it backwards.

Alrighty, this what the joints look like on the pots. I'm gonna reflow and add a lil more and see if that helps

 

[BuddytheReow]

Ensure you have a solid connection before soldering. For example, I like to make a hook with the connecting end and feed it through the lug. Pull it back ever so slightly so a solid connection is made, then solder it in place. A set of helping hands or aligator clips will get the job done here. More solder isn't always better if the fundamental connection isn't great.

 

[Pawrlight1]

I mean it feels like they're in there pretty good. Reflowed the joints and now they're shinier. Not sure I can continuity test it now cause it may trigger from all the other connections I have goin on. Is it worth resistance testing the pot at this point?

 

[BuddytheReow]

Only if the knob does nothing. Your chances of a bad pot are pretty low, but it has been known to happen from time to time

 

[Pawrlight1]

Alrighty. So the running theme with this board is having parts of the track lift off and break the connection. Just happened again with the volume 3 wire to the board and I had to get creative again. Pedal is considerably louder now. But volume knob is not doing anything again.

Overall this was a good learning experience. I'll revisit this later. Next project is gonna be a test box so I can check the board to make sure everything works before it goes in an enclosure

 

[BuddytheReow]

Stripboard is very forgiving with solder, so if you’ve got extra, it may be worth you while to transfer all the parts to a new board.