SOLVED 2 in 1 - no output/no bypass but audio all the way through the circuit

[mkstewartesq]

So I’m building a two in one pedal – a combination of the Musikding Der May and the PedalPCB Dragon’s Breath. I built each pedal separately and tested it, and then moved to combined them. To combine them, I just disconnected the output jack on the first pedal and ran its output from the 3PDT into the input on second pedal; I also disconnected the input jack on the second pedal, and of course combined the power leads and grounds to one DC jack - basically I followed the normal diagram.

When I got no output, I tested with an audio probe and I am getting signal all the way from the input jack on the first pedal through to the output jack on the second pedal. I tested each jack and the the inputs and outputs of the respective 3PDT‘s. Each signal is clean when the pedal is not activated and you can hear the effect when each pedal is activated. Even though the audio probe detects audio at the tip of the output jacj, there is no audio leaving the output jack to the amplifier, which is stymieing me.

In bypass, the audio probe detects a clean bypassed signal throughout the signal chain– but this isn’t making it out of the output jack either even though the audio probe shows it going all the way to the tip of the audio output jack.

I’m sure it’s something relatively simple like I’m missing a ground or something, but I can’t figure it out. Of course, pictures attached. It’s a rats nest.

Thanks in advance.
Mike

 

[Fuzzonaut]

It's hard to tell from the pictures, as I can't really see the output jack wiring, but it seems as if you need to move the tip wire on the output jack to the other side (other tip lug, same wiring as input jack). Maybe, do the same with the ground.
Just a guess, I'm not too familiar with those jacks.

 

[mkstewartesq]

It's hard to tell from the pictures, as I can't really see the output jack wiring, but it seems as if you need to move the tip wire on the output jack to the other side (other tip lug, same wiring as input jack). Maybe, do the same with the ground.
Just a guess, I'm not too familiar with those jacks.

Huh. Well, let me say that I decided that the simplest answer must be the right right one so, since I was getting sound all the way to the jack but no actual output, I just decided to switch out the jack (which worked fine previously) and toss it in the garbage. New jack worked, so I'll mark this as solved.

THAT BEING SAID - they two jacks in the picture were wired "opposite" to each other (input wired to lugs on the "left" side of the jack and output wired to lugs on the "right" side of the jack) - I had no idea that might even be a thing - while the new working jack is wired to the lugs on the same side as the wiring on the lugs to the input jack. I'm betting that, when the jack worked (before I omitted the extra input and output and combined two pedals into one), the jacks serving each pedal individually were (by sheer luck) wired to the lugs on the same side.

So thank you you for that, and I'm going to go fish the discarded jack out of the garbage and try it on my next build to see if you identified the issue whereas I may have just blindly stumbled into a fix.

Thanks again.

M

 

[Fuzzonaut]

Well, a fix is a fix, so that's great!

You could just stick a cable into the thrown out jack and do continuity tests.

 

[mkstewartesq]

Well, a fix is a fix, so that's great!

You could just stick a cable into the thrown out jack and do continuity tests.

Interesting. I tried that - I get continuity on one side of lugs but not on the other (no continuity on the side I had originally soldered to). I don't know any more about these jacks than you do - this was the first build I used them on. So either one side of the lugs is bad (if that's possible) or they are there just as a decoy to catch newbies like me. Thanks again.

M