SOLVED Aion Xenotron / Lovetone Flange no BBD modulation

Kris100

Member
Hey, hope I can ask you All for a bit of help and / or advice - Finished this build yesterday... and surprise surprise it doesn't work :) I've built 150+ pedals and never ended up with a build that doesnt work (including couple Aion Lovetone builds) so I really hope I can get this one working as well.

Pedal has 3 separate 3PDT's where 1 is for the effects loop, 1 for time modulation and 1 for space modulation. Time and space LEDs follow rate of modulation set by the pot. There are several internal LED / LDR combo - 2LED / LDRs for the Space on the main PCB, 1 LED / LDR for Time and additional LED / LDR for time on the BBD sub board.

3PDT LEDs light up, space and time ones pulse in tempo with the rate, SPDT switches seems to work, pedal passes signal through but there is no BBD LFO modulation. Space switch engaged works as a tremolo but Time doesn't seem to create any chorus / flange modulations. When I max out Manual control I can get some weird faint modulations with the internal BBD trimpot tweaked right but nothing that resembles typical chorus / flange vibes.

In terms of troubleshooting - I checked IC orientation, polarity of all components, triple and quadruple checked all wiring. I made sure I used a working MN3207 and MN3102 set from a chorus pedal I built a while ago. I also checked both PCBs for shorts or bridges, cleaned them with IPA and reflowed the few components connected to the LED3 that's connected to main 3PDT time f-switch. I tried to connect to Time Out jack and tweak the bias and all controls but I get nothing that sounds like a chorus / flanger.

Looking inside I noticed couple of things
- Space 3pdt engages the internal LED 1&2 which pulse along Rate control (the 2 LEDs which are inside a "fence" made of film caps),
- Time 3pdt turns the internal LED 3 on but this one doesnt pulse at all (bottom left corner of main PCB). Neither bias nor regen trimpots do any difference. I tried to follow the biasing instructions from build docs but having no LFO on any BDD trim setting not much I can do.
- The LED on the BBD sub board lights up and pulses with varying speed depending on Manual, Rate and Depth.

My guess is the LED3 on the main board should also pulse following rate but cannot see or measure anything obvious that could stop it from working. I am adding few pics of the build and schematics from Aion's build docs (pages 21-23).

For reference below a link to a build of another forum member that works perfectly, there's also few photos of internals and a short demo.

 

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Solution
I needed to take a break from this one and built the Ring Stinger which was another intimidating Aion board that was waiting it's turn. Turned out perfect, no issues whatsover :) Freakish yet very musical pedal.

I plan to come back to the flanger once I get correct clear LED for BBD board - after some checking I am sure the ultrabright one I used is way out of spec for this place. The recommended one has brightness around 80mcd while the one I used is I think 10000+mcd... :) which surely affects my issues with Manual control and better bbd biasing. I just cant find anything locally like the transparent green LED Aion recommends so until I get the correct one this project fix is on hold. To be continued!
Short update - I swapped...
I definitely learned A LOT co-troubleshooting this.

I feel like my understanding of schematics went up like 300%

I now have successfully built all of the Aion lovetone pedals.
I second that, I spent more time looking into schematics of this flanger than all other build schematics combined. I need to build the Cheese Source and Brown Source, other than than got the lot as well
 
I definitely learned A LOT co-troubleshooting this.

I feel like my understanding of schematics went up like 300%

I now have successfully built all of the Aion lovetone pedals.

Truly thrilling to hear this and it's a lot of why I do what I do. And believe me, I also learned a whole lot during the development... it was definitely biting off more than I could chew at the time, but (provided it is paired with tenacity) it's the best way to learn, in the same way that total immersion is the best way to learn a new language.
 
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