Breadboarding 101

D

Discobungle

Member
Morning!!!

So, I've been breadboarding a bit lately and I was wondering what your process is for what path you start with. For example, in a fuzz pedal, do you get the transistors set on the board from input and follow the path to output first and then work on the components that extend from the transistors. I'm just trying to see what flow everyone has.

Thanks advance,

Steve
 
FWIW I start with the power supply and test the voltages if it has more than one option: Vb, Vref, Vcc, what have you. If there's a voltage divider involved, one can generally estimate that this will be 1/2 of the supply voltage.

breadboard_01.jpg

With straightforward fixed voltages (9 or 18V for instance), I'll generally also connect an LED to confirm that the breadboard has power. Once this is in place, I work through the audio path from left to right (input to output).

One major advantage of breadboarding is exactly its lack of permanence, so you can move components more or less at will.

It's useful to me to have one 9V rail and two ground rails (for which you can either string two leads from each rail or one which joins the two). Short solid wire jumpers are handy to join parts to minimise tangle and confusion.

YMMV. Good luck with your project(s). There are some very thorough and useful guides available via this forum if you get stuck. Or simply ask for assistance ;)
 
@BuddytheReow has some great tutorials in the test kitchen. Couple quick suggestions.

Build your breadboard in stages.
You can test the signal out after each stage (this typically is going to work best for your distortion/fuzz/overdrive).

Leave yourself some space between stages use some jumpers so you can see them better, makes trouble shooting easier.

Especially if the project is using op amps I will stick to one side then come back down the other. So I might move left to rigjt then come back the other side right to left.

If you plan on doing some breadboarding get the pedalpcb protoboard. It’s a bit pricey took me a while to actually finally buy it and wish I would’ve sooner. Having all those power options and the pot change outs etc right there is so nice. I’ve thought about possibly doing another way of adhering the boards to the protoboard to save projects for later but haven’t came up with that yet.
 
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I haven’t purchased a protoboard yet. But clearly I am getting close because I am scrolling forums for tips and tricks!😉
Try using “poster putty” as a way to hold the breadboards on but keep them easily removable. I little ball of it on each corner would be plenty I think. I have used this to great success for holding my pedals on my board.
 
Daveyaj said:
I haven’t purchased a protoboard yet. But clearly I am getting close because I am scrolling forums for tips and tricks!😉
Try using “poster putty” as a way to hold the breadboards on but keep them easily removable. I little ball of it on each corner would be plenty I think. I have used this to great success for holding my pedals on my board.
Click to expand...
Poster tack or Velcro. Boards can be easily moved with either
 
Daveyaj said:
I haven’t purchased a protoboard yet. But clearly I am getting close because I am scrolling forums for tips and tricks!😉
Try using “poster putty” as a way to hold the breadboards on but keep them easily removable. I little ball of it on each corner would be plenty I think. I have used this to great success for holding my pedals on my board.
Click to expand...
I use velcro but the poster putty is clever, I like it!
 
I use velcro for the board, though poster putty gets used for MANY other things and in many ways.


Re Power Rails:

If I'm working on the breadboard vertically, I keep +9v on the LEFT (or whatever is the higher voltage such as +18v with charge pump),
and because I see so many different ways of labelling 1/2-voltage (VB, VCC, and others) correctly or not, I'll just refer to it for what it is — 1/2-voltage goes on the RIGHT.

If working with the breadboard horizontally, highest voltage goes on TOP
1/2 voltage goes on BOTTOM.

This may need to change if using a Proto-Board or other system.


I was going to mention something else... can't remember what (I was interupted mid-post).
 
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