Carmine all of a sudden VERY LOUD

Kroars

Kroars

Well-known member
So, I built two Carmines last night both exactly the same (although one OC139 was 58hfe and the other 71hfe) and they sounded identical. Today, I went to mess around with one -all three pots at noon, hit the foot switch and BAM! It was way louder than I remember and less dirt. Almost like it grew headroom overnight. Plugged in the other one and it sounded perfect, like I remember them both sounding last night.

Im curious what could cause a pedal to all of a sudden go from unity volume and nice dirt with everything at noon and then sound like I dimed the volume and turned down the drive the next day with the same settings?

Edit: I should add that I used the same 9v adapter to power both.
 
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Coda said:
Pics?...
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I can add some later tonight. I wasn’t sure they’d help in this instance as everything worked great one night and then the issue happened. As I said, this was one of two pedals I built at the same time using the exact same components, all solder joints are nicely flowed, wires cut at joint (no loose danglers) and board thoroughly cleaned with QD cleaner and toothbrush. I’ve built 200+ pedals and just have never come across this issue.
 
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Kroars said:
So, I built two Carmines last night both exactly the same (although one OC139 was 58hfe and the other 71hfe) and they sounded identical. Today, I went to mess around with one -all three pots at noon, hit the foot switch and BAM! It was way louder than I remember and less dirt. Almost like it grew headroom overnight. Plugged in the other one and it sounded perfect, like I remember them both sounding last night.

Im curious what could cause a pedal to all of a sudden go from unity volume and nice dirt with everything at noon and then sound like I dimed the volume and turned down the drive the next day with the same settings?

Edit: I should add that I used the same 9v adapter to power both.
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dont know if you've figured your issue out, but could it be the germanium itself? especially if you've had weather changes?
 
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RipleyandtheGhost said:
dont know if you've figured your issue out, but could it be the germanium itself? especially if you've had weather changes?
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You know what, it was me being tired and impatient. Everything worked great the night before. The only difference (that I figured after posting this) is that I soldered the diodes into their sockets. I used 0A7’s the weirdo looking black ones with the little red dot indicating cathode. I somehow soldered one in backwards...... it was really late, I soldered them in, closed the two enclosures up and went to bed. Should’ve been the first thing I looked at, but I forgot that I took them out trimmed the legs and put heat shrink on prior to soldering them in. Somehow one just ended up backwards -hence not much clipping and a lot louder...

thanks anyway, I appreciate the response :)
 
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Kroars said:
You know what, it was me being tired and impatient. Everything worked great the night before. The only difference (that I figured after posting this) is that I soldered the diodes into their sockets. I used 0A7’s the weirdo looking black ones with the little red dot indicating cathode. I somehow soldered one in backwards...... it was really late, I soldered them in, closed the two enclosures up and went to bed. Should’ve been the first thing I looked at, but I forgot that I took them out trimmed the legs and put heat shrink on prior to soldering them in. Somehow one just ended up backwards -hence not much clipping and a lot louder...

thanks anyway, I appreciate the response :)
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Yep, that will do it!
I was waiting for the Piics too.
Glad you got it sorted.
 
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music6000 said:
Yep, that will do it!
I was waiting for the Piics too.
Glad you got it sorted.
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Sorry about that. I should’ve said something. I know you’ve helped me out a few times in the past and I really appreciate you taking the time to help figure this out. I’ll make sure moving forward if an issue is solved I’ll let you guys know.
Thanks again!
 
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