Heyo! I recently built a DeadendFX Reflektor and am not having much luck with the delay signal. I can get bypass tone and a volume boost when I engage the pedal but the delay controls do not impact anything. I have swapped the tube, 2n3819, LM311, and the vactrol and still not getting much luck. Based on the voltage measurements identified in the build doc, I can get those so power doesn't seem to be the issue. I have checked solder joints and components as well. Any thoughts? Note that the vactrol in the photo has been replaced with a Xvive unit.
Deadendfx Reflektor no delay signal
- Thread starter cniers13
- Start date
darwin999
Well-known member
2 off-the-cuff quick comments:
- Can you include pics of the underside of the PCB, so all the solder connections can be inspected? Just looking at the ground lug solder job on the right-hand audio jack in the photo above raises soldering concerns in my mind - that solder didn't wet the connector well.
- I don't know the circuit at all, and thus I don't know if the 2 ceramic disc caps (on the left side in photo) are involved in the delay part of the circuit. With that said up front, let me ask whether you measured those caps before inserting them - some ceramic disc caps can have HUGE variances in their values, they can easily be off by a factor of 2 or more.
Well I ended up getting it to work. My bypass wires were flipped and had some cold joints in a couple of spots. A whole reflow later and changed out the wires between the jacks and board and we have delay....delay....delay! Thank you darwin999 for the help. That cold joint made me check the whole board,
BrainDrain
Active member
Same here. Hit me up if you run into anything funky.
BrainDrain
Active member
How much is the UK shipping? I usually pay around $20-30 to have them shipped to the U.S. when I buy from Dead End. I usually order a few different pcbs each time. Dino is one of the most honest people I’ve ever come across in this hobby. If the actual shipping cost comes out to a decent amount less than what you paid he’ll refund you the difference. Idk if that’s the case for buying a single pcb but in my experience anytime I spent $70-100 he always would send the difference on the shipping. If you really want this pedal it’s pretty much the only way most of us will ever have one. The originals are ridiculously expensive as I’m sure you know. If it’s something you’ve always wanted and the cost isn’t too much I say go for it while he still has the partial kits available. A few components he includes are difficult to source.
BrainDrain
Active member
Build looks great. Glad you got it working. One thing I noticed is that it looks like your output jack ground lug is connected to the pcb ground, unless I’m just seeing it wrong from the picture angle. I think that one is supposed to be left disconnected to prevent ground loops since it’s grounded through the “chassis ground lug”. It might not make much of a difference but just thought I’d mention it if somehow it does.
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