ElectroVibe Issue

[PedalGuy]

Hi! I need some help troubleshooting my ElectroVibe; The effect works fine with the jacks not touching the enclosure. As soon as I put them back in though, the effect stops working and I hear the dry guitar signal through my amp. There is no continuity between the tip and the enclosure so I really don't understand what's going on.
Also; when I use the ElectroVibe with my Twin Face it produces a loud whistling LFO effect that sounds like a siren. This only happens on the silicone side, not the germanium side. I can still hear the LFO even with the EV bypassed, though it is less noticeable.

 

[Big Monk]

Well... I tried replacing components and broke the PCB (two of the pads are gone). I used jumper wires but the lamp still won't oscillate, so it's probably not the capacitors or resistors causing this issue.

Sometimes it’s best to take a break.

I’m guilty of this as well. You want the effect to work so badly that you often go beyond reasonable means to “fix” it.

In this case, given all the audio clips you posted, I don’t think there was actually anything wrong with it.

Take a day or two off on this one and then come back and start fresh by checking all your connections and audio probing the circuit strategically.

 

[music6000]

What would you recommend instead?

Cut a square piece of Plastic from a used plastic ice cream bowl or lid or credit card, cardboard is a bit too soft for my liking!
when you slide it under the pot, the tits of the solder will keep it in place!

 

[joelorigo]

I mad dual gang pot covers wit a 3D from a file uploaded by another per on this board. I’ll send you a couple, or any other Electrovibe builders.

Dust Covers For Dual Gang Pots?

I'm building the ElectroVibe and am using these pots for the speed controls: https://stompboxparts.com/pots/16mm-dual-gang-potentiometer-smooth-shaft-short-pcb-leg/ What is the thing to do with dust covers for these? I am cutting away some of the wall of the regular ones but it won't cover the...

forum.pedalpcb.com

 

[Big Monk]

Yes. It works perfectly fine ()whith both jacks in the enclosure as well) though even with volume at 100% the output is still slightly quieter than bypass. I'm not sure if that's normal or another symptom of whatever is causing the noise as well. I did create a thread concerning the noise a while back so I do already have a folder with pictures (obviously outdated) and some audio recordings of the vibe. I used it AFTER a Big Muff and Klon Centaur clone. It doesn't matter as the noise only scales with overall volume (It just means the clip is a little more noisy in general). I'm pretty sure this is what's causing the silicon fuzz noise as well (I've added the fuzz face noise to the folder as well).

It only takes a single resistor change to increase the volume. R4 changed to 2.2M should give you plenty of volume.

 

[Big Monk]

I probably should take a break but I don't understand why the Vibe "randomly" stopped working; I had it in the enclosure working properly. Then I put the screws in and the effect didn't work anymore. I thought that maybe one of the capacitors was damaged but the only "tall" caps are C22, C11 and C17. I replaced C17 (and soldered a wire from the - side to pin 2 of the LT1054). C22 and C11 should not affect the lamp at all as far as I can tell (at least the rate at which it flashes).

In the future, just remember that what you describe is often a mechanical issue (working outside but not inside the enclosure).

Better to try and determine if something is snorting rather than put the iron to it.

 

[zgrav]

big volume drops between using GE and SI diodes is not unusual.
when your new parts arrive, trying a different value cap across R8 may improve what you are hearing.

try putting a different effect between your twinface and vibe to see if/how it changes the noise you are hearing.

 

[Big Monk]

Do you have the dual gang pots insulated?

 

[PedalGuy]

Do you have the dual gang pots insulated?

I've tried at least... but they might not be 100% insulated, now that you mention it.

 

[music6000]

Hi! I need some help troubleshooting my ElectroVibe; The effect works fine with the jacks not touching the enclosure. As soon as I put them back in though, the effect stops working and I hear the dry guitar signal through my amp. There is no continuity between the tip and the enclosure so I really don't understand what's going on.
Also; when I use the ElectroVibe with my Twin Face it produces a loud whistling LFO effect that sounds like a siren. This only happens on the silicone side, not the germanium side. I can still hear the LFO even with the EV bypassed, though it is less noticeable.

Insulation Tape does not work !!!

 

[PedalGuy]

Insulation Tape does not work !!!

What would you recommend instead?

 

[PedalGuy]

Cut a square piece of Plastic from a used plastic ice cream bowl or lid or credit card, cardboard is a bit too soft for my liking!
when you slide it under the pot, the tits of the solder will keep it in place!

Done! I'm not sure if I didn't push it back all the way or something else is causing that horrible noise but at least I can hear the wet signal now.

Edit: I've double checked; they are both properly insulated now. The noise is still present.

 

[music6000]

Done! I'm not sure if I didn't push it back all the way or something else is causing that horrible noise but at least I can hear the wet signal now.

Edit: I've double checked; they are both properly insulated now. The noise is still present.

Does the pedal work as it's suppose to in the enclosure with the IN & OUT jacks not in the Enclosure as it is now???

 

[PedalGuy]

Does the pedal work as it's suppose to in the enclosure with the IN & OUT jacks not in the Enclosure as it is now???

Yes. It works perfectly fine ()whith both jacks in the enclosure as well) though even with volume at 100% the output is still slightly quieter than bypass. I'm not sure if that's normal or another symptom of whatever is causing the noise as well. I did create a thread concerning the noise a while back so I do already have a folder with pictures (obviously outdated) and some audio recordings of the vibe. I used it AFTER a Big Muff and Klon Centaur clone. It doesn't matter as the noise only scales with overall volume (It just means the clip is a little more noisy in general). I'm pretty sure this is what's causing the silicon fuzz noise as well (I've added the fuzz face noise to the folder as well).

Hi! I've recently finished building the ElectroVibe "Uni-Vibe". It sounds wonderful but it produces a high pitched noise (roughly 11.622kHz; wav recorded using Amplitube 5 HiAmp). It's not particularly loud with my master volume at 9 o'clock and channel volume at 3 o'clock on my Custom Hiwatt 50, though it is annoying. Using the Vibe with no other pedals connected and turning my guitar volume all the way up/down had no effect on the severity/pitch of the noise. Any ideas?

Pictures

 

[PedalGuy]

It only takes a single resistor change to increase the volume. R4 changed to 2.2M should give you plenty of volume.

So it's a feature not a bug? BTW I was just thinking; could this be a twin face issue? The silicone side of my twin face is significantly noisier than the germanium side and starts to "scream"/whistle with the fuzz pot maxed out.
Edit: I was talking about that siren effect; the high pitched vibe noise is always present (as stated above).

 

[Big Monk]

So it's a feature not a bug? BTW I was just thinking; could this be a twin face issue? The silicone side of my twin face is significantly noisier than the germanium side and starts to "scream"/whistle with the fuzz pot maxed out.
Edit: I was talking about that siren effect; the high pitched vibe noise is always present (as stated above).

Unity Volume (or lack thereof) was/is a known issue of the vintage Univibe.

The screaming/siren noise in the Si Fuzz Face might be oscillation.

 

[PedalGuy]

Unity Volume (or lack thereof) was/is a known issue of the vintage Univibe.

The screaming/siren noise in the Si Fuzz Face might be oscillation.

Possibly. I have also tried using an ILC7660S instead TC1044S but that made everything much worse (and also changed the pitch of the noise). I also used some random BC108s for this build. Maybe that's causing the silicon fuzz issues. As for the vibe... No idea what's causing that noise.

 

[Big Monk]

Did you measure the BC108s? If they were in a high gain bucket (BC108B/C), oscillation is the likely issue.

Try tacking in a 100-220 pF cap across the feedback resistor (R8) on the Si sode and see if that eliminates it.



As for the Vibe noise, it sounds like you are getting oscillation with the Si Fuzz Face engaged and normal bleed through, possibly because of a non-isolated power supply when disengaged.

 

[PedalGuy]

Did you measure the BC108s? If they were in a high gain bucket (BC108B/C), oscillation is the likely issue.

Try tacking in a 100-220 pF cap across the feedback resistor (R8) on the Si sode and see if that eliminates it.

View attachment 26612

As for the Vibe noise, it sounds like you are getting oscillation with the Si Fuzz Face engaged and normal bleed through, possibly because of a non-isolated power supply when disengaged.

I ordered some new transistors anyway so I'm just gonna wait for those to arrive first. I have an isolated power supply (Truetone 1Spot Pro). I'll upload another clip of just the Vibe without any other pedals active; it's even more noisy/noticeable without all the other noise. I don't think it's the power supply.
Edit: Done! Same folder.

 

[PedalGuy]

Update on the ElectroVibe: C22 (Power) seems to be damaged. Could that be the issue? Could replacing it with a new cap solve the issue?