fig
Village Idiot
<-------It's official
Fighting the urge to give up
- Thread starter metalguy55
- Start date
jeffwhitfield
Well-known member
fig
Village Idiot
It's likely been discussed at length.Well...you must be useful. Otherwise you'd have been run out of town already.
fig
Village Idiot
bitchin'
grabo99
Well-known member
I've been catching pot on fire for years. Oh that kind, my bad
Matopotato
Active member
My first two "Builds" were watching my friend do them (and passing him the correct components etc.) That was a very helpful start.
Then I built a Rift Octave Fuzz, with very clear instructions , and it worked first time. Even modded a trimpot to a pot on the outside.
So I was expecting the next, a Fuzzrite, to be a breeze. But most things went wrong. When I finally got sound out of it, I had the pots wrong way, so volume and fuzz kind of worked backwards. Annoying. So I decided to desolder those pots.
I ended up destroying the whole thing. Apparently soldering technique and desoldering ditto are quite different... I ended up thinking I would get back to troubleshoot later on, but instead got a new Fuzzrite kit and built one that worked. And the first board went to the spare parts section.
Since then I've been drawn to more and more complex builds and I learn a lot that I have great use of for more normal builds.
So my tips (might have been mentioned elsewhere) besides the 101 and all other who write in this thread is to build a very simple audio probe.
Very googlable: Use a phono jack, alligator clip and a cap. It was very revealing to trace the audio on the board. If you have or can get looper to have your hands free from strumming, even better.
Using a DMM in "beep" mode is also my best help so far.
I have also dabbled a little bit with "from schematics to strip/vero board builds" and find that breadboarding might be a bit tedious, but it will show if all components "work" and "work together". Once that sings, you know you are on your way.
The guitar and amp cables to out and in, is a common miss for me too. I now always use blue wire for in and green for out. (YMMV)
Pulling existing pedalboard in and out and swapping cables when testing also cause a lot of confusion. One favorite is to have a noise gate pedal in the chain in front, but it interacts in the FX loop (4 cable method). And it is an auto-turn-on pedal as well. So I had some annoying volume drops until I found and turned off the FX loop or that pedal. And sadly, not just once...
Really keen to follow your progress, there is a lot of help, support and dare I say it
in this forum, so keep reaching out.
Then I built a Rift Octave Fuzz, with very clear instructions , and it worked first time. Even modded a trimpot to a pot on the outside.
So I was expecting the next, a Fuzzrite, to be a breeze. But most things went wrong. When I finally got sound out of it, I had the pots wrong way, so volume and fuzz kind of worked backwards. Annoying. So I decided to desolder those pots.
I ended up destroying the whole thing. Apparently soldering technique and desoldering ditto are quite different... I ended up thinking I would get back to troubleshoot later on, but instead got a new Fuzzrite kit and built one that worked. And the first board went to the spare parts section.
Since then I've been drawn to more and more complex builds and I learn a lot that I have great use of for more normal builds.
So my tips (might have been mentioned elsewhere) besides the 101 and all other who write in this thread is to build a very simple audio probe.
Very googlable: Use a phono jack, alligator clip and a cap. It was very revealing to trace the audio on the board. If you have or can get looper to have your hands free from strumming, even better.
Using a DMM in "beep" mode is also my best help so far.
I have also dabbled a little bit with "from schematics to strip/vero board builds" and find that breadboarding might be a bit tedious, but it will show if all components "work" and "work together". Once that sings, you know you are on your way.
The guitar and amp cables to out and in, is a common miss for me too. I now always use blue wire for in and green for out. (YMMV)
Pulling existing pedalboard in and out and swapping cables when testing also cause a lot of confusion. One favorite is to have a noise gate pedal in the chain in front, but it interacts in the FX loop (4 cable method). And it is an auto-turn-on pedal as well. So I had some annoying volume drops until I found and turned off the FX loop or that pedal. And sadly, not just once...
Really keen to follow your progress, there is a lot of help, support and dare I say it
in this forum, so keep reaching out.
Harry Klippton
Well-known member
Maybe he already gave up 
mybud
Well-known member
Don’t give up. It can be very frustrating when builds don’t work as you’d like them to.
In my own case, I spent about six months with constructions that worked fine in testing but failed when I boxed them up. Took me a fair length of time to figure out that I had been using switched jacks, wired wrong so that inserting the jack switched the input off. Whoa!
Then I spent awhile trying to build traditional Fuzz Faces, none of which worked either since they were positive ground wired to a metal DC jack and required biasing for the Ge transistors, which I didn’t understand. Took time and patience to figure out my mistakes, not to mention getting a better DMM and an audio probe and doing a bit of theory to figure out what the most likely mistakes might be. The point I’m trying to make is that there’s a learning curve to this, but the reward of something finally working (or working the first time straight up) is ermm… rewarding.
I still make mistakes. I have a lot to learn, but forums like this seem to be great places to learn more and get support from more knowledgeable and helpful folks, who might also have struggled initially.
Again, don’t give up. You might have a consistent wiring issue or something that another pair of eyes will spot.
In my own case, I spent about six months with constructions that worked fine in testing but failed when I boxed them up. Took me a fair length of time to figure out that I had been using switched jacks, wired wrong so that inserting the jack switched the input off. Whoa!
Then I spent awhile trying to build traditional Fuzz Faces, none of which worked either since they were positive ground wired to a metal DC jack and required biasing for the Ge transistors, which I didn’t understand. Took time and patience to figure out my mistakes, not to mention getting a better DMM and an audio probe and doing a bit of theory to figure out what the most likely mistakes might be. The point I’m trying to make is that there’s a learning curve to this, but the reward of something finally working (or working the first time straight up) is ermm… rewarding.
I still make mistakes. I have a lot to learn, but forums like this seem to be great places to learn more and get support from more knowledgeable and helpful folks, who might also have struggled initially.
Again, don’t give up. You might have a consistent wiring issue or something that another pair of eyes will spot.
Barry
Well-known member
He has a couple of troubleshooting threads active
Barry
Well-known member
The advice I give anyone starting out, is to master soldering, buy some strip or veroboard a few components and solder until you think you got it and then solder some more! Build a simple circuit like a 4k7 resistor with a LED and battery clip and light up that LED, then you'll be almost ready! I've seen troubleshooting reports that say they've checked and reflowed the board and the soldering is a trainwreck!
NickC
Well-known member
i just saw some pictures, it seems to have a soldering problem
That’s what I did. For less than 5 dollars you can buy a good size board and a pile of leds and resistors. By the time you fill up the board, you’ll go from complete beginner to making confident connections.
We’ve all made a cold joint, then outright lied to our own face “I’m sure it’s fine”. Knowing all along that it wasn’t fine.
mybud
Well-known member
We’ve all made a cold joint, then outright lied to our own face “I’m sure it’s fine”. Knowing all along that it wasn’t fine.
Prezackly, Dan.
