First PedalPCB Builds

[SillyOctpuss]

Hi. I'm a Longtime lurker who's getting back into playing after a three year absence. I genuinely hadn't realised how much I missed the smell of envirotex and solder

Decided to get back into the habit with a klone built to silver pony specs (I've never tried one), a pedalpcb guardian which I think I have some issues with and a Jan Ray on a coda effects golden hour pcb. The Klone and the Jan Ray sound ace but the Guardian build sounds kinda harsh and not as smooth as I was expecting. I'm out of stock of the OPA2134 but have chucked a OP275, TL072 and a ML1458 in there and I'm suprised just how harsh it sounds with all of them. Not sure what's up with it at the minute. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I also refinished a mosky tap tempo footswitch for my helix and thought I'd add a pic of the stealth led on the Jan Ray

 

[BuddytheReow]

Tayda's got em in stock right now

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Tayda's got em in stock right now

Thanks for the headsup. I'll grab some from cpc or mouser with my next parts order. I only really use Tayda for knobs and pots tbh.

 

[Harry Klippton]

Those look great. Looks like you didn't skip a beat!

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Those look great. Looks like you didn't skip a beat!

Thanks. I did watch some envirotex tutorials before I started though so I wouldn't forget anything as it had been so long.

 

[zgrav]

do you have 4148s in for the clipping diodes? does the harshness change character if you back off the level of the incoming signal?

 

[SillyOctpuss]

do you have 4148s in for the clipping diodes? does the harshness change character if you back off the level of the incoming signal?

Yes I'm using 1N4148s.

I had a message from Bugg earlier suggesting I had an earlier revision of the pcb and that I should remove c4 and replace it with a jumper and then solder another 2n2 cap across R7. I've done that tonight and now I'm not getting any signal at all. I've probed the circuit and the signal is dying at R6. I get affected signal going in 1 side of the resistor but nothing at the other side. I've reflowed the solder joints at R6, R7 and C4 and still nothing. It's a weird one.

 

[wintercept]

I've never seen yellow 1N4148s like that. They look so cool!

Nice builds!

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I've never seen yellow 1N4148s like that. They look so cool!

Nice builds!

Cheers dude. I bought about 50 of them from Paul over at Diyguitarpedals.com.au about 5 years ago. They're NOS from 70s but tbh I only bought them because they looked cool and I've rationed them out since then. They also don't sound any different to my other regular silicon diodes.

I've just had a look and he has a few left but damn they're expensive now. They were about 20 pence each when I bought them.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Well I'm back to where I started and have signal going through the guardian again. I still have the original problem where it just sounds kinda harsh. I've played a peacekeeper before and my build is definitely harsher sounding. I also don't think subbing the opa2134 for an op275 would make that much difference.

Does anyone know what the bc549 is doing in the circuit? I really wish I had socketed it now so I could swop it out to see if that changed anything.