First time desoldering and a Quick Question About Belton Brick!

[steviejr92]

So today i attempted my first ever desoldering job. I figured since the gravitation reverb was a dead circuit and had a 17 dollar Belton Brick in there i figured id had nothing to lose and try and get it out. Well it was a success! Now I just have a question is there any way to find out if the belton is in working condition without having to breadboard an entire circuit to find out? TIA guys! Oh and thanks to @MichaelW for telling me i have nothing to lose and go for it!

 

[RetiredUnit1]

Well, there's an email address on there. Perhaps if you asked nicely they might respond, hopefully not in Korean.....

 

[Robert]

You'll need to breadboard something to find out. You don't necessarily need all the bells and whistles, at bare minimum you'll need to supply 5V/GND, some form of audio input, and tack a couple resistors across the two pairs of POT pins to set the length of reverb.

Then you can check the signal coming from each of the output pins. (audio probe, scope, to an amp, etc)

 

[Feral Feline]

I disagree, you don't HAVE to breadboard something.

Instead of breadboarding it, build a whole new PCB-based circuit and SOCKET the thing.

Test the desoldered Belton-unit for a while, if it works and no "long-term" hiccups then solder it into the sockets... or,

If it doesn't work, buy a new Brick and your circuit is ready to go. Test it, solder in if good...




Of course, how long "long-term" is will have to be decided by you alone.

Did I mention you'll need special sockets? IIRC, the pins of the brick don't fit regular SIP sockets..

 

[MichaelW]

Those things are built like tanks....I say pick another project and go for it. Build another Gravitation, excellent Reverb pedal.
You've gotten good enough that it will be fine...

 

[steviejr92]

Thanks guys I think I’m gonna stop being lazy and just breadboard a circuit and see what happens that way I can test it at my leisure for how long I want and then decide to throw it in something!

 

[steviejr92]

ok so another question is the Grav reverb the only circuit that uses the belton BTDR 3H?

 

[Matopotato]

@steviejr92: Did you eventually figure out what was wrong with the build?

 

[steviejr92]

@Matopotato to answer your question no lol that circuit was my 3rd build ever and I went through a lot of troubleshooting. The things I did narrow it down to was the burnt eyelet and basically frying the board. I ended up buying a 2nd board and made sure I did things better and it turned out great. As a matter of fact I still use it as my main reverb!

In this thread I simply tried to desolder the belton brick from that board to try and use it else where…except I never came around to doing that!

 

[Alan W]

That’s a great part for a first time desoldering! By great, I mean tricky—with two lead components, when the first is clear, you can always pull on the second, to help it ease out while heating it. Getting that brick out, means you got each eyelet pretty clean. Sort of like SMT, after a few, you get more comfortable with the process, and it’s less tense.

 

[steviejr92]

I agree with everything said! Just like soldering you get more proficient every time you do it. Same thing with soldering SMD components you start to develop a work flow that works for you!