Help with first time troubleshooting - Brown Betty

[GazM]

Hi, hopefully someone can help me! Although this is my fourth pedal build, this is the first time it hasn't worked, so my first time trouble shooting pedal problems.

The issue: LED lights up, so doesn't seem to be a power issue. When the pedal is off, sound bypass's through the pedal no problem, therefore, I guess the mono jacks etc are all ok? However, when pedal is switched on, there is no sound.

I understand this might be a grounding issue? But i've checked all the solders and none of them seem to be touching. There is no sound when out of the enclosure either, so I don't think its the enclosure doing this.

Can anyone see from my photos a rookie error that might be causing this? Or, what would be the next logical step in troubleshooting given my description?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Coda]

From top left pin it goes 1234 down, and from bottom right pin it goes up 5678…

 

[steviejr92]

Keep us updated!

EDIT: The way you numbered the ICs in the pic is right. If you measured in that order then you are correct!

 

[GazM]

I stupidly thought you put the red on the positive power input and black on the thing you are measuring. Watched a video, now I know you put black on ground and red on what you want to measure. Idiot, will redo all readings!

 

[Coda]

I stupidly thought you put the red on the positive power input and black on the thing you are measuring. Watched a video, now I know you put black on ground and red on what you want to measure. Idiot, will redo all readings!

That should still give you the correct number, just the negative version…

 

[steviejr92]

That should still give you the correct number, just the negative version…

Yup lol

 

[jhaneyzz]

I stupidly thought you put the red on the positive power input and black on the thing you are measuring. Watched a video, now I know you put black on ground and red on what you want to measure. Idiot, will redo all readings!

Welcome to the merry band of fools making exactly that kind of mistake every day.

Spent a hour troubleshooting a vero board build last week until I realized I had the signal in the OUT jack and the amp in the IN jack.

Which would be just silly and funny if it hadn't been at least the 3rd time I've done that in the last year...

 

[Coda]

Welcome to the merry band of fools making exactly that kind of mistake every day.

Spent a hour troubleshooting a vero board build last week until I realized I had the signal in the OUT jack and the amp in the IN jack.

Which would be just silly and funny if it hadn't been at least the 3rd time I've done that in the last year...

Same here, except for me it was no IC’s installed…

 

[GazM]

Welcome to the merry band of fools making exactly that kind of mistake every day.

Spent a hour troubleshooting a vero board build last week until I realized I had the signal in the OUT jack and the amp in the IN jack.

Which would be just silly and funny if it hadn't been at least the 3rd time I've done that in the last year...

I CANNOT F*CKING BELIEVE IT. Measured all IC pins this time correctly, pin 4's at zero this time, pin 8's at 8.83. thinking, ok so at least IC's are correct. read your last message. IVE PUT THE GOD DAMN SIGNAL IN THE OUT JACK. 3 pages of amazing support from all you guys, and its just user error. I'm so sorry to waste you guys time over this. how embarrassing. Thanks so much to all of you for helping though!!! on the plus side I now leant about voltage checking, how to make a audio probe, checking for cold bridges etc, and of course TO OPEN MY EYES WHEN PLUGGING IN. Thanks again, the support from this forum was overwhelming to be honest!! I will try to help others in the future!

 

[Coda]

I CANNOT F*CKING BELIEVE IT. Measured all IC pins this time correctly, pin 4's at zero this time, pin 8's at 8.83. thinking, ok so at least IC's are correct. read your last message. IVE PUT THE GOD DAMN SIGNAL IN THE OUT JACK. 3 pages of amazing support from all you guys, and its just user error. I'm so sorry to waste you guys time over this. how embarrassing. Thanks so much to all of you for helping though!!! on the plus side I now leant about voltage checking, how to make a audio probe, checking for cold bridges etc, and of course TO OPEN MY EYES WHEN PLUGGING IN. Thanks again, the support from this forum was overwhelming to be honest!! I will try to help others in the future!

How do you we all became “experts?”…

 

[steviejr92]

Awesome! Been there done that, actually i think my mistake is documented here on the forum as well!

That explains the reversed voltages on your pins!

 

[GazM]

I can't tell you why your other pedals work, but this is wired incorrectly.

Those jacks have posts on both sides for use on PCBs that are mapped out to handle conditional switching when the plug is inserted ( I can explain later, but lets just get this working for now)

When using them in the way you are, you MUST solder to the side I am indicating here. (the side with the bump, which maintains its connection to the metal parts of the jack when it is inserted. )

Do this on both jacks.


View attachment 41995

Also just occurred to me as well that this may have been the reason it did not work last night, and then today I just plugged the wrong jacks when fixed, either way, thank you for the tip mate I'll wire the rest up like this also from now on!

 

[KR Sound]

I’ve done it too. It’s smacked my head so hard when I realized.

 

[jhaneyzz]

I've been looking for a resource online that shows how those jacks work, but you you look closely at them as you plug a cable in it will be come clear.

The tab closest to the entry point of the jack connects to the base of the plug and is the connection to ground.
The tab furthest from the entry of the jack contacts the pin of the plug.

Does this make it more clear?

 

[GazM]

I've been looking for a resource online that shows how those jacks work, but you you look closely at them as you plug a cable in it will be come clear.

The tab closest to the entry point of the jack connects to the base of the plug and is the connection to ground.
The tab furthest from the entry of the jack contacts the pin of the plug.

Does this make it more clear?

View attachment 42092

Very clear mate thank you!

 

[jhaneyzz]

I'm still scratching my head about why wiring your previous pedals worked.

 

[GazM]

I'm still scratching my head about why wiring your previous pedals worked.

yeah they all work fine, when I first did them I couldn't find anywhere online that showed where to connect, so, I saw it as live is the one that connects to the tip of the jack when inserted, and because this then breaks the connection, the other side is no longer connected, so put that as ground. Because they all work, I figured that's correct. The other pedals I've done are the Dream Fuzz, Plaid Preamp, and the Muroidea Distortion, and all worked fine that way.

 

[PJS]

Putting my hand up too as someone who had a "broken" pedal that had the jacks in the wrong plugs.

With the sockets wired the way you have had them, the tip would be correct. The tip would be shorted to ground when there is no plug inserted, but as soon as you insert a plug then it would lift the connection and the tip is no longer grounded so that would be OK. You do need a ground connection to the jack plug ground though. That must have been accidentally connecting somehow for the pedal to work - maybe an accidental short to the case or something.

 

[Joben Magooch]

I know it's super obvious by just plugging in a cable but I still always find myself second-guessing with switched i/o jacks to the point that i usually end up just putting a jumper between the switched/unswitched lugs just in case

 

[saulecker]

I CANNOT F*CKING BELIEVE IT. Measured all IC pins this time correctly, pin 4's at zero this time, pin 8's at 8.83. thinking, ok so at least IC's are correct. read your last message. IVE PUT THE GOD DAMN SIGNAL IN THE OUT JACK. 3 pages of amazing support from all you guys, and its just user error. I'm so sorry to waste you guys time over this. how embarrassing. Thanks so much to all of you for helping though!!! on the plus side I now leant about voltage checking, how to make a audio probe, checking for cold bridges etc, and of course TO OPEN MY EYES WHEN PLUGGING IN. Thanks again, the support from this forum was overwhelming to be honest!! I will try to help others in the future!

Holy sweet jesus this is amazing. I literally just finished the Brown Betty (third attempt, first pedal build) and did this exact thing. I plugged it all up and thought "well f*ck, I guess third time isn't the charm" but had hope as for the first time the LED lit up. Checked the forum, swapped the cables, and blammo! This pedal rocks! So first, thank you for this post. It made my day. Second, don't feel bad, past you. We work on these things one way and then flip them and reverse them into opposite land when we put them in the enclosure. Even once it was working I was like "why is my volume acting like a gain?" Dur. Because I was turning the gain knob that is pictured on the opposite side in the build docs.