Informant - no sound

[Allthumbs]

sadly my Informant build does not work. I need an intro to going through the pedal with a multimeter. Does anyone have a good link that will explain this and teach me how to find my problem? something basic and straight forward for a noob?

Thanks

 

[Allthumbs]

also no current at r4, r5, c8, d1, d2

I'm not exactly sure what all this means yet. I'll try the schematic and work my way through. maybe something will make sense, not knowing how to read one?

 

[Allthumbs]

also, gain pot has no current, the filter pot has a tiny amount .07v, the volume has about 10 on each leg.

 

[Allthumbs]

would it be fruitless to start replacing these components because there is probably a perfectly good explanation as to why they are not getting current? Would the audio probe lead me to the problem?

if R1 has no current, then should C1 also have none? I know, I should know this but I'm attempting to learn

thanks for any input

 

[zgrav]

best use of your time troubleshooting is to get the schematic for your build and use your digital multimeter to make sure that the parts connect together the way they are laid out in the schematic. if everything connects the way it should, then you check to make sure there are no "extra" connections to ground in the parts that carry the audio signal and the power. when you find parts that should connect but do not, you figure out what the problem is and fix it (usually a bad connection to the board, which is why the first advice given is usually to check the connections on the board and touch up anything that looks questionable).

 

[Allthumbs]

best use of your time troubleshooting is to get the schematic for your build and use your digital multimeter to make sure that the parts connect together the way they are laid out in the schematic. if everything connects the way it should, then you check to make sure there are no "extra" connections to ground in the parts that carry the audio signal and the power. when you find parts that should connect but do not, you figure out what the problem is and fix it (usually a bad connection to the board, which is why the first advice given is usually to check the connections on the board and touch up anything that looks questionable).

thank you. I'm attempting to do that. Right off the bat R1 has no current first component out of the gate. next in line is C1 which does. there is current until R4.

hence my confusion

 

[zgrav]

my suggestion is a bit different. instead of checking to see if you have current or voltage, use the schematic to make sure the parts connect to each other as shown in the schematic. so you see if the "IN" part on the pcb connects to R1 and C1. then see if the other side of C1 connects to R2, then check to see if the other side of R2 connects to both R3 and pin 3 of IC1, etc etc etc

if the schematic shows a connection between some parts and you cannot confirm they are connected, you have found at least one area where something needs to be identified and fixed.

you can print out the schematic and put check marks on the places that test OK and question marks on any areas that are not connecting like they should be.

 

[Allthumbs]

please forgive my ignorance. are you suggesting that I look and see a phisical connection from R1 to C1 such as shown on the schematic, and so on? on the board? is this to determine that there is no trace break or of there is a bridge somewhere?

 

[zgrav]

use your DMM to check to see if the parts are connected that the schematic says are supposed to be connected. You are doing that to go through all of the connections to look for something that is not connecting the way it is supposed to.

if you are not familiar with doing that you should watch some youtube videos that will show you how to do it. use this link:

how to use dmm to check connections in a circuit - Google Search

www.google.com

 

[Allthumbs]

Thanks, I assumed that's what I was doing but I should watch the video
edit
haha, yes, definitely need to watch many more video, thanks again

 

[Allthumbs]

I shelved this thing for a long time. I just couldn't deal with the task of tracing the board and my earlier attempts didn't produce any real problems after sussing them out so I was stymied by my lack of knowledge.
I kept thinking about what I did wrong and I kept picturing those Switching jacks that I removed contacts from. Did I remove the wrong contacts?

Yes I fucking did. The pedal works great.

I learned a lot from the info everyone provided.

Thanks

 

[zgrav]

Sometimes setting a board aside for a while and then coming back to it will give you insight on something you may have missed. Glad you got it working.

 

[Many__Of__Horror]

I shelved this thing for a long time. I just couldn't deal with the task of tracing the board and my earlier attempts didn't produce any real problems after sussing them out so I was stymied by my lack of knowledge.
I kept thinking about what I did wrong and I kept picturing those Switching jacks that I removed contacts from. Did I remove the wrong contacts?

Yes I fucking did. The pedal works great.

I learned a lot from the info everyone provided.

Thanks

We always appreciate a follow up with a happy ending