Informant - Very low volume, gain pot doesn't do much

[D1chotomy]

This is my second informant. I loved my first one so much I wanted to make another one. Well, it fired right up but the volume is really really low. Nothing like my other one. That, and it seems as if the gain pot does very little. Any thoughts? I had to use some 1N5817's from Amazon... I'll include a pic. Any help is appreciated. It's probably another dumb mistake on my part.

 

[Nostradoomus]

R8, R15, R17...those are 470k, should be 470r.

 

[D1chotomy]

R8, R15, R17...those are 470k, should be 470r.

Man, I did it again. You must hate idiots like me... But I do appreciate you. Thanks for seeing that.

 

[Nostradoomus]

If I hated it I wouldn’t bother answering haha

 

[D1chotomy]

If I hated it I wouldn’t bother answering haha

Good point. I'm just irritated at myself for making more dumb mistakes. I really do appreciate your help. I'll let you know when I get these swapped out!

 

[caiofilipini]

I know this might sound kind of obvious, but especially with resistors, measuring them with a DMM right before placing them on the board really helps prevent these mistakes (that I also made many times before I started measuring them myself).

 

[D1chotomy]

I know this might sound kind of obvious, but especially with resistors, measuring them with a DMM right before placing them on the board really helps prevent these mistakes (that I also made many times before I started measuring them myself).

Nope, it's great advice. I should be doing that for sure. What is a common workflow when it comes to resistors? Do most people go ahead and set out all that a build calls for and then measure each one? I am in the habit of just setting out the baggies containing the sizes I need, and I haven't been measuring. I will from now on.

 

[D1chotomy]

@Nostradoomus or anyone who an help... So here's my problem now, it appears that during the removal of R15, the metal solder tabs popped off both sides of the board, so there is no longer any surface to solder the resistor to. Is there any way around this, or should I just start over on a new board?

 

[zgrav]

put the resistors in the hole and see if you can use the leads on them to connect to one of the parts that the pcb would have connected with.

 

[D1chotomy]

put the resistors in the hole and see if you can use the leads on them to connect to one of the parts that the pcb would have connected with.

Thought about this. I figure I can give it a shot. Wish I was better with schematics... Thank you.

 

[D1chotomy]

Something like this? @zgrav

 

[zgrav]

those are the connections. you might want to use insulated wires for the longer ones instead of the resistor leads.

 

[D1chotomy]

those are the connections. you might want to use insulated wires for the longer ones instead of the resistor leads.

Perfect, thank you. I gave up tonight but I'll dive back in tomorrow. Excellent help in this thread.

 

[D1chotomy]

So it's working now. Much thanks to @zgrav and @Nostradoomus .

 

[zgrav]

Glad you got it working.