Just built a MEH pedal

[swelchy]

Finished up a build this week I was excited to put together... Two glory holes in one enclosure. Did the first board with germanium diodes just to give the first stage a different flavor and built the other to the build docs. Have to say this is the first OD from the offerings here I was not happy with the sound... Both builds have a big issue with unity volume. You can tell the germanium clipper one breaks up real soon and has lower output.. which is expected.. but really both pedals lack headroom in a big way.... each one on it's own you have to dime the volume and have gain at 30% to even get unity with the guitars normal clean tone.... with one pedal on you have to dime the volume and the drive to get any boosted volume... then it's just too dirty.... with both pedals on it is just too much and clips out the second pedal bad and it sort of squeels and oscillates in a weird way.. I was excited to have a stackable od that had the option to get pretty dirty if needed... counting this one as a fail and probably scrapping the whole thing.... I did some searching and turns out I'm not the first to mention low output with unity volume on this one.

 

[MichaelW]

Sorry to hear that dude. The Glory Hole is the JHS Morning Glory right? Isn't that supposed to have an extra output stage to fix the low output inherent in the MBB?

 

[Robert]

It does. Did your 2N5457 come from a reputable source?

It might be worth trying the germaniums in the second circuit of the chain so they get hit with a hotter signal from the silicon side.

 

[Diynot]

I recently experience a similar meh moment with a dual build, an Aloysius and a Snuffy fuzz in the same box with an order switcher. There were some ok sounds in it, but overall nothing special. Instead of scraping it, I let it sit until one day, based solely on drill pattern I swapped out the Aloysius for the Pitch Witch and HOT DAMN that was/is some fun! All that to say, don’t call it a failure just yet, try stacking with a different circuit (maybe something with boost capabilities to juice your output…) until you find something that just clicks. It’s really an excuse to build more boards!

 

[swelchy]

It does. Did your 2N5457 come from a reputable source?

It might be worth trying the germaniums in the second circuit of the chain so they get hit with a hotter signal from the silicon side.

I source all my IC chips and transistors from Stompboxparts…

 

[HamishR]

Oh man I have built so many meh pedals. Any of the Friedman pedals are meh to me, as are 99% of tubescreamers. I can see why the Klon is popular, but... meh.

 

[cdwillis]

I'd check over the resistor values, especially around the jfet stage at the end. Even with the Germanium diodes having low headroom and output, there should be a decent amount of volume output from the jfet. If you populated both boards at the same time it's highly likely you put the wrong resistor in that jfet stage on both boards.

 

[Feral Feline]

What a great name for a pedal.

"MEH", will be one of my Muff Electro Harmonix build-variants...

Mourning Gorey would be another great (IMO) name.

Best of luck with sorting your MEH out.

 

[music6000]

Finished up a build this week I was excited to put together... Two glory holes in one enclosure. Did the first board with germanium diodes just to give the first stage a different flavor and built the other to the build docs. Have to say this is the first OD from the offerings here I was not happy with the sound... Both builds have a big issue with unity volume. You can tell the germanium clipper one breaks up real soon and has lower output.. which is expected.. but really both pedals lack headroom in a big way.... each one on it's own you have to dime the volume and have gain at 30% to even get unity with the guitars normal clean tone.... with one pedal on you have to dime the volume and the drive to get any boosted volume... then it's just too dirty.... with both pedals on it is just too much and clips out the second pedal bad and it sort of squeels and oscillates in a weird way.. I was excited to have a stackable od that had the option to get pretty dirty if needed... counting this one as a fail and probably scrapping the whole thing.... I did some searching and turns out I'm not the first to mention low output with unity volume on this one.

What voltage is the Drain pad getting on the 2N5457?
What Voltage do you have on the OpAmp pins 1 to 8?
1..........8
2..........7
3..........6
4..........5
Can you put post some Good pictures of the Circuits so some spare sets of eyes can have a look?

 

[swelchy]

What voltage is the Drain pad getting on the 2N5457?
What Voltage do you have on the OpAmp pins 1 to 8?
1..........8
2..........7
3..........6
4..........5
Can you put post some Good pictures of the Circuits so some spare sets of eyes can have a look?

I'll give this a look later today and post some numbers

 

[swelchy]

Low 9v battery 8.3 volts
Germanium pcb:
1... (4.15)............8. (7.9)
2....(4.16.............7. (3.98)
3....(2.06)............6. (3.95)
4....( 0 )...............5. (3.96)
2n5457 Drain (5.57) Source. (1.2) Gate ( 0 )

Regular BOM PCB:

1....(4.12).......8. (7.9)
2....(4.13)......7. (3.93)
3....(2.06).....6. (3.95)
4.... ( 0 )........5 (3.95)
2n5457 Drain (5.59) Source (1.2) Gate (0 )

 

[swelchy]

not sure if those fat caps would cause any issues.. I had the space so I used them... I've used them in other builds with no issues.... was sleepy when I ordered that batch..lol

 

[music6000]

not sure if those fat caps would cause any issues.. I had the space so I used them... I've used them in other builds with no issues.... was sleepy when I ordered that batch..lol

Can you Bend the 2 Electrolytics straight up & take a better picture of your resistors, can't make out the Bands!
Is your Tone pot properly insulated?

 

[swelchy]

Can you Bend the 2 Electrolytics straight up & take a better picture of your resistors, can't make out the Bands!
Is your Tone pot properly insulated?

Yes pots have covers… I’ll post clearer pics tomorrow with the caps outta the way..

 

[spi]

I doubt those huge caps are the issue but they did make me laugh.

 

[swelchy]

 

[music6000]

View attachment 30822

Here is Resistor Calculator to check, Click on Bands for 5 Colours!

Resistor Calculator

Resistor Calculator is an App developed by CherryJourney to help the user find the value of a resistor.

resistor.cherryjourney.pt

 

[jesuscrisp]

Something is definitely up at pin 3...
R2 looks right, but do those actually measure 1M?