SOLVED Lowballer, is it normal

[Nic]

Hi guys, one of my first builds was the lowballer, I always thought it was a noisy pedal, it making a sound like some high wind. The treble control introduces that sound, it gets annoying (to me) around noon. I tried reflowing everything, still sounds the same.

After reflowing, I noticed the sensitivity knob, when in distortion mode kills the sound when full ccw. From schematic it looks it might be normal, but I could not remember if it was that way before the reflow.

Also, does the attack pot should do a lot ?

 

[Nic]

I'm mostly positive that the LM1458 thats causing the noise. If I remove it and jumper the signal she sound perfect.

Another thing I noticed, if I unplug the input in distortion mode while having the treble too high, it will squeal... it can also happen while playing. Do I have a bad IC or is it just normal behaviour ?

 

[Nic]

Well, turns out the squealing was my fault, when I redid the wiring, I twisted the in/out wires together and that's my new problem. Should I go with shielded wires or just routing them correctly should be enough.

Still got that initial high wind sound though.

 

[music6000]

We would have to see a really good shot of the PCB with a good view of all the Resistor values.
This is a classic example of repetitive similar values!!! or you can check the resistors yourself.
Look closely at the 4th band {Multiplier) colours on your Board, ie 47r Gold. 4K7 Brown, 47K Red, 470K Orange :
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

 

[Nic]

Yes, ins and outs are not resoldered yet.

Here is the board. It was one of my first builds, so I did not care that much to put all resistors the same way.

Pots under the board have covers on them



Cap values


General layout

 

[music6000]

Resistors all look Good!
You need to try it with the Input & Output Leads down each side in the Enclosure to see if that improves it.
It probably needs a C1K on the Attack to be more efficient???
You may have introduce noise with the pots being seperate from the PCB on fly wires???

 

[Nic]

Resistors all look Good!
You need to try it with the Input & Output Leads down each side in the Enclosure to see if that improves it.
It probably needs a C1K on the Attack to be more efficient???
You may have introduce noise with the pots being seperate from the PCB on fly wires???

Thanks
Wiring was as you described at first, but I noticed they were sensible to touch, so I tried twisting them together, and that was really bad. I put those back to confirm it returned to my starting state.
I could try a C1K, I think I might have one, but yes, could be the wiring of the pots... makbe a cold joint at the pot ? Wigling those wires does not affect the sound.
My muff builds have all wired pots and are dead silent.

Again, that might be what an LM1458 does in this circuit ? Maybe @Robert also has an idea ?

 

[Nic]

@djmisaid this :

It has a kind of phasing sound and a faint high pitch riding in the back ground. more noticable as the note fades

It's exactly the sound the pedal make in clean mode. It makes what it supposed to, plus that sound. It's there in disto mode, but les noticeable.

 

[Giorfida]

We would have to see a really good shot of the PCB with a good view of all the Resistor values.
This is a classic example of repetitive similar values!!! or you can check the resistors yourself.
Look closely at the 4th band {Multiplier) colours on your Board, ie 47r Gold. 4K7 Brown, 47K Red, 470K Orange :
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

I always get burned using the 5-band resistors…after 40+ years or reading 4-band resistors almost exclusivel. Sooo easy to be off by a factor of 10

 

[Nic]

Well, I've rewired it using shielded wires and it made no noticeable difference from my initial wiring. I put a brand new IC from mouser and it made it a little better. I'll call it quits, that must be how the circuit is supposed to sound.

Maybe someday I'll recheck the pot wiring, but I doubt it will make much change.