mkstewartesq
Well-known member
OK, so when you have built as many pedals as I have (*insert self-important Barney Fife sniff*) and put most of them in your chain, you get noise. So for the time being, I’m focusing on “utility“ pedals like an EQ and this noise gate rather than “effects“.
Building this as per the BOM, I had the exact same issue as several other people: the pedal passes signal just fine but there is no gate effect. I followed all of the troubleshooting steps and compared my voltages to those others had reported and, except for one variation (on the Zener, more below), everything checked out.
Most people here who had issues tracked it to non-genuine 2N5485s - but my 2N5485s were from Barry at GuitarPCB so I trust that they are genuine. Finally I found a thread by @fig where he mentioned fixing the issue by using a J113 in lieu of the 2N5485 - I tried this and it similarly worked for me as well. The pedal immediately started clamping once that change was made.
All that being said, I’m going to outline my “sonic“ experience with the pedal to see if my results are normal or if anyone has any advice. For the same reason, I’m going to leave the transistors socketed for the time being as I may purchase some more transistors from Smallbear and try those to see if they make any difference.
One other note – my Zener is a (supposedly) 5.1 V, 1/2 watt from Tayda (1N5231B). I bought a set of these when I first started building, although I can’t remember which pedal I bought them for. In any event, checking my voltages, the Zener on my board is showing a 4.1 V reading (I neglected to test it before installing it). Using my TC1 tester on the rest of the bag, I see that most fall in the range of around 4.7 V with only one making it up to 5.06 V. I guess I wasn’t aware of that Zeners had such a wide swing (unless these are all just bad). So, if anyone thinks low voltage on the Zener may also be part of any issues I have, I’ll probably order some more of those from Smallbear as well and swap it out.
Sound experiences:
The graphics are actually AI generated – I was stumped for a theme so I just put the prompt “sentinels of silence” into Adobe’s built-in AI art generator and, after multiple garbage outputs, got these weird monks. I can live with it.
POLL TIME: trying to decide between the large chicken head knob or the smaller chrome knob. Please let me know what you think.
Mike
Building this as per the BOM, I had the exact same issue as several other people: the pedal passes signal just fine but there is no gate effect. I followed all of the troubleshooting steps and compared my voltages to those others had reported and, except for one variation (on the Zener, more below), everything checked out.
Most people here who had issues tracked it to non-genuine 2N5485s - but my 2N5485s were from Barry at GuitarPCB so I trust that they are genuine. Finally I found a thread by @fig where he mentioned fixing the issue by using a J113 in lieu of the 2N5485 - I tried this and it similarly worked for me as well. The pedal immediately started clamping once that change was made.
All that being said, I’m going to outline my “sonic“ experience with the pedal to see if my results are normal or if anyone has any advice. For the same reason, I’m going to leave the transistors socketed for the time being as I may purchase some more transistors from Smallbear and try those to see if they make any difference.
One other note – my Zener is a (supposedly) 5.1 V, 1/2 watt from Tayda (1N5231B). I bought a set of these when I first started building, although I can’t remember which pedal I bought them for. In any event, checking my voltages, the Zener on my board is showing a 4.1 V reading (I neglected to test it before installing it). Using my TC1 tester on the rest of the bag, I see that most fall in the range of around 4.7 V with only one making it up to 5.06 V. I guess I wasn’t aware of that Zeners had such a wide swing (unless these are all just bad). So, if anyone thinks low voltage on the Zener may also be part of any issues I have, I’ll probably order some more of those from Smallbear as well and swap it out.
Sound experiences:
- The gate seems to work pretty well, basically as expected. However, when the gate clamps down, there is a bit of a crackle or sputter rather than just a smooth transition from noise to silence. Not having owned a gate, maybe this is to be expected or how this particular circuit works but I’d be interested in feedback on this.
- I only had two J113s to try – both exhibited the “sputter“ sound but one was prone to the gate reopening a bit after closing as the note faded away (sort of a pulse) so I chose the lesser of the two evils and I’m currently using the J113 that seems to keep the gate closed after it first clamps down. Again, I’m not sure if this is just how the circuit works, is an issue with using a J113, or possibly attributable to the lower voltage on the Zener, or something else entirely.
The graphics are actually AI generated – I was stumped for a theme so I just put the prompt “sentinels of silence” into Adobe’s built-in AI art generator and, after multiple garbage outputs, got these weird monks. I can live with it.
POLL TIME: trying to decide between the large chicken head knob or the smaller chrome knob. Please let me know what you think.
- The chrome knob is more understated and kind of goes with the theme of the pedal appearance being somewhat subdued.
- The chicken head was again something I bought right when I started building, thinking that all good pedals probably have a chicken head knob - but I’ve never found a use for it since I find I prefer smaller knobs (that's what she said). So it has just sat in my parts been taunting me for a year Trying to figure out if this is finally the time for this chicken head knob to shine.
Mike
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