My first build. Low tide. Made a mistake. Is this redeemable?

[boysenpai]

So this is my first build. I heard it was not recommended for beginners, but I've soldered my guitar electronics in the past and also, I just really wish to have Shallow Water for 5+ years and making my own was the only way I could afford it.

It went well until I started to solder chips. It came as a kit but there were no instructions as to how to solder particular components so I googled a lot with each new tier of components. Found a little bag with two chips, found their placing on the pcb, soldered them in. Cut off the residual pin tips. Then I opened next back and I noticed there were these slots and I couldn't pair them with anything. Then I realised these were slots for the chips that I already soldered straight onto the pcb and trimmed their pins.

Will the chips work when soldered straight into the pcb? Or, will the chips slide into the slot and work even with the tips of their pins trimmed? Or should I look for replacement?

 

[boysenpai]

Have you done to trim pot adjustments? They crucial for this circuit and can take time to get right.

One trimpot adjust the BBD chip, which is more about the effected sound, but the other one adjusts the gate and that can take the sound out completely.

I did not touch them so far but there was no sound coming through even with the pedal switched off.

 

[p_wats]

I did not touch them so far but there was no sound coming through even with the pedal switched off.

Ah, okay. That's important information, as it means it could be your offboard wiring and not the Circuit itself.

Did you end up finding a way to test which connections to use on the jacks? Also a picture of your switch wiring would help here.

 

[boysenpai]

Ah, okay. That's important information, as it means it could be your offboard wiring and not the Circuit itself.

Did you end up finding a way to test which connections to use on the jacks? Also a picture of your switch wiring would help here.

You're right, here are the pictures.

As for the stereo jacks. I've found couple different schools of thought. One said that it doesn't matter which you choose, just chip off the one you don't use. Other said to keep the unused pin in place and ground it with wire. Next said you can keep it in place and not ground it with wire as it gets grounded once the jack plugs in. To sum it up, all people said that it doesn't matter which you choose.

So I picked one of the pins (the shorter one) and kept the other in place without wiring.

 

[Fama]

Footswitch wiring looks correct to me (https://docs.pedalpcb.com/project/LowTide-PedalPCB.pdf for reference for others who want to check it), but the Low Tide is true bypass so you should at least get a signal when the pedal is bypassed even if the circuit itself is messed up. I would suspect it's either a.) jacks incorrectly wired, b.) footswitch broken, c.) you made a mistake when testing it or possibly in this case d.) the circuitboard is damaged in a way that the input and output traces are broken,

Edit: For the record I would think it's not the circuitboard that is damaged, FWIW. Footswitch is an easy fix too if that's it.

You can try it out without plugging in the power, even, and no matter if in and out cables would be the wrong way around. It should still give you a bypass signal when it's toggled off - no way to know when it's toggled off though, so just make some noise and hit the footswitch a few times.

It's a longshot, but the guitar cables you used are both mono, right? I think it doesn't matter which lug you use on a stereo jack (as long as you don't use the ground one) if you use a mono cable, but if you use a stereo cable it might not work. You can just look at the plug part itself, is it divided to tip and sleeve, or is there another line so it's divided to tip, ring and sleeve.

 

[boysenpai]

I changed the inputs for new ones, simpler ones, definitely mono, two pins. Still no sound coming through even with the pedal switched off. Tried to plug it other way round in case I wired the output as input and vice versa. No sound coming through. I use instrument cables, definitely mono.

 

[boysenpai]

A breakthrough. I decided to move it around with my foot and bits of sound started to come out with the pedal turned off. I managed to kick it into a state of constant sound coming through, however when i move it a bit, the sound breaks. When I engage the pedal, there is no sound coming out.

 

[boysenpai]

I noticed that the connectors of input/output were touching the metal of the casing and once I broke the contact, sound was coming through.

Next, I engaged the pedal and it let the sound out but it was somewhat muffled and would not react to knobs at all. I noticed that the pins with red wires of input and output were in contact. I separated them and secured in place. Then it let no sound through when engaged.

Now the pedal lets sound through when not engaged. When engaged, no sound coming through. That is something. What next?

 

[boysenpai]

What do you think of this troubleshooting guide?

 

[Mcknib]

Without a meter it'll be difficult to check efficiently

The fact you get bypass but not effect could be a number of things

I personally would wait till I had a meter and set it aside for now to avoid any further damage

In the meantime if you really can't wait the next best tool would be a simple and cheap to make audio probe using one of your extra jacks, a capacitor and a couple of bits of wire

You could use a mono or stereo jack simply solder one side of a 100n to 1u film or ceramic cap to the jack tip lug

Solder a wire to the other side with something for the probe to the wire end like a piece of paperclip or something fairly robust

Solder another wire to the jack ground lug with a small clip or something to the other end for connecting to circuit ground like this



Here's a PDF explaining how to use it ignore the first 5 building one pages

audio probe explained.pdf

drive.google.com

Note this PDF was written a long time ago and could definitely be explained better but should give you a good understanding of how to use a probe to find out if audio is even getting into the circuit and if it is where it stops leading you to your problem area(s)

This is a non destructive method ie you don't need to solder / desolder anything to the circuit to check it

It's not complicated all you need to do is input an audio signal and probe components in the audio path ie the path your guitar AC signal follows through the circuit from in to out

 

[p_wats]

You're right, here are the pictures.

As for the stereo jacks. I've found couple different schools of thought. One said that it doesn't matter which you choose, just chip off the one you don't use. Other said to keep the unused pin in place and ground it with wire. Next said you can keep it in place and not ground it with wire as it gets grounded once the jack plugs in. To sum it up, all people said that it doesn't matter which you choose.

So I picked one of the pins (the shorter one) and kept the other in place without wiring.

Hmm. In my experience you definitely can't just choose whichever pin to use on the jacks. They all have different purposes. A TRS jack has the following:

T - Tip, this is the one that connects to the tip of your cable and passes signal through
R - Ring, this connects to the middle section of a stereo cable jack. Not needed in this case and won't pass signal if used
S - Sleeve, this connects to the bottom section of the cable jack and is used to ground the connection

So you need to use the tip and sleeve/ground connections on both jacks

 

[p_wats]

Here's a diagram I found, just in case. You can see that if you use the ring connection for the input signal that the tip won't connect to it at all (in fact, with a mono cable you'd just be grounding out your signal).

 

[boysenpai]

Here's a diagram I found, just in case. You can see that if you use the ring connection for the input signal that the tip won't connect to it at all (in fact, with a mono cable you'd just be grounding out your signal).

View attachment 56242

I see. I used the ring for input/output and the sleeve for grounding.

 

[boysenpai]

Hmm. In my experience you definitely can't just choose whichever pin to use on the jacks. They all have different purposes. A TRS jack has the following:

T - Tip, this is the one that connects to the tip of your cable and passes signal through
R - Ring, this connects to the middle section of a stereo cable jack. Not needed in this case and won't pass signal if used
S - Sleeve, this connects to the bottom section of the cable jack and is used to ground the connection

So you need to use the tip and sleeve/ground connections on both jacks

Without a meter it'll be difficult to check efficiently

The fact you get bypass but not effect could be a number of things

I personally would wait till I had a meter and set it aside for now to avoid any further damage

In the meantime if you really can't wait the next best tool would be a simple and cheap to make audio probe using one of your extra jacks, a capacitor and a couple of bits of wire

You could use a mono or stereo jack simply solder one side of a 100n to 1u film or ceramic cap to the jack tip lug

Solder a wire to the other side with something for the probe to the wire end like a piece of paperclip or something fairly robust

Solder another wire to the jack ground lug with a small clip or something to the other end for connecting to circuit ground like this

View attachment 56235

Here's a PDF explaining how to use it ignore the first 5 building one pages

audio probe explained.pdf

drive.google.com

Note this PDF was written a long time ago and could definitely be explained better but should give you a good understanding of how to use a probe to find out if audio is even getting into the circuit and if it is where it stops leading you to your problem area(s)

This is a non destructive method ie you don't need to solder / desolder anything to the circuit to check it

It's not complicated all you need to do is input an audio signal and probe components in the audio path ie the path your guitar AC signal follows through the circuit from in to out

Thank you for showing me alternative ways and explaining things. I'm lucky to have you guys backing me up. I just checked and my paycheck is a week from now so I'll let it breathe for couple of days and then buy one. Is there something to watchout for when buying budget multimeters? Some red flags or something.

 

[p_wats]

I see. I used the ring for input/output and the sleeve for grounding.

Yeah, that won't work. With a mono cable you're just grounding the signal (a mono cable only has 2 connections---tip and sleeve).

If you are able to switch to tip and sleeve instead you should be able to see if the circuit itself is working.

Don't worry, the offboard wiring part of pedals is where a lot of the troubleshooting happens, as it's easy to connect the wrong things sometimes.

 

[boysenpai]

Yeah, that won't work. With a mono cable you're just grounding the signal (a mono cable only has 2 connections---tip and sleeve).

If you are able to switch to tip and sleeve instead you should be able to see if the circuit itself is working.

Don't worry, the offboard wiring part of pedals is where a lot of the troubleshooting happens, as it's easy to connect the wrong things sometimes.

Actually in previous post I described how I replaced them with simple mono with tip and sleeve and can now get sound through when the pedal isn't engaged. When engaged, no sound but the diode is on.

I don't much like the mono replacements as the different parts were moving in really unsettling ways while I was tightening them. I may put the stereos back and wire them correctly.

 

[p_wats]

Actually in previous post I described how I replaced them with simple mono with tip and sleeve and can now get sound through when the pedal isn't engaged. When engaged, no sound but the diode is on.

I don't much like the mono replacements as the different parts were moving in really unsettling ways while I was tightening them. I may put the stereos back and wire them correctly.

Oh right, sorry! That's good to know.

Yeah, some jacks are better than others, but they are all the same principle, so you can choose the ones you prefer as long as they are wired correctly (I change up the jacks depending how much room I have, or what I happen to have in my parts stash).

If you've got bypass signal working and the LED turns on when you engage the pedal, you could start by trying the trimmer adjustments, as the gate trimmer is capable of muting the signal if not set properly.

Check out the detailed instructions in this post and let us know how it goes.

 

[boysenpai]

Oh right, sorry! That's good to know.

Yeah, some jacks are better than others, but they are all the same principle, so you can choose the ones you prefer as long as they are wired correctly (I change up the jacks depending how much room I have, or what I happen to have in my parts stash).

If you've got bypass signal working and the LED turns on when you engage the pedal, you could start by trying the trimmer adjustments, as the gate trimmer is capable of muting the signal if not set properly.

Check out the detailed instructions in this post and let us know how it goes.

So adjusting the trimmer has no effect. Would you agree it's for some multimeter work?

 

[Mcknib]

Perhaps build yourself the audio probe whilst you wait for your meter

It's always a good troubleshooting method to learn and as I say cheap and easy to make

Unless I've missed it I don't see an image of your entire pcb showing all components and wiring, post a nice clear image of the component side of the pcb so that all resistor colour bands can be clearly seen

With all the excitement of desoldering IC5 and placing a jumper we've been side tracked from the very first check you should do and that is to check all component values and orientation are correct

 

[p_wats]

Yeah, I'd recommend an audio probe if you can put one together. Then you can trace the signal starting from the jack to the switch, to the circuit and start getting an idea of where it dies.

In the meantime, as per @Mcknib, good photos of your complete board top and bottom would be helpful to rule out any quick component issues.

 

[boysenpai]

Okay, I build the audio probe. Where do I start? Also here's the photo of a complete board.