SOLVED Parenthesis octave problem

[K Pedals]

I just finished the new board and everything works good except when I turn the octave on...When I engage the octave switch the more I turn the potentiometer up the less volume the distortion has... like it’s sending it to ground and there is no octave at all...
Do you see any obvious mistakes on the board/wiring???

 

[tommasoc]

Can you take more pictures? Try to get the whole board and the underside too.

Thanks for the help!
Attached all the photos of my build, do you see anything wrong?

 

[tommasoc]

Q2 and Q4 voltages look good. Q2-B reads low because your meter is loading it down. You must be using an unregulated power supply to power this thing because Q2-C = Vcc = 10.5V. It should still work at that voltage. Based on your measurements, Q3-E should be about 7.4V; Q3-C should be about 3.1V. Please verify.

For fun, drill a 3mm hole in the front panel behind D6, then mount D6 on the other side of the board, looking thru the front panel. When the toggle sw is in the ASYM position, the LED will glow when you play.

Q3:
E: 9.46v
B: 4.18v
C: 0v!

but the 2N5087 is ok

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

Something doesn't make sense to me. Q4-C and Q3-B Are connected together. Yesterday you measured 6.74V on Q4-C. Today you measured 4.18V on Q3-B. How is that possible?

Vbe on a silicon PNP transistor is -0.65V (more-or-less), yet you measured -5.28V. Q3 cannot be OK if those measurements are correct.

One possible explanation is that the transistors are loose in their sockets.

 

[Nostradoomus]

I would clean up your board too, theres potential bridges everywhere! Looks like there’s a little bridge in between your main 9v and Ground pads too

Also what’s going on under your toggle switch on the solder side?

 

[tommasoc]

I would clean up your board too, theres potential bridges everywhere! Looks like there’s a little bridge in between your main 9v and Ground pads too

Also what’s going on under your toggle switch on the solder side?

Thank you, but there's no bridge between the 9v pads, it seems in the photo because there's the reflection of the table light, there's space between ground and 9v, that's why the rat and boost sections work properly

 

[Nostradoomus]

I’m wondering if something is up with the footswitch wiring in the build doc...something isn’t adding up here. Try taking the footswitch out and placing the alternate jumper wiring in...if it works something is amiss with the wiring.

 

[tommasoc]

I just checked all the transistor sockets and seem ok, I will try without the footswitch.
I can't explain the voltage difference between Q4-C and Q3-B. I changed 4 different 2N5087 and I always have the same values..

 

[JetFixxxer]

Not sure if you made sure D6 is correct. PCB is silkscreen incorrectly.

LED polarity

The LED symbol printed onto PedalPCB circuit boards is being updated, please read! Proper installation of LEDs in PedalPCB circuit boards Traditionally the Cathode of a diode is installed into the Square pad of a PCB. Symbol #1 and Symbol #2 conform to this standard. Symbol #3 is...

forum.pedalpcb.com

 

[tommasoc]

Not sure if you made sure D6 is correct. PCB is silkscreen incorrectly.

LED polarity

The LED symbol printed onto PedalPCB circuit boards is being updated, please read! Proper installation of LEDs in PedalPCB circuit boards Traditionally the Cathode of a diode is installed into the Square pad of a PCB. Symbol #1 and Symbol #2 conform to this standard. Symbol #3 is...

forum.pedalpcb.com

D6 is correct, as I said the rat part works smooth. I checked all the transistor sockets and they are all ok. The sound become quieter turning up the octave pot. Any suggestion? The voltages are the one I wrote

 

[JetFixxxer]

D6 is correct, as I said the rat part works smooth. I checked all the transistor sockets and they are all ok. The sound become quieter turning up the octave pot. Any suggestion? The voltages are the one I wrote

All I know is that I had the same issue because the R18 was the wrong value. Even after checking it several times and people pointed it out here. I still thought I had the correct value.

 

[Nostradoomus]

A mild volume drop is to be expected with a green ringer, it shouldn’t be substantial but it’s like a fuzz with Si/GE switches...the GE side is always quieter.

 

[Thunderstruckmjh]

Verify you have 4.5V on D2 & D3 cathodes. If that's good then either your diodes are not leaky enough, Q2-B is shorted to ground or Q2 is dead. How about posting a picture?

I resoldered all my joints and swapped out all the transistors and diodes in the octave circuit and finally got it to work. Must have overlooked something small. Pedal sounds awesome.

 

[Thunderstruckmjh]

Me again.

So on the latest build I'm working on, I get the octave to actually work, but there's an unappealing sputtery gate/deadening of the initial note strike. Particularly on palm muted chords and upper fret notes. I wasnt having this issue with the previous two builds. Seems like the issue lessens as I roll back the octave knob.

I'm at work right now, but as I recall, I was getting ~2V on the emitter of Q3 (I was getting 0V on a previous fully working one) and differing voltages on Q4's collector and Q3's base, which that alone just doesn't seem right. I resoldered all my joints and checked for bridges, but still getting those weird voltages. I also replaced all of my transistors to no avail.

Just wondering if anybody has experienced this same problem on this or a green ringer type pedal before and where I should be directing my attention. I'll post my exact voltages when I get home from work. Thanks in advance.

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

"I'm at work right now, but as I recall, I was getting ~2V on the emitter of Q3..."

Did you mean Q2?

As discussed before, Q4-C and Q3-B are connected together on the board. If you're getting different voltages, then you are not measuring where you think you are measuring.

If this is a new build, please start a new topic. And post pics.

 

[Thunderstruckmjh]

"I'm at work right now, but as I recall, I was getting ~2V on the emitter of Q3..."

Did you mean Q2?

As discussed before, Q4-C and Q3-B are connected together on the board. If you're getting different voltages, then you are not measuring where you think you are measuring.

If this is a new build, please start a new topic. And post pics.

Gotcha and will do.

 

[ozdixon]

I hope you don't mind me jumping on. I have been trying to figure out what is wrong with my life pedal for some time now.

Here is the full thread for details.

Parentheses Fuzz with Intelligent Relay Bypass

Hey everyone, I am having some issues with the Intelligent Relay Bypass on the Octave switch for Parentheses Fuzz. I am getting no octave effect, both boost and fuzz work. There is an insanely high noise even with gain turned down. When fully Turing octave pot the there is no sound, other wise...

forum.pedalpcb.com

but I am also having the octave pot act as a volume nob. Is this normal? I made the same 47K/ 4.7k mistake and have check all my other resistors.