SOLVED Photon Vibe ticking question

[phi1]

Not sure if this is trouble shooting or if this is normal operation. I finished my photon vibe build and have been experimenting with TR2 and TR3. It seems very temperamental. There are many settings where there is a strong clicking sound and the signal even cuts out. So if I adjust one trimmer, I have to carefully address the other trimmer to avoid ticking. I can get it to work and sound nice depending on trimmer settings, but it’s so tricky to avoid ticking I feel like it’s really limiting how I’m able to tweak it by ear.

I will continue checking my build for errors, but I wanted to know if that is a common situation.

 

[phi1]

Ok I figured it out. I found a short across C6. Not sure if it was a bad part (I don’t like to blame components because most often it’s my fault), though I couldn’t see anything visually wrong with my soldering in that area.

I replaced C6 and it’s working great. Lots of fun now that I have freedom to experiment with the trimmers. Sounds better generally than it did too (since the phase shift on that stage is now behaving as it should).