SOLVED Wrectifier effect barely audible

Kroars

Kroars

Well-known member
Hello All,

Just finished the Wrectifier pedal and am having difficulty with it. I’ve got a clean signal when in bypass. Although when I turn the effect on via foot switch, LED comes on but I can barely here the effect through amp and only when I turn both gain and volume (on pedal) all the way up. I’ve don’t the typical troubleshooting with grounding issues and shorts, can’t find anything.
Like I mentioned, if I turn volume and gain all the way I can faintly here the effect through my amp, I can even hear changes in tone when I mess with the tone knobs. When I turn my amp volume to noon, I can here the effect pretty good -but then if I turn effect off my clean is screaming loud.

what could cause this? All components (even resistors) individually tested for correct value during installation. I suppose I didn’t test the 3 IC’s, but they’re part of a lot I purchased and others from same lot worked great in other builds.

Thanks!!
 

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music6000 said:
OK, With a DMM set all your Potentiometers in the Middle.
Start with the Volume Pot , followed by Gain , Bass, Middle, Treble.
Check to see if your Pots are varying in Resistance by Probe on Middle Lug 2 & Lug1 reading & then Middle Lug 2 & Lug 3 reading.
Adjust Pot to Full Clockwise & Check to see if it Changes.
If Not, You have a Faulty or Cracked Pot.
Repeat this process on all the pots.
Depending on the Value of the Pot will be a small & large change in resistance as long as they are varying.
In this case, the Treble pot will be less.
Click to expand...
Man, I hope it’s not a pot. I’ve been paying top dollar at around $1.50 a piece from Small Bear. I suppose anything man made can be faulty. I’ll give it a shot and let you know. Really appreciate the helpful suggestions!
I’m close to just sucking it up and purchasing another board.
 
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music6000 said:
OK, With a DMM set all your Potentiometers in the Middle.
Start with the Volume Pot , followed by Gain , Bass, Middle, Treble.
Check to see if your Pots are varying in Resistance by Probe on Middle Lug 2 & Lug1 reading & then Middle Lug 2 & Lug 3 reading.
Adjust Pot to Full Clockwise & Check to see if it Changes.
If Not, You have a Faulty or Cracked Pot.
Repeat this process on all the pots.
Depending on the Value of the Pot will be a small & large change in resistance as long as they are varying.
In this case, the Treble pot will be less.
Click to expand...
Holy CRAP!! I think you helped me find the issue. On volume pot I get 0-99 on lugs 2 & 3, but only 0-31 on lugs 1&2.. Tested another A100k and got 0-88 on 1&2 and 2&3!

Gonna replace and ill get back with you. I just might owe you a beer!!
 
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music6000 said:
OK, With a DMM set all your Potentiometers in the Middle.
Start with the Volume Pot , followed by Gain , Bass, Middle, Treble.
Check to see if your Pots are varying in Resistance by Probe on Middle Lug 2 & Lug1 reading & then Middle Lug 2 & Lug 3 reading.
Adjust Pot to Full Clockwise & Check to see if it Changes.
If Not, You have a Faulty or Cracked Pot.
Repeat this process on all the pots.
Depending on the Value of the Pot will be a small & large change in resistance as long as they are varying.
In this case, the Treble pot will be less.
Click to expand...
Well, shoot. Swapped out pot, same thing happening. Faint sound on normal volume. If I crank amp all the way up I can hear effect pretty good, all controls work. Just barely audible when playing at regular amp volume.....
 
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Was it in the Circuit or out of the Circuit between the 2 Pots tested. In Circuit you have other components to take into account.
Have you tried one at a time using another TL072 Op Amp to see if you have a Dud. If from China, they could all be Duds!
you can use 3 x JRC4558, RC4559, OPA2134 JRC4580

There is this to Check you got the right Resistors in place as well
Click on Bands for 5 colours :

resistor.cherryjourney.pt

Resistor Calculator

Resistor Calculator is an App developed by CherryJourney to help the user find the value of a resistor.
resistor.cherryjourney.pt resistor.cherryjourney.pt
 
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music6000 said:
Was it in the Circuit or out of the Circuit between the 2 Pots tested. In Circuit you have other components to take into account.
Have you tried one at a time using another TL072 Op Amp to see if you have a Dud. If from China, they could all be Duds!
you can use 3 x JRC4558, RC4559, OPA2134 JRC4580
Click to expand...
It was in the circuit -didn’t think of that. They’re part of 2 batches of TL072’s I’ve purchased. I’ve swapped them out (one of the first things I did). Although, I’ve used them successfully in a handful of other builds.
 
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music6000 said:
Was it in the Circuit or out of the Circuit between the 2 Pots tested. In Circuit you have other components to take into account.
Have you tried one at a time using another TL072 Op Amp to see if you have a Dud. If from China, they could all be Duds!
you can use 3 x JRC4558, RC4559, OPA2134 JRC4580

There is this to Check you got the right Resistors in place as well
Click on Bands for 5 colours :

resistor.cherryjourney.pt

Resistor Calculator

Resistor Calculator is an App developed by CherryJourney to help the user find the value of a resistor.
resistor.cherryjourney.pt resistor.cherryjourney.pt
Click to expand...
Thanks for that, I’ve bookmarked the page and will double check. I test every part one at a time just prior to installation, while I’m skeptical I’m also human.
It’s so strange because the effect actually sounds good and all controls (pots & toggle) work great -but the effect is only giving about 15-20% of the volume when turned on and that’s with effect volume and gain at 10. I was hoping that would be caused by something in particular. Although, I’ve reflow we all joints and rewired.
 
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Kroars said:
Thanks for that, I’ve bookmarked the page and will double check. I test every part one at a time just prior to installation, while I’m skeptical I’m also human.
It’s so strange because the effect actually sounds good and all controls (pots & toggle) work great -but the effect is only giving about 15-20% of the volume when turned on and that’s with effect volume and gain at 10. I was hoping that would be caused by something in particular. Although, I’ve reflow we all joints and rewired.
Click to expand...
RE Check those resistor values with the Resistor Calculator listed above, ie 470K, 470R 4.7k ,47k 47r 1k 10k, 100k
 
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music6000 said:
Check these 3 areas for Continuity
Also check the Ground on the 100uF Electrolytic Cap:

View attachment 4022
Click to expand...
Finally getting a chance to go back to this. Thank you for your patience and continued help!!

As instructed, I checked continuity between all the points highlighted to their respective color. Continuity everywhere.... I’m at an absolute loss on this one. I tested each part individually prior to each instal, rewired... Maybe the foot switch I used is bad.

The thing throwing me off is that I can hear the effect and tone controls/gain work but only when amp is cranked.... Its like it’s just putting out about 10% of volume when effect is turned on.
 
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Robert said:
What is the value of R22? It should be 680K, it's hard to tell from your pics, but it looks like 680R.
Click to expand...

I think you nailed it!

Kroar, for future reference, the purpose of the pix is so we can inspect your work. That includes verifying all of the parts. Before posting a pic, look at it and make sure that everything that should be visible is in fact visible. Shadows and parts obscuring other parts make our work harder than it needs to be. We have to be able to discern the colors on the resistors, read caps & ICs, etc.
 
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Robert said:
What is the value of R22? It should be 680K, it's hard to tell from your pics, but it looks like 680R.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the suggestion Chuck. I always appreciate what you have to offer. I thought as much, and included another 6 or so photos later on in the thread, not sure if you got those.

I’ll double check R22. I’m gonna be both happy and disappointed if it is only 680R, as I test every value with my multi tester prior to each components installation AND MUSIC6000 provided a great resistor identifier website -which means I missed it twice!
I’ll let you know!
 
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Robert said:
What is the value of R22? It should be 680K, it's hard to tell from your pics, but it looks like 680R.
Click to expand...
Whelp, I checked R22 and sure as shit it was a 680R resistor instead of the called for 680k..... I’ve ran into issues before and this, by far has been the most aggravating.
Thank you to everyone who helped on this! I should’ve got it when MUSIC6000 suggested re-identifying the resistors...

I cant thank all of you enough, truly, Thank You!

Finally, I can start another!!
 
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YAY! ?

It's always hardest to find our own mistakes. Still, ya gotta inspect and inspect again. Good luck on your next build. You're always welcome here, but we'd prefer to see you in the Build Reports forum. ;)
 
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Kroars said:
Whelp, I checked R22 and sure as shit it was a 680R resistor instead of the called for 680k..... I’ve ran into issues before and this, by far has been the most aggravating.
Thank you to everyone who helped on this! I should’ve got it when MUSIC6000 suggested re-identifying the resistors...

I cant thank all of you enough, truly, Thank You!

Finally, I can start another!!
Click to expand...
Well, We are only Human & we learn from our mistakes & each time you come across 680?, You will triple check before you put it in!!!!
So it is SOLVED
 
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