SOLVED Yet another caesar issue...

[fnoglob]

I've assembled a caesar chorus and... it doesn't work but not in a way that has been described here (at least I didn't see)
all the LEDs turn on (they were backwards at first but that's corrected) true bypass works but there's no sound when the pedal is on
The rate knob works, it changes the LED speed (both inside and outside) and the switch activates the inside LED for the saw wave but the other knobs don't do anything (or maybe they do but no way to know as long as there's no sound)
Can you help me with that??
I don't think I made any mistake placing the components and I've checked again and again for dry solder or solder bridges and couldn't find any

 

[Bio77]

No sound usually means a wiring problem. Can you take some better photos so it's clear how everything is wired?

Also, did you test the sound at both extremes of the blend knob?

 

[Laundryroom David]

How do you have the dc jack wired? Hard to tell from pics.

Close visual inspection including values of components.

I see multiple solder joints that need reflowing.

Double check pinouts of your transistors and ensure they are making good contact in the sockets.

As I recall the trimmer on this project has a narrow sweet spot - have you tried the full sweep of it?

Please post pics of all connections and both sides of the board and we’ll help you out!

 

[fnoglob]

no sound at either end of the blend knob and the trim pot doesn't make a difference
I hope the new picture will show what mistake I've made
I'm pretty new to this hobby with only 3 pedal built

 

[fnoglob]

I've checked if the IC have voltage and they all have (idk if it's the correct amount but that's still a good news) HOWEVER... I have checked the transistors (all 2N5088) and they all have voltage on all 3 legs except for the Q1 which only have voltage on the right leg.
I checked again without the transistor, measuring in the plug and it reads the same. I'm very bad at this so I don't know if it should be like that or if there's something fishy there, I thought it could interest you and help you in your diagnosis

 

[Bio77]

When you tested this, are you sure that you had the guitar and the amp plugged into the right jacks? True bypass is just a wire between both, so, not directional. Not true when the circuit is in line.

If that is correct, you will have to audio probe through and figure out which component is not letting signal through. You would start by tracing the path through the clean (non-delay) path. Since you're getting no sound, it's likely one of those few components in the clean path.

 

[fnoglob]

I tried switching the in and out and that did nothing, I'll research more into signal tracing
I don't know much about that yet, do you think the Q1 transistor could be where the signal is lost?

 

[fnoglob]

I fixed it!!
I'm not exactly sure what was wrong but I have a few leads:
some of the transistors didn't make good contact, i ended up soldering them (very carefully) to their sockets and the trim pot needed to be adjusted, I couldn't adjust it before because i didn't have any sound so my guess is that the sound was blocked by a transistor
if there's one thing you can learn from my mistakes: always try to turn the trim pot after every modification
I learned a lot reading from here and from the other caesar chorus posts and I got my toe into diagram reading (still pretty confusing) and into signal tracing
thanks for all guys!!

 

[delayed]

Good fix, but there is really no need for transistor sockets. They will give you trouble. A modern transistor is very unlikely to be damaged by soldering.

 

[fnoglob]

now that it's done I agree, I was careful not to stay for too long on each leg but it worked really well, no problem.
The sockets were already soldered so I let them in and soldered on top of them but for a next time I'll probably solder straight to the board.
what about ICs? do you still recommend using sockets or do you think it's a bit overkill and could potentially cause some issue?

 

[jimilee]

I may or may not have scavenged a transistor for another build while waiting on an order. That’s the reason I use sockets.

 

[delayed]

I do tend to use sockets on ICs for the same reason as above. You can use them for another project if you don't like the pedal.

 

[chris.knudson]

now that it's done I agree, I was careful not to stay for too long on each leg but it worked really well, no problem.
The sockets were already soldered so I let them in and soldered on top of them but for a next time I'll probably solder straight to the board.
what about ICs? do you still recommend using sockets or do you think it's a bit overkill and could potentially cause some issue?

I know I'm a little late to the party here, but I just wanted to chime in and say that I always socket ICs if possible. There are a lot of fakes on the market, and I like to be able to switch them out easily. Desoldering an IC is a real pain, so if you can avoid that, it's worth it. If you know you have a good part, you can probably just solder it in, but you just never know these days.