Stomp box depression

[ElectroFreak]

Well, I am now up to 4 different stomp circuits that I have loveingly put together that don't work.  Orange squeezer, noise gate, sans amp gt-2 and now the rebote delay 2.5.  Unlike the others, this one actually does something (I can hear the guitar) but it's not doing what it is supposed to (I hope anyway).  With all the pots turned down it sounds just like I was plugging straight in.  I can turn the level up to max to get some feedback and yes it does raise the level.  The delay pot does't seem to do anything at all and the repeats pot just makes it sound like I'm in a cement tunnel (but only when I get close to max on the pot).  Am I wrong in thinking that it should be able to give about a half second of delay without turning to complete mush?  I rechecked all my components and joints and everything looks correct.  I quadruple checked the vreg to make sure it was placed properly.  Any thoughts on what may be wrong?  I really enjoy building my own projects, but I'm almost to the point of scrapping it all and just shelling out the cash for the ones in the store =0  (My first project, a Marshall Guv'nor clone, works great, and it was on perf board!)

[Aharon]

99% of the time it's solder bridges and blobs,check for those against a bright light.
Aharon

[petemoore]

  Orange squeezer, noise gate, sans amp gt-2 and now the rebote delay 2.5.
  If it helps any, you've chosen 4 difficult circuits to build. Other that the OS, I'd say they're very tricky, OS is just tricky.
  Pick up a chunk of perfboard, and cut a piece off of it, say 12 colums across a large RS board, build an LPB or something with a single gain stage, the experience and learning after personally converting a schematic to a perfboard layout I think is indespensible, there may be a substitute...reads...
  FAQ and "What to do when it doesn't work" are great places to start and get links from.
  I would pick one circuit from the above, concentrate on getting it going by doing the reads and taking debugging measurements and audio probing, noting results, then posting all the specific information necessary for 'classic debugging'.
 

[Mark Hammer]

We've all had period where everything we touched turned to s**t, interspersed with brief spurts where everything we touched turned to gold.  It happens.  Sometimes it is a singular type of error that keeps on repeating (e.g., a bad transistor pinout diagram that leads to mis-installing the same component in several different projects), and sometimes it is a constellation of a bunch of easily learned lessons that you can successfully master and pass through unharmed from now on.

I've had a few occasins in past where I simply disassembled what I had and rebuilt, and it worked the second time around.  In fact, quite often I find the second build of just about anything runs into fewer problems.

[Processaurus]

It sounds like on your delay, something is up around the area of the delay pot, because the tunnel sound is what you get when the delay time is set to a minimum and the feedback is cranked up.  bad pot, bad wiring, the pot getting shorted out, either at the pot or on the board, or a solder bridge somewhere around  pin 6 on the PT chip, which goes to the delay pot, which then goes to ground.  If you have a multimeter, check the resistance of (with the power off) that pin to ground, and it should change as you move the delay time pot. 

Don't take it personally that your stuff doesn't work, nothing I make works right away, but with some patient debugging, almost everything (thats made off a solid design) does.

[ElectroFreak]

Ok first off I want to thank you guys for your encouragement.  I'm usually not all negative nancy about stuff, I guess I was just pissed that everything I have done recently has not worked.  I figured out what the problem(s) were and now it's working, and I have to say it really sounds sweet.  More delay than I ever imagined it would have.  Turned out that Aharon you were right about the solder blobs.  While doing some continuity tests I found a spot right at the input that shouldn't be getting cont.  On the surface the joints looked good, but when I held it up to my desk light I saw where it was just barely touching.  Hooked it up and got delays but was getting a horrible noise if I turned up the delay more than 1/4 turn.  This sounded like a voltage problem since I read how touchy the delay chip was, so I replaced the volt reg and blamo it all came together (I must have had the polarity jacked up at some point maybe?).  Thanks for all the advice, I think I might dive back into some of the other projects that didn't work and see what I can do with them =)

[brett]

Hi.
Those 78L05s are annoying.  They face "away" compared with normal regulators.
Also, that Sans amp is one hell of a project (and I didn't like mine much), so you might leave it until last

If you don't have a multimeter, get one now.  Until yesterday, I built 50 projects with only a simple one (V,A,diode and transistor tests), costing about US$12.  

And if you get depressed or have mood swings, mention it to your doctor.
good luck

[markm]

I feel your pain.
I hate to say it but, I've struck out twice on Professor Tweed from ROG
I'll try it again sometime soon but for now, i'll shelve it.
It's a safe bet that Robert Keeley has had these times as well............maybe.

[Threefish]

I'll add my voice to the chorus - I know how you feel. There's nothing quite like the pain of working for hours on something, and getting nothing, just hiss/hum, or no noticable effect. I tend to agonise over things a bit, and be really anal about stuffing everything in the right places with correct polarity etc. etc. so it kills me when it doesn't work.
Usually though, I get it working.
There are a few that got thrown against a wall as well. Funnily enough, they still didn't work.

[LPEMG]

If it makes you feel any better:
I built the same circuit (MXR Noise Gate) four times without success. That was a couple of years ago... maybe I ought to revisit those boards if I didn't trash them.

[ryanscissorhands]

My first three attempts at the beginner project failed. . . the BEGINNER PROJECT! It's meant to be fool-proof. But Aron was not prepared for the likes of THIS fool!

But the fourth one worked. And so did the next two projects, after some IC swapping. It can be the most frustrating thing in the world, but once it works, it's magic. Until it fails again, but that's expected. I remember someone syaing they tried to debug a circuit for like three hours from the solder side, and then realized they hadn't put the IC's in yet. It's good to take a step back, and think of the tupidest think that you could have forgotten, then check it.

For me, I had forgotten to learn how to solder properly. And build yourself an audioprobe. So useful.

[squidsquad]

Yeah...
Had some time off...went on a building frenzy.
My Reagenerated Trem:  When I twist the bias to hear the trem...output is nearly off.
Hate debugging...rushed to a Vulcan:
2 stages seem to boost...last one don't...not much distortion...movin on...
Half way thru Joe's discrete diode compression Feedback Clipper...saw the new version on Runoff...
Tried to blend the two...
Get a split second of boost as I plug in...then the signal dissappears...sigh..
The Grail remains out of reach.
Even once aquired...you will create another.
Best to simply enjoy the journey.
I don't get angry or depressed.
But am let-down for a day or two...and then....
I show them bastards who's boss...RUFF!

[ElectroFreak]

Ok well I don't feel so bad now.  It seems what I went through is perfectly normal, and what I did was probably the best thing (I took a looong break after the first 3 didn't work).  Getting the delay to work now has boosted my confidence and taught me something.  I really want the noise gate to work, so I'll probably tackle that one next.  I still have all the parts and boards ready for my turquoise special (putting a green ringer with a blue box in the same enclosure with a selector switch to toggle which is on or both) but I I'll hold off until I get at least another of my cast-a-sides working.

[Mark Hammer]

Shortly after David Letterman was sidelined with, um, a transmission rebuild, I had the same sort of benchwork done on my own transmission.  At the time, it felt like recovery was a way of life that would last forever, but a mere year later those 8 weeks felt like a bad cold over a long weekend that had simply faded into the mists of time.  As eternities go, this one felt comparatively brief in retrospect. 

At the moment, it may feel like you are cursed, and a prisoner of troubleshooting hell.  "What the hell is WRONG with it/me/life?" you will think.  A year from now (which at the moment probably doesn't feel soon enough, but it is a *really* short period of time), the same sorts of false starts will evoke a quick blink of recognition, an "Oh right, silly me" response as you pop the box open and quickly recall those little things you forgot to do in your haste to fire it up, and an "Isn't it always that way" shake of the head as you put it back together and successfully fire it up, followed by an "Ehhh....not bad, but I think I know what I'll change to improve it" mumble.

Remarkable how fast all that progress happens.

[petemoore]

This sounded like a voltage problem since I read how touchy the delay chip was, so I replaced the volt reg and blamo it all came together.
   While doing some continuity tests I found a spot right at the input that shouldn't be getting cont.
  >>Now that's what I'm Talkin' Bout...Classic Debuggin'...reading/remembering/applying/succeeding !!!
  Getting past 'items' is a personal thing, advice is nice, very useful...thanks for the showerings of it guys, but I/You really have to 'apply' ourselves and our DMM's to systematically go about narrowing down and finding 'it'.
  KUDOS...Congraduations...I'm glad because I know you were glad when Echo Device fired up...that's a "Whomper' to chew on a first bite...
 

[brett]

Hi.
I killed a nasty, nasty bug today!! It had me down for about 5 days (about 3 hours of time).
Did the layout from memory.....Got it right, too....Except for 1 resistor....
 

[Geoff Hunter]

I'm becoming very good at getting the pinout of dual op-amps wrong.

"Right 100K of neg. feedback..." Resistor goes between pins 2 and 3.

Then 2 hours later when going through standard debugging procedures..... "no need to check the op-amp circuit I know if off by heart............ "

Check what you don't know, then check what "you don't need to check cause its correct" 

[tskullt]

Hang in there man, it is all worth it when you get 'em to go!   What I've discovered is that I really enjoy the challenge of getting them debugged.   I get pissed, walk away, come back, but I don't quit, and eventually it works.  And if you need help, this is the best community around.

Stay with it,
m.

[somasix]

While nothing is as encouraging as getting the circuit to work, I can commiserate.  When my most recent build (one knob tonebender) didn't work I was 1 for 5.  The only thing that fired up was a simple 555 oscillator.  I was super discouraged when the TB wasn't firing, but now I'm glad it didn't.  With Pete Moore's direction I learned more about pedal building, my multimeter, and reading schematics than I ever would have learned if it had worked out of the gate.  As of now, I'm 3 for 5 (1 and 4 got scavenged for parts) and it feels good.