My first Stompbox WORKS!

[tenchijin2]

Okay so it's not the Taj Mahal, but hey I'm new to this.




The only thing that isn't working right is the bypass LED. When you plug the unit in, the LED slowly lights up even in bypass mode. It will dim if you turn the level pot down. When you stomp the switch the LED stays lit (it should be lit at this point) and when you stomp it back to bypass the light goes out, but then it slowly lights up again.

Any ideas? It seems like it'd be a simple wiring problem, but I don't know enough to know what that might be!

Aric

[petemoore]

 I bet you're happy doggy today !
  I know I was when I got one fired up !
   Welcome...
    daft, I can't get the link to work, sounds like a wierd problem, those commonly get a wiring difficulty fixed.
 

[Krinor]

Beautifull enclosure. I'm guessing it's a polished one from Smallbear ?

[tenchijin2]

Beautifull enclosure. I'm guessing it's a polished one from Smallbear ?

indeed, it is!

aric

[Pushtone]

You da man!



Take a break, come back fresh and trace your wiring.


Things to consider.
Isolated DC jack (if you used a DC jack)
Wiring at the input jack for the battery/DC jack.
Grounds.

[stopstopsmile]

sweet, good job man. 

[tenchijin2]

Okay, so I'm thinking.

The LED lights slowly. That doesn't make sense unless there's a cap feeding it, right? I must have contact somewhere between two leads.

I used a PCB and it is a very simple design so that's GOT to be it.

I'll check this evening.

aric

[tenchijin2]

edit. removed for obvious erroneous conclusion.

[Pushtone]

Now, there looks to be a jumper right in the middle of the board above the transistor 2N5087.

Should those two points be connected together by a wire?

Yes, the jumper on the layout should be on your build.

Sound like your problem is with the Millennium  Bypass part of the circuit, or perhaps some off board wires.

[tenchijin2]

Thanks. You replied before I removed that silly question. I looked at the board and realized that jumper is what connects the pot to the transistor. Duh.

I looked carefully at my wiring and discovered that the LED leads were touching eachother. So I cleared that up.

Now, the LED stays on permanently when the cord is plugged into the input. So it's getting power all the time, even in standby.

The only thing I can think is that I've toasted my board. I did in fact burn it trying to solder the pot leads and I ended up using a jumper to connect two leads on the trace because there was not contact tin left on the board.

Aside from the ugly looking pot connection the rest of the board looks beautiful to me. All my jack connections look good. So why won't the power dissipated to the LED?

Unless... Now I'm assuming in the millenium bypass the LED should turn off in bypass mode, right? I'd feel pretty silly if it is meant to stay lit.

[tenchijin2]

Got it.

I had poorly soldered leads on the inputs to both the effect and the mil bypass. So those were resoldered and poof... it works now.

Thanks for the encouragement, guys!

I'm going to build another one and see if I can sell it on craigslist. Then it's on to the next project. Hmm....

[sshrugg]

That is really nice looking.  Congratulations!

[frankclarke]

Nice work!

[paperhouse]

congrats! i just got my first build working this weekend so i know the feeling. i still need to put it in an enclosure though. that one looks great.

[DougH]

That looks nice. What is it?

[tenchijin2]

Treble booster.

[tenchijin2]

Here's a soundfile I put together (with a little naration). I'm trying to sell one of these pedals so I thought this would be a cool idea.

www.junglenoisestudio.com/songs/shriekingeel.mp3

aric