Bloviator voltages?

[garcho]

Anyone have working Bloviator voltages? It sounded marvelous on the breadboard, WTF didn't I take the voltages down then?! Lesson learned.

[slacker]

I haven't built it but going from the schematic, pins marked VA should be 9volts, ground should be 0. All the other pins should be somewhere around 4.5 volts.
The pins connected to VB through the 1M resistors might measure a bit lower depending on your meter.

[garcho]

Thanks Ian!

[garcho]

For some reason, I get a nice strong signal for almost 1 second, then nothing. That's with the 9v battery. When I use the wall wart, I get a nice strong signal for almost 1 second, then loud hum.  

here are my voltages:

TL071
1 - 0.1
2 - 4.1
3 - 4.1
4 - 0.0
5 - 0.1
6 - 4.1
7 - 8.2
8 - 0.1

TL072
1 - 4.1
2 - 4.1
3 - 3.7
4 - 0.0
5 - 3.7
6 - 3.7
7 - 7.5 - this is abnormal, yes?
8 - 8.2

TL074
all 4.1, except ground @ 0.0 and cc at 8.2.

battery is at 8.9.

Thanks dudes!

[PRR]

> TL071
> 6 - 4.1
>
> TL072
> 5 - 3.7

These are the same point, "VB". How come they are different voltage?

[garcho]

I'm embarrassed to waste the honor of having you look at my voltages, Paul, but I resoldered everything and it works fine now, voltages normal. However, pointing out what you did has reminded me (again) to always take a deep breath, think logically, be patient, and assume I've made a stupid mistake. Had I done that instead of get pissed, have a beer, and write a post, I would have resoldered straight away. 

By the way, the circuit sounds fabulous (strat, hotrod deluxe), highly recommended build!

[PRR]

> assume I've made a stupid mistake.

I've learned to suspect "my stupid mistake" almost every time.

Last week I got a 2-wheel grinder. One wheel un-screwed in a flash. The other one would NOT unscrew.

Someone out there is giggling. The other wheel has to be LEFT-hand thread or it would un-screw while grinding. And I know that. But in excitement over a new (to me) grinder I stupidly forgot.

But suspecting "my stupid mistake AGAIN!" I stopped and thought (illogically) for a while before I got the Bigger Wrench. Actually the more likely stupid mistake is not knowing my left from my right. So I faced the shaft to figure that out, which way normally comes loose. That shook-loose the thought that *sometimes* wheels come off the other way round.

> I resoldered everything

I'm less keen on this common practice. There's too many solder-joints to take a hit-or-miss approach to soldering, or to "resolder everything" as a debugging tool.

When you play music, do you hit the right note 9 out of 10 times? No, that could be disappointing to you and your listeners. 99 out of 100? Well, I know musicians like that who get by. But I know musicians who (at least on on 4/4 C-maj music, the equivalent of normal soldering) hit the right note 999 out of 1000, and it is a real pleasure to work with them. Factory workers are expected to solder at least 999:1000; anything much lower and the duds pile up faster than they can be fixed.

Sorry, didn't mean to lecture.

[garcho]

Ha! No worries, your lectures are always welcome. Resoldering every joint was laziness on my part - bad habit!
Shall I get a new iron? I'm using a 25w junker from Radio Shack (I know, I know). Would an iron with a higher wattage help with my soldering batting average? Or am I just making excuses?

[PRR]

Especially if you must re-re-solder, get a non-crap iron. For DIP-work, small chisel tip and a _good_ 25W (most of the cheap iron's 25W never gets to the tip). Decades ago I invested in Weller elements and handles, about $50 for two iron-sets (a 35W and a 45W) that have lasted half a lifetime. These days there are more elegant "systems" with a box and a knob that adjusts the power to the joint (within reason) for not much more money (much _cheaper_ considering gas was $0.79 back then). If there isn't a soldering-station thread, start one.