Footswitch Popping.

[Slowpoke101]

The flashing minus symbol could mean that the meter is measuring a voltage that is too high for the voltage range selected. Or (and more likely) there is no voltage detected to be measured.
Leaving the black probe on the DC jack ground connection, using the red probe (with power applied to the effect) measure the output lead connection point on both boards. You should see no voltage (or just millivolts). I suspect that there is a problem with the board(s) that is allowing DC to be presented to the output connection.
Check the board(s) for any errors or slivers of solder or copper. If you aren't successful is there any chance that you can upload some close-up pictures of both sides of the board(s) and we shall see if there is anything that you may have missed.

[steveyraff]

The flashing minus symbol could mean that the meter is measuring a voltage that is too high for the voltage range selected. Or (and more likely) there is no voltage detected to be measured.
Leaving the black probe on the DC jack ground connection, using the red probe (with power applied to the effect) measure the output lead connection point on both boards. You should see no voltage (or just millivolts). I suspect that there is a problem with the board(s) that is allowing DC to be presented to the output connection.
Check the board(s) for any errors or slivers of solder or copper. If you aren't successful is there any chance that you can upload some close-up pictures of both sides of the board(s) and we shall see if there is anything that you may have missed.

Thank you for narrowing that down for me and explaining it in detail. I think a lot of people here have vastly over-estimated my intelligence when it comes to helping me out lol. I believe it definitely is something to do with the circuits. Especially since today I replaced both footswitches entirely. My relative who teaches electronics at university level is a real wiz at this sort of thing and has been trying to help me out via email as well. He is hopefully going to be able to have a look at it for me this weekend. He said in his many years of experience, he has only ever had an issue with a leaky cap twice, his entire life. I'm close to just replacing both circuits with entirely new ones. Had I done that to begin with, I am thinking this would all have been sorted quite a while ago.

I've read dozens of threads about pedal popping, and none of them seemed to have been resolved with suspected leaky caps either - oddly.

Hopefully I get to the bottom of it soon - and I both thank everyone trying to help me and apologise for my incompetence - I am sure it is frustrating.

Cheers all - will keep you updated.

[Danich_ivanov]

I might be a little late for the party, but from my experience with pops, it has always been a big polarized capacitor in the beginning/end, and once i stopped using them in this places, things are good.

[idy]

It's not about estimating people's intelligence, just assuming a word or action is understood...
These pops can be tricky. Hope you have read about "ventriloquism" where another pedal with dc makes a true bypass pop...
So you test the pedal with no other effects, making sure that other true bypass pedals with the same amp/guitar don't pop..( the amp isn't injecting DC itself.....)
Then......I have  a couple neat utility pedals; one is a passive a/b switcher (must have beginner project.) If a pedal pops when I'm using its own footswitch but doesn't pop when I use the a/b (with the pedal on the "a" side and a patch cord on the "b" side) then I think the problem is in the footswitch itself. These 3pdt are pretty cheap and that epoxy holding the solder terminals in place can move just a hair if you are just a moment to slow/hot with the iron.... And you can easily reproduce your own bad behavior when replacing it with another switch out of the same bag....
And a circuit itself can be microphonic! Does tapping the box, or the circuit board, or anything else "pick up" in the output of the pedal? That acoustic click from the switch, it's a mechanical vibration, and many things can turn it into signal. Ceramic caps, cold solder, any one care to join in?

Being able to fix these kind of things, or even find a quick and dirty way to make them go away for a gig, its worth the trouble.

[steveyraff]

It's not about estimating people's intelligence, just assuming a word or action is understood...
These pops can be tricky. Hope you have read about "ventriloquism" where another pedal with dc makes a true bypass pop...
So you test the pedal with no other effects, making sure that other true bypass pedals with the same amp/guitar don't pop..( the amp isn't injecting DC itself.....)
Then......I have  a couple neat utility pedals; one is a passive a/b switcher (must have beginner project.) If a pedal pops when I'm using its own footswitch but doesn't pop when I use the a/b (with the pedal on the "a" side and a patch cord on the "b" side) then I think the problem is in the footswitch itself. These 3pdt are pretty cheap and that epoxy holding the solder terminals in place can move just a hair if you are just a moment to slow/hot with the iron.... And you can easily reproduce your own bad behavior when replacing it with another switch out of the same bag....
And a circuit itself can be microphonic! Does tapping the box, or the circuit board, or anything else "pick up" in the output of the pedal? That acoustic click from the switch, it's a mechanical vibration, and many things can turn it into signal. Ceramic caps, cold solder, any one care to join in?

Being able to fix these kind of things, or even find a quick and dirty way to make them go away for a gig, its worth the trouble.

I've built probably dozens of this particular type of pedal with no issues. I'm pretty fast with the soldering iron as I use it daily - but I did entirely replace both footswitches anyway. I also checked for any microphonic components, and my test set up only contains the one pedal I am working with. This pedal has popped with the guy I built it for, his friends rig, and my own test rig.

I'm going to start replacing a few capacitors today - if that fails, I'm just replacing the entire circuits in it.

[Danich_ivanov]

It's not about estimating people's intelligence, just assuming a word or action is understood...
These pops can be tricky. Hope you have read about "ventriloquism" where another pedal with dc makes a true bypass pop...
So you test the pedal with no other effects, making sure that other true bypass pedals with the same amp/guitar don't pop..( the amp isn't injecting DC itself.....)
Then......I have  a couple neat utility pedals; one is a passive a/b switcher (must have beginner project.) If a pedal pops when I'm using its own footswitch but doesn't pop when I use the a/b (with the pedal on the "a" side and a patch cord on the "b" side) then I think the problem is in the footswitch itself. These 3pdt are pretty cheap and that epoxy holding the solder terminals in place can move just a hair if you are just a moment to slow/hot with the iron.... And you can easily reproduce your own bad behavior when replacing it with another switch out of the same bag....
And a circuit itself can be microphonic! Does tapping the box, or the circuit board, or anything else "pick up" in the output of the pedal? That acoustic click from the switch, it's a mechanical vibration, and many things can turn it into signal. Ceramic caps, cold solder, any one care to join in?

Being able to fix these kind of things, or even find a quick and dirty way to make them go away for a gig, its worth the trouble.

I've built probably dozens of this particular type of pedal with no issues. I'm pretty fast with the soldering iron as I use it daily - but I did entirely replace both footswitches anyway. I also checked for any microphonic components, and my test set up only contains the one pedal I am working with. This pedal has popped with the guy I built it for, his friends rig, and my own test rig.

I'm going to start replacing a few capacitors today - if that fails, I'm just replacing the entire circuits in it.

If it still pops, another option to consider is relay switching. Although i'm not entirely sure that it won't pop afterwards as i haven't done relay switching myself (yet!), to really know consequences, but it is an option.

[steveyraff]

So my relative who teaches electronics at University this past 30 odd years took a look at it. He had about an hour or two with it and had to leave - but was also frustrated he couldn't find anything. He measured pretty much everything on there. I replaced all electrolytic caps at this stage, and the coupling caps. I've also replaced both foot switches. I am now considering either replacing the IC's, to see if something weird is up with one of them, or else just rebuilding the entire circuits.

I guess my fear is rebuilding the whole circuits over again, then discovering its still there - which would mean the popping is coming from offboard wiring, or pots I guess.

[anrandroll]

Hi, Be sure to solder the ground wire from the 3pdt to the input and output jacks. Then verify that nothing in the box is making weird contact.

I recently made two pedals that had that problem and it was solved only by soldering a cable to ground from the 3pdt to both jacks. I'm telling you because in madbean they say you do not need to do it with the output jack since the output jack is already on the ground with the box. In theory it is totally true, but my way of solving it was to secure the ground with the extra cable, and now no popping at all. I'm noob in this but if I help you, welcome!

Sorry for my english, isn't my native language

[steveyraff]

Hi, Be sure to solder the ground wire from the 3pdt to the input and output jacks. Then verify that nothing in the box is making weird contact.

I recently made two pedals that had that problem and it was solved only by soldering a cable to ground from the 3pdt to both jacks. I'm telling you because in madbean they say you do not need to do it with the output jack since the output jack is already on the ground with the box. In theory it is totally true, but my way of solving it was to secure the ground with the extra cable, and now no popping at all. I'm noob in this but if I help you, welcome!

Sorry for my english, isn't my native language

My input, output and 3pdt are all grounded. Thanks for the suggestion though.

[Elijah-Baley]

Perhaps anrandroll is suggestion you to add an extra cable, though it seems useless. I'm not sure where exactly is spotted this extra cable (or these extra cables).
Perhaps anrandroll could try to make a drawn, maybe using the layout attached in the first post.

[battery acid]

The King/Prince of Tone is VERY prone to bypass popping. Replace the polarized 1uf output capacitor with a non polarized and it will stop. Or try a lot of polarized until you find one that doesn't

[steveyraff]

The King/Prince of Tone is VERY prone to bypass popping. Replace the polarized 1uf output capacitor with a non polarized and it will stop. Or try a lot of polarized until you find one that doesn't

I've heard that. But why then does it have a polarised cap there? Surely it is there for a reason?

[amz-fx]

But why then does it have a polarised cap there? Surely it is there for a reason?

Polarized caps in 1uF are physically smaller than film caps, less expensive and easier to find. Film caps are usually less leaky than electrolytics, which is why they can sometimes solve the popping problem. Also not sure why there are two 1uF caps on the output since a single 1uF will be more than adequate for most pedal connections.

You have eliminated the LED circuit as a source by disconnecting it but there are other possible causes:  http://www.muzique.com/lab/pop.htm

regards, Jack