Messages

That makes sense - so to do it with a soft switch I'd need a relay . . . anyone know of a simple relay based momentary switch schematic I could use for this?

I'm trying to build a tap tempo switch for a Strymon Flint, which requires:

"a normally open, single pole, double throw (SPDT) type switch that switches the TIP between the SLEEVE (ground or 0VDC) to the RING (5VDC)."

I found a momentary DPDT switch on Pedal Parts Plus which kind of works, but the switch itself clicks. This appears to confuse the Flint (it sometimes treats the "click" as two stomps). Plus, it is hard to operate - you really have to stomp on it and the results are inconsistent. 

Does anyone know where I can find a clickless SPDT or DPDT momentary switch?  I e-mailed Small Bear and they only have the switch I've already tried (their clickless switches are all single throw, which will not work, according to Strymon).  Mouser doesn't appear to indicate if their switches are clickless or not (at least I can't find any indication.

Thanks!

What do you mean "Level" pot? Do you mean the output volume or the effect volume?

If you want to add a pot that controls the amount of wet signal -- i.e. a mix or depth control -- here's one way: http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=5232.0

It's possible to JUST swap out R15 for a 10K pot, but it won't block as much wet signal as doing both R15 and R16 and it'll sound a little odd. Taper isn't important if you're just doing R15.

I'm looking to control the wet signal - that link looks like just what I'm looking for.  Thanks!

Would it be possible to add an effect level pot to the Smoothie?  If so, where would it go and what value would you use?  It looks to me like you would want to replace R15, right?  Would you use a 10k pot or something larger or smaller?  I'm assuming you'd want an audio taper, too, right? 

I thought it was okay, but when I played it at volume, I can hear a strange fuzz as the note decays. Sounds like some kind of power supply issue.  I'm guessing something else got fried when the op amp blew.  Sigh . . .

So, I went over everything and couldn't find a problem, so I popped in a new op amp and it's working fine.  Seems incredible, but I wonder if I just had a very rare op amp failure?

No thoughts anyone?  Looking at the pin out of the op amp, pin 4 is V+ and pin 5 is ground.  So if there were a short between these two pins, you'd just be draining the full power supply to ground, right?  That would explain why everything on my board went dead. 

So the op amp was blistered right between the two pins - would this happen if the short were external to the pin?  (I can't find any evidence of a short on the board or in the wiring that would bridge these two pins). Is there any way the op amp just failed due to an internal short? I've never had an op amp go on me before, but I don't understand why the Op amp would blister between those two pins if the short were external . . . .

I should also note that the pedal has been working fine for several weeks, with a fair amount of usage, solidly attached to a pedal board (so not a lot of jostling).  You can see the melted bit of the socket next to the op amp blew between pins 4 and 5.

I'm wondering if the cable incident could have sent in some kind of signal spike or messed with the grounding in a way that damaged the op amp or charge pump?  The Kingslayer was third in line behind a NPN Rangemaster clone and a Bozz FZ-2.  All pedals operating off the same 1 Spot on a daisy chain. 

I just added a Mad Professor compressor behind it (doubt I'm anywhere near the current draw limit of the 1 Spot - could a current problem cause a failure like this?

Here are a couple of pics - hopefully they are clear enough.  I can't see any obvious shorts.  The board is seated on 3M double sided foam tape and one of the hard clipping diodes is missing (lost it when I was assembling and waiting for a replacement - the other clipping option is intact, though and that's how I was running it).

There are a few bare wires in there, but they appear to be clear of any contact.

Playing through my Kingslayer just now and I yanked my guitar cable out of my guitar. The plug hit a metal chair on the way to the floor and my board went quiet except for a very low level thumping.  It took me a few minutes to figure out what had died as power to everything was out.  At first I thought I had managed to fry my 1-spot but I finally discovered it was the Kingslayer - I noticed a little smoke coming out of it and smelled some burning plastic, so I yanked it immediately!  I opened it up and the quad op amp appears to be the smoking culprit - either pin 4 or 5 (both are burnt).

Any thoughts on what might have happened? Would a short do something to the power supply?  It was on at the time it happened (I built the buffered version). 

I'm wondering if I should replace the charge pump as well as the op amp of if it's even worth it (i.e., did I really fry it?)

I figured it out - getting the board ready to take a picture, I noticed that I had blown out one of the solder pads when I had to change out a resistor (initially put in the wrong value), so R9 was not connected to C5.  Working now - thanks!  You got me to look at the other side of the board :-)

I should probably work on my soldering skills :-)

I built the Cupcake. No part substitutions. 

When you engage the effect, you get a signal.  The volume knob takes the signal from zero to slightly under the un-effected signal (so at max, you get a slight volume drop). This is with the trimmer at max.  Turning the trimmer from min to max goes from zero volume to slightly below unity with the volume knob maxxed.  I do appear to be getting a little bit of compression, but it's kind of hard to tell, since it's a subtle effect to begin with and I appear to be pretty low in the operating range of the circuit.

I'll be double checking components and solder joints today, but any thoughts on where this kind of problem might most likely arise?

Thanks - for some reason I couldn't find them on Mouser.  Apparently, my search skills suck  :-)

mouser has them http://www.mouser.com/Passive-Components/Capacitors/Film-Capacitors/_/N-9x371Zscv7?P=1z0vn48Z1z0vn3cZ1z0wps3&Ns=Pricing|0

tayda http://www.taydaelectronics.com/capacitors/polyester-film-box-type-capacitors/27nf-0-027uf-100v-5-polyester-film-box-type-capacitor.html

C13 for the Kingslayer project is listed as 27n - I can't seem to find that value of cap anywhere (Mouser, Pedalpartsplus or SmallBear).  Anyone know where to find them or what might be a suitable substitute?