Neutrino build, very low output.

[Ward]

Howdy pedal hounds, this is my first thread and my first anything here. I've bought a few of Brian's boards, this is the first one that has given me a drama. The thing works but the output is way low, like I can here it but it's really quiet. It's the Burst one. I've spent all day tryin to fix it, I'm stumped. I've rechecked the resistor values twice, been over the board for bad joints. The only thing I haven't done is reef out all the caps and try a second lot, these double sided boards are a pain to work on. It would be cheaper to just buy a new board than what the solder wick is costing me. I dunno if I have a dud board. I wired it up straight to the jacks so there's no wiring error. Anyway, I thought I'd join up here n see if anyone can help before I take the hammer to it. Maybe tomorrow I will swap out all the caps or just the electrolytics first up?

[jkokura]

Whoa, slow down cowboy. Don't take anything out yet. First up, read the rules for getting tech help, and follow the suggestions there. Long before you replace anything, give us some good pictures, and somevoltage readings. Also, double check that you grounded your jacks, because they need to be connected to ground for it to work correctly.

Jacob

[bangerang101]

 I would wait to swap out passive components (resistors, capacitors). Ive never fixed a pedal where it was just simply, a broken resistor or capacitor, and immediatley changing all the parts on the board will probably end up worse then where your at now, which could just be something simple (I know it probably doesn't seem like it can be simple, but just keep calm) ... check voltages at the IC pins, and post them on here. Also, make sure your wiring is right and your getting 9v to the board (check voltage with a multi-meter at 9v spot on the board)

[Ward]

Rightio then, after sleeping on it I have had another go all to no avail, so here are the voltages on the chip.
Voltage going in is 9.5
Pins 1: 4.76
      2: 4.71
      3: 4.76
      4: nil
      5: 2.22
      6: 4.49
      7: 4.69
      8: 9.05
Thanks for taking a look.

[jkokura]

Were you testing without the pots? It would need to have pots for it to work correctly.

Voltages look ok, except 5 seems a little low. But then again, without pots it might be low because of that.

Jacob

[Ward]

Hi J, yeah today I tested without the pots, yesterday they were connected. I'll wire em up and check again, thanks.

[Ward]

It's alive. There's something wrong when I put it in the enclosure, I'll sort it out. 

[jkokura]

That's what I thought of first, that there was an installation problem.

Glad to hear it's working, post a build report when you get a chance to rock it for a while!

Jacob

[Ward]

Thanks Jacob, there's certainly something to be said about rockin it first before jammin it all into the box. I think the 9 pin switch might be dicky. 

[jkokura]

Possible. It might also be that you didn't wire it correctly, or all sorts of other very easy to make mistakes. Take your time and orient the switch right, and you should be good to go.

Jacob

[Ward]

Right, a very hard fix but I found the problem eventually. I didn't have a 5k pot for the tone so I used a 10k and I put a 10k resistor across the outer lugs, I didn't put the resistor ends through the lugs but through the holes where the lugs connect to the pot and soldered from underneath, after cutting off the excess I thought no more about it, those cut off bits were shorting to the enclosure, so I put a fiber washer under the pot and all is good.  
I now need to hear how the black version sounds so tomorrow I'll be swapping out parts.

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

Good job on the troubleshoot! Grounding issues are a usual culprit! Making a test rig will aid you greatly also and make troubleshooting much easier.

[Ward]

Here's my thoughts on the Burst Vs Black spec if interested.
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=1818.0

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

I do have a neutrino to build and I'm gonna give your suggestion a try!