Naughty Fish help

[fredwreck]

Finally finished my Naughty Fish... Just cant get it to work right.

When the range switch is to the left, I get no effect.  I get signal thru, but no effect.  Then When I switch the range to the right, I get effect.  Could there be something funny with the DPDT On-On switch? I got all the parts from Small Bear. 

Thanks for any help or tips you guys can give.

[m-Kresol]

please follow the guidelines for getting tech help. We'll need voltages of all your semiconductors please.

I would start checking the switch with the continuity setting of the multimeter and see if you have continuity to either side in the respective switch positions.

[fredwreck]

Here are my readings.. I checked the continuity of the switches and everything seems fine.  Just dont get any action with the range switch to the left. 

9.74 volts +lead

IC1
1   3.3mv
2   3.4mv
3   0
4   -8.84
5   3.4mv
6   2.1mv
7   2mv
8   9.41

IC2
1   1.41      .75
2   3.8mv   3.8mv
3   0      0
4   -8.84   -8.84
5   3.73      .88
6   3.76      .88
7   7.10      2.54
8   9.40      9.40

IC3
1   0   
2   1.9mv
3   0
4   -8.84
5   0
6   0
7   0
8   9.64

IC4
1   1.39
2   5.21
3   .1mv
4   -3.91
5   -8.84   
6   2.56
7   1.43
8   9.40

[m-Kresol]

your voltages all look good to me.

Does the indicator LED react to how you are playing? does it do anything when the switch is on the left? if it doesn't light up, your LDRs are not getting modulated, thus no effect.

maybe try audioprobing too. switch to the left should mean pins 3 and 2 are connected. I'd follow the signal path from C4 to pin 1 of IC2 and then further to pin5 and 7 to see if there is signal getting there.

[mcasemo]

I'm dealing with this as well, and previous posts suggest it could be the use of non-VTL5C3 vactrols.  I have the macrons in and it works in the reverse envelope mode, but in normal mode the voltage is not getting there to effect the filter.  I'm going to switch them out and will let you know if it fixes it.

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=22706.msg228633

[fredwreck]

Checked all the points you mentioned Kresol, with an audio probe.  I get sound.  The LED light does have movement in every position.

I used VTL5C3 Macron Vactrols from small bear.  Im thinking maybe one of them is bad.  I dont know what else it could be.  Im gonna try and switch the vactrols to see if the problem changes.

Any other ideas would be helpful thanks everyone.

[fredwreck]

Finally got it working.. Get rid of those Macron Vactrols and order you some Xvive VTL5c3!!

[mcasemo]

haha, glad it's working.  do you get it working without tweaking the trimmer between up and down envelope?   

[fredwreck]

I had the trimmer in the middle, I didnt even mess with it and it sounds fine.  When I get in the studio and have someone play bass while I tweak it , ill dial it in better.  But for now its money!