Nothing I make seems to work

[tunatuk]

Alright, I'm having issues with pedal building, and don't know what the heck I'm doing wrong.

I started with a Synthrotek Tubescreamer board, and didn't have the right stuff, ended up heating up some spots too much, and scrapped it because I couldn't get it to work.

Then bought a better soldering iron, and better components, and bought a few boards from Mad Bean, a Mud Bunny, a Cherry Bomb, a Chunk Chunk, Hipster Fuzz, Pork Barrel and a Nautilus.  I've populated all but the Nautilus, because I don't know if I have the skills now.

The mud bunny and the Cherry Bomb "work", after some finagling.  In the meantime I found out about Veroboard, and Mark's blog.  I figured I could start making some things off of there.  I have tried the tubescreamer three times, all failed.  I was able to successfully make a LPB-1, with no LED hooked up.

Oh, and the Mud Bunny doesn't give me a tone I like, and I'm not sure the Cherry Bomb is working right either.  It sounds very dirty, and its just a nasty sound.

I also ordered Tonepad Sansamp, Tube Screamer and a Ross Compressor.  I even went as far as buying nice paint for the enclosures, and waterslide decal paper, and made nice enclosures, thinking that I'd have good luck.

Well, I built the tubescreamer, and nothing.  Not even in bypass, which I've been able to get that to work on every single pedal I've ever done.  I've got 6 other boards populated, and I don't even want to box them up or test them, because if they don't work I'm just gonna end up throwing everything away.

So I'm at a crossroads...I'm EXTREMELY frustrated, and have several hundred dollars invested into components, and NOTHING works.  Who wants to buy my stash??

I've got lots of film-box caps, about 9 1590BB enclosures, 7 1590B enclosures (8 if you want labeled Keeley Compressor), several populated boards, a crap ton of Electrolytic caps, another crap ton of resistors, and yet another crapton of pots.  I literally just spent $300 at Tayda a few weeks ago, and had been given some components by friends.  All in all, I probably have about $800 retail worth of stuff.  Considering selling it all for $500 and just buying a few pedals that I want.

[jkokura]

Man, I know how you feel. When I first started into this, I made a tonne of bad moves and nothing I built worked, and I got really frustrated.

I was really encouraged when a few people helped me debug and make my pedals work. Eventually I've moved on to designing and building my own effects, and designing PCBs for loads of circuits. I don't mean to say that you should go that route, but rather, even those of us who seem to have pedal building down know what it's like to be as frustrated as you must be right now.

The way I see it, I can totally understand why you might want to outright quit. Chances are high you'd get some money back for your equipment here, or at another place you can sell. I'll take some if you want.

However, if you had wanted pedal building to become a hobby for you, and chances are that's why you started, we can help you out. There are lots of people here who have experience in teaching people how to debug their own pedals, and I'm willing to work personally with you (here online, by email, by Skype if necessary). We can get you going with your effects if you want to go that route.

Jacob

[das234]

Patience. 

Take advantage of the great people here for support and assistance (and sometimes comic relief).

Never finish an enclosure for a pedal you haven't built and tested to your liking.  You don't have to box a circuit that doesn't meet your expectations.  (like my Pepper Spray)

Good luck.

[mattlee0037]

Yeah, I would start with trying to get that hipster fuzz to work if I was you. Lots of things can go wrong on a mudbunny or something of the sort. Make yourself an audio probe and debugging becomes a million times easier.

[tunatuk]

Patience. 

Take advantage of the great people here for support and assistance (and sometimes comic relief).

Never finish an enclosure for a pedal you haven't built and tested to your liking.  You don't have to box a circuit that doesn't meet your expectations.  (like my Pepper Spray)

Good luck.

The only reason I finished an enclosure for the tubescreamer is because my plan was at some point to have one made...even if I ordered a third board from madbean to try out!  The Keeley was painted just because I figured that would be a good one to box up too...I figured I had good luck with the other two PCB's that were pre-printed.  Now I realize that I was foolish for jumping too far ahead!

[gordo]

+1 on the above.  If if can't be fixed here it can't be fixed.  And you're liable to find that it's a goofy misstep (which we've all done) that once solved will blow this whole hobby open.  To more problems...

Seriously, post photos and wrack folks brains around here.  This is all about being frustrated/elated and you'll get a ton of both as you get better.

[jubal81]

It can be really frustrating. I still have stretches when it feels like I can't get anything to work. We can get you going, though, I'm sure of it. There's just a LOT to learn and it's hard to get it all straight when it's spread haphazard across the Web.

I get the sense you really want to get a tubescreamer working. Let's start there. Post some good pics and we'll take it step-by-step.

[Leevibe]

Hang in there! Persistence wins in this sport!

[stevie1556]

It it makes you feel better, I've built well over 50 pedals (most have been nicked by my friends), but I've recently had a run of 7 boards that all didn't work when I tried them. With helo from other members, I've managed to fix 2 of them, and find the fault in the 3rd one whoch I still need to rectify. But keep at it, and rather then give up and sell the stuff, debug them, find out where the error is, and you will learn a lot more.

First, I would test that you're getting voltage in the right places with a multi meter, then move onto an audio probe. I'm only just learning all this, so some with a bit more experience will be able to help more here.

Honestly though, don't give up easily. Even the best builders have a run of bad luck!

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[tunatuk]

I'm gonna post pictures when I get home from work today.  If we can get this troubleshot, I might regain a little bit of confidence lol.

I appreciate all the help being offered.  My fiance yelled at me last night for threatening to just sell it all off and quit, and told me to go research it more, and lo and behold, she was right.  (If any of you tell her...I'm gone though!!!)  I didn't expect everyone to offer to help, I figured that everyone would want to score cheap parts!

[wgc]

Think about getting your eyes checked too

Not joking. Even a small vision problem, bad lighting, etc can make a huge difference.

[Gledison]

I'm gonna post pictures when I get home from work today.  If we can get this troubleshot, I might regain a little bit of confidence lol.

I appreciate all the help being offered.  My fiance yelled at me last night for threatening to just sell it all off and quit, and told me to go research it more, and lo and behold, she was right.  (If any of you tell her...I'm gone though!!!)  I didn't expect everyone to offer to help, I figured that everyone would want to score cheap parts!

Hey! a noob here too! If you are at this because you like to full around with electronics, you find interesting, you want to learn how the effects works, Just keep on going.
If you never worked with electronics before, of course isnt easy, but is also not that complicated!
First of all, Change your girlfriend ! Better, stay  single, you can focus on learning ehhehe
I dont think the guys here will prefer cheap parts than help, no way. The pips here can find cheap parts anyways, they (we) are all pedal junkies!! am i wrong ?
just post here your problems and you will find an answer!
cheers

[PhiloB]

I like the idea of allowing this forum to help you trouble shoot the one pedal you really want to work.  Have the patience to get it working.  Once you have it working you can probably make a more objective opinion about whether you want tot grow in the towel or not.

[peAk]

Make sure on the Mudbunny that your transistors are not backwards. I did that and it worked and distorted but it wasn't right - didn't have that bigmuff sound. There are many transistors listed and some of them need to be turned 180 degrees from what the PCB shows.

Also, this is exactly why I went with a kit from BYOC the first time. They (the building docs) hold your hand through everything. Had I not done that and had instant success, I probably wouldn't have pursued pedal building.

[flanagan0718]

Hang in there man, it's tough. I've been dining it for only about a year and I rarely get a board going on the first try. Especially vero. Those are a different kind of challenge than prefab boards. They take extra attention to detail. My first build was a MB cupcake and it took 3 weeks of searching and debugging just to find out that my ele caps were backwards. Don't beat yourself up, take the extra breath and or come back to it tomorrow. One more thing, we are here to take advantage of. We have all learned from experience and can help. A picture is worth 1000 words and the dudes on here are top notch. We have all been there and know what you're going through, just ask you'll get more help than you expect. That goes for MB builds and others as well. So breath and let's melt some metal!


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