Wah doesn't wah

[jimilee]

Oh god.. Started debugging this again today. I re-soldered everything on the board, because I thought there is another cold solder somewhere. Instead of getting it to work, I completely broke it. Now there's nothing on the output when the pedal is on. 

Starting to think that the problem is the low quality circuit board. There's something really strange going on.

Check. For a bridge, you said it was an etched board right? You may need to use a magnifier of some sort.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jebus]

sry you were quicker 
can you post some pics? did you measure the connection to / from the board?
maybe some part got dead during soldering?
just some ideas

There's couple of pictures on the first post, but I'll take some more.

I don't believe that any component broke during soldering, I just quickly went through all the solders. But maybe the leads on the board itself? Need to measure.

I measured connections from the board and they are good.

Check. For a bridge, you said it was an etched board right? You may need to use a magnifier of some sort.

Yes, its an etched board. I'll try to check for any bridges! Don't think I have any kind of magnifier, but I'll do my best.

[Jebus]

Alright, now I got sound again. One leg of Q2 was loose from the socket. Still sucks all the low end from the sound thou.

I measured all the connections both outside the board and inside it but didn't find anything wrong.. So next I think I'll quadruple check all values and components connections to board.

[Jebus]

So next I think I'll quadruple check all values and components connections to board.

Oh gawd. The ceramic capacitors say "102". That's 1.0 nF (=0.001uF), right? Because they should be 0.01 uF. 

[jimilee]

Nope, that's 1n


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jebus]

Switched the right size capacitors in and now it works perfectly. Thanks all for the help!

[luks999]

sry you were quicker 
can you post some pics? did you measure the connection to / from the board?
maybe some part got dead during soldering?
just some ideas

ah sorry overlooked the pics there

glad u got it working.
btw, do you have any noise with the wah? i have some with my weener wah and still couldnt find out why

There's couple of pictures on the first post, but I'll take some more.

I don't believe that any component broke during soldering, I just quickly went through all the solders. But maybe the leads on the board itself? Need to measure.

I measured connections from the board and they are good.

Check. For a bridge, you said it was an etched board right? You may need to use a magnifier of some sort.

Yes, its an etched board. I'll try to check for any bridges! Don't think I have any kind of magnifier, but I'll do my best.

[Jebus]

ah sorry overlooked the pics there
glad u got it working.
btw, do you have any noise with the wah? i have some with my weener wah and still couldnt find out why

Yeah, I'm very glad too. This project took almost ten years.. 

I haven't tested it with band volume yet, but at least there's no noticeable noise at bedroom volume. What kind of noise does your wah make?

[luks999]

ah sorry overlooked the pics there
glad u got it working.
btw, do you have any noise with the wah? i have some with my weener wah and still couldnt find out why

it sounds kinda pickup hum of single coils, but this noise is only with the wah and its clearer when increasing the sweep
sounds like a grounding issue to me, but i couldnt find a grounding problem...
can it be the enclosure?

Yeah, I'm very glad too. This project took almost ten years.. 

I haven't tested it with band volume yet, but at least there's no noticeable noise at bedroom volume. What kind of noise does your wah make?

[Jebus]

it sounds kinda pickup hum of single coils, but this noise is only with the wah and its clearer when increasing the sweep
sounds like a grounding issue to me, but i couldnt find a grounding problem...
can it be the enclosure?

Id say check all the ground connections with a DMM. You could also use an audio probe and check at which point does the hum come?

Edit. Also if the sweep of wah affects the hum then the hum comes before the potentiometer in the circuit.