Where to begin troubleshooting

[StratRat]

Hello!  First time poster here.  I have a Madbean Octavia clone that I got in trade for another pedal.  For the most part it is functional, but it has a couple issues.  The first is what I would describe as volume fluctuation when the pedal is engaged.  It seems to flutter, or fade in and out.  The second issue is that the pedal seems to interfere with the signal even when bypassed.  There is less volume, and the tone sounds muffled.  I'd like to fix these issues myself if possible.

About me and my skills: I have a soldering iron and multimeter, and though I am not a pro with either, I am not afraid to use them.  Just looking for a starting point and some tips/encouragement before I get started.

I'll browse these forums for similar topics in the meantime, but if anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it.  Thanks!

[selfdestroyer]

Welcome to the forum. Always great to see new members that are eager to jump right in.

I would say a good place to start is to take a look at the bypass section and compare it to Madbean's "Footswitch Wiring Essentials" document.
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/tutorials/index.html

Also, you may want to start a new thread in the tech help section and take a look at the post guide lines:
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=902.0

I bet with the right information we can all help point you in the right direction to get this up and going.

Cody

[JackSkellington]

Hi StratRat.
About the sound in bypass, maybe you should check the off board wiring, it is strange if you got a different tone.

You are building the Tycobrahe Octavia, right? That one with a transformer. Because that issue about the volume, a sort of too much gated sound (I can't explain it better) seems to be very common, at least I got it in my building.
But I have been helping, and further you can find the solution on this forum.
Anyway, you should have a 680k resistor, and it goes to the ground. You have to move the ground side and solder it to the C of the PNP transistor. You could try some lower value of that resistor.
It's been for me the solution and the circuit sound fine, now.