Uproar Pedal Question...

[J0K3RX]

I built the Uproar and I am having a problem with it. I etched the board myself from the layout in the pdf. Seemed to turn out pretty good, a little spotty here and there but no shorts or bridges etc... I checked the board over real good with my DMM and my eyes and all is well there. It seems to work but doesn't have very much distortion... It has great tone and all of the switches seem to work, the tone pot changes the tone, the volume works, gain works as far as it can but it just doesn't have any kick.. Kinda like it's just an OD pedal and I know that isn't what it's supposed to sound like from the demos I have heard. All of the parts are in spec and no solder shorts or cold solders on the board... I know this is hard to trouble shoot over the internet but does anybody have any idea on what might be happening?

Thanks
Jim

[stecykmi]

hmm, sounds like it could be a problem in the clipping circuit block. check R13 and R14 to see that they're 470 and 220 ohms and not 470k and 220k or some such. also make sure the diodes are grounded properly.

[J0K3RX]

hmm, sounds like it could be a problem in the clipping circuit block. check R13 and R14 to see that they're 470 and 220 ohms and not 470k and 220k or some such. also make sure the diodes are grounded properly.

Thanks stecykmi.. I checked the resistors R13 and 14 and they are dead on the money.. diodes are grounded also. I swapped out the opamps and that didn't do anything either... hmmm? Here is a demo of it, I am running it kinda weird: Tube Screamer into the Uproar going direct into my PC using a Carvin Legacy IR and some delay... Sounds pretty good I think?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11178619/New%20Disto%20Pedal.mp3

[stecykmi]

okay, when you've got LED clipping selected, do they light up as you play? if they don't, or are very dim, you should check the drive section preceding it because there might be a problem with the gain there.

you should check R1 through R5 that they're correct.

(note haven't built this pedal myself, didn't listen to soundclip, sorry)

[J0K3RX]

stecykmi - Yes the LED's light up pretty good, not dim at all... I will check the resistors as you say. I have checked most of the resistors but I will go over them and ohm them out with the meter.. Again, thanks for your help!

[J0K3RX]

Ok, so I found the problem and now it has tons of gain... But, now it has another problem? If I am playing a note or chord it cuts out a few seconds after I pick the note.. kinda like I have a maxed out noise gate on? Also I have to have the gain turned all the way up to get any sound out of it. Vol seems to work right and it's hard to say if the tone is working? It also made a funny sound when I first plugged it in, high pitched moan sound but slowly went away after I turned the gain down and back up. I tried other op-amps and diodes but still does the same thing... I also went through and checked all of the caps and resistors with my Fluke meter and they all seem to be in spec if not right on the money... I don't have this thing in a case yet, just guts laying all over the place. I also only have a 2PDT switch at the moment and no LED indicator. I just got through building the Chunk Chunk and it works and sounds killer but I know the Uproar will sound better for me and if I can get it working! Driving me nuts! Maybe there is something wrong in my off-board wiring, I don't know? Anyway - any help would be greatly appreciated!

Jim

[mgwhit]

Don't leave us hanging!  How did you solve the first problem?

Regarding your current problem, does it seem to be strictly volume related?  Is it independent of the Gain setting?  Does it happen on all of the clipping settings or just some?

As usual, pictures of the "guts" would be a huge help.

[J0K3RX]

Don't leave us hanging!  How did you solve the first problem?

Regarding your current problem, does it seem to be strictly volume related?  Is it independent of the Gain setting?  Does it happen on all of the clipping settings or just some?

As usual, pictures of the "guts" would be a huge help.

Well the first problem was off-board wiring problem which I corrected... mistake on my part...

The next problem is when I play I have to play really hard to get signal to pass through the pedal. I can hear the gain and tone and it sounds damn good but like I said I have to play real hard and it also clips the end of the notes off. Something just kills the sound? Hard to describe, you can't hear the initial pick attack and then when the strings are ringing the note just shuts off... Makes it sound like I am just hitting/pecking notes on a keyboard? The volume doesn't seem to be affected, it works. The gain however does not work, I have to turn it all the way up for it to do anything.. Anything below 10 on the gain and I get no sound at all. Diodes all light up in different positions but nothing come out. The board is starting to look real bad since I have been removing and replacing parts like crazy and now some of the pads have come off etc.. I am gonna scrap it and make a new one... I have built the vero/strip board version and it works but it doesn't sound anything like a real riot pedal in my opinion. It has a lot of gain but doesn't seem to have the "over the top" gain like the real deal and sounds kinda muffled... I don't know wtf I am doing different/wrong compared to others that have built this pedal? I have heard clips on youtube and they sound totally different than mine? Anyway, I am gonna try it again and see what I come up with and I will post gut shots on this one... The one I have now is f'ed up form so much rework.

[J0K3RX]

Ok, I built another one and this time it works! Sounds perfect...! Not sure what I did wrong on the first one but this one rocks!!

[mgwhit]

That was fast -- congratulations!

[J0K3RX]

That was fast -- congratulations!

Yeah mgwhit thanks! I LOVE this pedal!! The best part besides the killer tone and gain is that almost all of the parts came from scrap circuit boards that I had laying around...  Question - what is a good alternative in this pedal for the 1n34a? I have about 10 of them but I don't really like the clipping on those... Has anybody tried any other and if so what did you use?

[timbo_93631]

I just built one too!  You can see it in the build reports section.  I had run out of 1n34a's and subbed 1n40's, but the clipping seemed pretty hard with those in there.  I am waiting on my IC's to show up so I have 4558P's in there right now too.  I have a ton of cute little blue 1n914's that I just found so I pulled all the 1n40's last night and went with all 1n914's, with the exception of the led's.  I am really happy with this setup, clipping switch makes a noticable difference, but both are much smoother and with the tone control backed way down I can even get a good dumbley gain/tone combo.  Really happy with mine.

[J0K3RX]

timbo - I saw yours, it looks great!    I don't have any of those cute little blue 1n914's but I have some standard ones... I might try those? I have the 4580's and pretty much all of the rest of the stuff according to the layout and some variations from what I have read from other people.. I don't know what I did wrong on the first couple but I was getting frustrated Happy now and thanks for the info on the diodes and again great looking build! Thanks to Madbean!!

[timbo_93631]

Thanks!  FWIW I know 1N60's are commonly subbed for 1N34a's, but are supposed to be very similar.  If you really want to try alot of different dioeds out it would be good to socket them.  Too much swapping and the traces might go.  Godspeed and good luck!

[J0K3RX]

Ok, I etched another board last night, populated it and hooked it up... I made another one because the first one was all messed up from being reworked so many times. This one works very well but seems to be just a tad bit low in the gain? Anbody know what components directly affect the gain level? I used the 3mm red LED's but changed them to 5mm red because they seem to have more gain. The other diodes seem to have less gain. The four 1n34a's I changed to four 1n914's and that seemed to give a little more gain in that section. I still have the blue.. Are there any caps that directly affect the gain. I have all the mods except for the facemelter... The only other variations I have are as follows:
CP=1uF (I have wired up the Presence mod)
C8=10n
C9=2n2
C10=10n
Other than all of that everything is the same as the Madbean layout.
Thanks ~ Jim