Cherrybomb very low volume

[msengele]

Hello,

I just completed a Cherrybomb build. All the knobs seem to work but I have to turn my amp up half way and the pedal volume all the way up to hear the pedal at all. I can adjusting the volume, treble, bass and gain seem to work. By pass works fine.

Any thoughts as to what may be causing this. This is my second build and I'm not sure where to start.

Thanks for your help.
Mike

[jkokura]

Hi Mike, welcome.

First off, if I'm understanding you right, you're saying that the problem is that you have to turn your amp fairly loud before the pedal really seems to be powerful enough for you. Is the bypass signal louder than the pedal?

The possibilities here are quite large. Have you read the 'how to get tech help' thread yet? If you haven't, go check it out now and follow the directions there. If you have, perhaps you could share some of the things you have checked and what seems to be your results.

Let us know how things go from here.

Jacob

[gtr2]

Follow Jacobs instructions for the tech help.  Without knowing anything more than what you said here is my only suggestion.  Are your transistor pinouts correct?  This would create a loss in volume.

Josh

[msengele]

Thank you both for you response. I will check everything out and post the results. Sorry I had not read the how to get tech help, but have now.

[mgwhit]

Not to discourage you from reading (and following through on) the tech help instructions, but the absolute first thing I would check would be the values of resistors R4 and R14.  It's very easy to misread 470R (i.e. 470 Ohms) for 470K.  An accidental substitution like that would definitely result in low volume output.

[msengele]

I was able to spend some time today on the pedal. I have checked the values on the resisters and they all checked out. I also went back through my soldering and cleaned it up a bit. The wiring looks good as well. I also replaced the caps C2, C3 C5, C9, C10 and C12 since A coworker supplied them. I had an extra set of the transistors and replaced all three of those as well.

I now have a more normal volume output, but it will still not get much past unity when the pedal is turned all the way up. The bass knob has little to no effect and the sound is very high pitched. The volume, gain and treble knobs seem to be working.

The only other thing I can think of is one of the other caps is bad. Is there a good way to check the caps while they are on the board? what values from the components would be beneficial to supply to the group? Not sure what info I need to supply but will supply anything necessary. Feels like it is almost there.

Thanks,
Mike

[jkokura]

Mike, the likelyhood of it being a bad part is very minute. What's very much more likely is that you've made an error. Either a part is installed incorrectly, has the wring value, or is backwards. Probably over 95% of pedal problems come from either bad soldering, or an incorrect/backwards part.

I hate to say it, but you should probably keep looking for the error/solder bridge.

Check out the "how to get tech help" thread to get some more tips on what to look for, and how to get some data. Good pictures are also very helpful. Keep us posted and good luck,

Jacob

[gtr2]

Pics could help out!  Another set of eyes is always helpful.   

Josh