Death of a Deathklaw?

[jposega]

I built a Deathklaw and it worked flawlessly. The only construction problem I ran into was mounting the green LED on the wrong side of the board, which meant I had to desolder it, which lifted a trace, which I just used a small wire to connect the correct leg of the LED back to the correct spot on the board.

Like I said though, fired up the first time I plugged it in, sounded great. Didn't need a delay, so I traded it for something else. Guy got it, and tells me the Ghost switch didn't do anything in the position that adds the subdivision (don't recall if that's left or right now).

The next day, he tells me the pedal just stopped working; he turns it on and it's all crunchy and fuzzy. Now I'm frustrated; I packed away all my tools save for my soldering iron and moved to where I don't really know anyone with electronics tools.

The pedal should be returned today so I'm hoping it's something as lame or simple as a chip came loose from a socket in shipping even though it was well packed.

I got the PT2399's from SmallBear, my solder joints were hot and clean.

What else should I check for if it isn't a loose wire or something else stupid?

[jimilee]

Do you know him personally? Fizzled doesn't sound good.


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[Boba7]

Check the voltage regultor, I remember using a Tayda one (never again) that was giving out more than 6 or7v instead of 5. The sound was horribly distorted.

Otherwise, swap ICs and I would take outthe limiter led just to test.

Do post gut shots and voltages when you can, it'll help!

[jposega]

Thanks guys.

To answer the first question: I made the trade on a reputable bass forum with a user with good feedback.

Once I finally got the box back yesterday, it smelled like I'd just soldered the thing together, and yet I built it a couple months back now. He'd asked me what kind of power it took, I told him standard 9v just like most other modern pedals out there. He tells me he used it on a One Spot first, then a regulated supply (PP2).

I did use a Tayda voltage reg, but I'd used a bunch from that same order in 6 or 7 other boxes I built and flipped just fine.

In the end, I still have the object I traded for, and if I can find a multimeter to borrow, I can check it out fully, otherwise I'll likely flip it for cost of parts.

I'll say this: it was an easy build and a great sounding delay while it worked!

[bsoncini]

Honestly. Go buy yourself a multimeter even if it is the cheapest one you can find it is better than nothing. It is an essential tool for building pedals. You would have known instantly if something is fried in it. And build yourself an audio probe while you are at it.

[jposega]

Honestly. Go buy yourself a multimeter even if it is the cheapest one you can find it is better than nothing. It is an essential tool for building pedals. You would have known instantly if something is fried in it. And build yourself an audio probe while you are at it.

Easier said than done given I'm moving overseas soon... but I'll borrow a multimeter and poke around. Given that it smells like fried electronics, I haven't even bothered opening it up to look at the guts.