Orange drops in place of the electros in the rangemaster?

[onthetundra]

I bought some rangemaster OC44s from small bear and Ive put together two boards.  Both are wired correctly and all of that but in place of C1,C2, and C4 ( the ones that were stated as not needing to be electolytic) I used orange drops.  I do get some signal but its very weak and distorted.  Is this my problem?
Im using regular polarized axial electro caps for the other 2.  What should I do?
Thanks

Side question, how do I wire in a status LED?

[onthetundra]

Also, mouser doesnt have sprague atom electro caps lower than 1uF.  Anyone have any as low as 10n and 5n?

[Diamond]

First of all, Orange Drop caps are not electrolytic, so that can't be the problem. What you could do to solve your problem is to check all your connection. Also, check if you have the transistor in the right way.

Second, check here: link for offboard wiring, including LED.

[onthetundra]

I know theyre not electrolytic, but the layout has sprague atom electro caps for all 5, then it says it doesnt require electrolytic caps for those 3.  So the fact that both pedals, built the same way with non electro orange drops at 2X10nF and 1X5nF along with the regular axial electrolytic 47uF X2, might be where my problem lies.  Ive tried reversing the transistor too and that didnt help.  Im just thinking that since Im deviating from the layout in the caps but using the same values, that might be where the problem lies.  Could it be that I have 2 bad transistors from small bear?  They tests all of them doesnt they? 

[stevewire]

I'm not real sure what will happen if you don't use electrolytics for 3 and 5.  On my Rangemaster build I did use the electros on 3 and 5, which I got from Small Bear.  I purchased the other axial caps from Mouser.  Also I used an OC71 that I bought from Small Bear and it works very well.  I am quite happy with it.  I think Small Bear does a good job with testing their Germanium transistors.  Check your soldering joints and look over it to make sure there aren't any unintentional bridges on the traces or even that you could have cut one of the traces.  Recheck your wiring also.  Maybe someone will chime in about the effect of using non-electrolytics on 3 and 5.

I also used that off board wiring scheme that Diamond posted a link for.

[onthetundra]

The 47uF caps are electrolytic.  The 10nF and 5nF caps are orange drops.

[pandadandan]

Just asking to be sure...

How are you powering the pedal?  Battery or a PSU?  I just ask as it's a positive ground circuit.

[madbean]

The caps are not the problem. C5 provides filtering on the DC. C3 is the bypass cap which provides boost. It's fine that you you used OD caps on the others.

I suggested some Atoms in the doc because they could be gotten from Mouser, but I did not mean to suggest that you HAVE to use those. ANY electrolytic cap rated at 16v and above will do, and any poly or propylene film cap is fine for the others.

So, unless one of those caps is bad, the something else is going on. If you have another PNP transistor like a 2n3906 or 2n5087 you could pop it in there and see what your hear.....it could be a bad transistor. Or, it could be a small solder bridge somewhere killing off the output. Usually a weak sound means the transistor is backwards, but since you have already tried them the other way, it is probably something else.

[onthetundra]

I will try an OC75 and see if that works.  I'll go back through the circuit to look for solder bridges and report back later.  Thanks

[onthetundra]

Ok so I am probably going to get laughed off of this forum.  I built a beavis board type proto pedal to test pedals with.  SO when I build something I screw it into the hookups on the side of the box and test it.  So obviously this pedal is Positive ground, so this box doesnt work with it.  The problem I was having is that I didnt put it in any enclosure.  I just had the parts wired up and out in the open with no real ground.  I very ignorantly felt I could test this pedal out of an enclosure, the same way I test other pedals out of an enclosure but hooked to my own beavis board.  So, in closing, I appreciate the help and next time I'll do the obvious thing before I come on here and ask for help.  Thanks.

[madbean]

On the contrary, it's always good when the solution is simple! It's the hard ones we don't like

[pandadandan]

I had a sneaking suspicion. 

The positive ground thing is is an absolute headache and catches out its fair share.  Thankfully, powering such a board is something that can be easily remedied by using a Road Rage 2(tm) board!
(cue sales jingle/where'smycommissionmadbean?)




More importantly; how does it sound?

[madbean]

LOL. Commissions are only available in the form of pictures of cats.

[pandadandan]

awesome.  my kind of payment

[onthetundra]

I have 3 of them now after trying to build new ones to figure out what was wrong.  The pedal rocks.  The sustain is sick and it gets very dirty when cranked.  MadBean is the best!