tube tremolo kit - first build

[drfreakypants]

Hey Jacob, thanks for your input.  there is a black wire (very hard to see in this picture) going from the tip of the output jack, under the pcb to lug 8 of the 3PDT switch.  I imagine if I had nothing hooked to the tip of the output jack the signal wouldn't be working.  Everything works great with this pedal, I'm just getting a hum.  the hum comes in when I switch the pedal on, stays the same no matter how I set the knobs, and goes away when I go to bypass.

One of your jacks, the upper one, is not connected properly. It looks like you have connected nothing to the tip of that jack, and are only connected to the sleeve. Connect the sleeve to ground on both jacks, and use the tip of each jack to connect to the switch. The tip is farthest from the enclosure hole, and the sleeve is closest to the enclosure hole.

Jacob

[jkokura]

That problem still indicates a grounding issue.

Jacob

[gordo]

Yeah, that top jack (output) looks like ground instead of tip.

[gingataff]

those switchable jacks aren't disconnecting ground when the plug is inserted are they?

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[jkokura]

Yes...

Jacob

[gingataff]

second suggestion, is the enclosure grounded?

you have insulated jacks so that could be the problem. use a multimeter to check continuity between ground and the case.

if theres no continuity a simple solution is to remove one of the jacks, file a SMALL groove in the hole in the enclosure and use the jack to hold a ground wire in the groove.

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[stecykmi]

second suggestion, is the enclosure grounded?

you have insulated jacks so that could be the problem. use a multimeter to check continuity between ground and the case.

if theres no continuity a simple solution is to remove one of the jacks, file a SMALL groove in the hole in the enclosure and use the jack to hold a ground wire in the groove.

Sent from my SC-02B using Tapatalk 2

if you don't have a file, you can also ground to the back of a pot. you'll need to heat it up for a while with the iron, but it should be able to hold solder.

[drfreakypants]

second suggestion, is the enclosure grounded?

you have insulated jacks so that could be the problem. use a multimeter to check continuity between ground and the case.

if theres no continuity a simple solution is to remove one of the jacks, file a SMALL groove in the hole in the enclosure and use the jack to hold a ground wire in the groove.

Sent from my SC-02B using Tapatalk 2

if you don't have a file, you can also ground to the back of a pot. you'll need to heat it up for a while with the iron, but it should be able to hold solder.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say that the jacks are disconnecting ground when the plug is inserted,  can you please explain what that means.

So the second suggestions in practical terms is to ground the sleeve of the jacks to the case or the pot?  Thanks, I will check continuity to the case.

[jkokura]

You don't truly need to ground the enclosure, but it is a wise practice. General practice is to not use isolating switching jacks. The neutrick/switchcraft open jacks ground to the enclosure as a part of how they operate.

Honestly, I wouldn't be worried about the enclosure at this point, I'd be confirming that my wiring is correct. I can't see if it is or not, but your symptoms indicate to me there is something funky going on with the wiring and the ground.

Jacob

[drfreakypants]

Ugh!  So I've been over the wiring several times, and I just don't find anything wrong.  I tried grounding the jack to the enclosure and that didn't help the hum.  Does anyone have a suggestion for systematically debugging the hum, maybe in particular that everything is grounded correctly?

The olcircuits.com people suggested moving the power rectifier/filter pcb away from the signal wires which means redoing all the wiring to that pcb with longer wires and moving it to the other end of the enclosure.  I would rather do a bunch of testing to rule other things out first before I do a bunch of desoldering and rewiring.

[jkokura]

adjusting wire location is a known solution to problems similar to yours.

Unfortuately, there's not likely a way to easily solve this. If you try audio probing, that might help you know where the hum starts in the signal.

Jacob

[gordo]

Go thru it with a multimeter set to continuity to make sure what you see is what you get.  You're likely going to find the problem is really simple.  This thing takes 12V AC right?