BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

I tested my build (my first by the way) and I get sound but no effect. I notice the battery seems to get hot? Maybe, it's warm anyhow.

Looking at the picture of the build my board looks the same. At first I thought maybe my caps were in backward but after comparing I really don't think so. Any ideas?

sounds like a short. check every wire connection. you may think you did everything right and then have a small mistake that has been overlooked.

NOC3effects wrote:sounds like a short. check every wire connection. you may think you did everything right and then have a small mistake that has been overlooked.

The transistor pads are very close together so a short may be found there. Are your LEDs and other polarized components oriented properly? Can you post large clear photos of both sides of your PCB?

Hi,

Battery can get warm if there's a short in C6-or if C6 is connected backwards. This is a 100uF cap.
A short in either of the four transistors would result in a silent circuit but not draw enough current to heat the battery.
For T1 and T2 current is limited by their respctive loads, and for T3 and T4 these carry only AC current.
Other shorts that can heat the battery, and quite some current is needed for this- would be short in DC jack or wiring to DC jack.

A dead circuit is a major fault and easy to find- it's the ones that occour only tuesdays if it's red day that are difficult

At your service
BJ

When the circuit is working properly do the clipping leds light up?

jakeddy wrote:When the circuit is working properly do the clipping leds light up?

Hi,

The simple answer to that is no, but really only under such conditions that you'd be playing through it and no other clipping option is choosen and then those would blink at signal peaks. If they light up steadily from just power being applied to the pcb there's a short for DC to them and this should then be traced.

At your service
BJ

Corksniffer wrote:

NOC3effects wrote:sounds like a short. check every wire connection. you may think you did everything right and then have a small mistake that has been overlooked.

The transistor pads are very close together so a short may be found there. Are your LEDs and other polarized components oriented properly? Can you post large clear photos of both sides of your PCB?

I understood the radial caps to have the negitive lead shorter. I wasn't sure about the clipping leds as I could see no difference (how do you tell?). That might be where my problem is. I'll try to get a "good" photo for you to look at.

By the way, thank you all for the replies.

BJF wrote:

jakeddy wrote:When the circuit is working properly do the clipping leds light up?

Hi,

The simple answer to that is no, but really only under such conditions that you'd be playing through it and no other clipping option is choosen and then those would blink at signal peaks. If they light up steadily from just power being applied to the pcb there's a short for DC to them and this should then be traced.

At your service
BJ

BJ, after my first attempt at a build I now have an even greater respect for you as well as other pedal builders. To be able to understand and design a circuit is an art. Thank you for your input.

Hi,

If you can't tell polarity on the LED's, and yes most have a longer leg for their positive side-the anode, another indicator is that inside the bulb the smaller part is the anode and the larger part cathode. This can be hard to see depending on the bulb.
If you have a DVM you can diode measure them and then one should light at a time: you take one probe to the end on the pcb where all of these clipping elements join and the other probe to ground.

Note that if one or both LED's are shorted then none will light up. This can be resistans measured with a DVM and power prefeably off from circuit.

At your service
BJ

Can I assume the leds being reverved would kill the circuit?