DBA build not working

[msuldt]

Hello everyone,

Im trying to build the reverberation machine by DBA from this link and am having some trouble.

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/death-by-audio-reverberation-machine.html?showComment=1461252981146

Excuse my newbie-ness, this is only my second build and I know very little about electronics.

Anyway I have followed the schematic and have  tried to troubleshoot for 4 days its driving me nuts! The problem is there is no audio when the effect is on. When in bypass I can hear my guitar but when engaged only the LED comes on and its completely silent. I have triple checked and quadruple check my cuts, links, component placement, polarities (caps and voltage reg) and where possible have tried to check continuity. My continuity test only works to confirm my off board wiring is connected, my multimeter is a pretty cheap one and if there is resistance above 1k or there abouts it says there is no continuity, this means I couldn't really use this to check my circuit.

I have checked the voltage regulator and it spits out 5 volts as its supposed to be. As for the IC I have checked the voltages of each pin as (no audio input connected):
1=0
2=0
3=8.29
4=0
5=2.77
6=0
7=0
8=0
9=0
10=0
11=0
12=2.77
13=0.04 - 0.1 (this one seems to fluctuate overtime i check it)
14=0


I have put some pictures to show my soldering. May not be pretty but I have checked they are mechanically and electrically connected to the board (using continuity test)

http://s1036.photobucket.com/user/msuldt/library/

If anyone has any ideas at all please help I am tearing my hair out!! I can upload more photos to show different things if needed. Regarding the photos the red cable is my 9v in. (hope this reference helps to get the orientation right)

Thanks in advance!

[ξεναγος νεκροπολης]

hi there
assuming that your soldering is ok (you shouldn't bent the components legs and then solder them.just leave them straight, solder and then cut), you'll need the belton brick to make this work...
http://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Accutronics_BTDR2H_Reverb_Belton_Brick/p847124_11011293.aspx

this is the heart of this effect, in witch the magic will happen...!!!
if you already have it, and it's just not in the pictures, then i think that you should check again all your solderings.i see some cold joins and some possible unwanted bridges there. also you should pass your wires from the top of the board.

[Alex]

First thing you should check with your voltages are (with this type of IC) pin 4 and pin 11.
Pin 11 goes to ground and should be 0.
Pin 4 is connected to V+ and you should read +9V.
You should notice something wrong with pin 4.
You have connected the +9V link (the one connected to the 100u cap above the IC) to pin 3 instead of pin 4.
Fix that and let us know if it works (as Savvas said, assuming you have connected the brick and we just can't see it in the pictures)

[Alex]

Did you manage to make it work?

[msuldt]

Thanks everyone for the input and apologies for taking a while I've only just managed to get a bit of time. I have corrected and finally have output!! (thanks for the pointer, I would have never of found that I triple checked and didn't find it) however there are still a few issues... well actually many.

The volume is very low to the point where everything on my amp is maxed out just to barely hear it. Also depending on which way the dark / bright switch is set I get a lot of output (relatively speaking) or very little.

The delay effect seems to have a very long pre delay where it almost sounds like a delay rather than a reverb.

I don't really get a clean reverb, I know its a lo fi pedal but the distortion is really harsh and present even when the gain is set to 0 (blend on full). Once the gain knob gets turned up I get everything in the 0 to 1 range and after that not much else.

Again if anyone has any ideas let me know, and thanks for the pointers thus far.

If anyone needs anymore pics I can put more up. The brick is in there but to tell you the truth Im a little embarrassed of my wiring. I can also put up audio on a soundcloud if this helps. Thanks again everyone!
 

[Alex]

First, run a knife between traces to eliminate possible bridges.
Try swapping the IC with a new one (even a TL074 would be ok in the mean time) and re-measure your voltages, even for the LM7805.