I'm building a Heart throb Tremelo issues

[Peter Venkman]

I think my problem is using electoloyc caps with the wrong voltage rating. Should I be using Capacitors that are 50v or something rated lower? I mean if the pedal is powered by a 9v batter should I get caps close to that voltage or will 50v caps effect the build. I've built this board twice now and get no sound at all or a soft practically inaudible trem effect that can't be adjusted.

Any help would be appreciated. I forgot the board at home so I appologize for no pics.

[Silver Blues]

I'm not sure what your issue is but a "too high" capacitor voltage rating is definitely not it. Using caps with a voltage rating higher than your supply is not going to change anything and is in fact preferred. Additionally, some caps have been known to drop capacitance near their rated voltages so running a 10v rated cap in a circuit supplied with 9 for example may be an even worse idea than it looks like on the surface.

[Ciaran Haslett]

Silvers right.  You could use 600V rated caps if you wanted...or if you could fit them on the board.  Its the capacitance value that's important (and polarity if using electos/tants).

When you get a chance post some pics.  It's possible you have a consistent build issue that we could maybe identify.

[Peter Venkman]

That's what I had originally assumed after reading the component guide on this page. But for some reason I'm just having no luck with this build. I've made the board 3times now. Used a small saw to take care of any bridges, reflow red all the solder points, replaced every component, used the standard off board switch wiring, and a BLMS pcb footswitch wiring board and all three boards don't do a thing. One had a slight trem effect bit the pots didn't do a thing and neither did the toggle.

[Peter Venkman]

The 3rd boardhttp://imgur.com/oq7rbfD

track side of board

pic of board with wired pots, mono jacks, 9v socket, and foot switch

As you can see from the wired pic I already removed the SPDT toggle so that's why there are just three wires dangling from the board on the right hand side near the white jumper wire. The pot on the left is a B25k pot for the Dwell with a jumper wired between lugs 1&2 and a wire from lug to wired to the first hole on track #2 on the bottom as per the layout.
The pot in the right is a B1M, with a jumper between lug 1&2 with a wire running to Hole #1 on the far right of the second track down from the top of the board and lug 3 is wired to the 1st far right hole of the 5th track down from the top row per the layout.

foot switch PCB
I have this wired with the 9v + running into the top left hand side 9v hole and the ground running to the top left ground hole wired from the 9v socket. The input Jack is wired from the bottom right holes designated IN TIP and IN SLEEVE. Out put Jack is wired from the lower left hand holes designated TIP OUT and SLEEVE out

The bottom row of the pcb foot switch is wired OUT to the first hole of the second track down from the top on the far left side of the layout. IN is wired to the 1st hole of the 6th row down from the top on the far left of the layout. GND is wired to BOTH ground connections at hole number 1 of the 3rd and 12th tracks.

I have tried wiriing the switch without the pcb with no luck and also have tried just connecting the two ground wires from the board directly to the ground lug of the DC socket.

My voltage meter gives me various readings at every pinto of contact I make. I've put fresh batteries in it, tested the components on their own as well as the boards themselves.

Heres the layout i printed out to work from 


Also I have checked the data sheet for the transistors, 2N5088s and the pin outs seem to be correct based on Tayda's documentation.

[Beaker]

Peter, I've had a look at your photos, and can't see anything obviously amiss. The solder joint on the base leg of one of the bottom pair of transistors looks suspicious (like a Christmas pudding), so you may not have a reliable contact there.

My advice to you is to strip off the dc socket and footswitch, and test it again. Most of us will reccomend testing any circuit using a breadboard or test box rig, before attempting to hook up the jacks, dc socket and footswitch. That way you can prove whether the circuit functions correctly or not, before attmpting to hook up jacks, switch and power.

I am reluctant to tell you to junk it and start again, but I think that's what I would do if I were in your shoes. Maybe leave it a while, and try another build first.

[Peter Venkman]

Yeah I'm realizing I'm going to have to make a box for testing. My little bread board is just super small and I don't have a guitar or any method of testing the circuit for sound at the moment so I'm reading up on how to use my voltage meter.

[Ciaran Haslett]

A test box is a must have I reckon!  Completely eliminates the off board wiring from the debugging process.  Have a look at Miro's Test Box 2.  He includes an Audio Probe (another must have) ready to go at the flick of a switch.  I'm planning to make one for myself soon only I'll be adding a simple signal generator to feed the input when I'm probing.

I'd also recommend using sockets for all the sensitive components (transistors, ICs etc).  Heat from your iron can kill them if left too long and sometimes they just come in DOA.  Sockets will allow you to quick swap without desoldering.  They also allow you to audition different components and hear how they affect the circuit.

Lastly...is that lead free solder you're using?  I personally HATE that stuff.  Takes too much heat to melt and doesn't flow well.  I use 0.7mm 60:40 Tin/Lead solder.  Thin, doesn't need much heat to melt and flows great on vero.  Gives me much more confidence in making a secure solder joint.

[Silver Blues]

And I'll make a plug for 63/37 tin/lead solder (actually the easiest to work of all the Sn/Pb alloys, you can google eutectic alloy if you want the science behind this) or solders that contain some silver content (what I use) which are amazing. Lead free does suck.

[Peter Venkman]

So I'm pretty sure that in all the builds I melted the transistors. My Voltage meter has a transistor tester where you put them in according to the CBE pin out and in all the ones I removed from the boards I get no reading. When I use a brand new transistor from tayda, the meter just says the number 1. I'm assuming that means that the transistor is good and not fried because all the other ones I used in the builds that had been soldered give me no reading at all. I'm going to use stand outs for as many parts as I can now (transistors, amps, tap tempo chips) so I don't melt them. The solder I'm using is actually pretty awesome in my opinion but made I should switch back to the kind I was using before. I don't remember the ratios on them but I know the original stuff I was using was 3.3% flux and this new stuff is 1.1% flux. Both are the same diameter. When I get to my workshop tonight I'll post pics of all my different solder options and maybe you guys could recommend what I should be using.
My work shop has tons of different types of solder. It was an old electronics repair shop built in the 30's and they never threw anything away.

Thanks for the help guys and gals

[Silver Blues]

Peter Venkman wrote

My work shop has tons of different types of solder. It was an old electronics repair shop built in the 30's and they never threw anything away.

That sounds... awesome.

Peter Venkman wrote

maybe you guys could recommend what I should be using.

Like I said, I'm partial to the 63/37 eutectic solders and anything that's Sn/Pb/Ag (I'm currently using 62/36/02 and it's awesome), but generally stay away from lead-free as it's really difficult to work (even for someone experienced; I can work it, but I don't like it cause the joints look atrocious. It also takes more heat to melt because of it's larger tin content).