Question about measuring IC voltages

[Servant07]

I was on roll this weekend, completed 5 or 6 pedals without issue until I got around to trying the Zombie Chorus. Then I watched my MN3007 on the chorus produce a nice pillar of smoke, which I am going to assume is not part of the chorus effect, haha.  Anyways, the IC was socketed so my question is can I measure the voltages of the socket without the chip in it or does the chip need to be in the socket to get the correct voltage readings?

[induction]

In some cases, some pins of the socket will give the same reading with or without the IC's installed, assuming the circuit is built correctly and there are no other problem components. However, if that was known to be true, there would be no reason for measuring those voltages in the first place.

In general, you should assume that any voltage measurements performed without the IC's installed are not going to tell you anything useful. Checking voltages without IC's present is mainly useful when you compare those readings to the readings when the IC's are in place. This kind of troubleshooting is often used to check for dead IC's, and relies on you to know what the readings should be, and how they might change with a damaged chip.