These 1590A enclosures drive me crazy !

[alltrax74]

I lately built 4 pedals in a 1590A box, they all have the same insane buzz.
I don't get it, I wire them exactly the same way as I do with 1590Bs with which I have no problem.
The noise is a kind of medium frequency whistle that increases with the volume.
I have it effect engaged, even if the input jack is not plugged.
Apart from the noise, the effect itself is working as it should

I really don't understand what I am doing wrong with theses baby enclosures...
Any idea guys ?

[alltrax74]

Here is the wistle :
https://soundcloud.com/guitar-diy/1590a-wistle

[alltrax74]

It was a faulty power supply
I tried another one and the effects worked fine.
Now why was I having this problem only with 1590A boxes, that remains a mistery...

[GoranP]

Going by the "holy cow" of tube amp building, namely lead dress, it may be that everything being crammed in closer than usual generated hum/oscillation (since you can't really separate your signal/power wires in there and everything is likely right next to the back of the board).

I'm just guessing here, seeing how there's generally no ac power or transformers in pedals, but my main suspect (given a stable and silent power supply) would be the placement of wires.

[alltrax74]

Yes, probably

I'd like those who frequently use these small enclosures to share their experience here, regarding wiring, issues they had (or not), their tip and tricks
Geiri, Javi, John...?

[JaviCAP]

Hi Altrax,

Yeah, Goran is right. When dealing with 1590As you have to be very careful with the offboard wiring, mainly with the DC jack.

Is very usefull in most jammed builds to use an external DC jack, and isolate the solder points with thermo shrink and / or isolation tape, so the mains electro magnetic fields don't affect the close components.


As happened to you, a good power supply is mandatory with 1590A builds.

BR

[alltrax74]

Thank you very much Javi, I'll try this on my next build and report back

[Kinski]

Never had whistling problems with my 1590a builds. But I've heard others have had problems with whistles, whines, and ticking (mostly with delay and chorus). Wire placement can help. Or using shielded cable when needed (if you can fit it). And I try to keep my wire length as short as possible.

I HAVE had problems with the top and bottom of the circuit board coming in contact with the jacks and side lip of the enclosures back-plate. I've gotten around this by making sure you clip the component legs as short as possible on the copper strip side so there are no sharp point sticking out. And you can put a little cardboard, plastic, or tape between the jacks and the circuit board. Also, you can put a strip or two of tape on the back-plate to further isolate it from the circuit board.

As for the back-plate lip, I just use a metal file to sand it down when its a REALLY tight fit. Its a pain, but sometimes necessary.

After taking these precautions, I've never run into any real noise problems. And I often use my OneSpot over my Voodoo Lab Pedal Power.

[Kinski]

I'd love to hear other peoples tricks and tips that they use for their 1590A Builds.

I'd really love to figure out how to fit FIVE 9mm pots!

AND

My current top goal is to try to make a 1590A Belton Brick reverb! But I don't know how. I saw that a guy on DIYSB built one, but I have no idea how he pulled it off! Right now, my reverb is the only pedal on my pedal board that is NOT a 1590A!

[JaviCAP]

Kinski wrote

I'd love to hear other peoples tricks and tips that they use for their 1590A Builds.

I'd really love to figure out how to fit FIVE 9mm pots!

 Three in th up row and two in the lower one :) You can fit 6 easily.

Kinski wrote

I've gotten around this by making sure you clip the component legs as short as possible on the copper strip side so there are no sharp point sticking out.

I use to file the copper side, so the solders and legs get  extremely thin.

BR

[alltrax74]

The power supply was the culprit
A friend of mine tested it with his, no problem
A also found that moving the LED up close to the DC socket helped a lot, no problem with the bad supply.
So I guess the +9V wire is the one that has to be as short as possible

[vagos21]

Thank you for this really helpful post!
i was getting the same with some of my pedals (with homemade pcbs) and i was going crazy until i also found out that my test supply unit was also the source of this "electronic noise", although in higher frequency (i guess each psu has their own footprint lol). While unnoticeable in some pedals, in others (triple wreck) it can get really really intense!

[Kinski]

Check this build from Stahoo8 on DIYSB.

[alltrax74]

Awesome !