Wampler Ecstasy Volume Problem

[rocket88]

Hey guys, I built the Wampler Ecstasy and finally got some NJM4580's, I put it in turn it on and it works great, except 1 thing.  The output is considerably low, so low that its just below unity with maxed out volume on the "open" setting, significantly lower on the other two. I have triple checked layout and wiring, as well as inspected for solder bridges. Anytime I've had an issue with with the an effect that I can't seem to troubleshoot everyone has been able to help point me in the right direction. Thankfully I haven't had too many that I can't figured out, and they are getting fewer and farther between as I keep building pedals. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I want to say thanks in advanced.

[alltrax74]

I once had this kind of problem with a build, it was a wrong resitor value that was in serie with the 9v connection, I had something like 100k instead of 100R, so this is something to check.
I built the Ecstasy not far ago and it worked fine so the layout should be ok.
Hope you find out the problem
Denis

[rocket88]

Thanks Dennis. I'm going to go through the resistors and see if I made a mistake like that, but in the mean time I checked the voltages for each of the pins. Here's what I got.

Voltage Readings:
Pin 1 - 4.77
Pin 2 - 4.77
Pin 3 - 4.54
Pin 4 - 0
Pin 5 - 4.77
Pin 6 - 4.77
Pin 7 - 4.77
Pin 8 - 9.46

I used this as a pinout to identify the pins, as I have a JRC4580d/NJM4580d.



Just a long shot, but I'm figuring there's an issue with voltage to pin 4, and that it shouldn't be 0V. Should it be 9.46 like Pin 8?

I checked to see continuity, and everything on the bottom row up to the 9V line, and I get continuity up to the 100uF electrolytic cap. Once I check the side of the cap that attaches to the 9V source I get nothing.

What should I look for as a cause for this problem.

[alltrax74]

0V at pin 4 is normal as it is directly connected to the ground rail (last row) via a link
Check your volume pot and also the 1M resistor connected at the input. If you inciditentaly put a lower value, most of your signal will go to ground

[rocket88]

Checked both and the pots ok, and the resistor is 1M. I've been thinking I'm not even sure if it sounds good or not as i can only really hear it with volume and gain at max, but like I said its below unity gain. I'm even thinking that since it's a small board i might try rebuilding it and see if its something on this board I did wrong.

It's funny because I've run into a few problems, but not low volume like this, for me it's a head scratcher and really frustrating. This is what I get for building something IC based instead of Transistor based. lol

[mojo321]

I built this one last month and didn't alter anything from the layout and it works exactly like the video.  Very nice versatile pedal!   I suggest you check you solder joints at each of the transistor sockets.  It's easy to miss a pin completely since they don't protrude much from the backside.  
Every time I have had the "low volume, gated" problem, it is a missed solder joint.  It's to the point now that I count the components from the top side before I flip it to solder.  Then as I solder I count up to however many there SHOULD be as I go.   When I do sockets, it is always a multiple of 3!  

[rocket88]

I here you mojo. I've checked out the board and everything looks ok, no bridges or missing joints. I just built a new board and going to swap them and see if it works. I'm sure I missed something stupid.

[rocket88]

I just rebuilt the pedal and its much better, but I'm not sure if I still have something wrong. With the gain at 0, I have to have the volume up all the way to get decent output, but its still bellow the bypassed level. Once I turn the gain up I get a good volume boost, but not huge until the gain is all the way up, but it's super gainy. Also, I can't really tell if the tone pot is doing anything. I checked it for continuity and ohm reading and its a good pot.

Is this normal or is there something else I need to look at that could be wrong?

There are no cold joints, all tracks have been cleared, no bridges. I also resoldered the wiring for the pots.

[IvIark]

That doesn't sound right to me.  The Gain pot just changes the resistance between pins 1 and 2 which alters the gain for that channel of the opamp, but even at it's lowest setting it still gives a gain boost.

What voltages are you getting at the pins now?

[mojo321]

Here's a dumb thing that I have done before (I'm embarrassed to admit to it).  I plugged my guitar into the output jack and the amp to the input jack.  Troubleshooting that drove me insane!  Bypass worked perfectly, of course!  LOL

[IvIark]

  I troubleshooted a pedal for hours once until I realised I hadn't put the IC in the socket

[alltrax74]

lol I think we've all been there

[rocket88]

Haha, funny thing is I did that right after I rebuilt this layout. I started her up, had power, and no signal. I was so pissed until I realized the IC wasn't there.

So the power Voltage readings are as follows:
Pin 1 - 4.78
Pin 2 - 4.79
Pin 3 - 4.56
Pin 4 - 0
Pin 5 - 4.76
Pin 6 - 4.78
Pin 7 - 4.78
Pin 8 - 9.50

Also, I got my camera to work long enough to take some pictures. Note that the blue wires are for the bass control and input, green is gain, yellow is the switch and tone, white is volume/output, black is ground, and red is power. Please mind the messiness. It's been taken out so many times I have to straighten everything out again once I know its good to go.




It looks like there's a bridge in this picture on the right hand side between the 5&6 row, but its just the angle and light. I checked it again and there is no bridge there.

[alltrax74]

You probably already checked this but in case...
You say you can't hear a difference with the tone pot, that could be you have a wire broken at the solder joint
It happens quite often after manipulating over and over the circuit as you did

Are you sure that you don't have a contact to ground somewhere ?

[rocket88]

Just checked that and they're all connected. I also thought maybe it's the IC, could be bad, so I tried some other ones and other types, and still the same problems. I'm really going crazy on this one.

[rocket88]

Still trying to figure this out, I got nothing. Hoping someone help a little more, and give me some suggestions/direction. I really appreciate it.

[rocket88]

Well I fixed the problem with some help. As embarrassing as it is to admit, I grabbed a lower value cap instead of the 1uF before the tone to output. Now not only did I fix the issue, and get the pedal working correctly, but now I have reorganized my cap box to make sure everything is in order.

Hopefully if anyone else has a similar issue that's the first place I would look.

Thanks guys. I can never thank everyone enough for the help.