Hi everyone! First off, thanks so much for posting these layouts—super helpful! I’ve recently gotten into stripboard building and have put together quite a few pedals over the past month or two. Most of them have worked out great, but I’ve been running into some issues with a couple specific builds.
I’ve attempted a few Harmonic Percolator layouts, but every one of them has squealed and just didn’t work properly. Now I’m trying to build the Jan Ray, and I’ve put it together three times already, but I keep getting the same issue: the EQ works fine, but there’s no distortion.
Here’s what I’m seeing: -The signal is getting amplified. -Volume, bass, and treble controls all seem to work as expected. -But the gain knob does nothing, and there’s no audible distortion, aside from the amp breaking up when everything is maxed out.
Has anyone else run into this?
In my most recent build, I swapped the 9.1k resistors for 8.2k ones. The first two builds used the original values. Another difference is I used a 50k log pot instead of a linear for the gain control (waiting on a proper replacement).
I’ve checked: -Grounding – looks good. -Continuity, cuts, and links – all tested with a multimeter. -Soldering – I’ve reflowed all joints and cleaned the board with IPA afterward. -Components – double-checked values before soldering. -IC – socketed, and I’ve tried swapping between a 4558, TL072, and the original 1458. No change at all between them.
I even built a another Jan Ray using Guitar FX's layout, and it behaves the exact same way, very little gain compared to demo videos of the same layouts.
At this point, I’m kind of stumped. Everything seems correct, but clearly something’s off. Any ideas? Has anyone else experienced this or have suggestions on what to check?
Ok guys, found the issue... Tayda send me B500 ohm pots inside the B500k pots bag. I noticed it because I build the fuzzly bear and had the same issue, almost no gain... Well, I spent 3 days troubleshooting a mislabeled bag of pots :D
mine is also "noisy" but I haven't cased it yet and it is not that bad actually. Most gainy pedals get quieter after being cased. I'm hoping that is the case for this one.
Add another cut to N9 and you can tag this, rather a pleasant overdrive
ReplyDeleteBuilt this out because I had all the parts on hand and ready ... pretty good, but I'd be kinda upset if I spent $400 on it lolll
ReplyDeleteHi all. I've just built this, and the bass seems to affect the level of gain more than bass frequency... Is this to be expected?
ReplyDeleteYes that's normal. The bass is pre-gain so it effects it quite dramatically.
DeleteThank you
Deletehttps://youtu.be/WD4W3aXsVbI?si=cx5Xrms8uF0ZoVsl
ReplyDeleteNew to effector fabrication. What parts are marked CLR?
ReplyDeleteIt’s a current limiting resistor for your LED
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi, from the Schematic the Trimmer should be 10K and not 1K right ? Thank you!
ReplyDeleteyes , in the schematic it's 10k trimpot
ReplyDeleteHi everyone! First off, thanks so much for posting these layouts—super helpful! I’ve recently gotten into stripboard building and have put together quite a few pedals over the past month or two. Most of them have worked out great, but I’ve been running into some issues with a couple specific builds.
ReplyDeleteI’ve attempted a few Harmonic Percolator layouts, but every one of them has squealed and just didn’t work properly. Now I’m trying to build the Jan Ray, and I’ve put it together three times already, but I keep getting the same issue: the EQ works fine, but there’s no distortion.
Here’s what I’m seeing:
-The signal is getting amplified.
-Volume, bass, and treble controls all seem to work as expected.
-But the gain knob does nothing, and there’s no audible distortion, aside from the amp breaking up when everything is maxed out.
Has anyone else run into this?
In my most recent build, I swapped the 9.1k resistors for 8.2k ones. The first two builds used the original values. Another difference is I used a 50k log pot instead of a linear for the gain control (waiting on a proper replacement).
I’ve checked:
-Grounding – looks good.
-Continuity, cuts, and links – all tested with a multimeter.
-Soldering – I’ve reflowed all joints and cleaned the board with IPA afterward.
-Components – double-checked values before soldering.
-IC – socketed, and I’ve tried swapping between a 4558, TL072, and the original 1458. No change at all between them.
I even built a another Jan Ray using Guitar FX's layout, and it behaves the exact same way, very little gain compared to demo videos of the same layouts.
At this point, I’m kind of stumped. Everything seems correct, but clearly something’s off. Any ideas? Has anyone else experienced this or have suggestions on what to check?
Thanks a ton in advance! 🙏
Ok guys, found the issue... Tayda send me B500 ohm pots inside the B500k pots bag. I noticed it because I build the fuzzly bear and had the same issue, almost no gain... Well, I spent 3 days troubleshooting a mislabeled bag of pots :D
DeleteIt's working but I have extremely big hiss. I tried built it 2 times and every time the same result, any ideas?
ReplyDeletemine is also "noisy" but I haven't cased it yet and it is not that bad actually. Most gainy pedals get quieter after being cased. I'm hoping that is the case for this one.
Delete