Klon wiring/debugging. aka I'm a total noob.

Forum dedicated to helping people debug and troubleshoot non-functional pedals or builds. Please use an clear and informative title, indicating circuit and basic problem. Don't forget to mark the issue as fixed if this is the case.
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monotonous1984
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Post by monotonous1984 »

I am a total noob at this, so please excuse any ignorance. Now that that's out of the way, let me begin.

I thought to myself "Hey why don't you try the Klon! It'll be fun. No sweat now that you successfully built another OD on strip board". So I got to it.

Here's where I am now. I used the layout found here: http://www.sabrotone.com/wp-content/upl ... entaur.gif which was easy to understand until I got to the wiring.

I wired the board up according to the layout and what is described here (to the best of my knowledge (which is vastly limited as I am a novice) ) and what I get when I plug the ol’ boy up is a bunch of hum and a weakened signal. hahaha! and that's before you even power it on.
-The volume pot “works” inasmuch as you can turn it all the way down and there’s no sound and then all the way up and there is a little sound but the other 2 pots don’t do anything.

-Also, Am I wrong to assume that the tip of the input goes to the board as marked on the layout? (I apologize for my ignorance. First time I’ve wired anything buffered and not true bypass). I’m thinking I may have something wired wrong on the drive pot as well. I have Lug3 & Lug5 jumped together. Would that cause a problem? I saw somewhere where someone had dif lugs tied together.

The other question was ground issue. I linked the sleeve of both jacks together and tied them into the On/Off Switch 5. I think that’s all the questions I may have had…Otherwise I’ll check the board over again to make sure there’s nothing touching where it shouldn’t be when I get another chance.
So, there are a myriad of places I could have (and probably did) go wrong. Any chance there is a diagram hanging around online (for novices like myself) that shows where every wire should go on this guy?

Thanks for your time guys!

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Lucifer
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Post by Lucifer »

Firstly, let me say that I am surprised that a 'noob' would take on such a (relatively) complicated circuit. It's usually better to start with smaller projects so you get used to the way things are wired, etc. You've got nearly 60 components (not counting switches, pots, jacks, etc) - plus 42 track cuts and 16 on-board links - all of which you need to get right for the circuit to work properly. That's one hell of a gamble for anyone, let alone a noob.

But having said that, I take my hat off to you for having the guts (and/or blind faith) to have a go. Sometimes diving in at the deep end is best. Unfortunately you dived but seem to have missed the water :twisted:

Without seeing pictures of what you've done, it's impossible for us to diagnose what's gone wrong. The layout is verified, so if you had followed it to the letter - and got your jacks and earths and power, etc wired correctly - it should work.

A potential hazard with stripboard is with the track cuts. You not only need to get them in the right place, but you also need to make sure that the cuts are clean, with no tiny slivers of copper either bridging the edge of a hole or bridging across to an adjacent track. Check also the ends of your board to make sure there are no slivers between adjacent tracks as a result of cutting the board to size. I always file the ends of the board carefully after cutting, and scrape a blade across the ends just in case there's a bridge.

How's your soldering ? Trackboard can be very difficult to solder properly, especially if the copper has oxidised. I usually clean the copper with very fine sandpaper, but a pencil eraser will usualy bring a nice shine to the surface too.

There have been reported problems with some voltage multiplier (charge pump) chips (see elsewhere on this forum). If your power supply is running a bit high, it could have blown the chip. There are listed typical voltages for each of the chips (in the K.L.O.N.E.D. section of this forum), so you could check your voltages against those - once you've done all the visual checks described above.

Good luck.
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monotonous1984
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Post by monotonous1984 »

Hahah. Yes, I definitely missed the water on this one. I think I may chalk this one up to a learning experience and use the nice casing for said easier project. I successfully built a Timmy not long ago (although it took 3 tries :slap: ) and figured I'd try ye old klon...after doing about 30 of the cuts I was thinking it was a bad idea. ha!

BUT, that said, I did begin to learn a bit about how different things work and such by doing this so I won't count it a complete failure. And your tips about track board will definitely help me in the future! My soldering (generally) isn't awful, continues to get better, but after reviewing the board again I think I saw a few places where it bled over.

So, I will save the klon for a later date and continue with the easier stuff for now...like tap tempos... :wink:

Thank you again so much for taking the time to reply to my noob question. I'm sure I'll be on here with more questions (and hopefully input as I learn) in the very near future.

Thanks again man!

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Post by Lucifer »

We all started at the beginning, and we've all made mistakes.

I've dived in and found myself in the toilet more than once !

Just don't give up. A wise man once told me that the person who never made a mistake never made anything.

I've learned a great deal from this forum and I'm sure you will too - and in time you'll be sharing your expertise with future noobs.

Till then, have fun, and don't lose your great sense of humour.

Cheers,

Lucifer
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Post by michaelballard »

If I may add something. I have very little activity on this forum, but I participate quite a bit on other DIY forums.

Rather than putting this off, I would recommend making yourself an audio probe, getting out the schematic and tracing through the circuit starting at the input. This will give you an idea where the signal "dies". As someone suggested earlier, post some pics and let us have a look - sometimes all it takes is another set of eyes on the problem. It will be a great learning experience and will sharpen your troubleshooting skills.

Even though it's a complex circuit, I hate to see someone start a "box of fail" this early on. It will only diminish your confidence and give you an easy out next time.

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monotonous1984
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Post by monotonous1984 »

Thanks for the encouragement guys!

I will post some pics of it (although I did desolder it out of the box so I could build something a bit more simple :roll: )

I'm not afraid to make mistakes anymore, thankfully. I've realized that time will pass either way and I might as well learn something while that time passes and have fun doing it :)(aaaaand tayda is really cheap and makes it ok to mess up while learning. ;) ). And this is fun to me. Even through the "failing". I would make an audio probe if I knew how...hahaha I've got a lot to learn. These forums will be my zen master pedal building guide.

Thanks again, guys. I shall not give up.

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Post by michaelballard »

Another good thing to have is a "test rig" with in/out jacks and power connected to a breadboard. It lets you test your builds before you box 'em up and have to desolder to troubleshoot. Here's mine - janky but it works.

Image

Here's how to build an audio probe:
http://diy-fever.com/misc/audio-probe/

...and how to use it:

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monotonous1984
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Post by monotonous1984 »

michael,

this will probably show how much of a novice I am, but in wanting to build a test rig...hooowwww do you wire it? I'm assuming I would use a layout somewhat like this: http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/201 ... iring.html and then use the schem or diagram to choose where the ins outs and such would be??

But, I really like the idea of the toggle switch you have as it will be on a table while testing.

Thanks again for all the info!!!

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Post by Nocentelli »

That's it: The "input" and "output" at the bottom should be jacks mounted in an enclosure, which are connected to guitar and amp repectively. The green and blue input and output wires should be long-ish flying leads that protrude from the box (you can see them in the photo above, trailing out of the box), which are connected to the input and output of whatever circuit you are testing. If you use a toggle switch for bypass, you can use a DPDT switch instead of a 3PDT as shown and miss out the left-hand column of three lugs entirely: These lugs are used for switching the LED status indicator, which is not needed if you use a toggle, since you can see if the effect is "on" or bypassed from the position of the toggle (either up or down, depending on the physical orientation of the switch).
modman wrote: Let's hope it's not a hit, because soldering up the same pedal everyday, is a sad life. It's that same ole devilish double bind again...

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Post by Kregg »

I just put the finishing touches on a similar build and am too having issues.
The power is on and the guitar works in bypass. However, when I stomp ... :whappen: ... nothing.
When I roll the volume control up/down it scratches.
Any thoughts before I roll up my sleeves and probe away?

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Post by Kregg »

FOUND IT! :slap:
I decided to try the ole "hold it up to the light trick" and found the fix!
I was wondering why I had a populated klon clone board sitting in my electronics bone pile collecting dust.
Oh yeah ... now I remember why I stopped.
Then, after I found the trace lift at one of the diodes; which I don't get now that I own a new soldering iron (Hakko).
Easiest debug I've ever had ... :thumbsup
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