Super confused about this kit's wiring...

[JohnH]

Hey guys,

I'm totally new to this, and bought this cheap delay pedal kit off eBay for the soldering practice. I had a pretty good run at soldering all the components to the PCB, but I'm totally flummoxed by this wiring diagram they included.

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It's pixelated to buggery, and I don't know enough about wiring to understand what I'm looking at. This is what I THINK is happening, but if someone could correct me I'd really appreciate it...

The three lugs on the left hand side of the 3PDT switch are circuit input, guitar input and a jumper

The three lugs on the right are circuit output, guitar output, and the other side of the jumper

The middle three lugs confuse me. There is obviously a connection from the DC jack through the resistor and the LED, and then I'm assuming red lines are power connections, so the red line to the circuit is taking power from the jack (or battery) to the circuit?

Then the battery connections and grounds completely confuse me. I think the black battery connection is going to the top most lug on the input jack (yellow line)? And the red battery connection is going to the DC jack? Then I assume all the green lines are ground wires, and they all connect to the input jack?

Sorry for being so dim. I've spent ages reading forum posts about pedal wiring but I think I got information overload, and it just confused me even more

[wokkaboy]

Hey John, I'm not going to read your questions as I can't help you (haven't built a DIY pedal before) but send Matt (username mjg) a private message and ask him the questions, he has built multiple pedals and is very knowledgeable with the wiring side

[DrNomis_44]

Hey guys,

I'm totally new to this, and bought this cheap delay pedal kit off eBay for the soldering practice. I had a pretty good run at soldering all the components to the PCB, but I'm totally flummoxed by this wiring diagram they included.

22355

It's pixelated to buggery, and I don't know enough about wiring to understand what I'm looking at. This is what I THINK is happening, but if someone could correct me I'd really appreciate it...

The three lugs on the left hand side of the 3PDT switch are circuit input, guitar input and a jumper

The three lugs on the right are circuit output, guitar output, and the other side of the jumper

The middle three lugs confuse me. There is obviously a connection from the DC jack through the resistor and the LED, and then I'm assuming red lines are power connections, so the red line to the circuit is taking power from the jack (or battery) to the circuit?

Then the battery connections and grounds completely confuse me. I think the black battery connection is going to the top most lug on the input jack (yellow line)? And the red battery connection is going to the DC jack? Then I assume all the green lines are ground wires, and they all connect to the input jack?

Sorry for being so dim. I've spent ages reading forum posts about pedal wiring but I think I got information overload, and it just confused me even more


From what I can tell by using Windows 10's Photos application to enlarge the photo, the middle solder-lug of the 3PDT Footswitch is connected to the circuit-ground connection of the DC In socket, the other solder-lug directly below it is connected to the Led via a current-limiting resistor, hope that helps.

And yes, I agree, they don't make it very easy to read the wiring-diagram don't they?

[Simon Barden]

I found a bit better quality diagram from a Reverb sales picture.

http://imageshack.com/a/img924/2510/DbPC72.png

[DrNomis_44]

Cheers Simon, that one is much easier to read.

[JohnH]

Thanks everyone, but especially Simon! It makes so much more sense now I can see it properly, thanks a million. I owe you a beverage (I expect I'll owe you a few before long)

[JohnH]

One more question, but should there be a connection from the 'out' of the circuit (top right of PCB) to the 3PDT switch? I hadn't noticed there wasn't one listed as I was so caught up trying to figure out what the lines all meant, but now I look at it, surely there needs to be some output from the circuit, right?

[DrNomis_44]

One more question, but should there be a connection from the 'out' of the circuit (top right of PCB) to the 3PDT switch? I hadn't noticed there wasn't one listed as I was so caught up trying to figure out what the lines all meant, but now I look at it, surely there needs to be some output from the circuit, right?


I noticed that too, so I think you're quite correct, it looks to me that whoever drew the wiring diagram forgot to include a wire going from the output pad on the PCB to the spare un-used solder lug on the 3PDT footswitch, so, if you connect a piece of wire up between those two points it should work fine, just remember to solder the wire to the signal out pad rather than the ground pad.

[Marcel]

Out on PCB is connected to the bottom left unused lug on the switch.

The middle unused lug on the top row of the switch becomes 0V or earth when the switch is off or in bypass mode. That switch assembly is actually three vertical 2 position switches with the common of the switches along the horizontal centre line. When the switch is OFF the input jack is connected to the output jack via the jump wire thus creating the 'true bypass'. When the switch is ON the input jack is connected to the input on the PCB, the output of the PCB is connected to the output jack, and the 0V or earth is connected to the LED turning the LED on as it has the Red battery +ve or 9V plugpack connected to its other side.

[Simon Barden]

Worth checking the track side of the PCB to see if the two holes that seem to be labelled 'out' are connected to the same track. If they aren't, then you might need to trace or use a multimeter to test if one of them is connected to the board's common ground, in which case the other is the one to use.

[JohnH]

Thanks guy - I'll add that last wire this arvo and see if it works. First time soldering so I'm not holding out much hope lol

Also just realised (looking at Simons better res image) I've wired the pot lugs back to front. Better fix that too!

[wokkaboy]

good stuff John, a DIY pedal you need a good wiring diagram otherwise you would have no chance of getting it to work.

[Andy40]

John, you are really pointing it out of the park if this is your first pedal. Good on you:D

[JohnH]

Ha ha, Andy, I wouldn't get too excited just yet - still gotta get it to work lol

My little man came home sick today so I didn't get a chance to do anything else with the delay, but here's a pic of the kit as it came, and a progress shot I took yesterday of the board

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I did manage to find the time today to breadboard a distortion circuit that I found here:

http://tonefiend.com/tonefiend-diy-club-projects-resources/

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I know it's a super simple circuit, and it's not soldered or anything yet, but it was a pretty nice feeling hearing it work.

I play in a classical Chinese ensemble, and so I'm electrifying one of my instruments in an attempt at a kind of Classical Chinese/Doom fusion. Today was the first day I actually had the distortion I wanted to try out the sound, so I was pretty excited.

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[Chuck]

...Classical Chinese/Doom fusion

Now there's a genre I've not heard of before!!!

[Dedman]

that,,, I gotta hear

[Marcel]

2nd ... Um.. 3rd the two above comments....

Interesting looking instrument too....

[Andy40]

but it was a pretty nice feeling hearing it work.
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Definitely

[WeirdBits]

The only thing that could make it make more bizarre would be to have the work 'surf' in there somewhere... chinese classical/surf/doom fusion

[JohnH]

Ha ha, yeah, it's not the most obvious combination of musical influences. They're not as dissimilar as you'd first think though - a lot of the ensemble pieces we play are super slow tempo, and are made up of effectively endlessly looping melodies. I reckon with a bit of fuzz (and some very low tuning) it could be a winner lol

Will have to work on getting the surf in there though...

[Dedman]

just have 2 reverbs and you are 1/2 way there

[mjg]

Hey John,

Did you get the delay pedal working? That diagram would have been super confusing, given the missing wire.

One thing I'll add is that if you have an external power supply, and you don't think you will ever put a battery in there, about half those wires can disappear, which makes it much neater. I've given up on the battery connections in all the pedals I'm building now.

Matt

[JohnH]

just have 2 reverbs and you are 1/2 way there Ha ha, I'm ok with that - any excuse to acquire more pedals!


Did you get the delay pedal working?Matt Nah, no joy so far. I hooked it all up and nothing happened (though the bypass works, so at least some of my soldering is ok). When I had a better look I realised that the IC sockets had shifted on an angle while I was soldering them, so that only the first few sets of pins are actually making any contact. I used tape to keep them flat, but I guess it didn't work. Anyway, I tried desoldering with my little plastic solder sucker, but I'm not very good and it took forever. I'll go buy some desoldering braid from Jaycar on the weekend and see if that's any easier.

In the meantime I built a little jfet preamp which I found here:

http://www.taydaelectronics.com/jfet-preamp-diy-pcb-guitar-effect.html

It works great, so I drilled and primed an enclosure for it yesterday. I'll screenprint some text and seal it tomorrow and then I'll post some pics. Matt, your comment about the power supply was actually really helpful - I was madly soldering the 3PDT switch and DC jack and all that other stuff for the preamp and then I realised that actually, all it needs at the moment is a battery. I don't need the bypass, because if I want to use it I'll plug it in, and if not, it doesn't matter. And when I get a DC adaptor I'll can the battery too. Super simple, and made my life much easier, so thanks for the food for thought!

[mjg]

Glad that I was able to save you some wiring hassle. That's the worst part of pedal building...the final wiring always sucks.

With soldering IC sockets, I tend to use a blob of blue tack to hold it in place while I solder down two opposite corners. Then remove the blue tack, check it's all good, then solder the rest of the pins.

[JohnH]

With soldering IC sockets, I tend to use a blob of blue tack to hold it in place while I solder down two opposite corners. Then remove the blue tack, check it's all good, then solder the rest of the pins.

That makes so much more sense than what I did, and is a perfect example of is why I should always ask first lol

[Marcel]

With soldering IC sockets, I tend to use a blob of blue tack to hold it in place while I solder down two opposite corners. Then remove the blue tack, check it's all good, then solder the rest of the pins.

I do much the same without the BlueTac... I tack solder diagonally opposite pins using the minimum solder possible as they are only to hold things for the next few moments, Pick the board up and press on the socket or chip with my finger and then re-flow the tack solder joint. If there is a gap the chip or socket will seem to 'click' into place when the solder melts, and the I immediately remove the iron. Once I'm sure the two tack solders are holding the chip or socket correctly in the right position, and all the pins look nice and even, and the chip or socket is in the right way round, I then place the board down and proceed to correctly solder all the pins with my two tack joins being the last solders to be re-done.

[JohnH]

Man, I got so caught up with all my other pedal projects that I completely forgot I even had this kit. I came across it again while I was tidying my studio last week, and finally sat down to trouble shoot tonight. Turns out the only thing wrong was a bad solder join connecting the circuit board and input wire. Fixed it up and it works like a charm!

Did a low volume test tonight (kids are asleep/amp has no headphone jack), but will crank it tomorrow and see what my $30 has bought me sound-wise. I was just given some recording gear too, so if I can set that up over the weekend I might try to post a soundbite.

UPDATE: The pedal isn't bad. It's not particularly fancy, but then it never claimed to be (plus, it was only $30 lol). I'll have to keep playing with it, but it sounds pretty good in combination with a fuzz - gets that droning doom sound that I quite enjoy

[JohnH]

Sorry for all the pedal spam today, but realised I never posted a pic of this finished. Ended up making my own enclosure...

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