Timmy clone wiring

All frequent questions on switching: true or not true bypass, transistor-based or mechanical.
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chuls
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Post by chuls »

Hello,

I'm very new to building pedals, and I don't know much about how the wiring should be for pedals.
I've started building a timmy clone following the vero layout bellow.

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/2 ... timmy.html

The only problem is I'm not sure where the the ground from the volume pot and circuit board are supposed to go and the output from the volume pot.
I have been using the bellow image for wiring ideas, but it doesn't include the extra ground on the volume pot and output from the vol pot.

http://www.co-bw.com/Images_DIY/fig8.gif

I have already blown a circuit board, so any help will be much appreciated.
Thank you in advance =]

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Nocentelli
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Post by Nocentelli »

All the grounds should be connected, so you just need to solder volume lug 1 to any point that is connected to ground: You could wire it to the input ground or output ground, or to somewhere on the ground rail on IvIark's layout, e.g. the hole directly above the drive 2 connection. The circuit board ground needs to be connected to battery/power supply negative AND the input/enclosure ground. Basically ALL grounds need to be connected (icluding power negative) but it doesn't really matter how you accomplish this. The output from the volume pot goes to the footswitch: On the second image you've linked to, this connection is shown as an output wire from the board, but on the timmy (and most pedals with a passive output/volume pot) it comes from lug 2, not the board itself. Hope this helps, good luck and report back if you're still stuck.
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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chuls
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Post by chuls »

Thanks for the reply Nocentelli,
Just a quick question. You said all the grounds need to be connected, on the link for the off board wiring the Dc supply doesn't seem to be connected to the other grounds, it says that it goes to the sleeve but the other grounds are soldered to the ring on the input jack, is this a problem?
I also found this one, would this be a better one to use as the grounds all seem to be connected bar the battery one?
thanks again

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Kingsac
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Post by Kingsac »

thats fine, ground will be connected through your jack when its plugged in, thus saving your battery when you do not have a jack plugged in.
hope that helps.

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chuls
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Post by chuls »

Hi guys,

I've managed to solder it all together again. This time its a lot better. True bypass works, and when I first switched it on, there was no sound coming through. I tried it with the DC and still no luck. After fiddling with the DC jack the distorted noise came through. The controls seem to be working for volume and gain, however it is extremely quiet. Its probably around a quarter of the amps volume when its switched on.
I was wondering if anyone would know any reason as to why its so quiet?

In IvIarks layout, he uses a jrc4559 chip. I was unable to get hold of any quick enough so after reading about other chips people have used in this pedal I decided to use a TL072 Low Noise J-FET Input Dual Op. Amp.
Could this be whats causing the quietness?

Thanks once again. =]

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chuls
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Post by chuls »

Just an update, when I move some of the wires going into the board, there seems to be a variation in volume. Could this be possible poor solder joints?

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Nocentelli
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Post by Nocentelli »

Yup, any intermittent problems when you touch the wires is a good indicator of soldering/connection problems. Carefully inspect the solder joints where each wire connects with the board. If it's lead solder, they should all be shiny blobs: any grey joints might be cold and therefore a poor connection. A quick reheat and a dab more solder should sort these out. Please note if you're using leadfree, all the joints may well be grey rather than shiny silver, so you can't check visually. Whilst you're looking, check for any accidental contacts, e.g. a protruding wire end touching an adjacent spot it shouldn't. If everything looks good, I'd then get a multimeter and check continuity is good between every off board contact and the corrosponding on-board connection. Check you have +9v where you should, and continuity between all ground points. I can't find the schem on my phone, but the timmy doesn't have transistors (so pinout isn't an issue), but double check the pinout of the chips match, and you have oriented it correctly. If you can't find a fault, it's time to audio probe - simply solder a long flying lead from the "fx return" spot on the footswitch - use the other end of the lead to touch the footswitch "send" lug: you should get clean signal whichever way you click the footswitch; now trace the circuit by touching the flying end to the other side of the input capacitor. You'll now need to get the footswitch to "on" (easy if the LED is connected and working), and follow the signal path using the layout (and the schematic to double check) until the signal drops out. Then report back.

Good luck.
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 chuls »

Just an update,
Managed to get it working properly, turned out it was a few bad pots. Put some new ones on and its working really well.
Thanks for the help, I have no doubt I'll be back when I start on the next one.
Thanks again!!!! =]

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Post by Nocentelli »

Glad to hear you've got it going.
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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