Rangemaster wiring (n00b alert)
I decided to give my old rangemaster project another try. Bought as a kit years ago, assembled it, threw it in my "fail box" because I was too lazy at that time to debug it.
I know there's a number of things that could be wrong, but I tought it'd make sense to go over the obvious stuff, to make sure I didn't make some silly wiring mistake. I can't find the original wiring layout for it though, so I was hoping someone here could point me to a layout that would work for this schematic.
The led/dc bus 3PDT schematics I found on the net don't even vaguely resemble what I'm looking at, so I'm curious if:
a) I was drunk when I build it and screwed pretty much all ofboard connections.
b) The wiring is unorthodox but functional, and something else is wrong.
The bypassed signal sounds fine, I get no sound at all when the effect is supposed to be working. And I'm not sure if this helps in any way...: But when I pull out the guitar cable from the input jack, I noticed that when the tip of the cable touches the shorter lug of the input jack (the one that's supposed to connect with the guitar cable jack's sleeve) I get a pretty normal guitar sound when then effect's turned on. It's not distorted though, and not boosted at all either. It's actually a little less loud then the bypassed circuit, and the level pot doesn't influence the signal.
If you guys need the schematic to be able to help, I'll dig it up and post it too.
Thanks a lot.
I know there's a number of things that could be wrong, but I tought it'd make sense to go over the obvious stuff, to make sure I didn't make some silly wiring mistake. I can't find the original wiring layout for it though, so I was hoping someone here could point me to a layout that would work for this schematic.
The led/dc bus 3PDT schematics I found on the net don't even vaguely resemble what I'm looking at, so I'm curious if:
a) I was drunk when I build it and screwed pretty much all ofboard connections.
b) The wiring is unorthodox but functional, and something else is wrong.
The bypassed signal sounds fine, I get no sound at all when the effect is supposed to be working. And I'm not sure if this helps in any way...: But when I pull out the guitar cable from the input jack, I noticed that when the tip of the cable touches the shorter lug of the input jack (the one that's supposed to connect with the guitar cable jack's sleeve) I get a pretty normal guitar sound when then effect's turned on. It's not distorted though, and not boosted at all either. It's actually a little less loud then the bypassed circuit, and the level pot doesn't influence the signal.
If you guys need the schematic to be able to help, I'll dig it up and post it too.
Thanks a lot.
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- DrNomis
- Old Solderhand
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thom wrote:I decided to give my old rangemaster project another try. Bought as a kit years ago, assembled it, threw it in my "fail box" because I was too lazy at that time to debug it.
I know there's a number of things that could be wrong, but I tought it'd make sense to go over the obvious stuff, to make sure I didn't make some silly wiring mistake. I can't find the original wiring layout for it though, so I was hoping someone here could point me to a layout that would work for this schematic.
The led/dc bus 3PDT schematics I found on the net don't even vaguely resemble what I'm looking at, so I'm curious if:
a) I was drunk when I build it and screwed pretty much all ofboard connections.
b) The wiring is unorthodox but functional, and something else is wrong.
The bypassed signal sounds fine, I get no sound at all when the effect is supposed to be working. And I'm not sure if this helps in any way...: But when I pull out the guitar cable from the input jack, I noticed that when the tip of the cable touches the shorter lug of the input jack (the one that's supposed to connect with the guitar cable jack's sleeve) I get a pretty normal guitar sound when then effect's turned on. It's not distorted though, and not boosted at all either. It's actually a little less loud then the bypassed circuit, and the level pot doesn't influence the signal.
If you guys need the schematic to be able to help, I'll dig it up and post it too.
Thanks a lot.
I think I see what could be causing your Rangemaster to not work properly,on the circuit board,R7 seems to be going to the negative supply when it really should be going to ground,this is causing the output to be held negative at the full battery voltage,hope that helps.........
Genius is not all about 99% perspiration, and 1% inspiration - sometimes the solution is staring you right in the face.-Frequencycentral.
- mysticwhiskey
- Solder Soldier
Don't know if you've already found these, but here's the RangeMaster project page from the musikding website:
http://diy.musikding.de/content/view/74/8/
The wiring layout diagram is here:
http://diy.musikding.de/images/Rangemas ... ahtung.jpg
http://diy.musikding.de/content/view/74/8/
The wiring layout diagram is here:
http://diy.musikding.de/images/Rangemas ... ahtung.jpg
- DrNomis
- Old Solderhand
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Here's the schematic from the same website....
Note,I had assumed that they had set the circuit board up for a positive grounding system,when it is actually a negative ground system (this catches me out every time)....
Note,I had assumed that they had set the circuit board up for a positive grounding system,when it is actually a negative ground system (this catches me out every time)....
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Genius is not all about 99% perspiration, and 1% inspiration - sometimes the solution is staring you right in the face.-Frequencycentral.
Damn, don't know how I overlooked that, I only found a schematic/layout of a new rangemaster version on their site.mysticwhiskey wrote:Don't know if you've already found these, but here's the RangeMaster project page from the musikding website:
http://diy.musikding.de/content/view/74/8/
The wiring layout diagram is here:
http://diy.musikding.de/images/Rangemas ... ahtung.jpg
Looks like my wiring is okay though, guess I should look for the problem elsewhere:(
Also, I don't suppose it'd be a good idea to check if the transistor is working by trying an ac128 I have laying around?
Thanks.
Edit: I just no noticed I forgot the ofboard cap...Could that be the problem, and is it fixable or did I maybe already fry something?
Edit2: Seems like there could be something wired wrong after all. So just to make sure: How is the pot in that wiring layout orientated? Shaft up or down? Thanks.
- mysticwhiskey
- Solder Soldier
I don't think it would cause the circuit to stop working if you left it out. That's just there for power supply filtering.thom wrote:I just no noticed I forgot the ofboard cap...Could that be the problem...
Sure, just add the cap inthom wrote:...and is it fixable...
Shaft up. But even if you had it wired backwards, the circuit would still work (albeit the boost control would work backwards).thom wrote:How is the pot in that wiring layout orientated? Shaft up or down?
- DrNomis
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thom wrote:Thanks a lot.
So how about that transistor? Would an ac128 work to at least test the circuit?
Yes,it should work fine provided that it is a good one with a gain of at least 100,you can also try a transistor with a gain of 75,but probably not anything lower than that,if you measure the voltage on the transistor's "C" terminal with a multimeter (red probe on circuit ground),you should see at least about -4.5-7 Volts,if so,that means the circuit is biasing up properly....
Genius is not all about 99% perspiration, and 1% inspiration - sometimes the solution is staring you right in the face.-Frequencycentral.