Loundsberry Nigel Touch Overdrive  [traced]

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Bside2234
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Post by Bside2234 »

I received one of these in for repair. First thing that struck me odd was the spaghetti of wires. Then I saw the diodes and cap on the input jack. Now I had to trace it and figure out what was going on.
It says true bypass right on the front by the footswitch. :)
I couldn't read the value of C3. It's kind of rubbed off. I don't know the value of the drive pot yet either. Everything else seems correct though believe it or not. I'll have this for the next week at least so if you want me to double check or take pics of anything. Let me know. I tried taking some decent pics but there is so much wire blocking things.
Edit: Updated the schematic. D1, D2 and C1 are soldered to the sleeve of the input jack and the other end of these IS soldered to the Gain pot lug 2. The Input jack tip and lug 2 are so close together in this pedal. The input jack must have turned just slightly and is touching the diodes/cap wire and I was getting continuity between the in tip and the diodes/cap. Also pulled R7 out to measure it and it is indeed 100K. Thank you ppluis0 for pointing that out.
Nigel1.0.jpg
1.jpg
2a.jpg
Last edited by Bside2234 on 23 Dec 2020, 21:18, edited 1 time in total.

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ppluis0
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Post by ppluis0 »

Hi Bside,

The value of R7 looks too low to bias the bipolar transistor.
Perhaps could be 130 Kilo ohms ?

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Bside2234
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Post by Bside2234 »

ppluis0 wrote: 20 Dec 2020, 04:37 Hi Bside,

The value of R7 looks too low to bias the bipolar transistor.
Perhaps could be 130 Kilo ohms ?
Stripes are brown-orange-black-black-brown so I guess it could be 100K if looked at the other way. The brown stripe opposite the orange was offset more so I took it as the tolerance band.

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Post by ppluis0 »

Yup... 100K at this location has more sense to me.

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Post by Bside2234 »

Well, I have to replace the switch so maybe I'll pull the resistor and measure it if I can do it cleanly. Just to be sure. Not my pedal so I don't want to mess with the freeform circuit too much.

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Manfred
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Post by Manfred »

In the product information the following is written:
Two stages of amplification are cascaded to provide a lot of push for the Germanium clipping diodes
creating a very responsive overdrive that can go from warm semi-clean to full on classic rock crunch and saturated lead tones.
https://www.lounsberrypedals.com/produc ... -overdrive
Are you sure that the clipping diodes are connected in parallel to the input which seems rather unusual to me?
I suppose these are rather wired in parallel to the Drive potentiometer, Pin 1 of the potentiometer should be connected to ground in this case.
IMO, for a professional device with this price a poor workmanship regarding the wiring of the board.

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Post by Manfred »

The BJT stage has similarities with the circuit of the Electra distortion such as this one.
In this circuit the 2N5088 BJT is used in most other Electra circuits the 2N3904 is used.
Modded Electra 2-1.png

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Bside2234
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Post by Bside2234 »

Manfred wrote: 20 Dec 2020, 21:52 In the product information the following is written:
Two stages of amplification are cascaded to provide a lot of push for the Germanium clipping diodes
creating a very responsive overdrive that can go from warm semi-clean to full on classic rock crunch and saturated lead tones.
https://www.lounsberrypedals.com/produc ... -overdrive
Are you sure that the clipping diodes are connected in parallel to the input which seems rather unusual to me?
I suppose these are rather wired in parallel to the Drive potentiometer, Pin 1 of the potentiometer should be connected to ground in this case.
IMO, for a professional device with this price a poor workmanship regarding the wiring of the board.
Actually with my glasses on it looks like they connect to the sleeve and maybe go down just past the input jack tip to the gain pot. They are so close together I really can't tell without taking it apart. I'll try and take a good pic of them. It's really hard to see that through all the wiring. I need to check the value of the gain pot anyway so I'll be taking that jack out to have a better look at it.

"for a professional device with this price a poor workmanship regarding the wiring of the board."
I was thinking the exact same thing. I was like..This is $200? The volume pot works piss poor as it's just wired as a variable resistor.

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Post by Bside2234 »

I went through it again and found out the diode/cap legs were just hitting the gain pot 2 as they are super close in the pedal and the jack must have turned a little giving me continuity between in jack tip and the diodes/cap. Also pulled R7 to measure it and it is indeed 100K. Updated the schematic to reflect this. I went through the rest of the schematic with the pedal and it seems correct now unless I read a resistor backwards.

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Post by Manfred »

Thanks for the further digging.
What about terminal 1 of the drive potentiometer is it connected to ground?

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Post by Lithium_Grim »

Manfred wrote: 24 Dec 2020, 10:07 Thanks for the further digging.
What about terminal 1 of the drive potentiometer is it connected to ground?
Looking at the second picture it is unconnected.
I only give negativ feedback and y'all love it!
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Post by Manfred »

Hi Bside2234
The level potentiometer is not grounded, but it should be in order to function.
Have you already measured the potentiometer values?

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Post by Manfred »

Lithium_Grim wrote: 25 Dec 2020, 14:27
Manfred wrote: 24 Dec 2020, 10:07 Thanks for the further digging.
What about terminal 1 of the drive potentiometer is it connected to ground?
Looking at the second picture it is unconnected.
I looked at the demo video and there is still a signal coming out when the drive button is on the left stop, which would not be if terminal 1 of the potentiometer is connected to ground.
You were right, now we have to wait for the values of the two potentiometers.

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Post by Nocentelli »

Manfred wrote: 26 Dec 2020, 08:24 Hi Bside2234
The level potentiometer is not grounded, but it should be in order to function.
Deafeningly, uncontrollably loud without lug1 of the volume pot to ground: Family and neighbours can affirm.
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 Manfred »

The potentiometer in series with the clipping diodes corresponds to the saturation control on this website:
http://www.muzique.com/lab/sat.htm
I think the value here is also B10k.

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Post by fuzzbunny »

Any further info on this?

Drive pot: Value/Taper?
C3?

Thx!

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Post by Bside2234 »

Manfred wrote: 26 Dec 2020, 08:24 Hi Bside2234
The level potentiometer is not grounded, but it should be in order to function.
Have you already measured the potentiometer values?
Correct. The Level pot is not grounded. The level control worked very poorly. I grounded it and works much better as expected.
Level was 50K-A and Drive is 50K-B

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Post by Bside2234 »

fuzzbunny wrote: 30 Dec 2020, 17:36 Any further info on this?

Drive pot: Value/Taper?
C3?

Thx!
Just posted the pot values/taper but I haven't measured C3. If I have time I'll open it back up, pull the resistor and measure it. I've just been swamped lately.

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Post by Nocentelli »

Bside2234 wrote: 10 Jan 2021, 19:19 The Level pot is not grounded. The level control worked very poorly. I grounded it and works much better as expected.
Why would anyone do that? It literally doesn't control the volume without the ground connection :slap:
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 Manfred »

Just posted the pot values/taper but I haven't measured C3. If I have time I'll open it back up, pull the resistor and measure it. I've just been swamped lately.
Have you measured the value of C3 in the meantime?

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