# Electrovibe



## Tpruitt (Oct 29, 2022)

My vibe engaged really cuts the volume down. The fx is also pretty week and it’s hard to hear.   
Mods
R4 two 1m in series =2m
R12 two 10m in parallel =5m
R14/15 =2k7

I also had to use a 200k trim and not the 250k in the bias spot. 

Anything obvious?


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## steviejr92 (Oct 29, 2022)

It looks like r24 and r26 are the same value? R24 should be 4k7 and r26 should be 47k possible mixup? Can’t tell though.


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## Tpruitt (Oct 29, 2022)

Yep. R26 is 4k7. 
But that is in the bias circuit. How would that effect my output volume?


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## Tpruitt (Oct 29, 2022)

I just looked over every resistor and r26 is the only one I see wrong.
  The volume drop when engaged is huge.
Should I go back to the original on r4. I have it at 2m  original is 47k.   R4 mod is unity volume mod.


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## steviejr92 (Oct 29, 2022)

@Big Monk Just listing his name here. Hes much better suited to help answer that question!


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## Big Monk (Oct 29, 2022)

Tpruitt said:


> I just looked over every resistor and r26 is the only one I see wrong.
> The volume drop when engaged is huge.
> Should I go back to the original on r4. I have it at 2m  original is 47k.   R4 mod is unity volume mod.



Something else is amiss. R4 at 2M should be increasing things above unity gain.

Can you post pictures of the u see side of the board?

Don’t go crazy pulling stuff out and replacing. This is the time during troubleshooting when most people use thier soldering iron like an implement of Conan the Barbarian style revenge.

Hang tight while we try and figure this out. 

You also say the effect is weak. How so? Is there any phasing at all?


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## Tpruitt (Oct 29, 2022)

No phasing.  I guess maybe the effect is weak because the output is so weak.  
   Ok I’ll pull it apart and take pics of the other side.  It’ll probably be tomorrow.


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## Tpruitt (Oct 30, 2022)

It is a tight fit. I don’t know if I’ll ever get it back in the case again lol.


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## Big Monk (Oct 30, 2022)

Tpruitt said:


> It is a tight fit. I don’t know if I’ll ever get it back in the case again lol.



Do you have the speed pots insulated?


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## Tpruitt (Oct 30, 2022)

I just had tape behind them.


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## Robert (Oct 30, 2022)

It's almost always the dual pots, and usually when there is tape behind them.

It might not be in this case, but it's worth a look.


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## steviejr92 (Oct 30, 2022)

Tpruitt said:


> I just had tape behind them.


If you have those pot covers you can take your cutters and cut out the extra material so it can fit your dual gang pots. might not look the prettiest but it protects your pots from short circuiting the board.


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## Tpruitt (Oct 30, 2022)

That was it. I still need to change that one resistor and tune the bull in to taste. 
  I appreciate the help and ideas guys.


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## Tpruitt (Nov 2, 2022)

Here is my luck.    Put it back in the case with dust covers. Tune the bulb. Put the cover on and call it good and the dang bulb sticks up to high now. Back to taking it apart again.


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## andare (Nov 3, 2022)

Tpruitt said:


> Here is my luck.    Put it back in the case with dust covers. Tune the bulb. Put the cover on and call it good and the dang bulb sticks up to high now. Back to taking it apart again.


I guess that's why a 1590BBS has been recommended.
I just built a FF in one of those, with the jacks over the pots and I can't imagine using a shallower enclosure.


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## Tpruitt (Nov 3, 2022)

Lol. Yeah the dust caps made it stick out just enough the back won’t go on.


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## Big Monk (Nov 3, 2022)

Tpruitt said:


> Lol. Yeah the dust caps made it stick out just enough the back won’t go on.



This is a common issue. I would order the 1590BB2/BBS.


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## fig (Nov 3, 2022)

Tpruitt said:


> Lol. Yeah the dust caps made it stick out just enough the back won’t go on.


If they are the harder translucent covers, I always cut them down to just enough sidewall to stay on the pot. Otherwise, there is a ~2mm airspace left between the bottom of the pot and the bottom of the cover. That 2mm can make a huge difference sometimes.


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## Robert (Nov 3, 2022)

I should have the thin (1mm) pot insulators within the week.  

These along with squeezing down the tabs on the dual pots will get it into a standard depth 1590BB.


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## The Gator (Nov 4, 2022)

I used a thin piece of blister pack type packaging plastic with a tiny dab of glue and stuck it underneath the double pots.
About .015" thick.
Also, I put a round head end mill bit in the drill press and  drilled a small divet in the backplate where the lamp hits. Doesn't  take much. A 135° tip .375" drill bit would work nicely as well.


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## Tpruitt (Oct 29, 2022)

My vibe engaged really cuts the volume down. The fx is also pretty week and it’s hard to hear.   
Mods
R4 two 1m in series =2m
R12 two 10m in parallel =5m
R14/15 =2k7

I also had to use a 200k trim and not the 250k in the bias spot. 

Anything obvious?


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## Tpruitt (Nov 11, 2022)

I used dust covers and I ended up machining the bottoms and using a few washers. Works great. 

I have another issue.  The output volume is way low.   Unfortunately I can’t figure out to to upload a video


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## Tpruitt (Nov 11, 2022)

https://imgur.com/a/mCJCQBu



I’m running this in my boss es8.  In front of the amp. Volume maxed. The very first thing.  
 In the loop is even less volume.


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## Big Monk (Nov 11, 2022)

Tpruitt said:


> https://imgur.com/a/mCJCQBu
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Did you do the unity gain mod?


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## Tpruitt (Nov 11, 2022)

Yes.  R4 I used two 1m in series for =2m
The mod thread calls for 2m2


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## Tpruitt (Nov 14, 2022)

Any other ideas


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## Big Monk (Nov 14, 2022)

Tpruitt said:


> Any other ideas



Have you done a component to component check to make sure all caps and resistors are the right value?

It’s not uncommon for people to mistakenly put the wrong value somewhere. It definitely seems like you have some signal limiting happening somewhere because the unity gain mod should give you at least a little bit of boosting capability.

I know it’s tedious but print the refdes out and go component to component and check their values.


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## Tpruitt (Nov 14, 2022)

I did that with the resistors when I had one wrong.   I’ll go over the caps next.


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## Tpruitt (Nov 15, 2022)

All my caps are right.  All the resistors I checked last week.  
  Only thing I can do is take it apart to double check the volume pot is correct. 
Maybe play it out of the enclosure.


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## Big Monk (Nov 15, 2022)

When you change speeds, is the low volume constant across both controls?


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## Tpruitt (Nov 16, 2022)

Yes. The volume never changes other than with the volume knob.  
 I took it apart and didn’t see anything that stuck out. Volume pots right. Nothing can touch the board. Triple checked the modded resistors.  
   I may just remove r4 and try that. Remove any signal to ground there.


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## Big Monk (Nov 16, 2022)

Tpruitt said:


> Yes. The volume never changes other than with the volume knob.
> I took it apart and didn’t see anything that stuck out. Volume pots right. Nothing can touch the board. Triple checked the modded resistors.
> I may just remove r4 and try that. Remove any signal to ground there.



And you are sure you put 1M resistors in series for R4?


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## Tpruitt (Nov 16, 2022)

Took them out and measured.  2m.
   Played the pedal with them out and no difference in volume.the pcb was out of the box also and I made sure it wasn’t laying on anything conducive. 
Looked over the board again and no crossed solder spots. I’m at a loss


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## Big Monk (Nov 16, 2022)

Tpruitt said:


> Took them out and measured.  2m.
> Played the pedal with them out and no difference in volume.the pcb was out of the box also and I made sure it wasn’t laying on anything conducive.
> Looked over the board again and no crossed solder spots. I’m at a loss



So you removed R4 and no change? I would look there.

Did you try soldering in a single resistor into R4? How do the R4 pads look?

Also check in an around the volume pot, including the mixer resistors, etc.


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## Tpruitt (Nov 17, 2022)

R4 bleeds off some signal. Connected at the input it shouldn’t be a huge difference. 
   So today I printed out the pcb and went over every component one by one. All correct. 
  Flipped it over and reflowed every solder joint checking to make sure they weren’t touching another part. All good. No marks or cut or anything abnormal on the board. 

  Took out the volume pot and checked it. 
Read 82k.  Thought I’d try a 100k resistor across the pads.  No change. 
   Checked my off board wiring.  No stands floating off to touch something. Solder good. 
  At this point I’m thinking it’s a bad component.  And it won’t be in the power section.  Or even the bulb section. 
 Since I’m do this as a hobby I don’t have the equipment to figure out what component.


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