# Triangulum boost - no sound when engaging the effect



## cynferdd (Feb 11, 2020)

Hello, 

I just built a triangulum boost, and I have no sound at all when engaging the effect.

When bypassed, I have sound.

When I press the footswitch, the led turns on, but there is no sound at all, even if I turn the potentiometer (no noise, nothing).

Here is a gutshot : 



https://imgur.com/a/w07wHvu


Is there something visible here that I may have missed ? The diodes seem to be in the right order, same thing for the transistors.

I'm a bit confused.


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## zgrav (Feb 11, 2020)

you can read some of the posts from others in the forums that started out asking why their pedals don't work.  there is a set of steps you need to go through to troubleshoot it that include visual inspection for too much/not enough/cold solder points, checking connections with your digital multimeter to verify connectivity and confirm no "extra" connections (shorts) to ground or to other components.  If that does not help you find and fix a problem you may want to build an audio probe to follow your incoming audio signal through the circuit to see where it is getting stopped.


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## Mourguitars (Feb 11, 2020)

Take it out and make sure there is no solder joints touching or flux underneath ....Is the yellow wire touching the green looking on the right ...possibly a short ?

My first build was this pedal and i made every mistake...cheap iron, solder  joints touching...flux everywhere...never did work at all , but i rushed the build...

Take it out and reflow all the joints...make sure no joints are touching and flux , i use a snap on dental  pick that is very dull and scrape all the flux away..then brush it...

My nightmare, i keep it on the shelf.. !



https://imgur.com/QHVGQtm


this one fired right up....

Mike



https://imgur.com/0K7nxYW


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## Chuck D. Bones (Feb 12, 2020)

Remove the board, clean all of the flux off, inspect all of the solder joints under magnification, looking for cold joints and shorts.  Shorten the leads on the transistors and make sure they are making good contact in the sockets.  Make sure the ICs are properly seated in the sockets.  Read the troubleshooting forum for everyone else who has had trouble with this pedal and see what they did to fix it.  As far as I can tell, you have all of the right parts installed.  Picture is poorly focused, so it's hard to tell for sure.  If it's still not working after all that, power it up, measure and report the voltage on pins 2, 3, 4, 6 & 7 of IC1.


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## Toneconsultant (Mar 22, 2020)

Hummm.  I sort of have the same issue.  I guess I have to take a closer look.  One fast question.

Removing flux? Is there a preferred way to do that?


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## Chuck D. Bones (Mar 22, 2020)

What do you mean "sort of have the same issue"?  Can you be more specific?  If you want help troubleshooting, post a hi-res, properly focused, properly lit photo of your board.  Try measuring these voltages on IC1: pin 2, 3, 6 & 7 w.r.t. ground.

To remove flux, use lots of IPA and a toothbrush.  Avoid getting dirty IPA inside the pots.  IPA = isopropyl alcohol, not India Pal Ale ?


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## Mourguitars (Mar 22, 2020)

Toneconsultant said:


> Hummm.  I sort of have the same issue.  I guess I have to take a closer look.  One fast question.
> 
> Removing flux? Is there a preferred way to do that?



Ive been watching lots and lots of amp repair videos , been wanting to build a hot rodded 800 style amp down the road, but i have a Blackstar Series One 10434 amp that still giving me that crackle / static noise....well everything that these amps are known for. ( google the issue, not one answer from Blackstar , most likely replace the board like on the newer Marshall's )..there is no schematics available so I'm going to (discharge the caps) and remove the pre amp PCB and reflow the solder joints.....It has to be a cold joint

Ive watched repair men use this to clean Flux off so i bought a can...ill let you know how it works , but JBK in his work flow guide has his way to clean the board...ive been doing it his way ....its a must read , great tips

Even watching Lee Jacksons amp mod's channel....flux can cause a lot of headaches he said...he used the IPA and a tooth brush

Mike

May be overkill but ...IPA is cheaper



https://imgur.com/DQHzLV7


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## Chuck D. Bones (Mar 22, 2020)

Mike,
When you discharge the caps, discharge them thru a resistor.  10K 1W is good.  A rapid discharge thru a plain wire can overstress parts and the sparks can be a bit too exciting.  The big electrolytics: discharge them all, then discharge them all again.  Sometime you miss one or one recharges another.  Can't be too careful.


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## Toneconsultant (Mar 22, 2020)

Thanks guys.  Looks like I have a lot to learn about cold joints and flux.  I’ll work on that today.  

I also started a new thread so to avoid jumping around, I’ll continue there.


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## Mourguitars (Mar 22, 2020)

I had one heck of a time with this build, built a Chugga Pre and this one both failed when i first started....the 2 things i done different was : Clean the PCB, reflow all joints and quit using the IC sockets...inspect all solder joints

Mike


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## Toneconsultant (Mar 22, 2020)

Thanks Mike.  I think I will look into cleaning details and I need to understand how flux works.  

I thought flux was to help solder flow better, which I still believe is true.  Having to clean it off, however, I didn’t understand why.  I thought you clean it off to simply be clean and neat, but it sounds like there might be more to it.

As for cold joints, I guess that makes sense.  I really thought my solder joints were pretty good, but I’ll go back and reflow them.  It just hate to add more heat, but then again, if it’s a cold joint, it won’t work either so . . .

Thanks for the suggestions


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