# Having volume issues with my Tyrian Distortion



## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 24, 2021)

Hey all, just build my first pedals and the second one I put together was the Tyrian Distortion. When I play through it, I have to turn my amp up quite a bit more then I really should have to.. The tone sounds great, I get beautiful distortion out of it, and have no complaints on that end, which is what confuses me. I’m not sure what exactly would cause this sort of result when building. All values were double checked with volt meter before install, and after soldering in place just to be sure I didn’t mix anything up. I mean, the way I do my assembly is pretty fool proof as well, but the perfectionist in me still needs to double check things. Any help or suggestions on what might be causing this issue would be awesome. My other pedal pushes out at the same volume as it should, but this one when engaged is quieter then my clean channel when pedal is on bypass when it should be quite a bit louder with the volume pinned. If I need to pull the pedal apart to show the solder joints I can, but I’m pretty positive those are fine with my experience in soldering and how anal I am about it anyways 😂🤣😂🤣 I posted pics with this, but if more are needed just let me know please and I’ll pull it apart and get whatever photos/angles are needed !! Thank you all ahead of time for your help, couldn’t ask for a better forum then what I’ve seen from this one, it’s amazing how good of a group you guys have built here !! Thanks !!


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## PJS (Feb 24, 2021)

First part of troubleshooting is always make sure that your voltages are correct.  If it is passing sound OK, then they probably are, but it's good practise to double check.  Post the voltages on your IC pins here.  Next step is to read up on how to build an audio probe if you haven't got one already, and use that to trace through the audio part of the circuit until you hear a volume drop.


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## music6000 (Feb 24, 2021)

Is the Output Jack tip clearing the Enclosure post, Maybe turn to same positon as Input Jack?


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 24, 2021)

music6000 said:


> Is the Output Jack tip clearing the Enclosure post, Maybe turn to same positon as Input Jack?


Turned the jack, no change, so it was close but still clearing, thanks for pointing it out either way, I didn’t even think about the corner of the enclosure getting that close to the base of the pin.


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 24, 2021)

PJS said:


> First part of troubleshooting is always make sure that your voltages are correct.  If it is passing sound OK, then they probably are, but it's good practise to double check.  Post the voltages on your IC pins here.  Next step is to read up on how to build an audio probe if you haven't got one already, and use that to trace through the audio part of the circuit until you hear a volume drop.


All 4 chips are reading the same exact voltages, so I’m guessing those are correct. If you want me to post all the voltages I can, I just figured I’d ask since they were perfectly consistent between each one. Majority of pins right around 4.3, except for the lower left pin which read 0.3 on all 4 and the top right read around 8.7. So I think I’ll need to go the route of using an audio probe... I have no idea how to make one, I’ll have to look up a YouTube video or something to see what I can find unless you guys have a good way to make one that’s easy. It’d be a good tool to have I’m guessing so I’m glad I ran into this issue now so I can troubleshoot easier in the future that’s for sure. Also, once it’s made, how would I go about testing where the sound drops out ? I’m a bit of a noob when it comes to schematics and such, I mean I can figure out the gist of them, and know the basic physics of electronics and whatnot, but that’s going a little more in depth then I’m used to for sure, especially when I can’t see the route on the PCB physically.. well I guess I kinda can, just difficult with all the components so tightly spaced which is now seeming like a blessing and a curse haha !! 😂🤣


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## music6000 (Feb 24, 2021)

Try this first - Remove the Opamp's & re install them in different positions.

You could try the Pencil with Rubber type trick! (Something Non Conductive)
While you have some type of audio going through the pedal, Just press against all components one by one to see if there is a bad joint or connection.


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## PJS (Feb 24, 2021)

When you find instructions on how to build an audio probe you will also find how to use it.  Normally I would suggest starting at the beginning and working forwards.  However, it sounds as if your problem is likely to be close to the output, so I think I would start there and work forwards.  Start with the tip of the output jack, then back through the footswitch, and to the output pad on the PCB.  Then the middle lug of the volume pot (volume here will vary with the knob position), R36, C28, IC3 pin 7, IC3 pin 5, R33, middle lug of mid pot, IC 3pin 1, IC3 pin 3, For now I would skip the tone section.  If the problem is in there we can look at it in more detail.  R22, C15, IC2 pin 1.  IC2 pin 2, R20, IC 2 pin7.  By that point you are deep into the part of the circuit that creates the distortion.  As you say you are getting nice dirt I expect that you will have discovered a volume drop before this bit.


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 24, 2021)

Welp, I put together an audio probe, but I don’t think I was using it correctly, I was trying but I must be tired or something because I’m just getting nowhere.. after I pulled everything apart and got feedback on the front and rear of every component I hoped that answered the question, but then after another look, I’m supposed to have my guitar hooked up to it the whole tome and having signal running through which I couldn’t get to happen, once I threw it back together, now it not performing the way it was, only makes a muffled sound when I hit strings hard.. oddly enough I didn’t really do anything other then clean up my PCB on the bottom a bit more and went through and touched the components, so I might have messed something up.. anyways, I’ll post a pic of my makeshift audio probe, I clamped the clip to the body of the pedal (the ground in most cases I thought, but probably incorrectly) then checked for feedback and volume drops on that feedback through all the components, obviously doing something wrong, I have found guides on building them, but then can’t wrap my head around the explanation of using them like I said, I’m gonna get some sleep and go at it with fresh eyes a little later, hopefully with some help from you guys pointing me in the right direction. Thank you PJS for giving me the layout to follow with the component numbers on the board. That’s a life saver and will make things much easier, if I need to change how my probe is or something, and if someone could explain hooking it up to probe components, I’d truly appreciate it. Thank you all for your help so far, it means a lot !!


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 24, 2021)

Oh and one more thing, just in case it happens to be the IC chips that might be bad, I have a full set of JRC4558 chips that I read are swappable for the ICs in the Tyrian pedal, and they are supposed to be for higher gain, where the TL chips in the Tyrian are for Mid gain (now I could have read this wrong so feel free to correct me) So, would it be possible to swap out the chips to test the other ones and see if that’s the issue ? I know they all output the same voltage when I checked them that way, I’m not sure if that’s the main way to check IC chips or not, so just thought I’d throw this idea out there too while I’m playing the troubleshoot game...


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## Chuck D. Bones (Feb 24, 2021)

PJS said:


> First part of troubleshooting is always make sure that your voltages are correct.



No, the first part of troubleshooting is *thorough visual inspection*.  Check component values & orientation.  Look for solder bridges, cold solder joints and debris.  Use lots of magnification and light.  Verify the pot values.


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 24, 2021)

Chuck D. Bones said:


> No, the first part of troubleshooting is *thorough visual inspection*.  Check component values & orientation.  Look for solder bridges, cold solder joints and debris.  Use lots of magnification and light.  Verify the pot values.


I went through and did that last night with a fine tooth comb, that’s one commonality I noticed when researching on here before I even got my pedals. I was concerned it was an incorrect pot value last night so I doubled checked that and it was all fine. So I think the audio probe is what I’m going to have to do, just have to figure out how to properly use it 😕


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## Chuck D. Bones (Feb 24, 2021)

And you need to know what to expect when you probe different parts of the circuit.  To keep the probe from loading the circuit, start by only probing pins 1 & 7 on the opamps.  Use a looper to generate sound, or put a guitar with single-coil pickups close to the amp so it picks up hum.
Here is where I would check first:
IC2 pin 7.  Should get pretty loud as GAIN is increased.
IC2 pin 1.  Should be considerably louder than IC2 pin 7.
See if the LEDs (D6 & D7) light up at all.


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## twebb6778 (Feb 24, 2021)

Sounds like an incorrect component value, like using 100K when it should be 100R. But if you've already verified components your next step is to probe. Good luck!


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 25, 2021)

Ok so got the audio probe figured out... now I tested my ic chips, 2 gets really loud as Chuck said, I don’t know if IC chip 4 is supposed to put any audio out but it is not... I went to the output, got the same low noise I was getting before.. now when I went from IC 3 pin 3 to R22 the sound jumped up to volume... so I’m not entirely sure if that identifies what’s wrong, I’m guessing if the order that PJS gave me is accurate for the single route, then it’s something right in that area... I’m gonna check the schematic myself and hope I’ll be able to find what’s going wrong.. if anyone can tell me what’s wrong based off what I just mentioned, I would really appreciate the assist.. thank you all for your help so far. I appreciate it !!


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 25, 2021)

Also, R24 is loud on one side of the component and quiet on the other (if it matters, top is louder, bottom sounds like my main single problem noise, so that’s the first resistor that is different on each side following the schematic.. then R23 is louder on one side as well, but both are still much louder then the main single I’m getting.. so I think I’ve isolated the issue, but some direction would be nice so I’m not just pulling components and stuff when I don’t need to be..


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 25, 2021)

UUUGGGHHH !!! I feel like I’m right there and I just can’t figure out how to fix it, this is driving me crazy !! Calling it quits for another night :-/ Hopefully tomorrow someone will be able to give me some insight on what might be going on.. I checked all my solder joints under my pots, I was getting an odd reading on R24 I believe (the 82k) so I re-soldered it and now I’m getting a solid reading of 82k, and no change so it might have just been the way I was holding my volt meter probe angling under the pots.. The same resistor is the one that has the loud noise out of one side, and low noise from the other side, not like booming loud, but definitely drops in volume... I don’t know if that’s normal for an 82k res so just thought I’d mention it. One other thing I noticed is that if I touch the center of any pot, the volume is it same, until I hit the B1M pot (gain) now that puts out at what I would assume is roughly full volume, not sure if that helps or not.. I was wondering, how do you know if a resistor is bad, or if it’s causing the issue ? Is it possible to bridge the pins from the underside and bypass it in a way ? Or would it still act like it’s supposed to because there bidirectional ?? I’ve followed the schematic to basically right at the end of the treble pot I believe, where R23 and R24 are located, and that is the point in which the volume starts to change within those few components. The problem being, now that I’ve located it, I’m pretty much at a loss on how to specifically identify the problem, and then correct it. I’m trying trial and error and just not coming up with any concrete solutions.. The audio probe I made is working beautifully, and I have my Digitech RP360 running the looper so I have constant sound and hear the changes between components when the pedal is engaged.. It still sounds perfectly fine when in bypass, the volume of the amp is not effected at all until the foot switch is pushed down, so hopefully I’ve give enough info to get some ideas from someone on getting this sucker going.. I have another batch of pedals getting here on Friday and would like to be able to start on those with this one working the way it should first so I’m not just pushing it to the side and not figuring out what went wrong in the event it happens again 😕


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## PJS (Feb 25, 2021)

IC 4 is acting to stabilise the reference power supplies, so you are looking to get DC voltage out of it but absolutely no audio, so that is good.  You will get some signal reduction through a resistor, so what you have noticed may be OK.  Coupled with a capacitor you will also get a bit of filtering.  The bit of the circuit that seems a bit suspect then would seem to be the network around the tone controls.  Are the tone controls giving you the sort of variation in tone that you would expect?


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## music6000 (Feb 25, 2021)

Try reflowing the Solder pads on the Gain pot, it might have a dry joint ????


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 25, 2021)

PJS said:


> IC 4 is acting to stabilise the reference power supplies, so you are looking to get DC voltage out of it but absolutely no audio, so that is good.  You will get some signal reduction through a resistor, so what you have noticed may be OK.  Coupled with a capacitor you will also get a bit of filtering.  The bit of the circuit that seems a bit suspect then would seem to be the network around the tone controls.  Are the tone controls giving you the sort of variation in tone that you would expect?


Yea. With the exception of the volume being so low when it comes out, I can adjust the tone and it makes changes like it should... see why I’m so confused on this whole thing, it’s just throwing me all off..


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## zgrav (Feb 25, 2021)

using your audio probe, compare the sound levels at the middle leads on your bass, treble, and volume pots (max out the volume, and check minimum, mid and max positions on the tone controls).  Are they all about the same volume?


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 24, 2021)

Hey all, just build my first pedals and the second one I put together was the Tyrian Distortion. When I play through it, I have to turn my amp up quite a bit more then I really should have to.. The tone sounds great, I get beautiful distortion out of it, and have no complaints on that end, which is what confuses me. I’m not sure what exactly would cause this sort of result when building. All values were double checked with volt meter before install, and after soldering in place just to be sure I didn’t mix anything up. I mean, the way I do my assembly is pretty fool proof as well, but the perfectionist in me still needs to double check things. Any help or suggestions on what might be causing this issue would be awesome. My other pedal pushes out at the same volume as it should, but this one when engaged is quieter then my clean channel when pedal is on bypass when it should be quite a bit louder with the volume pinned. If I need to pull the pedal apart to show the solder joints I can, but I’m pretty positive those are fine with my experience in soldering and how anal I am about it anyways 😂🤣😂🤣 I posted pics with this, but if more are needed just let me know please and I’ll pull it apart and get whatever photos/angles are needed !! Thank you all ahead of time for your help, couldn’t ask for a better forum then what I’ve seen from this one, it’s amazing how good of a group you guys have built here !! Thanks !!


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## music6000 (Feb 25, 2021)

ShatteredOne13 said:


> Yea. With the exception of the volume being so low when it comes out, I can adjust the tone and it makes changes like it should... see why I’m so confused on this whole thing, it’s just throwing me all off..


As you noted, when you touched the Gain pot, Volume increased!

Try reflowing the PCB solder pads on the Gain pot, it might have a dry joint ????


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 25, 2021)

zgrav said:


> using your audio probe, compare the sound levels at the middle leads on your bass, treble, and volume pots (max out the volume, and check minimum, mid and max positions on the tone controls).  Are they all about the same volume?


Yes they are, the left sounds like the tone is at its lowest, the right at its highest, and the center is just a straight mix, but all the same volume except for the gain pot obviously. The volume pot responds to being turned up and down, as well as the gain pot, just as they should.


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 25, 2021)

music6000 said:


> As you noted, when you touched the Gain pot, Volume increased!
> 
> Try reflowing the PCB solder pads on the Gain pot, it might have a dry joint ????


I’ll try, but I’m getting the same output from both the top and bottom of the solder joint, like off the actual pot and the bottom side of the joint, so I’m pretty sure that’s not it. I can post a pic of all my solder joints but I can pretty much guarantee that’s not the issue, they all looks very clean and I’ve gone through and double checked them all as well as applying pressure to the components to see if the joint shifts or has a poor contact, so I feel like it’s something else, I just can’t for the life of me figure out what in the hell it is...


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 25, 2021)

music6000 said:


> As you noted, when you touched the Gain pot, Volume increased!
> 
> Try reflowing the PCB solder pads on the Gain pot, it might have a dry joint ????


Also, when I said touched the gain pot, I meant with the audio probe, not physically.. I just realized what you meant and why it seemed like it might be a cold joint.


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## music6000 (Feb 26, 2021)

Righty 'O' Then, What about this, R32    :


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## music6000 (Feb 26, 2021)

music6000 said:


> Righty 'O' Then, What about this, R32    :
> 
> View attachment 10004


Did you have a win with R32, you wouldn't be the first to miss one?


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## PJS (Feb 26, 2021)

I fixed a commercial boutique pedal once where one end of a decoupling cap had never been soldered, so it can happen in commercial businesses as well.


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 27, 2021)

music6000 said:


> Did you have a win with R32, you wouldn't be the first to miss one?


Nope, didn’t solve a thing.. it was soldered just fine on the bottom side, but just to be sure I reflowed it, and nothing, still having the same issue... I have no idea what to do now.. I’m just gonna go through and reflow everything tomorrow even if it doesn’t need it I guess and hope for the best unless someone else has another idea.. I’ve gone through and pushed and wiggled every component while running a looper and had absolutely zero change of fluctuation In the audio send, but I’m out of options at this point and it’s driving me crazy... I really hoped I could figure this out before my next set of pedals got here and now I have them and didn’t work on them today because of this one.. I mean, I built the audio probe and have gone over the circuit, but it only helps so much when you don’t know exactly what to look and listen for, which of course is going to be the issue with these being my first pedals obviously, but I’m not giving up.. Just going to hope that someone comes up with an idea of something to try and go from there :-/


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 27, 2021)

Also I think it was just the lighting of the photo, because R32 looked just find from the bottom, and though it didn’t flow through causing the bead on top of the board, I didn’t think that was necessary for a good joint, but I guess I could be wrong.. obviously I’m not perfect by any means and though my first attempts look really good and I have a lot of time working on electronics and soldering, it doesn’t make me an expert or anything by any means, I just do clean work and usually do pretty good at trouble shooting and problem solving, so this whole thing is driving me a little bonkers.. especially since the other pedal works so well and that was the one I made first and actually feel like I did a sloppier job assembling that one since I was just getting used to how to do small PCB work and of course building my first pedal..


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## music6000 (Feb 27, 2021)

Have you tried lifting the Op Amps & swapping them around to make sure their seated properly. 
If no change, Can you give the Voltages of all the Op Amps pins, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 .


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 27, 2021)

music6000 said:


> Have you tried lifting the Op Amps & swapping them around to make sure their seated properly.
> If no change, Can you give the Voltages of all the Op Amps pins, 1 2 3 4 5





music6000 said:


> Have you tried lifting the Op Amps & swapping them around to make sure their seated properly.
> If no change, Can you give the Voltages of all the Op Amps pins, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 .


I will get that taken care of today, it’s 4am and I’m about to go to sleep, have to be up in like 4 hours :-/ but I’ll play the swap game again with my ICs and then shoot over the voltages for them, you want voltage on pins 1-8 for all 4 IC correct ? I believe I mentioned what they were when I checked them before, but this time I’ll write down all the voltages and give you the specifics in case it can point me in a direction. I really appreciate it, I’m sure this is getting just as frustrating for others as it is for me at this point. :-/


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 27, 2021)

music6000 said:


> Have you tried lifting the Op Amps & swapping them around to make sure their seated properly.
> If no change, Can you give the Voltages of all the Op Amps pins, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 .


Ok, so I went through and double checked all my resistor values since I talked to you this morning, and everything is good. Here is a photo of all the voltage values on the IC chips, hopefully you can read it all, for the most part the values seem within tolerance, but you would know better then me. The only on that seemed a little off was IC 3; the value of pin 3 is lower then all the others, and value of pin 6 is higher then the others. I mean it’s not dramatic change, but considering how consistent all the others have been, it stood out. I also recall someone saying that one of the IC has a different purpose then the other 3. Which is why it didn’t get any signal when hitting it with the audio probe, although I’m not sure if it was IC 3. In the meantime, I’m going to setup my looper right now and start probing again, and mixing around the IC chips to see if there’s any change this time, will keep you posted on the progress. If the voltages tell you anything, just let me know and I will get it worked out. I literally have nothing else going on today, and I’m damn determined to get this pedal working so I can start on my next series !! Haha !! I have a Face Melter (the original name is so much better 😂🤣) / butthole burner all ready to go !! I even have a nice pink enclosure and everything to make it even better 🤣😂🤣😂 hahaha !! Not to mention the 8 or so other PCBs I picked up. So fingers crossed we find a way to work this out today !!!


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## music6000 (Feb 27, 2021)

ShatteredOne13 said:


> Ok, so I went through and double checked all my resistor values since I talked to you this morning, and everything is good. Here is a photo of all the voltage values on the IC chips, hopefully you can read it all, for the most part the values seem within tolerance, but you would know better then me. The only on that seemed a little off was IC 3; the value of pin 3 is lower then all the others, and value of pin 6 is higher then the others. I mean it’s not dramatic change, but considering how consistent all the others have been, it stood out. I also recall someone saying that one of the IC has a different purpose then the other 3. Which is why it didn’t get any signal when hitting it with the audio probe, although I’m not sure if it was IC 3. In the meantime, I’m going to setup my looper right now and start probing again, and mixing around the IC chips to see if there’s any change this time, will keep you posted on the progress. If the voltages tell you anything, just let me know and I will get it worked out. I literally have nothing else going on today, and I’m damn determined to get this pedal working so I can start on my next series !! Haha !! I have a Face Melter (the original name is so much better 😂🤣) / butthole burner all ready to go !! I even have a nice pink enclosure and everything to make it even better 🤣😂🤣😂 hahaha !! Not to mention the 8 or so other PCBs I picked up. So fingers crossed we find a way to work this out today !!!


Is this the way you measured going by the voltages :
1....5
2....6
3....7
4....8  

It should be:
1....8
2....7
3....6
4....5


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 27, 2021)

music6000 said:


> Is this the way you measured going by the voltages :
> 1....5
> 2....6
> 2....7
> ...


Oooppppsss , well at least you understood it I guess.. gotta remember for next time, I literally just learned how to identify those pins the other night when you asked me to check certain pins, I just got mixed up 😕 So I’m guessing beyond that, voltages were fine ?? 
I went back through like you suggested and swapped around the ic chips 3 different ways, and still no change, I went over my solder joints and anything that looked even remotely like it had a ball on the end of it, I reflowed and made everything nice and sunk it with clean little cones up the tips of the component legs coming out the bottom, and it’s now running through my looper again so I can use my audio probe one more time and see if I can find something that stands out because once again, there’s no change in it after everything... this is like Uber confusing, beyond using the audio probe I don’t know what else I can do.. I checked all my capacitors as well, made sure they were all outputting and nothing was no reading on the volt meter.. I didn’t go through and check all the values with the volt meter so I guess I can do that, though I was just as meticulous with putting those in as I was the resistors, but, I’m still human, and could have f$@ked up.. IC chips are reading good, all my components are reading good, issue remains when switch is flipped either way so it’s not that, the pots all work the way they should so it’s not that, I’m just dumbfounded.. I mean the only other thing I haven’t really checked is the foot switch since I can’t get to it with the breakout board installed, and I guess solder could be touching under that, but you’d think it would cause a different issue, not just low sound output, but I might as well check it as well.. and run through with the continuity meter again just to cover all bases twice while I’m at it.


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## music6000 (Feb 27, 2021)

ShatteredOne13 said:


> Oooppppsss , well at least you understood it I guess.. gotta remember for next time, I literally just learned how to identify those pins the other night when you asked me to check certain pins, I just got mixed up 😕 So I’m guessing beyond that, voltages were fine ??
> I went back through like you suggested and swapped around the ic chips 3 different ways, and still no change, I went over my solder joints and anything that looked even remotely like it had a ball on the end of it, I reflowed and made everything nice and sunk it with clean little cones up the tips of the component legs coming out the bottom, and it’s now running through my looper again so I can use my audio probe one more time and see if I can find something that stands out because once again, there’s no change in it after everything... this is like Uber confusing, beyond using the audio probe I don’t know what else I can do.. I checked all my capacitors as well, made sure they were all outputting and nothing was no reading on the volt meter.. I didn’t go through and check all the values with the volt meter so I guess I can do that, though I was just as meticulous with putting those in as I was the resistors, but, I’m still human, and could have f$@ked up.. IC chips are reading good, all my components are reading good, issue remains when switch is flipped either way so it’s not that, the pots all work the way they should so it’s not that, I’m just dumbfounded.. I mean the only other thing I haven’t really checked is the foot switch since I can’t get to it with the breakout board installed, and I guess solder could be touching under that, but you’d think it would cause a different issue, not just low sound output, but I might as well check it as well.. and run through with the continuity meter again just to cover all bases twice while I’m at it.


Can you confirm by measuring Volume pot  Pad s@ 12.00 O'Clock, 1/2 Way mark. PIns marked as   *3   2   1*
You should be measuring 50K on Pads 1 & 3,  42K  aprox 2. & 3, aprox. 8K.


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 27, 2021)

music6000 said:


> Can you confirm by measuring Volume pot  Pad s@ 12.00 O'Clock, 1/2 Way mark. PIns marked as   *3   2   1*
> You should be measuring 50K on Pads 1 & 3,  42K  aprox 2. & 3, aprox. 8K.


Ok I’m not entirely sure how you meant to do this so I did, ground (enclosure) + 1 = no reading, ground + 2 = 8.7 , ground +3 = 49.3 , pins 3+2 = 40 , pins 1+3 = 48 , pins 1+2 = 9.1  
Hopefully that covers all variation of ways to read it.. since it’s assembled in the enclosure right now, I measured from the face of the board (the solder joints of the pots) which is how I’m guessing you meant the pin layout goes because when I googled it, it was the opposite when looking at them from the top. I am curious why I didn’t get a reading off of pin 1 when also connecting to ground though, that would be something you would know better then me though. I’ve had resistors do that, and I just reflow them and can get a reading right after, I’m just going to do that just in case. Hopefully those numbers will tell you something.


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## Chuck D. Bones (Feb 27, 2021)

Accounting for the pin mis-numbering, all of the IC voltages are good.


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## Chuck D. Bones (Feb 27, 2021)

Do LEDs D6 & D7 glow at all when the GAIN is cranked and you play hard?  Try all three toggle switch positions.


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 28, 2021)

Chuck D. Bones said:


> Do LEDs D6 & D7 glow at all when the GAIN is cranked and you play hard?  Try all three toggle switch positions.


yea they work just fine, they glow and pulse depending one how much sound goes through them, and they work in unison.. I just realized I forgot to post the pics of the underside so here they are. I tried 3 different angles so hopefully the reflections aren’t too bad.. I’ve already gone through and checked them closely to make sure there’s solid connections everywhere, but maybe I’m missing something, who knows. It’s so weird how this is happening, especially with the sound being perfectly fine, no issues with the distortion, just having that weird drop in level.. I’ve thought about taking a video, but I don’t know how much help that will be, with the gain and volume both maxed out and the pedal engaged, the sound is just quieter then when I go to bypass.. I know there probably isn’t, but is it possible to someone bypass each component one by one to see which one is causing the volume drop ?? Like if I just took a small piece of wire and connected the solder joints on the underside would it make it skip over that component, or would cause a different issue ?


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## Chuck D. Bones (Feb 28, 2021)

The fact that the LEDs light up tells me that the signal is good at least that far into the circuit.
How about we go at it with the audio probe again?
Set GAIN high enough that you get a strong glow on the LEDs.
Turn TREBLE, MID & BASS all the way up.  Turn VOLUME all the way down.
Listen one one side of R23 and then the other.  The louder side is right at the LEDs.
Put the audio probe on IC3-7.  The volume should be louder than at the LEDs.  If it's not, then we know the problem is between the LEDs and IC3-7.
Do that, report the results and we'll go from there.


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 24, 2021)

Hey all, just build my first pedals and the second one I put together was the Tyrian Distortion. When I play through it, I have to turn my amp up quite a bit more then I really should have to.. The tone sounds great, I get beautiful distortion out of it, and have no complaints on that end, which is what confuses me. I’m not sure what exactly would cause this sort of result when building. All values were double checked with volt meter before install, and after soldering in place just to be sure I didn’t mix anything up. I mean, the way I do my assembly is pretty fool proof as well, but the perfectionist in me still needs to double check things. Any help or suggestions on what might be causing this issue would be awesome. My other pedal pushes out at the same volume as it should, but this one when engaged is quieter then my clean channel when pedal is on bypass when it should be quite a bit louder with the volume pinned. If I need to pull the pedal apart to show the solder joints I can, but I’m pretty positive those are fine with my experience in soldering and how anal I am about it anyways 😂🤣😂🤣 I posted pics with this, but if more are needed just let me know please and I’ll pull it apart and get whatever photos/angles are needed !! Thank you all ahead of time for your help, couldn’t ask for a better forum then what I’ve seen from this one, it’s amazing how good of a group you guys have built here !! Thanks !!


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## ShatteredOne13 (Feb 28, 2021)

Chuck D. Bones said:


> The fact that the LEDs light up tells me that the signal is good at least that far into the circuit.
> How about we go at it with the audio probe again?
> Set GAIN high enough that you get a strong glow on the LEDs.
> Turn TREBLE, MID & BASS all the way up.  Turn VOLUME all the way down.
> ...


Okie dokie, I just got on, I’ve been busy today so I haven’t had a chance to mess with anything, but I’ll get everything setup right now and use my looper to run the audio probe and see what I can get figured out buddy. Thank you for your help with this, I’ll report the results when I am finished up with them !!


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## Chuck D. Bones (Mar 1, 2021)

Here's my prediction.  The signal will be good up to the MID pot and die at IC3.2 because C27 is the wrong value.  All of the 100pF caps on your board are yellow dipped ceramic except C27.  It's a WIMA film cap that we can't read from the pictures.  Music6000 and I are betting that there's a 100nF there.

If you probe past R23, the signal drops 20dB or so in the BASS & TREBLE controls, that's normal.  IC3.1 has 0dB gain, so the signal doesn't get boosted back up until IC3.2 (when it's working right).


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## ShatteredOne13 (Mar 1, 2021)

Chuck D. Bones said:


> The fact that the LEDs light up tells me that the signal is good at least that far into the circuit.
> How about we go at it with the audio probe again?
> Set GAIN high enough that you get a strong glow on the LEDs.
> Turn TREBLE, MID & BASS all the way up.  Turn VOLUME all the way down.
> ...


Ok so I just probed 23 and it’s loud through the top pin, and louder through the bottom.. going to IC3 pin 7 I could barely hear anything as if it was running directly through the cables as usual.. so not sure if that helps, but it cancels out that possibility, on to the next idea ??


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## ShatteredOne13 (Mar 1, 2021)

Chuck D. Bones said:


> Here's my prediction.  The signal will be good up to the MID pot and die at IC3.2 because C27 is the wrong value.  All of the 100pF caps on your board are yellow dipped ceramic except C27.  It's a WIMA film cap that we can't read from the pictures.  Music6000 and I are betting that there's a 100nF there.
> 
> If you probe past R23, the signal drops 20dB or so in the BASS & TREBLE controls, that's normal.  IC3.1 has 0dB gain, so the signal doesn't get boosted back up until IC3.2 (when it's working right).


Son of a bitch !!! How the hell did I miss that !!! That’s probably exactly what it is !!! Well done !! I’m a ding dong, I can’t believe that.. how the hell did I mess that one up 🤦‍♂️ I’ll pull it and do a swap right now, dollars to donuts it’s the issue.. it’s most likely a 100nf 🤦‍♂️ Wow... I feel stupid now 🤣😂


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## Chuck D. Bones (Mar 1, 2021)

After you fix it you can feel smart again, that's what I do.


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## ShatteredOne13 (Mar 1, 2021)

Chuck D. Bones said:


> After you fix it you can feel smart again, that's what I do.


Bwahaha !! Well I appreciate it buddy, you and Music for the WIN !! Pedal is working beautifully... guess I should have known it was something like that since my first pedal worked right out the gate, and this one worked just fine with the exception of the signal drop.. I can believe I mixed an N and P 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ And yes, it was a 100n, I even remember double checking the count of 100pf and only counted 4 somehow, so I missed it then as well 🤣😂🤣😂 ahh man,  I’m just glad it works now, and this G3 sounds amazing as well. Now I can finally move on to building my next ones !!! Woot woot !! Super happy that’s finished ☺️☺️ You guys are amazing and thank you soooo much for your help with everything !!


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## Chuck D. Bones (Mar 1, 2021)

Took a while, but we got there.  Music6000 spotted it first.


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## music6000 (Mar 1, 2021)

ShatteredOne13 said:


> Bwahaha !! Well I appreciate it buddy, you and Music for the WIN !! Pedal is working beautifully... guess I should have known it was something like that since my first pedal worked right out the gate, and this one worked just fine with the exception of the signal drop.. I can believe I mixed an N and P 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ And yes, it was a 100n, I even remember double checking the count of 100pf and only counted 4 somehow, so I missed it then as well 🤣😂🤣😂 ahh man, I’m just glad it works now, and this G3 sounds amazing as well. Now I can finally move on to building my next ones !!! Woot woot !! Super happy that’s finished ☺️☺️ You guys are amazing and thank you soooo much for your help with everything !!


It was a Team effort, Chuck & I appreciate when a Member is in for the long haul to make it right!!!

Next Pedal!!!


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## Barry (Mar 1, 2021)

ShatteredOne13 said:


> Bwahaha !! Well I appreciate it buddy, you and Music for the WIN !! Pedal is working beautifully... guess I should have known it was something like that since my first pedal worked right out the gate, and this one worked just fine with the exception of the signal drop.. I can believe I mixed an N and P 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ And yes, it was a 100n, I even remember double checking the count of 100pf and only counted 4 somehow, so I missed it then as well 🤣😂🤣😂 ahh man,  I’m just glad it works now, and this G3 sounds amazing as well. Now I can finally move on to building my next ones !!! Woot woot !! Super happy that’s finished ☺️☺️ You guys are amazing and thank you soooo much for your help with everything !!


We've all done at least once


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## fig (Mar 1, 2021)

Chuck D. Bones said:


> Here's my prediction....


Love it Chuck. Your 'visual inspection' mantra is once again validated.


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