# Spirit Box no output when engaged



## metalguy55 (Jul 14, 2020)

I recently completed the Spirit Box and the signal comes through when dry but not wet and the led does not turn on. Kinda hard to see behind the reverb module though. Anything obvious you guys can see?


----------



## Barry (Jul 14, 2020)

What is all that fibrous matter on the board, I'd start with cleaning that up


----------



## metalguy55 (Jul 15, 2020)

Barry said:


> What is all that fibrous matter on the board, I'd start with cleaning that up



Its paper towel from trying to clean up flux.


----------



## twebb6778 (Jul 15, 2020)

Use lots isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush to remove flux, that will do a much better job and won't leave any residue or debris.

Some of your component leads look far too long. It's possible that some of these are touching under the belton brick and shorting somewhere. Cut these down to clean them up.

There seems to be some scorching around the pads on the belton brick. You may have your iron on there for too long, or it might be too hot. This can damage the pads.

Lugs on your 3PDT board look like they could probably use a bit more solder. There are a few poor solder joints throughout the board, I'd recommend reflowing some of these, particularly on your pots, I/O jack ground leads, and dc leads.

I can also see quite a few scratches on the board, including over some traces and may have damaged them.


----------



## Many__Of__Horror (Jul 15, 2020)

Looks like the LED might be around the wrong way. I think I can see the flat side of the LEd which should be going into the K pad instead.


----------



## metalguy55 (Jul 15, 2020)

twebb6778 said:


> Use lots isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush to remove flux, that will do a much better job and won't leave any residue or debris.
> 
> Some of your component leads look far too long. It's possible that some of these are touching under the belton brick and shorting somewhere. Cut these down to clean them up.
> 
> ...



Those scratches along the belson brick are from trying to use the solder wick to get it out but it wouldn't budge.


----------



## metalguy55 (Jul 15, 2020)

twebb6778 said:


> Use lots isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush to remove flux, that will do a much better job and won't leave any residue or debris.
> 
> Some of your component leads look far too long. It's possible that some of these are touching under the belton brick and shorting somewhere. Cut these down to clean them up.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the tips. I trimmed those leads, added more solder to my 3dpt switch, and reversed the led. I was looking at the old led configuration so I did have it backwards. Now the led works and I have signal when the pedal is engaged and disengaged but no effects. Going to troubleshoot further now.


----------



## metalguy55 (Jul 16, 2020)

I have signal when the pedal is engaged and disengaged but there is no effect and the knobs do nothing. Not sure what could be the problem.


----------



## twebb6778 (Jul 16, 2020)

That's looking a lot better! Do you have an audio probe? Sounds like it's time to start probing and find where the problem is.


----------



## metalguy55 (Jul 17, 2020)

It sounds like the effect is super quiet. The clean signal comes though with it on and i can hear the smallest amount of quiet reverb. Still investigating.


----------



## zgrav (Jul 17, 2020)

the audio probe will let you easily find out if your signal level is too low coming out of the delay chip before it hits the belton brick, or if it the level is OK until it leaves the brick.


----------



## metalguy55 (Dec 15, 2021)

It only took a year and a half to come back to this pedal but hey better late than never!

I got an audio probe and the results were interesting. Here is a short video. I can hear audio from the outputs of the pt2399 chip but its quiet.


----------

