URGENT! Problems with ITS8 kit

[mtshark]

Hello everybody! Its my first time in in this neck of the woods and my first pedal build ad well. Recently I bought an ITS8 tubescreamer kit from General Guitar Gadgets for a 4H project, and until now everything, has gone smoothly. Today I wired everything together to test before I crammed it in the enclosure. I hooked it up between my guitar and amp, turned it all on, and lo and behold, there was sound. Unfortunately, the sound produced was only about %50 of what it should be.

I'm positive I put all of the components in the right place, and my soldering work looks pretty good as well. I just don't know what may have gone wrong. Any ideas/fixes?

The schematic can be found here, it's essentially an Ibanez TS808 clone: http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/...8044a841b3e85a

Unfortunately, I don't have much time for troubleshooting, as I need this finished by Tuesday evening :( but I would appreciate any help or advice anyone may give. I'm at work, but ill be back later tonight to answer any questions. Thanks!

[sirbergersworth]

Post some very up close pics of the board and I then we can have a look see at what's going on.
Did you do any of the mods for this kit?
Is the guitar signal fine when the switch is on bypass?

Sent from my iPhone using TDPRI

[ludashoeless]

Originally Posted by sirbergersworth

Post some very up close pics of the board and I then we can have a look see at what's going on.
Did you do any of the mods for this kit?
Is the guitar signal fine when the switch is on bypass?

Sent from my iPhone using TDPRI

+1 also try posting at diystompbox.com. you still need pics though

[cousinpaul]

Double check all the your work. Use a magnifying glass if you have one. Those little blue reistors can be hard to read. The stripes sometimes show up funny against the blue. It's easy to make a mistake. I usually double-check them with a meter before soldering them in. Same with the caps. Since you're getting a signal, maybe you can isolatate the problem by seeing which controls are working. Got drive, got tone, etc. Also, check the back of the board for solder bridges or bad joints. Stay with it. The answer is in there somewhere.

[mtshark]

Ill do my best to get pictures up asap tomorrow morning. My camera didnt seem to focus in well. I'll try with a different camera and better lighting.

Originally Posted by sirbergersworth

Did you do any of the mods for this kit?

Yeah, I'm using the AMZ fat boost mod, which is just a bass boost by bypassing a cap with a switch. I removed the mod from the circut and there was no change.

Is the guitar signal fine when the switch is on bypass?

From what I can tell, yes.Theres no noticeable difference, but a second check wouldnt hurt.


I checked my pots, and they were all responsive. Im fairly certian my parts are right, i matched and lined them all up and installed them one at a time, but again, double checking wouldnt kill me. I was going to individually troubleshoot each component, but I couldnt get my multimeter working. :(

EDIT: I checked the bypass sound, and it turns out that the sound isn't the same. They bypass tone has slightly less bass/depth to the sound, and sounds less "pure" (there's a ever so small buzz.)