ShortScale.org

Got the wrong op-amps out. That was quite a pain. Here it is ready for the two correct chips.


DSC04685 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Is this a kit? Why aren't the opamps socketed? Why are the box caps huge and ludicrously high voltage?

Unfortunately OLC makes these mistakes all the time

timhulio wrote:Is this a kit? Why aren't the opamps socketed? Why are the box caps huge and ludicrously high voltage?

It is a kit. No idea on sockets and stuff. Just paid for it and followed the directions.

OLC is sending me the correct op-amps. Hopefully if it sill doesn't work, they will help fix it.

Yeah those chips should be socketed. Get OLC to send you some sockets. Not saying you're a noob - but you may be, and noobs buy lots of kits - but asking noobs to solder heat-sensitive components like ICs is fuckstupid.

We will see how it goes. I know byop does it with a socket. I am sort of a noob, but I am careful so hopefully it will be fine. If not, hoepfully Mark will help me out.

So at this point I am pretty pissed off. I have tried to keep calm and be reasonable, but the damn thing still doesn't work. I went from: we sent you the wrong op amps, to the instructions have the wrong resistor in one spot, so change that, to maybe the pot is bad, to maybe the board is bad, to now sitting and waiting since July 18th. His last email was that he was stumped also and to just sit on it and wait and see if an idea happens.

Is it wrong of me to expect more help than to email me to try to fix it? Considering instructions had mistakes and wrong parts were sent, is it unreasonable for him to have me send him the pedal so he can test/repair it? I know this is a kit so there is a chance I put something in, but I am pretty good at following directions so I don't think it is something I did.

I am just really irritated with this service. I paid for this so long ago and it still doesn't work. I don't know that I will ever try to build a pedal again based off of this. It would be a shame if I didn't do anything wrong and it was just the product that is a lemon.

I thought that I'd be seeing a Jazzmaster shredder.

I paid for this thing at the end of May and it is almost August now.... In all honesty I should have just paid more for a real Shredmaster at this point. At least it would work and I wouldn't be this pissed off.

HNB wrote: I don't know that I will ever try to build a pedal again based off of this.

Don't let this experience put you off. It's not you, it's the poor treatment you've received from this company. I'd suggest this particular effect was maybe a bit tricky for a first build, but if the wrong parts were sent then perhaps you did everything right. Musikding or Build Your Own Clone might be a better bet for kits.

Thanks. He said all my caps and resistors look right. (Aside from the one that was wrong in the instructions that I changed.)

It didn't seem that hard. I just did every thing one step at a time.

This was his reply to me when I asked if I could ship it to him so he could trouble shoot it better.

I'm sorry, but we don't have the resources to fix kit builds. I tried this in the past and it doesn't work out for my business. Basically, I can't charge enough to break even on it. We do have a 3rd-party builder who may fix it for you.

Livid now. So essentially I have an $80 paperweight unless I want to pay a different person to fix this. All this after sending me the wrong parts, having incorrect instructions? /rage

I tried this in the past and it doesn't work out for my business.

lol, neither does sending the wrong bits but he hasn't formed a policy on that yet.

Does it pass any signal at all? Are those electrolytic caps polarized, and if so are they oriented right? Check all of you solder joints too as you could have a few or many cold ones, that'll muck it up.

Those are polarized, but I installed them per instructions. He had me reflow every solder connection to see if that helped. I double checked all the pot wiring as well. It passes signal through fine. Volume, Treble, Bass, Gain seem to do something but contour doesn't. When on it does more of a fuzz tone. (Distortion is really mild.)

After a heated debate he is letting me send him the pedal to look at. Hopefully he will be able to figure out what is going on with it.

HNB wrote:After a heated debate he is letting me send him the pedal to look at. Hopefully he will be able to figure out what is going on with it.

Nice, glad to see they're doing the right thing.

I told him the reason I went with him is I saw that times when people had trouble with the pedal he helped them make sure it worked. Since this was my first pedal I wanted that little bit of assurance that (as long as I didn't destroy it) he would help me make it work right.

I am hoping this has a happy end. I will have to wait and see.

I've had the same experience with OLC, kit not working despite putting it together correctly. I built the SLO clone thingy, got it troubleshooted loads and it still didn't work. Got a SECOND kit from OLC, wired it up even more carefully than the first and it still didn't work. Mark from OLC was less than helpful and I have two useless populated boards and the boxes have been recycled.

I've built loads of kits and pedals on stripboard before and since, and theirs was the worst to put together (plus it didn't work...).

I would have offered to take a look if he hadn't agreed, but obviously postage to the UK and back is a bitch.

Markleton, pm'ed. I like a challenge.