Fuzzdog kit, external problems with ground
This is my second attempt at building one of these pcbs (fuzz dogs foxtone clone) Before I even wired it for sound I was getting continuity with ground on several spots (nearly all) including input/output 1/2 and the volume pot plus tone pot. I can't figure out with a light and magnifying glass how this is grounding, no obvious solder bridges and cold joints wouldn't cause this sort of problem right? Some of the capacitors I pulled from my previous attempt at this pcb, is it possible that a damaged capacitor is causing continuity with ground? I've attached pictures if anybody has any thoughts. I've wired it all without the jacks and footswitch the now to remove possible vectors for error.
If someone can think of someone thing obvious that helps me I might actually die from joy, this has been driving me crazy for a month.
Pcb shots https://imgur.com/gallery/cz4mz
Posted Sep 22, 2017, 2:09 PM UTC
I know this sounds silly but with your tone pot, you've soldered to the inner lugs. Check to make sure none of those are soldered and touching the rest of the pot. That would cause problems. Also clip your tips. Do you have a multi-meter? You can trace your circuit and find where the noise stops. Also I cant tell the direction of C14.
I'll try just cutting the wires leading to the tone later on tonight and see if that clears anything up. I've tried clipping everything I can but my snips dont seem to be able to cut wire when there is a layer of solder on it, more force seems to pull the joint free. I'll double check the orientation of C14 as well just to be sure. I do have a multi-metre and thats how I found out I had this problem. I've not even wired it up yet to check for sound disapearing with an audio probe becuase I'm just getting continuity to ground in so many locations where it shouldn't be. In theory if I wire it all up to jacks ect, I'm just going to get no sound right now?
I've tgried everything suggested and it didn't help, all my elec Caps are in the right polarity, almost everywhere in my circuit is showing some sort of contiunity with ground.