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Austin AUSTINDRIVE, Quick Start Manual

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Austin AUSTINDRIVE Quick Start Manual Download Page 37

AUSTINDRIVE Assembly Tutorial Rev 3.02 

 

December, 2020 

37 

 

PEDAL HAS SOME SOUND

, BUT IT’S 

BAD OR SUPER QUIET: 

1. Verify your power supply, guitar, and cables.

 

If you’re

 using the 9V battery adapter, is your battery 

dead? A REALLY dead battery will make it sound bad. Like 

REALLY

 dead. Verify your DC jack wiring, and 

check your guitar cables and amplifier volumes.  

2.

 

You put the wrong resistors in the wrong spots.

 (Likely)  

Did you 

measure

 the resistors, or just 

“eyeball” the color codes

? A 100k resistor looks an awful lot like a 

1k resistor. Use a meter, and start with the components you put into the sockets. Once verified, go back 
and check the components you soldered into the board. 

3. One of the components isn’t actually in the socket.

 (Possible) 

Maybe a leg is out of the pin socket, or bent-over. Again, please 

don’t ask 

how I know to look for that

… I never make mistakes

 (?!?!) 

4. There is a problem with the colored wires.

 (Maybe?) 

If you verified your components on the board and in the sockets, and you 
get clean sound 

but no “Dirty” sound when you step on the pedal

, then your input/output jacks are 

probably wired correctly, but there is something missing on the circuit board or colored wires. 

•

 

Look closely on the back of the board for solder points you might have missed, or solder blobs 

(“bridges”) that accidentally connect two pads together.

 

•

 

Verify your DC Jack wiring. Low/No power = bad sound or none at all. 

•

 

Re-check and verify the wire colors, resistors, capacitors, and diodes against the photos & 
diagrams.  

CLEAN SOUND BUT NO DIRTY SOUND: 

1.

 

You’re missing the “DRIVE” jumper on the board, if you don’t have a

 drive knob. 

2.

 

You forgot to put an Op-

Amp in the socket, or it’s in backwards

 

3.

 

You don’t have the pedal plugged

-in to DC Voltage  

4.

 

One of the “Gain” resistors is missing, or not firmly seated in the socket. 

 

5.

 

The wires to the switch are not on the correct pins  

 

DIRTY SOUND BUT NO CLEAN SOUND: 

You’re missing the jumper between switch pins 1 and 

7. (Almost certainly!) 

FINAL NOTE: 

This pedal is not invincible.

 

During component testing and defining your own tone, if you open/shut the pedal enclosure many 
times, you might smash wires under the cover, or bend the wires so many times that they break the 
solder joints.  Fix smashed wires and re-solder wires broken-off from the board. If there are still 
problems, take high-resolution, in-focus photos and Email me with the symptoms and questions: 

[email protected]

  

You can always upgrade to a better stomp switch and volume/drive pots too. In this kit, these moving 
parts are DIY-friendly. Good volume and gain pots can cost $10 each, and great stomp-switches can cost 
$30 or more! Use Google to find the best parts for your budget. 

 

 

Summary of Contents for AUSTINDRIVE

Page 1: ...AUSTINDRIVE Assembly Tutorial Rev 3 02 December 2020 1 AUSTINDRIVE PEDAL DIY PROJECTS ...

Page 2: ...dal Your fingers can be permanently damaged from heat or sharp objects and that s not good for a guitar player Don t feel if this is sharp by running your fingers around the drilled holes You might also step on metal shavings from your drill or poke yourself with tiny wire leads Cutting off legs of the components can shoot tiny pieces of metal across the room or into your face and eyes or someone ...

Page 3: ...ing the small print on components Again you don t need a 500 professional meter Entry level imported multimeters can be purchased for under 20 from eBay or local hardware stores If you cannot read component values or need to troubleshoot your circuit you must use a meter 5 Find an area to work where you won t ruin your tablecloth or counter top Don t start your weekend with a burned tablecloth or ...

Page 4: ... which distorts it like this A diode allows voltage to pass in one direction but blocks it in the other direction That blocking happens at different voltages in each of the 3 types of diodes included in this kit With 2 diodes facing the opposite direction in the feedback circuit the voltage peaks are literally clipped off resulting in distortion of the signal When you amplify the signal just a lit...

Page 5: ...clipping diodes o More gain here distorts the signal more especially if it was heavily distorted by Gain Stage 1 o Also different diodes clip the signal differently Hard or Soft clipping here 15 The second gain stage socket also has room for a filter capacitor which will reduce high frequencies o With no capacitor here all frequencies are allowed to pass through to the output o As this capacitor v...

Page 6: ...AUSTINDRIVE Assembly Tutorial Rev 3 02 December 2020 6 Theory of Operation 4 ...

Page 7: ... I strongly advise creating graphics that are not aligned to the holes The top graphic with 4 crosshairs is intentionally smaller than the actual face of the enclosure and must be centered by eyeball Once centered tape it down and center punch the marks I recommend using a spring loaded center punch Carefully remove the top template Align the short edge near the switch crosshair on the left below ...

Page 8: ...ips Don t drill into your table The space under the enclosure must clear the table The hole sizes are LED inch 6 2mm Volume Drive Pot 9 32 inch 7mm Input Output Jacks Inch 9 5mm Switch DC Jack Inch 12 7mm If you buy a step drill as shown here make sure it has all these hole sizes or be prepared to use a round file to enlarge small holes Clamped or Blocked to prevent movement while drilling Heavy D...

Page 9: ... the edge of the included label around the outside leaving the black line as the edge Before you remove the label backing center the label on the enclosure and lightly tape it down across one side with painter s tape Leaving the painter s tape on one end peel the backing on the opposite end cut off a small section of the backing and press that end of the label onto the enclosure Remove the painter...

Page 10: ...t plus the enclosure 1 bag if you ordered a Drive Knob The PCB Bag has the green printed circuit board sockets and a few other parts in it The Enclosure Bag has the jacks switches pots and multi colored wires in it The Components Bag has 40 resistors capacitors diodes op amps and LED s in it Because there are MANY different resistors included You will need a meter to measure the resistors before s...

Page 11: ... try to solder them all at once Trust me on this Too many legs make it extremely easy to miss soldering one Maybe do 2 or 3 at a time solder cut off and repeat But not everything all at once 8 Pin Sockets Install a socket into each location one at a time NOTE Legs can get bent during shipping Just bend them back Each socket has a small u shaped notch on one edge Match that cutout with the notch pr...

Page 12: ...ads from this diode Or from another component You will need them later NOTE Resistors are NOT polarized They can be installed and bent either way The bodies of the resistors may be tan brown or blue depending on the manufacturer R1 R2 100k Resistors Bend one lead of each resistor back over on itself so that both legs point the same direction Install the resistors upright These are fixed feedback r...

Page 13: ...the center of the board These capacitors block DC voltage from the audio stages DC offset would alter the waveform in the next gain stage These capacitors are not polarized They can be installed either way but I like to have the 104 number facing the same way on all of them C4 C5 100µF and 10µF Electrolytic capacitors Holding each capacitor in your right hand with the stripe towards you bend the l...

Page 14: ...bottom that lines up vertical These capacitors filter out leftover AC voltage from a power supply and store energy for use during short quick transient bursts when the pedal is being asked to deliver 100 of its design capability Your board should look a lot like this now Please double check your components with this image Again your 10 µF and 100µF capacitor colors may differ from those in this im...

Page 15: ...ere RECOMMENDATION Leave the jumper a little higher than the board not pressed down flat Later if you want to upgrade and install a drive knob the jumper will be easier to cut and it will provide two short pins to wrap the DRIVE pot wires to before soldering Double check your soldering with a magnifying glass Review your check boxes from the pages above Use magnification to look for pads that you ...

Page 16: ... upside down This can be confusing when you go to use it right side up I spent many minutes wondering why my prototype pedals didn t work because I had the guitar plugged into the OUTPUT or I thought my Drive knob was all the way down when it was my Volume knob that was all the way down Twisting Wires Some wires go to almost the same point on the board so twisting a pair of wires helps assembly Us...

Page 17: ...plug rigid components into a circuit board tweak knobs and stomp on switches those soldered connections on a printed circuit board PCB will fail It may take years but when rigid components move solder joints on PCBs crack and electronic things stop working This is a major reason why modern electronics and appliances only last a few years but a 1960 s Tube Amp is still running When rigid connection...

Page 18: ...ower Jack for as long as a cable is plugged in Unplug to de energize the circuit or save battery if you re using the 9V battery adapter cable The diagram here shows the installed position in the enclosure Solder lugs UP Yellow to Tip Left lug THE OUTPUT JACK has 2 connections commonly called a Tip Sleeve TS or Mono jack The diagram here shows the installed position in the enclosure Solder lugs UP ...

Page 19: ...entiometer if you have more than one knob on your pedal Use a leftover leg from one of the PCB components to make a jumper between Pins 1 and 7 THE FOOT SWITCH has 9 connections It is a single button that controls 3 switches at one time Switch 1 is on pins 1 2 and 3 This will be the input Switch Switch 2 is on pins 4 5 and 6 This will be the LED on off Switch Switch 3 is on pins 7 8 and 9 This wil...

Page 20: ...t to put a jumper between pins 1 and 7 Use a cut off leg from one of your resistors or capacitors from the PCB soldering section Install the Foot Switch The foot switch has 2 lock nuts a tooth washer and a flat metal washer Remove everything then thread one nut on the switch so that goes all the way to the bottom of the shaft Install the tooth washer on top of that first nut and put the switch thr...

Page 21: ... higher will prevent the drive knob from turning up all the way But maybe you don t want a massive distortion pedal just an overdrive Use a 6 8k or even a 10k in the GAIN 1 position to limit the drive The DRIVE knob actually reduces gain by adding resistance to the fixed amount of drive in the first gain stage With the knob all the way up only the resistor on the board is controlling gain Turning ...

Page 22: ...tput jacks as shown solder lugs up NOTE Be careful when using pliers to tighten the nuts One slip and you can scratch the enclosure On my website you can download and 3D print FREE plastic sockets TurnUps that I designed specifically for this project Yellow wire to switch Pin 8 Green wire to switch Pin 2 With the exterior nuts tightened use a small dab of Nail Polish to secure the nut to the threa...

Page 23: ...reen wire Route the red wire over the input jack against the wall of the enclosure NOTE The potentiometers have a small indexing tab which must be broken off or cut off before installation This tab snaps off when bent with pliers or use a pair of diagonal cutters shown to remove this small tab Marking each pot with V for volume and D for Drive helps with orientation Check Off ...

Page 24: ...sh down the barrel of the potentiometer shaft The part that turns Install the LED into the enclosure from the outside Pass the wires through the enclosure from the outside and press in NOTE For kits with a DRIVE knob the LED goes in the center hole We will solder the LED wires later If you don t have a drive knob the LED goes in the other hole Check Off ...

Page 25: ...ust 3 pairs if you don t have a DRIVE knob Don t worry We will check off each pair in this section NOTE This board shows the older yellow green wires for the DRIVE knob not yellow yellow Check Off Check Off Check Off Check Off If you don t have a drive knob you must put a jumper in the DRIVE pads on the board ...

Page 26: ...hort your signal You can run wires over the jacks near the solder points and against the wall of the enclosure to keep them out of the way There is also a small space down the center between the two jacks that wires can fit into if necessary Any wires that will get soldered to the PCB should be left long so that you can lift out the PCB to swap components while creating your tone o You can bend lo...

Page 27: ...e the circuit board Loop them around the inside of the enclosure or cut them to any length you are comfortable with Black to the Bottom Route the red wire over the input jack as shown Optional DRIVE Knob Wire the yellow wires from the PCB to the top two DRIVE pins on the DRIVE pot They are long so you can move the circuit board Loop them around the inside of the enclosure or cut them to any length...

Page 28: ...ck to PCB Red to PCB 9V Black to Input Jack Ring right lug Wire the Jack Grounds to the PCB Untwist the black wires about 1 inch and send one ground wire to each jack The input jack goes to the center lug and the output jack goes to the one without the green wire It does not matter which black wire you choose 2x Black wire to Jack Grounds Check Off Check Off Check Off ...

Page 29: ...rcuit Secure it with some masking tape to prevent components on the PCB from touching the metal lid Press everything into the enclosure and add the screws OR wrap with a rubber band while you are testing and auditioning components NOTE There is no battery inside the enclosure If you want to use a battery use the 9V Battery adapter cable and plug in to the DC Jack After you create your tone on the ...

Page 30: ...rial Rev 3 02 December 2020 30 Create Your Tone By changing resistors capacitors diodes and Op Amps in this circuit YOU define your sound The following images will help guide you but YOU will have the final say in your sound 7 ...

Page 31: ...004 or 1N4007 diodes and may vary between kits The only difference is the voltage rating which does not matter in this part of the circuit The 1N400x diodes have slightly larger diameter legs than the other components 1N400x legs bend open the socket connections in rows A B C D E F G H When removing a 1N400x the socket may stay bent open Components with smaller legs may not fit tightly into those ...

Page 32: ...AUSTINDRIVE Assembly Tutorial Rev 3 02 December 2020 32 x x 4001 4001 ...

Page 33: ...AUSTINDRIVE Assembly Tutorial Rev 3 02 December 2020 33 4001 4001 ...

Page 34: ...gs to fit the socket You must first bend the legs of the Op Amps slightly to fit into the sockets Placing the chip on its side with 4 legs touching the work surface lean the chip over just a little bit bending the legs in so that they fit the socket Before After 4 x X ...

Page 35: ...hange it over the years without getting a new pedal The pedal plays nice with the volume knob on your guitar reducing drive without getting too much quieter If you always chase your tone or use this pedal between multiple guitars amps and playing styles you can install an optional Drive Knob Kit available from Austin Mics www AustinMics com austindrive If your clean sound works but stomping on the...

Page 36: ...d the pedal but I can t guide your rig Tube amp in standby 1 There is a switch wiring problem Probably Because this is a true bypass pedal even when no power is connected you should be able to get a clean sound through the pedal when you stomp on it once Since there is no sound when you stomp on and off then your switch is wired wrong Did you forget the jumper between switch pins 1 and 7 2 You mis...

Page 37: ...ints you might have missed or solder blobs bridges that accidentally connect two pads together Verify your DC Jack wiring Low No power bad sound or none at all Re check and verify the wire colors resistors capacitors and diodes against the photos diagrams CLEAN SOUND BUT NO DIRTY SOUND 1 You re missing the DRIVE jumper on the board if you don t have a drive knob 2 You forgot to put an Op Amp in th...

Page 38: ...extremely unique complex and great sounding overdrive pedals available but are some worth the hype just because they have a special Op Amp vintage diodes or a Revision 1 0 circuit You can decide This pedal was developed in the months of March April and May 2020 while I was sheltering in place at my home during the worldwide Coronavirus COVID 19 quarantine Overdrive is a common name for a distortio...

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