kinski wrote:

Yes, you have to mount the board with a screw through the center hole. The tape is just to help heatsink and isolate.

For your jewel light, yes, you can connect it to your power jack.

andare wrote:

kinski wrote:

1. Just use an LED. Try something a little higher value resistor than you would usually use for an LED to keep it from being too bright.

2. That blue tape is the heatsink tape. You just peal off the blue plastic covering and stick it to the enclosure.

3. That cable should work fine. I don't know what the AWG is on that stuff, but most likely fine.

You mean: peel off the blue tape, stick it to the enclosure and then screw the PCB to the enclosure, pressed against the tape so it transfers heat to the metal box but the JFETs don't touch it directly?

Another question I have is how to wire up a traditional jewel light.

It only has two connectors that look exactly the same, like this https://www.parts-express.com/SSP%20Applications/PartsExpress@SuiteCentric/SCA%202019.1/img/070-450_HR_0.default.jpg?resizeid=106&resizeh=1200&resizew=1200

Do I just connect it to the power jack, to the same lugs that connect to the board?

Sorry for these noob questions

Another question. I've been looking at all the pictures in this thread but I can't figure out how to wire the ON/OFF switch. Google isn't helping either.

Which toggle switch should I buy for the ON/OFF switch? SPST? DPDT? There are two wires coming from the power jack so I guess I need a DPDT.

I've been googling like crazy but it seems these basic things are not explained anywhere. I just feel so dumb

j_flanders wrote:

Do you want an on/off switch or a bypass switch?

With a bypass switch the unit is still powered on but it only lets the dry signal through and turns the reverb off.
Best to use a 3PDT (three pole double throw) switch. It switches input, output and status light (3 poles) on or off (2 throws)

With an on/off switch you turn off the power and both dry as reverb signal won't get through to your amp.
Best to use a SP2T ON/OFF (single pole, double throw) switch. It switches the power line (1 pole) on or off (2 throws)

It usually only connects/disconnects the 'hot'(+) wire and leaves the ground (-) connected. The reason is the following:

There's very little chance that by accident another 12V+ wire is going to 'touch' a 12V+ trace on the pcb and unintentionally turn the unit on.

There's a big chance (since the ground wire connected to the pcb is also connected to the metal enclosure) that by accident some other ground wire is going to touch the metal enclosure and unintentionally turn the unit on.

Alright now everything is clear!

Funnily enough I know how to wire an effect for true bypass with a 3PDT switch (plenty of info and diagrams around) but I rarely see a simple on/off switch.

I'll probably go with the self-contained toolbox and I'd like to add an ON/OFF switch and status light just for the kicks. I think I'll also add a true bypass toggle. This will be for home studio use.

If instead I build a separate pedal for the pedalboard I'll definitely use a true bypass footswitch and add a second Mixer knob.

Thanks a lot for helping me!

I finally finished my build after collecting the components over a few years. I'm a bedroom picker who plays mostly instro, surf, & rockabilly.
When I started, my main goal was to have a copy of the Fender reverb unit since I couldn't afford to buy one. With the Surfybear kits I could buy what I needed one piece at a time (like Johnny Cash built his Cadillac).
With that in mind, and very little experience with any of the skills involved, I chose to combine the reverb and tremelo kits. I liked the idea of having 1 powered unit that did both. I briefly considered adding the guts from a delay pedal but realized that was too much to bite off.
I built a cabinet with the plans on this site and found some inexpensive tweed pattern tolex and grill cloth on Amazon to get a decent imitation of what I really wanted. I took the Fender logo off of a small bass amp.
In the end I'm very happy with the results. I never played a Fender unit but this sounds just like I think it should.
My thanks to everyone who posts on this site such great information.

Last edited: Mar 09, 2021 09:10:32

Hi Andare, please check the wiring for the RCA jacks.

Make sure the ground is connected like this, to the nut:

Are you sure your rca jack coming from the PCB are going to the correct reverb pan jacks? You could try swapping them and see if that helps.

PCB Reverb Out should go to the Pan’s input. And the PCBs Reverb In should go to the Pan’s output.

So this morning the reverb sounded good and at full volume but it was intermittent, it would cut out. I figured the PCB and all components are good but the connections to the RCA jacks were wonky so I redid them. And now I'm back to a very quiet reverb, no cut outs.
I get the dry signal to the amp, turning down the Mixer knob increases the dry volume.
I triple checked that Rev Out of the board goes to the Input of the pan (white plugs) and the Output of the pan goes to Rev In of the board (red plugs). I also tried reversing the plugs which gives zero reverb.
The pan splashes if kicked but it's quiet.

I get a lot of hum too. Maybe it's because the effect is not built into a metal enclosure, maybe it's the power supply. It's a 12V 1.5A switching power supply, a wall wart from an external HD I already had.

In the meantime I ordered a toolbox for the build.

TL;DR: The reverb works but it's really quiet. Is it the RCA solder joints? Lots of hum too.

Hi Bjorn

I'm still testing the effect without a proper heat sink. Maybe this is the problem?
However I think I found an issue: the Mixer knob reads 251K when at zero (all the way counterclockwise) but only 231K at 100% (all the way clockwise). The wiper works linearly. Is this a defective potentiometer?
The other two pots have the same value at both ends: the Tone pot reads 47K, the Dwell pot reads 55K - I guess that's within tolerance.

So unfortunately still no dice
Everything works properly but even maxed out, the reverb is very low in the mix.

The loss of volume and high end is in line with what has been reported here. As the Mixer goes up, the dry signal gets quieter and darker. I suppose it's a feature of the circuit and present in the 6G15 tube units as well.

I checked everything else several times. I used three different amps (a Pignose, a 30W guitar tube combo, a 100W Fender Rumble bass combo). I used 4 different cables. I used 3 different power supplies (all are 12V 1.5A switching PU from external HD). I made one change at a time of course.

I desoldered the RCA jacks (I had some questionable blobs there) and I connected them with alligator clips.
I'm pretty sure my other solder joints are good. Nice and shiny and the right concave shape.

So I guess the only possible solution is to replace the Mixer pot?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Last edited: Mar 11, 2021 15:04:19

j_flanders wrote:

The mixer pot is fine. If there's a resistor (could be at the input of the amp you're connecting to) connected to the wiper it's parallel with the mixer pot.
With the mixer pot at zero that parallel resistor is shorted so you read the full mixer pot value.
With the mixer pot at max, that resistor is parallel to the entire pot, reading lower than the 250k.

You cannot reliably measure components, pots, resistors, caps in circuit because there can be other components in series or in parallel which skew the readings.

If you shake/hit/jiggle the pan, do you hear the springs crashing through your amp?

I measured the pot when disconnected from the amp.

Yes, the pan crashes if I kick it. The dry signal gets through if I disconnect the pan.
I think everything works as it should, it's just quiet.

Last edited: Mar 11, 2021 16:28:52

j_flanders wrote:

What type of pan do you have?
The code is printed on the label.
Does it say 4AB3C1B?

Yes, it's the classic Accutronics 4AB3C1B made in South Korea, bought from https://www.tube-town.net/

j_flanders wrote:

andare wrote:

Without the pan connected check the resistance between signal (pin) and ground (ring) on the RCA jack(s).

My Multimeter shows 0 resistance. That's good right?

It could be you're (partially) grounding your reverb pan's output, giving little or no reverb input to the board.

This seems like a good insight, it would explain the low volume.

Also check for stray wires touching ground somewhere.

Don't see any but I'll check once more.

Also check your cables going to or from the pan. Make sure there's no (partial) short between signal and ground.
Plug a cable into the RCA jack and see if there's continuity between the pin at the other end of the cable and the solder point on the pcb.

Yes there's continuity.

Also check if nothing is preventing the springs from moving. Wires, tools, foam etc.

I tried suspending the pan but no change.

Here's a few pics of how the RCA jacks are set up now, and how I checked for resistance and continuity w/alligator clips.