Modded Blues Breaker.. Personally i have pretty high hopes for the circuit...
There’s a lot of hype out there these days with overdrive pedals and the last thing we want to do is to add to the noise.
As you may already know, almost every boutique overdrive on the market is a modified Tubescreamer of some sort; we have decided to take a different approach.
The Morning Glory is a very transparent tone-shaping tool that is the result of several years of building, gigging, tweaking and improving on the original Marshal Bluesbreaker design. We improved vastly on the BB while maintaining what made it a great pedal in the first place. It now has around 4X more headroom, 2X the available gain, and a more useful tone control. The “Bright Cut” toggle allows the perfect level of EQ for your rig.
You will notice immediately how touch sensitive and dynamic the feel of this pedal is. The frequencies are perfectly balanced and the tone knob reacts as a high frequency roll off. The drive allows you a huge range of tones from “little wing-ish” chime to classic rock era bite. If you’re a Strat player, this pedal will bring you sounds that you may have thought impossible. If you like the Les Paul, get ready to discover a new pallet of sounds that you won’t be able to live without.
With enough clean headroom to be used as a boost as well as a hefty amount of drive, this may be your go-to pedal for good.
There’s a lot of hype out there these days with overdrive pedals and the last thing we want to do is to add to the noise.
As you may already know, almost every boutique overdrive on the market is a modified Tubescreamer of some sort; we have decided to take a different approach.
The Morning Glory is a very transparent tone-shaping tool that is the result of several years of building, gigging, tweaking and improving on the original Marshal Bluesbreaker design. We improved vastly on the BB while maintaining what made it a great pedal in the first place. It now has around 4X more headroom, 2X the available gain, and a more useful tone control. The “Bright Cut” toggle allows the perfect level of EQ for your rig.
You will notice immediately how touch sensitive and dynamic the feel of this pedal is. The frequencies are perfectly balanced and the tone knob reacts as a high frequency roll off. The drive allows you a huge range of tones from “little wing-ish” chime to classic rock era bite. If you’re a Strat player, this pedal will bring you sounds that you may have thought impossible. If you like the Les Paul, get ready to discover a new pallet of sounds that you won’t be able to live without.
With enough clean headroom to be used as a boost as well as a hefty amount of drive, this may be your go-to pedal for good.
Awesome layout, you now officially have a more extreme case of OCD than me! :o)
ReplyDeleteHeehee :P It was a bit more challenging than i thought, but turned out reasonably compact. I may take a crack this at some point...
Delete+m
I'm actually pretty proud of the way i got the vref network spanned all over the board.
Delete+m
And whaddyaknow, 25k lin again! :)))
ReplyDeleteI keep imagining that I'll be missing something important if I use 20k instead...
This will get built down the road but my dirt queue is quite full at the moment.
Wow, this blog is seriously affecting my finals week. I need to either stop visiting this site or cut off my internet access for next couple weeks.
ReplyDeleteBut now that I know that the morning glory is up, I need to squeeze more time away from my studies. Just great :(
Anyways, what would be a good LM833 substitute?
Any dual opamp should work fine, TL072, JRC4558 and NE5532 woul be the first ones i'd try.
Delete+m
I built torchy's kot project because no one had taken a cracked at the morning glory yet. I'll be building this for sure!
ReplyDeleteVerified!!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds very nice. This is my kind of overdrive.
I tried with TL072 and b50k for tone pot. I just can't cranked the tone pot all the way, it's way too piercing with 50k maxed. Also I was lazy and didn't use the switch but did try connecting the wires (by squeezing the two wires with fingers) and the bright mode functioned as it should.
This is definitely going to get boxed once I find some b25k and lm833.
Thanks a lot!
Cool. Thanks krzabe!
Delete+m
Super excited for this one. Finally get to see what all the fuss is about.
ReplyDeleteHow is the bass response? One reason I switched from my king of tone to the Wampler euphoria is because a lot of bass was cut when I used the kot. I guess I could try to figure out if all I need to do is swap some caps though...
ReplyDeleteI used to own one, but sold it, and take this with a grain of salt because I was playing through a Fender Blues Junior, but the bass response was crap. Definitely seems like it would be better suited to a more bassy amp. I'm gonna build this up soon though, I think it would sound good on my Ampeg.
Delete...holy crap, I finally got something to work...
ReplyDeleteWell, how does it sound?
DeleteIt sounds good! I think I wired the toggle wrong...I wired to the two outside poles of a SPDT switch and it doesn't seem to change anything...?
DeleteYeah, I did that the first time I had to wire a toggle as well. If you probe it with your multimeter you'll see that in the up position the center and bottom lugs are connected, the middle position is just the center lug, and in the down position the center and top lugs are connected. So you want one wire on the center and one on an outside lug.
DeleteIf you have a spst toggle I'd just use that since there's no need for a center position
DeleteD'oh! I knew that too! Thanks Mike :)
DeleteI only have a 20K pot for the tone but it seems to be working well enough...now that the bright toggle is working I've a fully functional pedal - awesome!
It doesn't have as much output and gain as I would have expected but it is a nice, jangly dirt pedal.
SPST, or SPDT per schematic notes, but....is it ON-OFF, ON-ON?
DeleteA single pole switch can't be on-on, it's either making contact or not. So a SPST switch is a simple on or off contact, a SPDT switch makes two contacts with a common, like this:
Delete1
2
3
2 is the common so the switch either makes contact between 1 and 2, or 2 and 3.
Yep...SPDT was the one I was referring to. Your explanation helped though!
DeleteAnother issue: after tracing the layout comparing it with another schematic, I noticed some discrepancies and wondered if you had seen this one before. The immediate difference I see is R9 and from R11 back to the switch. I'd like to get the schematic to you for reference...how would I do that?
Thanks again!
Hey thanks for the great layout.
ReplyDeleteCare to share the schematics you used ?
Thanks
It should be over in the forum under the Requests subforum.
DeleteOr you could try google...
Delete+m
Good job Miro! This is definitely one of the best layouts I've built. I just had a good feeling about it the whole time while building it and wiring it in the box was so nice and easy because of the placement of the connections on the board. Well designed layout!
ReplyDeleteNow my curiosity can finally rest but I will say that this pedal sounds very very very nice.
just built mine exactly according to the the layout. IMO, it's a nice pedal, but after a few mods to make it less mid heavy and have no low end loss (since i use mine with a bass), now it's a very nice OD.
ReplyDeleteJohn, any chance you remember which mods you made? I've got it working just fine but it's all mid and high. Even with the Tone rolled all the way back it's a bit icepick-y, I'd be interested in knowing what you did to tweak the low end.
Deletethese are most, if not all, of the caps that I changed in mine:
Deletehttp://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Effects/Fuzz-ODs/JHS/JHS-Morning-Glory-modded.png
Awesome! Thanks for the fast response John. Your pedals and basses are gorgeous. Great work.
DeleteCan I also ask where you get the LED diffusers you use on most of your pedal builds?
I built it. Well its an ok od. Nth to wow abt it. Better of with a timmy or dls if u nd an od. Again its modded blues breaker so it sounds similar to bluesbreaker. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteI agree. I actually think the bluesbreaker sounds better than a stock MG, but after some mods (fuller tone response, more gain & dirt), I really like mine now.
ReplyDeleteWhat values did you change on this one? My bass player needs an OD, so maybe this would be a good candidate.
Deletemodded, this one makes a pretty nice bass OD, but think a modded sweet honey od, a modded Klon or a modded Maxon 820 is better. I also think the Wampler Ecstasy and Cochrane Timmy are better too, and they don't require any mods.
ReplyDeletethe Fairfield Barbershop is also an AWESOME pedal and one of my favorites for bass. if you want to see some reviews (and sound clips) of some of the OD's that I've built and modded for bass, go here:
http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Overdrive-Pedals.html
Thanks for the tips!
Deletegot mine boxed up. a couple more mods and it sounds great now.
ReplyDeletepics:
http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Effects/Fuzz-ODs/MorningGlory/MG-01.jpg
http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Effects/Fuzz-ODs/MorningGlory/MG-02.jpg
hey john, looks beautiful! did you screen print that enclosure yourself? or did you have pedal parts plus screen it?
Deletethanks. I just used a p-touch labeler for it.
Deleteok - where do you find the short squatty caps??
Deletemouser
Deleteyou used a labeller for the "Morning Glory" part? and damn you got that enclosure SHINY... you using a buffer and power sander or what? Beautiful work as always!
Deletewhich p touch labeller? that looks pretty dang good, I'd like to get something better than my stupid stamps and staz on ink
DeleteI use an old PT-2100. and yes, I first sand the enclosures down to 320 grit, and then buff them on a buffing wheel.
Deleteso did you clear coat to remove the appearance of the label edges? or is that the camera angle? maybe it does better with a polished bare enclosure like yours?
Deleteno. I don't clearcoat them. they have edges but they're barely noticeable.
Deletewhat kind of buffing wheel do you use? I'm not too hip to labellers, but did you hook up your labeller to a computer to get that font for the "morning glory" part? I've got a few dozen builds without labels and several bare enclosures that I'd like to pretty up.
DeleteHappen to have a parts list and where you got everything?
DeleteAlso, I noticed on the pic you only have one connection to volume...appears to be Vol 3....where's Vol 1?
Volume 1 is one row below it, and Volume 2 goes to the output as per the notes
DeleteOK...just can't see it it your layout. Only see one blue wire going to sw. in this photo:
Deletehttp://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Effects/Fuzz-ODs/MorningGlory/MG-02.jpg.
Thanks though!
whenever a pot is grounded, I don't use the ground from the circuit board to minimize extra wiring. I always ground lug 1 of the volume pot to a jack's ground.
DeleteI finished mine last night. I thought it sounded pretty good through my amp, though my amp is super bassy so it probably helped it out a bit. Much better sounding than I remember it (the real thing) being before I had this amp. Though I was drunk last night and who doesn't have more fun while playing drunk? I am gonna play though it a bit more before I decide if I'm gonna box it up.
ReplyDeleteVery nice!
ReplyDeleteDo you have a layout of the jhs morning glory? I would like to compare it with my marshall bb? This would be interesting.
What's everybody getting for IC voltages on this? Mine seem off...
ReplyDeleteHi maties, just curious. I've built this and it sound great....except for to 'noise'. I run an isolated power source and have re-wired twice but crackle & hum particularly with the gain cranked is apparent.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone else have this happening or is it just me? If its just me I'll persist. Failing that, a marshall blues breaker or KOT may be on the cards. Still smiling though.
Thanks for any input and rock on!
Mine build works fine except when I crank everything to max, then I do get some hiss. But I think that's normal for any OD. When I max gain and other controls to middle, I have no noise. Is your circuit in an enclosure? It might help to put it into an enclosure.
DeleteTry powering with a battery to eliminate your powers supply . I had the same problem with a sound lab pedal power supply unit . It was garbage , way too noisy .
DeleteThanks for the reply mate. It's enclosed but shes still nasty. Looks like I need to investigate further. Maybe an electro cap or something. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteWhist I remember, can I assume the 5457 drain voltage doesn't need fine tuning? Thanks.
Alrighty then, I got her working really nice. I ended up modifying the power filtering to mirror the original blues breaker and now background noise has greatly reduced. Thanks for this awesome layout guys. It's funny but even though this pedal really is quite basic relative to all the others I've built, I can guarantee this will be used well. Sweet!
ReplyDeletedid u swap the 10uf for 100uf?
DeleteSo what did you swap out for what?? Im having the same problem
DeleteCan you use anything other than a 25k for tone or will it effect the sound?
ReplyDeleteWhat capacitors specifically should be swapped to modify this for an active bass?
ReplyDeleteWorking on the build and was wondering, what is the DSG?
ReplyDeletedrain, source, gate
ReplyDeleteThanks John! Is there a specific transister you recommend for me to use?
ReplyDeletea 2N5457 Jfet just like it says.
ReplyDeleteHoly crap...
ReplyDeleteI loved this pedal since I built it, but now I've just decided to use it behind a Blue Note. My goodness, I almost cried. Sooooo good!
That's definitely going down as one of those magical moments in DIY pedal building...
Thanks!!!!!!
For some reason when I built this the actual "distortion sound" (for lack of a better term) was really quiet.
ReplyDeleteEven with the gain maxed and the tone set fairly low the sound I got was a fairly clean very piercing high mids, yet somehow still had a muffled sound to it.
I replaced R10 (6.8k on the right side of the layout) with a 2.7k and it seems to have solved the low gain issue while also helping with the bass response. I think I'll also change out the 470p on the treble cut switch for something more effective.
I've never modded anything I've built before, but I love my KOT and my Euphoria, and have my mind set on making this into a more compact replacement for both of them. So please let me know if I've done something wrong or if there's a better work around!
Thanks! - Mike
I've also changed out R9 (220) for a 470k which gave me even more gain, although the last 20% of the turn doesn't really sound much different I do notice it is extremely easy to do tapping or any other kind of fast lead playing, and I get quite a bit more sustain.
DeleteI replaced C10 (470p) on the treble cut switch with 517p (added 47p in parallel) which cuts more treble.
The only other problem I'm having is that my G B and E strings are really loud when the pedal is engaged. I can't seem to figure out what to change in order to cut that frequency range slightly.
Here's the schematic
Thanks!
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteI just built this pedal.
It sounds great but I'm having a noise problem with it.
Right now I'm using the bbe supercharger power supply which has isolated outputs and the normal single output power supply by line 6. The bbe one has hum with this pedal but not the line 6 one. But I have been using the bbe with other brand pedals for quite a long time without any noise issue..
Here is the video that I recorded:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxtXbE7PdZs
Pic:
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss32/jwjwatl/IMG_0505_zpsd02ce7ca.jpg
Please help me out guys!
Thanks!
I'm having a noise issue as well. I went and tested the morning glory at the store and it was extremely quiet compared to my clone. I also noticed that mine still sounds muffled compared to the original... Could this be a grounding problem?
DeleteI've managed to fix the issue with the pedal sounding muffled by using different diodes. But even after undoing my mods and replacing all the electrolytic caps I still get a loud hum! Other than that it sounds perfect. I'm at a loss here...
ReplyDelete''the result of several years of building, gigging, tweaking and improving on the original Marshal Bluesbreaker design''
ReplyDeleteAnd JHS say that with a straight face??? built it, next to my Bluesbreaker build, I chose the original BB. I find there are reasons why these original pedals have a low volume, so you can dime it without ear bleeding.
Much prefer the original Bluesbreaker.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNoob question - The "Si" diodes - can someone explain what i need to get?
ReplyDeleteSi simply stands for silicon, so any silicon diodes will do, although you can use germanium ones if you really want. The layout recommends either 1n4148 or 1n914, which are essentially the same thing.
DeleteThanks so much Dave, I asumed that was the case but didn't know the exact ones i needed, lucky i have 1n4148's here. :)
DeleteWhat does the double link mean to do? and what is the DSG?
ReplyDeletesorry, a bit of a noob here.
double links means two links sharing one hole, and DSG means drain, source, gate (the pinout of the Jfet.
ReplyDeletecool. thanks so much for your reply!!!! :D
Deletesince there's no output out of the board... how do i wire up the switch?
ReplyDeleteThe output is lug 2 of the volume pot
ReplyDeleteThis is common in a pedal where you have a simple passive "volume" control, where the output is linked to ground through a potentiometer. As you increase resistance, less of the output is dumped to ground and you hear a louder signal. As you decrease resistance, more of the output is dumped to ground, and you hear a quieter signal.
So you'll see this a lot where you treat lug 2 of the volume pot as the board output
thanks for clearing that up!
DeleteI just finished my build. it works bypassed... but when i turn it one, no sound. i did however find that when the power is unplugged, and the pedal is engaged, if i strum the guitar and plug in the power quickly, there is sound. only it fades away in about second. any ideas as to why this might be happening? thanks
ReplyDeleteDid you do the double link and check your pinouts?
ReplyDeleteyes i did do the double link. i also checked its continuity and it's good. i didn't check the pinouts though. how would i do that exactly?
Deletei find it so odd that it works for a second when i plug the power in and it just fades out. i have no clue why that would happen
thanks for all your help and patience. I appreciate it so much, really.
I started writing up a somewhat complicated response, and realized that I couldn't have really said it any better than it was said here:
ReplyDeletehttp://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2012/05/fault-finding-build.html?m=1
Checking pinouts just means checking that you have inserted the JFET and IC with the proper orientation. The dip or dot on your IC should follow the layout. Where the layout says DSG, check that your JFET has the drain going to D, source to S, and gate to G.
The electrolytic capacitors and diodes are polarized and they need to be inserted the right way around. Check that the stripes on these parts match on the layout and your build.
If this all checks out then its time to check that you don't have any unwanted bridges on the trace side of the board
hey thanks for the tips man. I did all that... a couple times now and still the same result. i've uploading some pictures online so maybe you can point out something I did wrong, I don't know. I've been breaking my head with it. Thanks again so much for your help. People like you give me hope lol
DeletePictures:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=14kzds1&s=5#.UuSuPpH0Ay4
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=7161c3&s=5#.UuSueZH0Ay4
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2ns009y&s=5#.UuSunpH0Ay4
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=vd0ikk&s=5#.UuSu95H0Ay6
Does anyone know how this thing can be plugged in, work for the first 2 seconds and then just fade out into nothingness forever :(((
DeleteHi, I just finished this pedal and it sounds great, exept the volume is very low. I have to crank it up almost all the way to hear something. Can anybody help?
ReplyDeletedouble check you didn't mess any of the resister values up. it's easy to confuse 47 with 4.7 or 6.8 with 68. i did that :D
DeleteWell I've had this one built and not working for a few months, so I decided to do full troubleshooting today. Bypass works, pedal powers on, no audio output when engaged. I went through the DIY Stomboxes troubleshooting steps and everything seemed to check out, so I built an audioprobe. I'm having a bit of trouble transferring the schematic to reality (in terms of trying to follow the audio signal, not the electricity).
ReplyDeleteBut! I hear the guitar when I probe the south tip of the 470p cap. I hear nothing when I probe the north end of the cap. I have no audio on the Sw1 or Sw2 connections. Am I right to think that little 470p bugger might be causing all the problems? Just looking for some confirmation before I start desoldering and replacing components.
Thanks all.
You wouldn't have any voltage on that side of the 470p cap if the switch wasn't closed so that isn't necessarily the problem. Try probing the following in order, this is the main signal path through the circuit:
DeleteInput wire
47n
IC pin 3
IC pin 1
Drive 2
Drive 3
100n
10K
IC pin 6
IC pin 7
1K
Tone 3
TOne 2
6K8
100n
68K
JFET gate
JFET drain
2u2
Volume 3
Volume 2
Output wire
The other components and pins etc I omitted obviously make a big difference in the circuit, but if you can use your probe and find out exactly where along the main signal path you're losing signal, that will give us a really big clue to where the problem area is, and then obviously something to check with the other components and physical build in the same area.
Thanks a million Mark, you are awesome. The following were all probed and here's whether or not I had audio.
DeleteInput wire
Y 47n
Y IC pin 3
Y IC pin 1
Y Drive 2
Y Drive 3
Y 100n
Y, but only on the north side 10K
Y IC pin 6
N IC pin 7
Y, but only the east side 1K
No, to everything after that 1k.
So it seems like the 1k is a problem. And if I'm following this right, that could be a faulty 10k not giving signal to IC pin 7, also, I think.
I hope you guys all realize you're geniuses.
That's perculiar because the right side of the 1K is connected to pin 7 of the IC by a link, so if you're getting signal at one, then you should be getting signal at the other.
DeleteWhat are your IC voltages?
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI'm sorry Mark, I was counting the pins wrong. I just checked against the Layout Guide. My apologies. The pin which gave no audio output would have been pin SIX. 7 was fine. That was why I thought 6 and the 10k were linked (even though I called it 7).
DeleteVolages Pin:
1 - 3.462
2 - 3.452
3 - 3.162
4 - 0.3
8 - 8.83
7 - 3.64
6 - 3.608
5 - 3.607
Voltages look pretty good to me. I'm just wondering why you are getting signal at the right hand side of the 1K but not at pin 7, that really can't happen unless there are physical issues. One thing that does stand out is just to the right of the bottom link from pin 7 is a cut hidden from view by the 100K resistor on the populated layout. To the right hand side of that cut is a link to ground and that is making me suspicious. You must have the cut or you wouldn't be getting any voltage at all at pin 7 when you just measured, but the fact that you measure a voltage reading at pin 7 and have audio at the right hand side of the 1K but not at pin 7 makes me thing you have something there causing an intermittent short. I've had those before and if there is something like a fine micro-bridge barely touching then that would account for why you can have signal at one place, but not a couple of seconds later at a different location but linked.
DeleteJust check that cut under the 100K. A burr in there could be causing problems (that has happened before) so just cut it out again, make sure the cut is clean and there are no strands or solder around there that may be making an intermittent connection.
There is also the chance that you just didn't make a good connection trying to get audio signal at pin 7, and if you do actually have signal there and at the right hand side of the 1K but not at the left, then that suggests the 1K resistor is either faulty or maybe a much higher value than you think is in there.
You've identified that as the problem area though so that is where you need to look critically at your build.
Incidentally you are showing 0.3V at pin 4 which is ground and so should be 0V. I'm assuming this is just because of the calibration of your multimeter, but if not then resoldering the ground connections may be a good idea because you definitely shouldn't have a voltage there.
DeleteIf none of these areas to look at allow you to cure the issue, post a high res from and back pic so we can see if anything obvious is standing out.
Just noticed your correction ^^
DeleteSo if you have audio at pin 7 and at the right hand side of the 1K, but nothing at the left hand side of the 1K, that resistor must be the problem, or maybe the connection to Tone 3 or your Tone pot. Something is pulling it down there. The resistor is the obvious candidate or your soldering maybe on the left hand side.
Mark, thank you so much for all your help yesterday. I replaced the 1k and still had no audio. I ended up disconnecting the tone wires (which gave me audio at the 1k) and then re-connecting the tone wires back to the board one-by-one, and lost audio once I reconnected Tone 2. I ended up resoldering Tone 2 and the 6.8k just to be safe, and I razor bladed the hell out of the grooves on both sides of that strip... and voila! The pedal works.
DeleteI really can't thank you, and everyone else here, enough. It sounds great! Keep up the great work!
Excellent, glad you got it going
DeleteHey all, this may be a tricky one to troubleshoot.
ReplyDeleteThe pedal works 100%, although the tone knob isnt working, I desoldered and tried another one and it doesnt look like i made any mistakes on the build.
Any suggestions?
I built this one the other day. Bypass works fine but I don't get anything when I switch the pedal on. I checked the voltages against the ones given and I think I found the problem. My reference voltage Vb (according to the diystompboxes circuit) is only 0.88V instead of 3.5V or so. Does anyone have any idea where I could have gone wrong with that? I'm having trouble tracing back the circuit.
ReplyDeleteThe reference voltage rail should be 4.5V which it gets by having a 47K resistor to supply and 47K resistor to ground, giving you half the supply voltage. So check the voltage you're getting there on row 2. If you're only getting the 0.88V at pin 3 after the 1M resistor to reference then check the resistor, soldering and the soldering of the other components on the same row.
DeleteOkay, I don't get any sound unless I lay my fingers across or on either pin 5,6,7 of the IC. When I do that it comes through loud and clear. no problem at all.
ReplyDeleteOkay so after doing some resoldering, I've almost gotten it to work. This is what its doing: If I barely play it sounds like a bad fuzz pedal for a second then quits. The harder I strum the more it comes through and If I'm playing really hard then it sounds fantastic. Works clear as day, but as the sound dies down so does the pedal, crackling and fuzzing as it slowly dies. Anybody have any idea what it could be?
ReplyDeleteThose sort of symptoms usually signal a poor solder joint, bad connection somewhere or faulty component. If you're happy that your connections and soldering are all good, then it may be a case of swapping components to see if you can find a culprit. My money will still be on a bad connection somewhere though. What voltages are you getting at the IC and JFET pins?
Delete+1. I that Greg has an error in his build somewhere. it will work perfect if built properly.
Delete1 - 5.5
Delete2 - 3v
3 - 1v
4 - 0v
8 and 7 - its off the charts around 9.3 volts
6 - 1v
5 - 4v
jfet
D - 4.8v
S - 1.3
G - nothing
7 is looking suspicious then. 8 should be at the supply voltage and so 9.3V is fine, 7 shouldn't be anywhere near that though which makes me think you've got a microscopic bridge somewhere between the rows that 7 and 8 are soldered to. Knife the gap and critically check your soldering around there for anything going over a bit far to the next row.
DeleteWhen you say touching 5, 6 and 7 make it work backs this up, because an intermittent connection could easily be broken by a little pressure around the area.
I cut between all the gaps and now I'm around 4 volts on 7 but it's still doing the same thing just a little better now...
DeleteTrying to get a little clarification. All i have is a b50k pot for the tone control. As was mentioned by krzabe on this thread, turning the 50k all the way is far too bright. I am trying to figure out the best way to limit the value of the pot. Some things if have read say to put a 50k resistor across lugs 1 and 3. Other say across lugs 1 and 2. Which is the correct approach for this function? Also i am aware that doing this may change the curve of the taper.
ReplyDeletecorrection: i realize linear pots do not have a curve in the taper.
DeleteSorry I'm new to pedals, but i can only count 7 links from the picture. Can someone point out where the 8th link is? And can I know what a double link is?
ReplyDeleteThe 8th link IS the double link. Look where the blue dot is, from that point is one link going up and one link going down, so two links are soldered in the same hole.
Delete@lvlark thanks a lot bro now i get it. By the way what does JFET refers to? Is it the DSG?
DeleteYes. DSG = drain, source, gate
DeleteJust finished this build. Everything seems to work fine except for the Drive control. When fully counter clockwise everything works as it should. As soon as i attempt to engage the Drive the volume and tone are severely squelched and the knob is extremely scratchy when turned. Any idea what may be causing this? I have ruled out that it is the pot itself.
ReplyDeletetotal noob question here, but this is my first build and I was just wondering how do you know which way to put in the polarized caps? I know which side is which but just don't know how to tell from the layout... Thanks in advance
ReplyDeletethe black line indicates the negative side of the electrolytic :)
Deleteis the 2n5486 a safe replacement for the 2n5457? I have one in at the moment but theres a significant volume loss, its way louder if dont have the transistor in the circuit..
ReplyDeleteIt will work, but may not work well with the same components around it. If you are using an alternative when it comes to JFETs then it's always a good idea to socket the drain or source resistor so you can tweak the bias, so that's what I'd try first.
DeleteI've been working on troubleshooting this build for a while with no luck. I get audio up to the jfet (which I have replaced to make sure the unit is good), then nothing unless I crank all knobs i get a quiet gated fuzz sound.
ReplyDeleteThe voltages on the JFET are approximately:
D: 9.5
S 4.5
G 0.5
4.5V on the source seems very high for something just 12K away from ground. But your symptoms sounds like a bad connection to me, so I'd check the soldering on all components around the JFET, reflow and make sure there are no bad joints
DeleteI tried reflowing the joints on the output buffer area, I checked some resistors and capacitors...no change. Does anyone know why there would be full signal at gate but none at drain?
DeleteOk... total Noob here!!!
ReplyDeleteI only see the connection for one of the three input/output prongs. Where do the two other go? Also, how does one connect the stomp switch? Thanks a million.
Hmm. Three in/out prongs? Output is the volume pot's lug 2...
Deletehttp://tagboardeffects.blogspot.fi/2012/02/offboard-wiring.html
+m
Well unfortunately this build is giving me a bit of trouble.
ReplyDeleteWith the drive knob turned down I get a decent clean boost out of the volume knob. As soon as I begin to turn up the drive I get a nasty fuzz and harmonic distortion.
I've checked all my off board wiring, double checked resistor values, cap, diode, and JFET orientation, and I've gone over the board looking for unwanted links with a magnifying glass. Nothin.
I think I need to start probing values, but am seeking a little advice. I do feel like the problem is most likely somewhere in the clipping section of the circuit. Where and how should I start? Thanks for any help you can give!
I took some measurements today, hoping for some feedback on where trouble might be.
DeleteFirst, I checked for continuity between all tracks and cuts. There didn’t appear to be any that wasn’t supposed to be there.
Here’s IC voltage measurements:
Pin 1:6.21 Pin 8: 9.47
Pin 2:4.85 Pin 7: 3.88
Pin 3:2.64 Pin 6: 4.63
Pin 4:0.00 Pin 5: 4.55
JFET voltage:
D: 7.23
S: 1.13
G: 0.00
I also measured the voltage going through all the electro caps, I suppose just to see if they were functioning.. I’m not sure what to do with this info but here it is:
10 uF electro on far right just above 470 pF cap: neg lead is at 0.00, positive lead only charges up to around 1.12 is that a problem?
2.2uF electro neg lead is at ground. Pos lead up to 7.23
Far left 10 uF neg lead is at ground. Pos lead at 9.46
Middle 100uF neg lead is at ground. Pos lead at 4.55
Right 100 uF neg lead is at 4.58. Pos lead at 9.46
I’m not sure if there is anything else I can measure that might help.
I’ve been building pedals for a while but this is the most in-depth troubleshooting I’ve ever had to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
PS:
ReplyDeleteI checked all resistor values as I built this so they should all be good to go.
I've also razored in between all tracks 5 or 6 times now.
I actually have a second board of this same build just waiting to be wired up. I think I will put it together today. If it has the same problem, at least I will know that it is most likely a mistake I've made, not a faulty component.
I will update after I get that put together.
I wired up the other board I put together at the same time as the first.
ReplyDeleteThis one isn't giving me the weird harmonic distortion when I turn the drive up, but it is VERY noisy in general. So I'm not sure if it's the same issue or not. I'm going to double check all the track cuts tomorrow, but for tonight I took voltage readings just to see how they compare to the first.
Pin 1: 4.96 Pin 8: 9.49
Pin 2: 4.98 Pin 7: 4.71
Pin 3: 2.49 Pin 6: 4.84
Pin 4: 0.00 Pin 5: 4.69
D: 6.59
S: 1.47
G: 0.00
They don't look too dissimilar from the first board, so I don't know what to think.
One question I had: The two 100uF caps I used are pretty wide, so I'm wondering if the base of the left 100uF might be touching the link that runs down the center of the board. Would that contact potentially cause issues? I know that cap connects to ground and that link runs down to the IC, so maybe that would be problematic?
Hi, I'm having problems with this build too. This is my 7th pedal and the first one i've had problems with. I razored the channels and reflowed all the joints as suggested above. My voltages look similar to others except for 1 & 2 which are much higher
ReplyDelete1 - 9.25 8 - 9.23
2 - 8.79 7 - 4.58
3 - 3.47 6 - 4.6
4 - 0 5 - 4.6
D - 5.1
S - 2.18
G - 0
Any suggestions would be awesome!
I should say, it works fine in bypass mode, but there is only a hum when turned up when the pedal is turned on.
DeleteYou should have nothing like 9V on pins 1 and 2 so that's where you need to start looking. Pin 1 is obviously suspiciously next to the supply pin, so my first though is that there is a bridge of some short in the cut under the IC. Check all solder round there and look for burrs in the cut which could be causing a bridge.
DeleteThank You! That was exactly it. There was a tiny shaving of copper in that cut. When I got it out of there, the voltage corrected and the pedal sounds fantastic!
DeleteGreat, glad you sorted it
DeleteI really like this pedal through my Strat.
ReplyDeleteI ended up doing the Mods that were posted earlier with great results.
Thank You
http://i.imgur.com/697lLRs.jpg
http://youtu.be/1tMeRZ84eaU
Hello everyone. Any help would be appreciated. I've scraped the rows 5-6 times, overlaid in photoshop to confirm components, used my MM signal tester across all cuts, and still can't get my voltage right.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I have:
1 - 8.26
2 - 8.24
3 - 2.38
4 - 0
8 - 9.18
7 - 2.43
6 - 2.38
5 - .855
I tested all resistors before installation. My MM doesn't have a capacitance tester. Perhaps you can tell me how the voltage should drop before it gets to IC 1? I'm at a loss.
Thanks!
Never mind! One of my popped while installing the components. All fixed now.
ReplyDeleteI've built 3 of these, and only the first one works perfectly. The other two have an issue with squealing when all pots are all the way up. There is a 6.6kHz tone at pin 7. I've compared impedance and voltage values between the working and squealing projects and found the impedance between +9v and GND is 2.5k on good and 5.3k on squealing. The impedance across the 22k resistor is around 5k on good and 18.2k on squealing. The voltage drop across the JFET are: good pedal Vd = 8.9v, Vs = 2.1v, Vg = 0v ; bad pedals Vd=7.2v, Vs=1.17v, Vg=0v. I have measured every resistor and capacitor before soldering and tried new chips and JFETs. Any ideas for why these values are incorrect? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteBeen troubleshooting this one for a while now. With the LM833 in place I get a high pitched whine (almost tinnitus-like) which increases steadily with gain. If I swap it out for a TL072 the whine goes away. NE5532 still has a bit of a whine but not so pronounced. If I piggy back the NE5532 on top of the LM833 whine goes away completely. Unfortunately I kinda prefer the sound of the 833 on its own. Voltages all seem okay: (?)
ReplyDelete1: 4.76
2: 4.78
3: 4.35
4: 0
5: 9.09
6: 4.49
7: 4.56
8: 4.54
transistor reads:
D: 7.34
S: 0.95
G: 0
Guess I should try the 833s in something else, check they're not a wonky batch. Any suggestions, assuming they're good? Thanks!
Hey, I'm having the same issue but it doesn't matter what IC I use. I was wondering if you ever figured out what was going on with it.
Deletehello,
ReplyDeleteI have built and sounds pefect!
but much, much noise heard.
It is an oscillating noise and very annoying !!!
with a stabilized power supply I can muffle a little, but not enough.
this noise is almost useless!
Any suggestions or help please?
I have a sample if anyone wants, it sounds AWESOME! https://forums.rgc.ro/index.php?app=core&module=attach§ion=attach&attach_id=225074
ReplyDeleteI built this thing last week and worked at the firts time but when I tirn the drive knob allthe up I get a lot of hiss in my signal I have seen demos of this and no hiss in the signal I doble checked averything looks like all componets are in te right place. Help please.
ReplyDeleteJust put this one together and while I get a lot of volume on tap the drive knob doesn't do anything. Time for an afternoon of troubleshooting!
ReplyDeleteHummm, well, no idea why I'm not getting any drive. The voltages look fine to me:
DeleteIC 1: 4.89
IC 2: 4.84
IC 3: 4.45
IC 4: 0
IC 5: 0.81
IC 6: 2.17
IC 7: 2.22
IC 8: 9.03
D: 0.03
S: 2.05
G: 5.08
Can anyone post working voltages for me?
Thanks
Still no luck... I audio probed the unit and I get a really high squeal when I probe the drive pot. Unfortunately I don't know why that is happening. I'll hunt around for the schematic and see if I can follow it along and find out why the drive portion is not working but if anyone out there has a hint feel free to reply!
Deletehi, i was working in this layout but i cant get a full overdrive, i was watching some videos and i think i can get more overdrive, can someone explain me the reason?. I am noob, thank you
ReplyDeleteMartin,
DeleteIf you want more overdrive, replace the 220k resistor with something larger like 620k, to see if that suites you. If you are looking for a lot more gain, you'll have to replace the 10nF capacitors in the first op amp stage with larger ones (22nF to 100nF to taste) as well, which will allow more low frequencies to pass through and get fed through the op amps. You'll notice the sound going more from a transparent drive to a more aggressive drive. I hope this helps.
What can I use instead of a 1N5817 diode (D1)?
ReplyDeleteA 1N4001 would work, and they are very common.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I have some of those!
ReplyDeleteAnother general question. I have always built pedals with isolated in/out jacks. But on a lot of pedals I see standard (non isolated) jacks. What is right?
ReplyDeleteSo I can't get this pedal working for the life of me. I've reflowed all the solder points and scraped between the grooves to no avail. Here's the voltages I measured on the IC:
ReplyDelete1: 1.5v
2: 1.5v
3: 1.3v
4: 0v
5: 0.8v
6: 1.5v
7: 1.5v
8: 8.8v
They all seem pretty low to me
Anyone ?
DeleteI should have added, on the 5457 im getting these voltages:
ReplyDeleteD: 8.9v
S: 0.3v
G: 0v
Here's your goal:
ReplyDelete1: 4.5v
2: 4.5v
3: 4.5v
4: 0v
5: 4.5v
6: 4.5v
7: 4.5v
8: 9v
There can be little fluctuations with those values, but yours are all wrong. Check coupling capacitors. Look for shorts or accidental component placements. If your guitar isn't isolated from the dc current, it will throw everything off. Does that make sense?
is there any way to add a toggle for a bass boost mod
ReplyDeleteTake two wires to the empty rows between input and tone 2. The other is connected to the junction of 10n and 3k3, the other is at VRef. Connect those two wires to DPDT On-On switch's lugs 2 and 5. Then solder a non-polar 1µ cap between switch lugs 1 and 4. That should do it.
Delete+m
Excellent pedal to increase Gain of other Pedals without adding compression. With a neutral level setting and some gain dialed in it works brilliantly in front of an OCD for instance. No mud!
ReplyDeleteI replaced D4 and D5 with BAT42 and it sounds softer and more open with nicer (higher) treble and less rumbling mids. Highly recommended!
Thanks guys for providing these great layouts. I don't get much work done these days, but I am having so much fun...
i just got a morning glory v4. its so noisy, loud hiss when the drive is past noon. is this common?
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteI have made three of these, and the third one is not working porperly. I have to max out both the gain and the volume knob to get audio to pass through it, and the sound I am getting is really thin and lacks any lo mids/bass..
Any help would be great!
does anybody have info on how to wire the on/off bypass switch?
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody know the difference between the 100nF 50v Caps and 100nF Caps are as well as 10nF 50v Caps and 10nF Caps. Also how does the switch works since SW1 only has a single wire and goes to a 3PDT switch and there is no distinction between SW1 and SW2.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFinally got around to making one of these . Its really good. I was hoping it would be a lot louder than the bluesbreaker/king of tone. Its not much louder but probably perfect from a production point of view. I did a couple of switchable mods. I put the 220k on a toggle with a 360k for about 25 percent more gain on tap.I am pretty sure that is what the high gain king of tones do because they all use 100k pots still not like the mods say to use a 250k pot for the drive . I also put the 2 10n caps off the tone control on a toggle using 22n for a nice fat boost. This is probably better than the king of tone with the output jfet buffer. it just has more clarity and just about keeps up with my king of tone in boost mode.
ReplyDeletehey guys!! LM833 is similar to LM833N, LM833NG or LM833P? which one is the best?
ReplyDeleteI built one of these for a friend and I can't get it to work. It's not my first build, and I've triple checked the components, orientation, etc. So it works perfectly for almost 2 seconds when as soon as I plug in power and then it sounds like someone is turning the volume down until it's off. It just dies. I've tried replacing the ic and the transistor because I have both socketed. It does somewhat work with one particular 4558 ic, but with anything other than very light picking of the strings and it sounds terrible. And the voltages on the 4558 ic are way different than with the correct ic. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention that I built 2 of these boards with the same result
DeleteI have exactly the same issue. Did you use LM833N? I think that it is different from the regular LM833 which is LM833P. If i'm not wrong, the LM833N requires more voltages. Please reply if you found a solution.
DeleteI just finished one of these using an ON Semi thru hole 2n5457 and even with all of the control dimed i was barely at unity gain with my clean signal. I replaced the 2n5457 with a j201 and it got better, but still not a huge volume increase when i max out the volume.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds great, but it is way to bright. What should I look for to "tone" it down a bit? Tone pot? Caps?
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody know why I'm seeing normal voltages (9v on pin 8 and approx. 4.5v on most other pins) when the LM833 is removed from the socket, but once I plug it into the socket I have 9v on pin 8 and anywhere from 7-8.6v on all other pins? I used an audio probe and have good signal going into pin 3 but leaving pin 1, the signal is extremely distorted.
ReplyDeleteHey Mirosol, Mark, I am wondering how you "reverse" the pattern of the "cuts" you need to make as you show them from the top of the board, correct? Do you make a copy and then hold that copy up to the light or something..?
ReplyDeleteMany Thanks, Steve G [Australia]
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteTake a sharpie or a small tipped felt pen and poke the nib through the trace holes on the vero (component side up). Now turn the vero board around and tilt it slightly. You should see the ink marks clearly to indicate the cuts.
Just finished my second one, great pedal. One of my favs! Thanks a lot guys
ReplyDeletehttp://hgecontraptions.blogspot.com/2018/01/jhs-morning-glory-clone-2nd-one-116th.html
Hi, I just compared it to original Morning Glory and it has little less middle tones. What should i change to add some mid?
ReplyDeleteI am almost certain that due to the part tolerances you used, that add up, could give you in all a slightly ''different'' flavor to the pedal.
DeleteI'm always using 1% tolerance resistors and caps and tone is seriously different
DeleteCould it be that you made a mistake? To me this pedal sounds superb. Quite the opposite, I don't see it lacking mids at all.
DeleteBom dia. Notei que o poenciometro de volume interfere no efeito, mesmo com pedal desligado. solucionei trocando o resitor de 2M2 (anti ploc) por um resistor de 100k.
ReplyDeletemas o principal problema que encontrei foi um chiado (ruÃdo rosa). ja substituà o C.I 833 por tl072. mesmo assim continua. Você pode me ajudar, por gentileza?
Good Morning. I noticed that the volume pointer interferes with the effect even with the pedal off. I solved by replacing the resistor of 2M2 (anti ploc) by a resistor of 100k.
ReplyDeletebut the main problem I encountered was a wheeze (pink noise). replaced C.I.833 by t072. even so it continues. Can you help me, please?
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThat is impossible, since your whole board is true bypassed, and the IN and OUT to the board are''deactivated'' by the switch.The 2M2 is on the board. Check your bypass wiring.
DeleteAny idea why the tone pot would be acting like a volume? All the way down, it cuts all signal. This is my third time building this snd first time ive encountered this problem. Ive triple checked my layout, i dont sedm to have any solder bridges, wrong component values or misplaced leads. Its funny bc the drive seems to act more like the tone should but my layout is correct. Hmmmmm. Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteHello Patrick! Are you 100% sure you wired the all the pot lugs correctly?
DeleteDid you figure this out? my build has the same symptom. Mainly sounds good, but why is a passive tone control attenuating the signal?
DeleteJust finished a third one. Great as usual although I must point out that (just for the fun of it) if you CRANK everything at full, ONLY on the high cut switch off, you do get a squeal, but it's inhumanly unusable on that as far as tone is concerned anyway, so I guess it's ok. The others did that as well. So either there is a small mod that still needs to be done(maybe a cap change or something) or that's just the nature of the beast. (if you back off the tone just a bit or put the switch for the high cut ON, it stops). It however sounds great overall and not very noisy
ReplyDeleteHere is my third one:
https://hgecontraptions.blogspot.com/2019/02/hge-contraptions-jhs-morning-glory.html
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJust built this pedal (my first build ever!) and I loved how helpful and user-friendly all the diagrams were. It sounds great when activated, and all of my pots work as they should, but I have two main issues: There is almost no sound when the pedal is deactivated (a tiny bit comes through if the volume is cranked); also, I'm getting a lot of hiss in the background, especially as I increase the gain. My first guess is it may be a grounding issue, or bridging/leakage somewhere in the circuit. Any thoughts on what else it could be?
ReplyDeleteVerified - sort of.
ReplyDeleteI thought the switch in this layout is the "Gain switch", which the original has on the top. But it's not. It's actually a hi-cut switch, which is a small toggle on the side of the original. Which raises the question: What does the top mount switch of the original do?
AFAIK, this layout here is for the V1 Morning Glory. The switch controls a small cap to cut treble some more, which is correct for V1. V1 doesn't have a gain switch.
DeleteGreetings. The only Jfet I have here are 2n5458. Is that okay? I used it and seems to have very low volume. Like you have to crank it to full to hear the sound. Also when I crank the gain up there's no overdrive/dist sound but a high pitched tone like a whistle. Is that oscillation? Checked everything for wrong placed part or micro solder bridge but found none.
ReplyDeleteFixed! But it sound more of a distortion and less of an overdrive. Could it be the 5458s? What would the nearest and better substitute for 2N5457s?
DeleteI feel so stupid, I didn't realize I was on the dirty channel of my amp d'oh!
DeleteAnyway I noticed that the tone pot is not changing anything. Tested the pot and it's working fine. Where could I possibly look and test in this case? Thanks in advance.
Hello everyone. I finished soldering this pedal and it sounds amazing. My problem is that the tone knob is always full even when rolled off. I'm not good at troubleshooting yet so can anyone tell me in what order do I probe to get to the Tone pot? Or in this case, could the problem be the pot itself? Thanks.
Deletenvm, managed to fix it. so, anyone try adding the gain boost toggle like in the v4?
DeleteHi. I have built it as a dual effect with an EP booster (in one box)
ReplyDeleteIt works but there is a lot of noise (like angry bees) if i crank the gain or volume. Also i hear the voltage pump of the ep booster and its turned off and wired so that both are in true bypass of each other (Offboard wiring diagram for dual effects here on the site).
Any ideas? Checked for bridges, replace the caps, the IC the transistor...
If I remove the pump, the pumping noise turns to high pitched squeel.
Delete