New Crack build issues [resolved]

[elmoe]

Hi all,

I just built my first Crack (first anything) and I am having some issues.

I measured resistance and everything is either OL or 0.0

I then measured voltage and everything is 0. The red LED on the smaller tube socket lights up fine.

This is probably a stupid idea but I then tested it with music/headphones. Sound is only coming out of the right side.

I carefully looked at all my soldering points but either everything looks fine or I can't really tell if it does or not.

Considering that music does seem to come out of the right channel and volume pot seems to work fine, is my DMM defective (or more likely I am using it wrong?) When I measure the incoming voltage it shows 122V as expected.

What should I try next?

[Jameson]

Definitely do not use it with headphones in its current state. That’s super dangerous. Post some pictures of your build. The folks here are good troubleshooters.

In the meantime, go back through the build and compare it to the instructions. Look for joints that may not be soldered correctly.

[elmoe]

Thanks. I've gone through it twice, pulling on wires to make sure they are tight, and the soldering points seem OK but not sure there.

[elmoe]

A few more pics, it wouldn't let me attach all of them on the post above. Let me know if I should take close-ups of anything else.

[Jameson]

I think you’re missing an LED in the front tube socket?

[elmoe]

You're right! I must've missed that step. I just added it. Would that be enough to explain the issues I've had? I'm still working on going through the steps one by one to make sure I didn't miss anything else.

[elmoe]

Just went though and it looks like that's all I missed. I also had my DMM set wrong for resistance checks, I confirmed all resistance values look correct per the manual. I'm going to do a voltage check.

[elmoe]

Ok looks like for voltage I needed to set the DMM to MAX, everything checked out ok. I did a sound test and I now have audio in both channels, so I think I am good! Thank you oguinn really appreciate the sanity check.

On to the speedball upgrade

[Jameson]

The general consensus is to listen to the Crack in its stock form for a little while before throwing in the Speedball. That way you can be sure the stock configuration is working before upgrading, and so you can appreciate the difference in sound.

Your call, obviously, but it works really well that way

[elmoe]

Yep I already have pretty extensive experience with both the stock Crack and the Crack + speedball so I have a good idea what I'm in for sound-wise. Just wanted to make sure I have an operational unit before moving on to the Speedball upgrade. I did give it a good hour worth of listening today without the upgrade, just to make sure nothing broke/started sounding off. I won't get started on the Speedball upgrade until later tonight/tomorrow.

[ALL212]

Do you have 4 diodes in the power supply filter or only 2? 

[mudvin]

I think I can see all four of your power diodes have been installed on the outside of the terminal strip. The manual calls for 2 on the inside, 2 on the outside with the bodies overlapping (to avoid the leads touching)

You should either correct this or make very sure that the leads can never touch or you will have big issues.

On my latest build I used teflon insulation on the leads to make double sure (you can use the bits stripped off the speedball kit wires)

[elmoe]

Yep thanks guys, I did notice this and decided to just buy some Cree diodes and upgrade from the stock diodes altogether instead. I was careful to have the leads not touch originally, so no issues there.