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I'm building a DeadendFX Lovetone Ring Stinger Clone and having a bit of an issue with it. Some stuff works, some stuff doesn't and I'm trying to figure out locations of potential problems. First thing I'm looking at is the wiring for the sockets: https://i.imgur.com/txAYT0v.png
I am confused as to where the "SW," "TSW" and "REF" wires go using these sockets: https://d1aeri3ty3izns.cloudfront.net/m ... review.jpg
On these sockets there are 3 in a row that have contact to the sleeve, mid sleeve and tip, the other 3 in a row seem to not be connected to anything. For the wires coming from "CARR" would the "SW" go to the same lug as the tip? Or would it be wired to the other side which seems to go no where?
Would "REF" go to the mid sleeve on the side that touches the jack, or to the side that does not?

Another point that seems screwy is there are a couple trim pots which are 100k, for some reason when I hook a multimeter up to the lugs of Trimpot 2, it maxes out at about 7.4k...that can't be right can it?? Shouldn't the trimpot max at around 100k when the little screw reaches its limit and starts "snapping"

The fuzz seems to work, the timber seems to work, pedal is being weird with the ring mod and makes a constant sound that I can manipulate with the VCO rate, depth...square wave setting on the 3P4T seems to cut out the signal. LFO seems to work.

So the top piece connected to the hump there is the part that will contact the plug when it's present. That would the lines with the arrow on the end .. the other side is the switch part. Which is only connected when a plug is not present.
So for carrier, wire the tip to the hump side, and switch to the opposite, so when no plug is present you get pass through, insert a plug and you've broken that connection and are feeding it voltage from an external source.

As for the trimpots.. they are just like a regular pot, wiper to either side. Crank it one way till it clicks.. measure wiper to each leg , one side should be ~100k, the other ~0k without looking at the schematic it's possible it's paralleled up ? EDIT: Trim 2 is in fact paralleled with a 10k on one side to ground, R46.. which would significantly change it's reading yes.

I had some funky stuff with mine back when I build it, but it was jack wiring and just the operation of the LFO.. some settings you don't get a strong oscillator.
The constant sound is probably your carrier, as the ring stinger doesn't really have a gate for it. Follow the adjusting procedure and it gets pretty quiet.

I also recommend the original Markus W. Build doc from back in the day because the whole schematic goes on one page, the caveat being all the part number callouts are different of course. Pm me if you need it

Thanks for the info about the sockets, it appears I have them wired correctly


Heres a vid of it:



Would that middle symbol on the "LFO" socket mean a jumper is supposed to be there? I stuck one in for the hell of it and it didn't do anything.

It seems like the Ring Mod part isn't functioning at all perhaps? Any thought as to what would be causing it to constantly put out a signal that seems to be disconnected from the input of the guitar?

There is also the odd behavior of the 3P4T where on the LFO side the top two seem to be identical and on the wave shape side the square wave cuts out completely, the little metal ring with indentation fell out but I'm pretty sure that little indent just goes between the 4 and 5 holes which is where I stuck it.

There was a resistor that went under the daughter board that was just labeled "100k-1M", I put a 470k in there although I don't know what 100k-1M means so I just picked a center value. There was a 3N capacitor, I couldn't find one so I put a 3.3N in, those are the only values I was sketched on.

I talked to Phil about that one, he said they are recommending 1M .. it's what I put in mine it has something to do with that mosfet..

On that pic of the jack, the outer legs are the humped outer metal that contacts the jack.. the inner two with the solid arrow tips are the switches. Only one of those switches is hooked up

From the look of your video something is probably amiss .. I'm not sure what from just a video. The fuzz is quite raucous even without the ring engaged.. it's an octave up fuzz.. which I didn't hear in your video. I'd make sure that the trannies and diodes are in correct and that board is hooked up properly.

Can trimpots be oriented wrong? I noticed on the deadend image gallery a completed String Ringer has the little screw dial on the opposite side of the location of the ones I have. There was a little "1" on a solder point, I thought there were numbers on the bottom of the trim pots I have but I can't be entirely sure because they were so small I kind of assumed they were numbers, they might have just been manufacturing marks though, mine are slightly different in that they are side adjust not top adjust (which made turning them a bitch!).

repoman wrote:Can trimpots be oriented wrong?

To my knowledge the center pin is the wiper regardless of placement of the turning screw.

(Cue weirdos to prove me wrong)

My internet is not being super compatible with streaming video at the moment, so I haven't watched your videos, but I would check your solder joints, followed by your solder joints, followed by any off-board wiring orientation (with an eye out for potential mirroring locations).

At least that's the checklist I push myself through when something is acting up.

Most trimmers are linear, so it doesn't matter much which way you install it. Adjustments would just be the other direction on the screw. And yeah, center leg is wiper.

Redid the wiring to the footswitches and I got it working at about 90% (it sounded like an actual ring mod) so good news is the circuit is correct and it's just a matter of wiring. There was still some background carrier noise so I thought the solder joints weren't as good as they could be, redid it again and now it's back to behaving like it was...redone the joints 3 times on all footswitches and its still behaving like it was in the video can't get it back to how it was when it was working at 90%...dunno why the solder joints are being so shitty.
Basically sorted out

Thanks for the help-

Did you get the square wave working?

No
Well, I rewired the entire thing a couple times and changed the 4PDT that I thought was causing an issue and still can't get the ring mod section working. It's been sitting for a bit while I work on other projects. I noticed some funky action with the potentiometers I got from Tayda on another build, I might try swapping those for something else.

ring mod = balanced modulator = four quadrant multiplier. you should read up on how they work when they are working then use the oscilloscope to troubleshoot further.

repoman wrote:No
Well, I rewired the entire thing a couple times and changed the 4PDT that I thought was causing an issue and still can't get the ring mod section working. It's been sitting for a bit while I work on other projects. I noticed some funky action with the potentiometers I got from Tayda on another build, I might try swapping those for something else.

Based on the video you posted, the LFO is working and it seemed to be modulating *something* so I think the RIng Mod is working.

I dont have a string ringer to hand but I do have representative quad op-amp voltages from a real Ring Stinger
why dont you post up the voltages and ill see if anthing looks crazy.

Measure with the unit on, and the effect "on" (bypass footswitch). leave everything else off. Set the VCO to Sine wave, and the LFO to the top position (Pulse Width Triangle)

I hate to be blunt, but the circuit is proven and the circuit boards are, I imagine, verified more than once as they are commercially available. Therefore its likely to be a parts or builder induced issue.