Idiot Question on DPDT wiring any pedal builders?

[BillyIVbass]

I'm building my first pedal; a real simple distortion pedal.

Wired everything up, when the pedal is bypassed I get signal, but when I click the pedal on; nothing, no noise or anything.

I'm certain; cable, battery and amp are flawless

What I Don't Know;
The footswitch is a 6 prong DPDT switch; it looks identical to me so I guessed with end was right side up; by chance I wired it backwards/upside down; would there be a good chance that is my error?

Bonus Round; there is no LED on the pedal, is there a simple way to add an LED (not a huge deal)

Thanks!

[redbean]

Beavis Audio Research

Plenty other DYI places to explore too, like Madbeanpedals.Projects

Click on the upper-right link on the Madbean Projects page for an excellent wiring diagram. Brian, the site owner also sells top-notch PCBs, such as bass-friendly fuzz circuits.

[Von Felgenhauer]

Got a pic of how you have it wired? Beavisaudio.com is a great places to get your feet started. As for the led, you would need a 3pdt switch for the extra lugs.

[cheapbasslovin]

The switch is not going to be upside down. If you had a 3pdt, you could have turned it sideways and then it wouldn't have worked. It wont matter if you wire it upside down because it would still function the same.

What you described is a pretty typical 'there's something wrong with the pedal' scenario. It works in bypass because you wired the switch right. It doesn't work when the effect is engaged because the signal wont pass the circuit board. This is the maddening part of the build, but if you figure it out, it can also be the most rewarding.

Good luck.

[calebbarton]

Maybe start poking around at your parts too. I had a 1uf micro cap cause all sorts of weird sound problems a while ago, one of which was it would not pass signal until you wiggled the cap.

[Testing_123]

The trick with pedal building is that one little bug can make the whole thing not work. Troubleshooting is part of the fun.

If I understand your meaning, it shouldn't make a difference if you wired the DPDT "upside down".

Imagine the lugs like this:

1 2 3
4 5 6

The switch itself has two positions (the DT, or double-throw), each making two connections (the DP, or double-pole).

The connections are either

1--2 3
4--5 6

(poles 1 & 2 linked, poles 4 & 5 linked)

or

1 2--3
4 5--6

(poles 2 & 3 linked, poles 5 & 6 linked)

Pressing the footswitch toggles between those two configurations.

-------------------

It is possible to add a bypass LED with a DPDT switch, but you'd need to use a few more components and build in a mini-circuit called a Millenium Bypass. (Good info on this at Tonepad.com.)

[B.C.]

Check out this diagram. You can also try the millennium bypass circuit as well for the led.

http://www.tonepad.com/getFile.asp?id=76

[BillyIVbass]

Thanks for steering me away from the switch. I'll dig around.