Got the board soldered up for the Rangemaster.

[Gr8Scott]

I ordered a small peice of perfboard with the rangemaster parts from Smallbear. The entire board was wired up and soldered today with a couple of additional changes (such as the input cap being switcheable from stock treble boost to a more balanced eq setting fuzz). Now I just have to wire it into the box with the switches, battery cable, and inputs/outputs. I didn't have a layout to work from, so I just used a schematic instead and wired it using the terminal lug instructions using the columns and rows of the perfboard as individual lugs instead with wires running straight down the back to take the place of the lugs. Fairly clean install I think. I messed up on my order of the 47uF caps and only ordered one of them instead of two as needed for the power caps etc. I had to go to rat-shack and get one. The salesgirl wanted to sell me a HDTV while I was there, which was charming, but a severe waste of time on both our parts. Now I just have to drill the holes in the plastic case (temporary housing) and solder a few more things together. Just need to find the time to do it. Gotta hang out with the cantankerous GF right now though.:27:

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: Got the board soldered up for the Rangemaster.

Need a little help now. The instructions from GEOFX mention a couple of things that make no sense to me. One is that they want me to solder the negative battery wire to the bypass switch. I know this probably completes the circuit some way, but what other part of the circuit does it connect to and how should it be wired into the DPDT bypass switch? I also saw one line on the instructions that mention wiring a base cap to the input. Thing is, there are only 4 caps listed on the instructions/schematic and all of them have specific instructions already as to what both their points are wired to. None of them are referred to as a base cap anywhere in the instructions. I ignored that line as it isn't featured anywhere else in the instructions/schematics. Three or four more wires to solder and the entire setup is complete and ready for testing.

 

[DankStar]

Re: Got the board soldered up for the Rangemaster.

I have no idea what the base cap is - if it isn't on the schem, I wouldn't worry about it. However, it sounds like you're best bet at this point is to pick the correct switching wiring option from the many shown at GGG's site:

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=172&Itemid=200

I hope you were careful about static and heat with its tranny: I guess they can easily be fried. I started using sockets for that kinda stuff.

Wow, going to GGG's site again got the blood pumping for me to do some more! They have killer kits now. I bought some boards from them like a year ago, and now they have kits for stuff I never completed out of laziness to order all the parts (like the orange squeezer and BSIAB II) that's cheaper than if you were to try and compile it all yourself from mouser or small bear!!

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: Got the board soldered up for the Rangemaster.

Germanium transistor is safe. First thing I bought was a $.97 three prong socket made just for that purpose. I don't like taking unnecessary chances.

Thanks for the link. Will explore it now.

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: Got the board soldered up for the Rangemaster.

Got one problem. The gain knob was reversed, so I swapped the leads to make it turn like normal, but there's a larger problem. The gain isn't going up to the point that it distorts. It's quieter than the line signal is turned all the way up and with the volume all the way down, something seems to invert and hum with no volume from the guitar whatsoever. I'm thinking of adding a 10K resistor to one of the lugs to increase gain overall.

Smallbear is supposed to have sent the correct bias resistors with the transistor and the package indicated that this was correct, but I didn't check this out for myself. The 2.2 meg resistors on the switch aren't causing the problem because I removed them and they only stopped the pop noise when switching. Nice touch really. Too bad this unit isn't quite up to snuff. I'll have to try the resistor mod when I get back home this weekend. 600 miles from home at the moment.

 

[DankStar]

Re: Got the board soldered up for the Rangemaster.

I'm wondering about the perf board thing. Are you using a type that is just has holes with no copper, one with copper around the holes, or strip board? I never had good luck with the boards that have copper around the holes because they tend to be prone to shorts, especially if you're not real careful about the soldering.

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: Got the board soldered up for the Rangemaster.

I'll check it to be sure. They are close and it's a possibility for sure. Maybe there's a hair-fine link somewhere on the board. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: Got the board soldered up for the Rangemaster.

Scratched all the possible links apart with a sharp knife. Tried reversing the bias resistors to see if they were causing the problem (they weren't labled all that clearly by the instructions). Added a resistor to the pot. Nothing helped. Volume is still very low. I've checked everything I can think of and nothing seems to help. Must be a bad transistor.