Build Your Own Clone Message Board

I've been racking my brain for a while with the compressor. I've got two built, one dynacomp 2-knob clone and one ross 3-knob clone. The dynacomp uses the old board and works with no problems, the ross clone uses the new board and is problematic.

The problem is that on the last 1/8th turn or so of the sustain pot the ross comp starts going crazy. I strike a note, and after a soft crackle the note is audible and sustains for a little while. I can hear the compressor kicking in and a hiss getting louder in the background, then when it reaches a certain point it crackles and fizzes out.

I've double, triple, and quadruple checked the values of the caps and resistors on the board, as well as the orientation of the diodes, transistors, and the OTA. I've heated up every solder joint on the board. I've replaced all the active components on the board, and the pots as well. Nothing seems to help. Adjusting the trimpot does nothing when the sustain knob is in that last 1/8th of a turn.

Of course, once I back off the sustain knob a bit, the comp becomes usable, and works as its supposed to. I'm just curious if this is normal for the ross comp, as it seems a little strange to me. I suppose I could just put a resistor in series with the pot to get rid of the problem. Anywho, anybody have any input?

The Compressor is the first pedal i built. I built it to Ross specs and I'm experiencing similar problems. Mine overdrives with the last 1/8 turn. I've had it for over a year so i too have gone over every possibility. I keep the sustain down when i play with it but really what fun is that? I'd like to buy it again and start over but I'm suspicious.

Same with me...this was my first build. Its been problematic for quite some time...though i think i may have just fixed it...or, fixed it enough. Anywho...I ended up testing it out a bit. Found around 42k or so was where trouble started popping up...the pot would make a "scratchy" noise around that area, and afterwards came the fizzing and fuzzing. So, I tested out a few resistors with my alligator clips, and settled on a 47k resistor. That seems to have cleared everything up.

I've built 5 compressors within the last few months...a dod 280 clone, a ross clone, a dynacomp clone, a flatline, and an orange squeezer clone. This is the last one that I've been able to close up...now the shoot-out can commence .

I'd love to hear your shoot out results.

The kit with the attack mod comes with the 47k limiting resistor. Some people have posted that a 27k resistor was the ticket and if it worked for them fine....I don't want to say they are wrong, but in all my tests, the 27k limiting resistor still left a bit of distortion if you turned the attack knob too far.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

Understood...though my difficulties were coming from the last 1/8th of a turn on the sustain knob. Really didn't seem to matter where the attack knob was set.

I've noticed this problem lately in the tech support threads. So I built up a compressor myself to see what happened.

Normally, there's no need to touch the trimpot on the compressor. The factory set "middle" position usually did the trick.

On my most recent compressor build, I ran into the exact same problem you and many other people are having. To fix it you just need to fine tune the trimpot. It was extremely touchy. So just take your time and fiddle with it. If I recall, I found that turning it clockwise untill the sound cut out and then very slowly turning it counter clockwise untill it hit the point of distorting was the way to set it.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

So i should set the Sustain to max and then fiddle with the trimpot?

Yes.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com