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Hello.
I have two other tremolo pedals besides the Quaverato – an EHX Super Pulsar and an Empress Tremolo. On both of these pedals, I am able to set the depth of the effect so that the tremolo travels from a loud sound to absolutely no sound. I do this by going to the more extreme depth settings. And this works on any shaped waveform.
However, with the Quaverato, I cannot get to a point like that. In general, the whole effect seems pretty subtle, even with depth set fully clockwise. I have tried adjusting the “low trim pot” to get the sound to zero at the low part of the waveform. But I don’t see any joy here. Furthermore, now that the jumpers are soldered, I know no way to adjust back to the initial spec’d resistance of 5K ohms.
Any idea what might be going on?
thanks!
.patPat,
I’m sorry for the late response. I just got back in town from the holiday weekend.
You are on the right track with adjusting the tone trim pots in order to get the depth “deeper”. You’ll need to put the pedal in calibration mode to adjust the individual sides (high and low) separately in order to adjust their depth to the maximum setting. Keep the depth pot at max and set the phase switch to “in” while you do this. You may want to start by turning up the high trim pot all the way and then turn up the low trim pot to (tonally) match it….or vice versa.
Remember the suggested 5K trim pot value was only a starting point to ensure the pedal works. The final adjustment (and tonal balance between sides) is done with your ears…so there is no need to use your meter to re-measure the test points.
-BrachMight I ask if I want to increase the depth, do I turn the pots clockwise or counterclockwise?
thanks,
.pOff the top of my head, I can’t remember the direction you’ll need to turn the trim pots. But it should be pretty obvious if it’s getting louder or softer once you turn it about 10 full turns in one direction. You’ll want to turn it in the direction that makes it louder.
-BrachHi Pat, I’m wondering if adjusting the pots actually worked for you. I believe that I have the same problem that you described in your original post. The depth isn’t very dramatic at all, but the reason for I believe is that the pedal is still letting signal through when the effect is turned on. On my unit if I turn the wave shape to “square” it should alternate between no sound and full sound, but it doesn’t. There is always some level of dry signal coming through. Also, on perhaps an unrelated note (maybe not) the volume knob on my quaverato has almost no effect on the actual volume level. Only when I turn it fully clockwise does the volume level jump up suddenly.
There was another thread with someone else having similar issues recently (Nov 2023) and he said he got his pedal to work normally by reflashing the pedal. I just performed a successful flash with the latest driver, but nothing changed. Help!Tom
Tom,
You are correct, if the wave shape is set to square the signal should be completely off on part of the wave cycle. But since this is a harmonic tremolo, you need to make sure the mix knob is exactly at 12:00 so both sides (hi and low) are working equally. Keep the depth knob at max when testing this. Also, in testing this, make sure the phase switch is set to “in” so both sides are working together, otherwise one side will be on while the other is off, making it hard to tell if either side is completely turning off.
The best test you can do to ensure the pedal is working correctly in this way is to put the pedal in calibration mode to test each side individually to ensure it is fully turning off.
This is most likely an issue with the analog side of the circuit, so re-flashing the pedal won’t help.The volume knob issue sounds like a bad solder joint somewhere in the signal path. Consider re-flowing all the joints in the signal path. Make sure to use enough solder on each joint and make sure you are using enough heat to get the solder to flow properly.
Let me know what you find after you test it in calibration mode.
-BrachHi Brach, thanks for the reply. I bought this pedal used and advertised as “not working properly”. I figured it would be a cool project to help me learn to be a better problem solver as I have successfully repaired several pieces of gear (it’s so much fun 🙂 )! Anyways, below are links to two videos that show the unit in 2 modes and demonstrates the issue with the volume knob. If soldering is needed then I can do that! Some of the knobs turn kind of funny. They get harder to turn at certain points (not all of them). The second video points out an example of this. Could you give me some advice based on these video samples?
Tom
video in normal mode
video in calibration mode
Tom,
There is several things going on here. One thing is that you weren’t in calibration mode, you were in the mode that tells you what software version you have…hence the flashing green light. The tap light will pulse normally in calibration mode, depending on where the depth knob is set.
When testing the pedal, please make sure you are using a guitar level signal. It sounds like you might be using a very hot signal which could give you different results than what I’m expecting. For an actual number use .1Vrms (100mVrms).
Are the sticky knobs physically sticking or are they just not responding when they are being turned? If it’s a physical resistance at certain points then you should make the knob setting jig from the manual and re-set them. You can remove the knobs for now, if it bothers you…use a fine tip sharpie marker and draw a line on the pot shaft where the knob pointer should be so you have an idea of where in the rotation it is.
Since you didn’t build this pedal, please make sure all the solder joints are good…don’t trust other people’s work. On principle, I would just re-flow them all. In my experience most, in not all, of these problems could easily be caused by bad solder joints, particularly the weird volume issue.
Try calibration mode again and let me know what you find.
-BrachBrach, I’m sorry I went silent there for a while. Thank you for your response. I’ve been tinkering with it, but I haven’t made any progress yet. I need to remove the pots in order to check the solder joints underneath, but I think I need to get a solder sucker first to make that job successful. I’ll repost when I’ve made some more progress.
Thanks again Brach
Tom
