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That’s good to hear. I guess as you discovered, it’s important to pay attention to the details of the instructions.
Take care and enjoy your Quaverato.
-BrachIf your bypass circuitry is working correctly (step 5-C in the troubleshooting guide) and the LEDs are flashing but you aren’t getting the tremolo effect then you must have a short somewhere in the analog signal path or you are jumping the jumpers wrong. Please check for shorts and make sure the jumpers are soldered correctly (step 6-A in the troubleshooting guide).
-BrachBen,
Write to us at info “at” zeppelindesignlabs.com
…or just send us a note through our contact page form. Please include your Quaverato’s serial number. I’m out of town right now, but I can send you the hex file as soon as I get back.
Thanks.
-BrachBen,
Thanks for reaching out about these issues.
As far as I can recall (it’s been a while since I looked at this code), I do think that the RATE is a saved parameter in the presets. When this happens, does it sound like the saved rate is a multiple of the intended rate?…In other words, is it being multiplied by the multiplier knob? That’s the only thing that I can think of that might be part of this issue.
The idea of having the assigned expression parameter saved in the preset is a really good idea. I can’t believe that we didn’t think of this earlier. I will add this to our change log for the next update. Thank you for the suggestion.
I think in our latest version of the Quaverato software we implemented your third suggestion. In this latest version we have the bypass function split across the data range…0-63 is on (or off, I can’t remember at the moment) and 64-127 is off (or on).
In this latest version of the code we also made updates to the tap time functionality, which keeps the tempo from drifting over time as much. We actually haven’t put this version of the software into production yet, but I can send you the hex file if you want to install it on your pedal. You’ll need a USBtiny ISP programmer and a PC.
I don’t know that we’d be able to update the code anytime soon to adapt the other change you suggested, because our software guy is on an extended break, but I will put it in the future change log.
Thank you for your suggestions. Please let me know if you want that hex file to update your pedal.
-BrachIs the depth knobs set to the maximum value (fully clockwise) when doing your tests? If it is…
Try it in calibration mode to see if both the harmonic mix knob is working and also if the optocouplers are working.
It seems that the analog signal path is working through the pedal but since there is no tremolo effect the LEDs in the optocouplers seem to be on at all times…as if the depth knob is not working somehow (check that the voltage is getting really close to 5V on the center pin of the depth knob). Ensure that the high and low trim pots are set to give maximum LED brightness. You can also check that the LEDs are fully flashing by going through the process described in appendix A.
-BrachAre you making it all the way through step 7 in the troubleshooting guide? If so, where on step 8 do you get stuck?
-BrachThanks for you interest in the Percolator. To answer your question, it’s won’t damage anything in the amp if you use a 16 ohm speaker, but you won’t get the same wattage/volume level out of the Percolator. Also, I can’t guarantee how it will sound because I’ve actually never driven a 16 ohm speaker with the Percolator, but you are welcome to experiment.
-BrachI’m glad you are enjoying your Percolator. We don’t have any plans to release another amp anytime soon, but we do have several other things in the works.
Good luck with the Quaverato!
-BrachAlex,
Feel free to use a socket if you would like. I just usually don’t prefer to use sockets because they can become oxidized and add resistance to the circuit…it’s just one more questionable connection (or 14, in this case). Soldering a component to the board is usually a much better option if you know you’ll never have to replace it. The reason the uC is in a socket is because some people may want to re-flash the software and sometimes it’s easier to remove the IC to do that…otherwise that would be soldered to the board too. That is just my opinion, but you can do what you’d like.
Good luck.
-BrachLordHamlet,
No, you were correct in your first post, it is a photo resistor. We call it an LDR, which is a light dependent resistor. We actually sort these components through a proprietary sorting process, so the pair is matched with each other. So you’ll probably need to get a new pair from us. You can try to use pre-manufactured optocouplers, but I can’t guarantee the results. You’ll want to find optocouplers that get under 10k (under 5k is better) in the light and over 5M in the dark. The should respond relatively quickly too, within 1 second they should reach these values. If you can find some optocouplers that respond in this way, that will probably work. But feel free to experiment too…pretty much any optocouplers will work, but how well they work just depends how close they are to the proper specs. Email us if you want to order some new LDRs from us.
Good luck.
-BrachI’m sorry for the trouble. That sounds frustrating. I don’t know what is going on, but I do know this bug has been fixed, so I’m not sure why it’s not working for you. It sounds like the pedal is not changing channels for some reason. I’m not sure what to tell you about this other than to make sure you really are in calibration mode when you send the midi packet (test this by playing with the MIX knob and seeing if it responds the way described on page 11 of the owners manual). Also make sure you are sending only on channel 2, which I’m sure you probably are.
I’m glad to hear that it’s working well now.
As far as the volume issue…it could be anything in the analog circuit.
Are you able to hear sound from the on-board speaker?…is it very loud?
I couldn’t tell you specifically what the problem is. I know you were bridging some pins together on the volume pot. Make sure they are all soldered well. Check for other obvious things in that part of the circuit like solder joints. You could just re-flow all the joints in that part of the circuit to ensure they are all good. That’s all I know to say for now. I’m sorry that I can’t be more helpful in this case.
Good luck.
-Brach4.93V is close enough to 5V for our purposes.
As far as the green tap LED not lighting up…So when you say you don’t have power to the LED, do you mean you don’t get around 1.8V on the round pad? Is pin 5 of the microcontroller soldered properly? From your photos I can see that R12 is not in the standing position, and it should read 1K ohms…please re-measure it. Make sure you are testing the correct resistor.
For now, please ignore the fact that the tap LED is not working and skip steps 2 and 3 in the troubleshooting guide and let me know what you find.
-BrachIt seems like you may have widened the tube sockets too much…try tightening them by prying the 2 pieces of metal in each socket closed. Pay close attention to pin 10 (near TP4 that is measuring 0V).
See if anything changes after you do that. If not, let me know what the other TPs are measuring. Don’t leave the amp on too long when you measure these things, because it might not be too good for the tube to be exposed to these wrong voltages. Also, make sure you have an 8 ohm load plugged in to the amp while it’s on.
-Brach
