Pedal Issues

[StoutAndAle]

My buddy built me a Rat clone as a surprise gift at Christmas. He's only a novice builder/solderer.

It was working fine and sounding great until yesterday. It has developed a weird tic that I can't figure out.

The chain is power brick -> TU tuner -> Crybaby wah -> MXR Dyna Comp compressor -> DIY RAT clone -> Green Russian Big Muff Pi -> Echo Brain delay -> Amp.

So what's happening is that with the Rat in the chain nothing else works unless the RAT is turned on - on either side of it. With the Rat turned off I'm not even getting my clean sound. Put it in a different position on the board - same problem. Take it out of the chain completely and everything else above goes back to working fine.

He was delighted with himself having made it, I haven't the heart to tell him that it isn't working any more.

[Yung Led Zeppelin]

Sounds like something fucked in the bypass, whether it's active or passive. Chain is broken and kills the signal.

Should be a handy enough fix if he wants to open it up, based on my limited knowledge and complete guesswork. Worth asking anyway!

[StoutAndAle]

Thanks man. I might have to mention it to him alright.

Things I should have said in the initial post - when I plug in the Rat on its own - i.e.just the guitar into the Rat into the amp it works away and does exactly what it's supposed to. Similarly in the chain when it's flicked on it sounds right.

[Yung Led Zeppelin]

Oh, so you get signal through to the amp with the pedal off when it's on its own?

[StoutAndAle]

Yeah, exactly. I set it up on its own with just a guitar to the pedal and into to the amp and it works fine on clean and when the stomp box is on it does all the things it's supposed to also.

[ochoill]

How are you powering the pedal?  Have you tried out the usual suspects (swapping patch cables, power cord / battery)?
Does the Rat work at all in the chain - I know no sound is getting through but does the LED light up?  Any faint sounds in any case?

I would have immediately thought it was just somehow grounding the signal on the footswitch when it is bypassed, which might be possible if something is loose in there.  If the pedal has a situation where it works as normal, and if it works as intended when turned on, this is likely the case.
If you have a multimeter and a soldering iron you could probably fix it handy enough, you can trace the signal in and find where exavtly it stops without much effort and if you're lucky, it's a case of a quick solder to fix it.  If you have neither of those things DM me, I'd be happy to take a quick look at it if you want to post it up to me.

[StoutAndAle]

How are you powering the pedal?  Have you tried out the usual suspects (swapping patch cables, power cord / battery)?
Does the Rat work at all in the chain - I know no sound is getting through but does the LED light up?  Any faint sounds in any case?

I would have immediately thought it was just somehow grounding the signal on the footswitch when it is bypassed, which might be possible if something is loose in there.  If the pedal has a situation where it works as normal, and if it works as intended when turned on, this is likely the case.
If you have a multimeter and a soldering iron you could probably fix it handy enough, you can trace the signal in and find where exavtly it stops without much effort and if you're lucky, it's a case of a quick solder to fix it.  If you have neither of those things DM me, I'd be happy to take a quick look at it if you want to post it up to me.

Thanks man.

In the chain, it's powered from a brick. When I tested it separately and it worked, the power came from a single Boss adaptor.

I tried different power cables from the brick and also different patch cables. No dice.

When the Rat is in the chain and I turn it on, the LED lights up and the thing works away fine - i.e. it gives me my dirty tone. Furthermore, when the Rat is on in the chain everything else works fine too, compressor, delay, muff etc. but once the Rat is turned off the whole chain stops.

[ochoill]

Cheers for the run through again.  The only thing I could imagine it being is that some connection on the switch in bypass is faulty or shorted to ground, but the fact that it works as normal on its own, and on its own supply, is bizarre.  If you're able to stick up a photo here of the inside of it, jacks in and out, I can take a look.