BYOC Gray 1976 User manual

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BYOC Gray Overdrive Kit Instructions
Warranty:
BYOC, Inc. guarantees that your kit will be complete and that all parts and
components will arrive as described, functioning and free of defect.
Soldering, clipping, cutting, stripping, or using any of the components in
any way voids this guarantee. BYOC, INC guarantees that the instructions
for your kit will be free of any major errors that would cause you to
permanently damage any components in your kit, but does not guarantee
that the instructions will be free of typos or minor errors. BYOC, INC does
not warranty the completed pedal as a whole functioning unit, nor do we
warranty any of the individual parts once they have been used. If you have a
component that is used, but feel it was defective prior to you using it, we
reserve the right to determine whether or not the component was faulty upon
arrival. Please direct all warranty issues to:
[email protected] This would include any missing parts
issues.

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Return:
BYOC, Inc. accepts returns and exchanges on all products for any reason, as
long as they are unused. We do not accept partial kit returns. Returns and
exchanges are for the full purchase price less the cost of shipping and/or any
promotional pricing. Return shipping is the customer’s responsibility. This
responsibility not only includes the cost of shipping, but accountability of
deliver as well. Please contact [email protected] to receive a
return authorization before mailing.
Tech Support:
BYOC, Inc. makes no promises or guarantees that you will successfully
complete your kit in a satisfactory manor. Nor does BYOC, Inc. promise or
guarantee that you will receive any technical support. Purchasing a product
from BYOC, Inc. does not entitle you to any amount of technical support.
BYOC, Inc. does not promise or guarantee that any technical support you
may receive will be able to resolve any or all issues you may be
experiencing.
That being said, we will do our best to help you as much as we can. Our
philosophy at BYOC is that we will help you only as much as you are
willing to help yourself. If you clearly put very little effort into building
your kit, and made a big mess because you were lazy and impatient, we’re
not going to feel very inclined to help you. But if it’s clear that you put a lot
of effort into your build, took your time, and follow our tech support
guidelines, we will do our very best to make sure your pedal works. We
have a wonderful and friendly DIY discussion forum with an entire section
devoted to the technical support and modifications of BYOC kits.
www.byocelectronics.com/board
When posting a tech support thread on the BYOC forum, please post it in the
correct lounge, and please title your thread appropriately. If everyone titles
their threads “HELP!” then it makes it impossible for the people who are
helping you to keep track of your progress. Here is a list of things that you
should include in the body of your tech support thread:
1. A detailed explanation of what the problem is. (more than, “It doesn’t
work, help”)

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2. Pic of the topside of your PCB.
3. Pic of the underside of your PCB.
4. Pic that clearly shows your footswitch/jack wiring and the wires going to
the PCB
5. A pic that clearly shows your wiring going from the PCB to the pots and
any other switches (only if your kit has non-PC mounted pots and switches)
6. Is bypass working?
7. Does the LED come on?
8. If you answered yes to 6 and 7, what does the pedal do when it is in the
"on" position?
9. Battery or adapter (if battery, is it good? If adapter, what type?)
Also, please only post photos that are in focus.
Copyrights:
All material in this document is copyrighted 2022 by BYOC, Inc.

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Gray Overdrive Kit Instruction Index
Parts Checklist……………………………………page 5 - 6
Example Photo……………………………………page 7
Populating the Circuit Board……………………page 8 - 14
Mounting PCB Assembly/Adapter Wiring……..page 15 - 19
Wiring…………………………………………….page 20 - 24
Finish up………………………………………….page 25
Operating Overview……………………………..page 26
Schematic…………………………………………page 27
PCB Map…………………………………………page 28
Trouble Shooting…………………………………page 29

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Parts Checklist for BYOC Gray Overdrive Kit
Resistors:
1 - 100ohm (brown/black/black/black/brown)
2 - 4k7 (yellow/purple/black/brown/brown)
2 - 10k (brown/black/black/red/brown)
2 – 22k (red/red/black/red/brown)
2 - 470k (yellow/purple/black/orange/brown)
1 – 1M (brown/black/black/yellow/brown)
Visit www.byocelectronics.com/resistorcodes.pdf for more information on how to
differentiate resistors.
Capacitors:
1 - 1n or .001µfilm (102 on the PCB)
1 - 10n or .01µfilm (103 on the PCB)
1 - 47n or 0.047µfilm (473 on the PCB)
1 – 4.7µf aluminum electrolytic
1 - 10µf aluminum electrolytic
Visit www.byocelectronics.com/capcodes.pdf for more info on how to differentiate
capacitors.
Diodes:
2 - 1N4148 (small orange glass with black stripe)
IC's:
1 - 741 op amp
1 - 8 pin socket

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Potentiometers: Be sure to snap off the small tab on the side of each panel mounted
pot.
1 - A100k (LEVEL)
1 - C500k (DRIVE)
Hardware:
1 - drilled enclosure w/ 4 screws (optional)
1 - BYOC Gray Overdrive PCB
1 - 3PDT footswitch
2 - knobs (optional)
1 - AC adaptor jack (optional)
2 – ¼” jacks
1 - red LED (optional)
1 - battery snap
4 - bumpers
hook-up wire

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This is what your Gray Overdrive should look like when you
are finished.

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Populating the Circuit Board
STEP 1: Add the diodes. Be sure to match the end of the diode with the stripe to the
layout on the PCB. The stripped end should go in the square solder pad.
FYI, the order in which these instructions tell you to populate the PCB is based on the
profile height of the components. You start with the shortest profile and work up to the
tallest. This is done so that when you flip the PCB over to solder, the components do not
fall out.

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STEP 2: Add the resistors. Resistors are not polarized, so it does not matter which end
goes in which solder pad. Take your time and be sure not to confuse similarly banded
resistors such as the 4k7 with the 470k . Sometimes, certain colors can be very difficult
to distinguish from batch to batch. For example, sometimes the red bands in one batch
may look very similar to brown. If you are having trouble differentiating color bands,
sometimes it’s easier to measure the resistance using a digital multimeter.

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STEP 3: Add the 8 pin IC socket. ONLY SOLDER THE SOCKET! NOT THE
ACTUAL IC! This is a socket. The sockets get soldered to the PCB. The ICs get
inserted into the sockets. The actual IC chip itself, never gets soldered. You will insert
the IC into the socket after the entire pedal has been built.
See page 25 for instructions on how to install the IC into the socket.

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Step 5: Add the film capacitors. These are not polarized and can be inserted into the
PCB either way.

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STEP 6: Add the aluminum electrolytic capacitors. These are polarized. The positive
end will have a longer lead and should go in the square solder pad. The negative end will
have a shorter lead, usually with a black or white stripe running down the body of the
capacitor.

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Step 7: Add the battery snap. Thread the solder ends of the battery snap into the strain
relief holes from the bottom solder-side of the PCB and out through the top. Insert the
solder ends of the battery snap wires into the topside of their respective solder pads.
Solder on the bottom side of the PCB. Remember the red wire goes in the “+” hole and
the black wire goes in the “-” hole.

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Step 8: Add wire to the IN, OUT, RING, and two Ground eyelets. Use about 2 inches
for each wire. This doesn’t need to be exact at this point. You will trim the wire to
length later.

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Mounting the PCB Assembly and
Connecting the DC Adapter Jack
Step 1: Mount the DC adapter jack to the enclosure. Your kit may come with either an
external thread or internal thread. Don’t get confused by this. They still function exactly
the same and their solder terminals will appear exactly the same. You just thread the
external nut on the outside and the internal nut on the inside. The picture above is of an
internal nut DC adapter jack.

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Step 2: Flip the PCB over so that the bottom or solder side is up. Insert the A100k
(LEVEL) and C500k (GAIN) potentiometers, and the LED into the bottom side of the
PCB. DO NOT SOLDER ANYTHING YET!!! The LED will have one lead that is
longer than the other. MAKE SURE THE LONGER LEAD GOES IN THE SQUARE
HOLE.

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Step 3: Hold the PCB in one hand so that the component side of the PCB is in the palm
of your hand and the bottom side with the pots, toggle switch and LED is facing up. Now
use your other hand to guide the predrilled enclosure onto the PCB assembly so that the
pots and LED all go into their respective holes. Once the PCB assembly is in place,
secure it by screwing on the washers and nuts for the pots. Only tighten them with your
fingers. You do not want them very tight yet.
Step 4: Turn the entire pedal over so that the component side of the PCB is facing up.
Lift the PCB up off the pots about 2mm just to make sure that the back of the PCB does
not short out against the pots. Make sure the PCB is level and symmetrically seated
inside the enclosure.
Step 5: Solder the pots, switch, and LED. You will solder these parts on the component
side of the PCB. After you have soldered them in place, be sure to tighten up their nuts.

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Step 6: Connect the TIP (negative) terminal of the DC adapter jack to the
eyelet on the PCB labeled “-“. Connect the SLEEVE of the DC adapter jack
to the eyelet on the PCB labeled “+”. Connect the battery disconnect
terminal of the DC adapter jack to the eyelet on the PCB labeled “B”. See
diagram on the next page.

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WIRING
Step 1: Install the ¼” Enclosed jacks. The internal tooth lock washer goes on the inside
of the enclosure. The flat washer goes on the outside of the enclosure.
Note that these are “stereo” or “TRS” jacks. This is a mono effect, but we use a stereo jack for
the INPUT JACK as the power on/off switch. It is a common misunderstanding that the foot
switch turns the pedal on and off. The foot switch is a signal send/return that either sends guitar
signal to the circuit’s input and returns signal from the circuit’s output or bypasses the circuit, but
it has nothing to do with whether or not power to the circuit is on or off.
When you insert a mono guitar cable into the stereo input jack, the sleeve of the cable connects
the ring and sleeve of the jack. The ring is connected to the negative end of the power supply and
the sleeve is connected to ground. When the sleeve of the guitar cable shorts these two terminals
together, it completes power to the circuit. So this is why we use a stereo jack for the input of a
mono effect. AND! This is why you need to unplug the cable from the input jack to turn the
power off.
You might be asking, “Why use a stereo jack for the output?” In the case of enclosed jacks, it’s
cheaper to just buy all stereo jacks and simply not use the ring terminal. This isn’t the case with
open frame jacks, so in the kits where we use open frame jacks, we will use a mono jack for the
output ja