Post-Lockdown pedal building

Alex2678 · May 2022

Cirrus said:

Maybe the seller means "not finished" rather than "not working"?

Looked back on the listings, some he knows aren’t working, some he says he can’t remember whether they worked or not

TTBZ · May 2022

springhead said:

TTBZ said:

Has anyone made the Fuzzdogs Prince of Tone clone - any good? Having just tried and really liked an original Bluesbreaker I wouldn't mind trying the PoT circuit without spending a small fortune.

Yes I have, and I have an original Bluesbreaker - I wanted that sort of sound but in a smaller box. They’re similar, the PoT is tighter in the bottom end, in a good way. Maybe also a touch more gain.

Cool thanks @springhead & @stickyfiddle will probably give that one a go then!

LastMantra · May 2022

Cirrus said:

Maybe the seller means "not finished" rather than "not working"?

That's what I was thinking, seem very cheap though?

roberty · May 2022

Did another muff blender for another bassist friend

Had problems with Q5 and the 1uF guy got a bit melty oops. I got some bad 5457s from eBay

markblack · July 2022

bought a RAT clone of ebay and it came as lots of clones do in a plane enclosure, so I wanted to add something to finish it off.

I remembered someone on here mentioned etched plates so i did a quick design and got it made by these guys on eBay.

Looks pretty smart for £2.60

Pedal is off this guy - and I it's great fun, but it's the only RAT style pedal I've tried so no point of reference.

Cookiemonster · July 2022

markblack said:

bought a RAT clone of ebay and it came as lots of clones do in a plane enclosure, so I wanted to add something to finish it off.

I remembered someone on here mentioned etched plates so i did a quick design and got it made by these guys on eBay.

Looks pretty smart for £2.60

Pedal is off this guy - and I it's great fun, but it's the only RAT style pedal I've tried so no point of reference.

Link doesn't seen to work. Will defo check the ebay though. Looks good

markblack · July 2022

@Cookiemonster should both be working now. M

Cookiemonster · July 2022

markblack said:

@Cookiemonster should both be working now. M

Thanks

Alex2678 · July 2022

Rehoused a broadcast built by @Cirrus ;

And finished a klon

TimmyO · July 2022

Cookiemonster said:

markblack said:

bought a RAT clone of ebay and it came as lots of clones do in a plane enclosure, so I wanted to add something to finish it off.

I remembered someone on here mentioned etched plates so i did a quick design and got it made by these guys on eBay.

Looks pretty smart for £2.60

Pedal is off this guy - and I it's great fun, but it's the only RAT style pedal I've tried so no point of reference.

Link doesn't seen to work. Will defo check the ebay though. Looks good

That looks really cool

LastMantra · July 2022

That's excellent for that price!

Might try something like this, if I ever get back into it.

Yorkie · July 2022

As advised in a separate thread, I've made my own Orange Squeezer clone using a Fuzzdog kit. It's been my first ever build, and I've enjoyed every minute of it, not least because my 11 year old daughter has helped me identify the resistors and measure them, and... she also soldered the 3PDT to the daughterboard! She was adamant that she had accumulated enough practice at her 'design & technology' lessons at school, and begged me to let her do it. So I did. I will admit that I suffered a little bit when she was doing the first two pins, but it was 'ok' in the end. What a fantastic memento of a pedal. I don't think I'll be selling this. Plus it makes my strat+Marshall sing.

The main PCB:

The assembled box:

And the closed box:

Loved it. I might make more things in the near future.

Jon

english_bob · July 2022

Nice work @Yorkie. My 11 year old son failed at elementary "coldy holdy" principles (despite warnings) when I helped him with some electronics for a school project earlier this year so I'd say your experience was much more successful. The switch soldering looks alright. Been meaning to try an orange squeezer for a while. Might have to finally give it a go.

Yorkie · July 2022

english_bob said:

Nice work @Yorkie. My 11 year old son failed at elementary "coldy holdy" principles (despite warnings) when I helped him with some electronics for a school project earlier this year so I'd say your experience was much more successful. The switch soldering looks alright. Been meaning to try an orange squeezer for a while. Might have to finally give it a go.

Thanks, I’ll let her know

I found the circuit easy to build, although the Fuzzdog version does not have a lot of space. So for example I had to mount a diode (main pcb) and a resistor (clr on the daughterboard) vertically. As it was my first build, I wasn’t really expecting any of this.

Jon

Keefy · July 2022

Yorkie said:

english_bob said:

Nice work @Yorkie. My 11 year old son failed at elementary "coldy holdy" principles (despite warnings) when I helped him with some electronics for a school project earlier this year so I'd say your experience was much more successful. The switch soldering looks alright. Been meaning to try an orange squeezer for a while. Might have to finally give it a go.

Thanks, I’ll let her know

I found the circuit easy to build, although the Fuzzdog version does not have a lot of space. So for example I had to mount a diode (main pcb) and a resistor (clr on the daughterboard) vertically. As it was my first build, I wasn’t really expecting any of this.

Jon

So-called ‘barrel mounting’ has been done for years to save PCB space. Can’t remember whether Fuzzdog’s instructions are clear on it though.

Yorkie · July 2022

Hi @roberty do you mind if I ask you a few questions about your recent build?

stickyfiddle · July 2022

@yorkie that looks like excellent work for a first build. It's definitely a bug that will grab you if you let it...

Yorkie · July 2022

Keefy said:

Yorkie said:

english_bob said:

Nice work @Yorkie. My 11 year old son failed at elementary "coldy holdy" principles (despite warnings) when I helped him with some electronics for a school project earlier this year so I'd say your experience was much more successful. The switch soldering looks alright. Been meaning to try an orange squeezer for a while. Might have to finally give it a go.

Thanks, I’ll let her know

I found the circuit easy to build, although the Fuzzdog version does not have a lot of space. So for example I had to mount a diode (main pcb) and a resistor (clr on the daughterboard) vertically. As it was my first build, I wasn’t really expecting any of this.

Jon

So-called ‘barrel mounting’ has been done for years to save PCB space. Can’t remember whether Fuzzdog’s instructions are clear on it though.

I just saw the available space and couldn't think of any other way to mount the components; I said "it's not like they're gonna sound any different for being vertical" while my daughter stared at me in apparent shock. Like so many things in my life, I seem to have re-invented something

There is no mention of it on the Fuzzdog docs – we found them a bit... Spartan? We did the daughterboard first – yes, daughter said she wanted to do the daughterboard

– and found ourselves with a tiny space for the CLR resistor, with nothing on the docs saying how to mount it. Also, the lugs on the stereo jack showing the connections to battery and DC socket did not match our connector (lugs were reversed); pretty confusing indeed

But it all added to the sense of adventure though. Controlled panic followed by hard thinking, culminated with success and great tone. Best £40 I've spent in a long time.

Jon

Yorkie · July 2022

stickyfiddle said:

@yorkie that looks like excellent work for a first build. It's definitely a bug that will grab you if you let it...

Thanks! The next thing I have to build is a passive cab sim for my Marshall Class 5. Then I will try and get me some fuzz.

Cookiemonster · July 2022

Yorkie said:

Keefy said:

Yorkie said:

english_bob said:

Nice work @Yorkie. My 11 year old son failed at elementary "coldy holdy" principles (despite warnings) when I helped him with some electronics for a school project earlier this year so I'd say your experience was much more successful. The switch soldering looks alright. Been meaning to try an orange squeezer for a while. Might have to finally give it a go.

Thanks, I’ll let her know

I found the circuit easy to build, although the Fuzzdog version does not have a lot of space. So for example I had to mount a diode (main pcb) and a resistor (clr on the daughterboard) vertically. As it was my first build, I wasn’t really expecting any of this.

Jon

So-called ‘barrel mounting’ has been done for years to save PCB space. Can’t remember whether Fuzzdog’s instructions are clear on it though.

I just saw the available space and couldn't think of any other way to mount the components; I said "it's not like they're gonna sound any different for being vertical" while my daughter stared at me in apparent shock. Like so many things in my life, I seem to have re-invented something

There is no mention of it on the Fuzzdog docs – we found them a bit... Spartan? We did the daughterboard first – yes, daughter said she wanted to do the daughterboard – and found ourselves with a tiny space for the CLR resistor, with nothing on the docs saying how to mount it. Also, the lugs on the stereo jack showing the connections to battery and DC socket did not match our connector (lugs were reversed); pretty confusing indeed

But it all added to the sense of adventure though. Controlled panic followed by hard thinking, culminated with success and great tone. Best £40 I've spent in a long time.

Jon

Totally fine to fit the pots that way, I think that's how Fuzz Dog may have planned it.

I would try and shorten wires next time. It helps with noise issues.

You can place the board and pots on the other side with the switch. To help measure the length of wire needed.

Especially helpful when you don't use a ribbon cable

Keefy · July 2022

Yorkie said:

stickyfiddle said:

@yorkie that looks like excellent work for a first build. It's definitely a bug that will grab you if you let it...

Thanks! The next thing I have to build is a passive cab sim for my Marshall Class 5. Then I will try and get me some fuzz.

What circuit will you be using?

Cookiemonster · July 2022

I think this one looks good. https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/product/cabsim tempted to get one myself

Yorkie · July 2022

Cookiemonster said:
I would try and shorten wires next time. It helps with noise issues.

Oh I’m not done with this one yet! I’ll optimise everything and add some useful mods to it. It has already replaced a Keeley comp+ as it is now. Not saying that the Keeley is bad (it’s great), but this is the sound I’ve been chasing for ages. Cleans/edge of breakup sound great.

Yorkie · July 2022

Keefy said:

Yorkie said:

stickyfiddle said:

@yorkie that looks like excellent work for a first build. It's definitely a bug that will grab you if you let it...

Thanks! The next thing I have to build is a passive cab sim for my Marshall Class 5. Then I will try and get me some fuzz.

What circuit will you be using?

I don’t know yet. I want something passive and with a large penalty, because the Class 5’s headphones out is unusably hot.

Yorkie · July 2022

Cookiemonster said:

I think this one looks good. https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/product/cabsim tempted to get one myself

That looks sweet, but I would like to try something passive first.

LastMantra · July 2022

Yorkie said:

As advised in a separate thread, I've made my own Orange Squeezer clone using a Fuzzdog kit. It's been my first ever build, and I've enjoyed every minute of it, not least because my 11 year old daughter has helped me identify the resistors and measure them, and... she also soldered the 3PDT to the daughterboard! She was adamant that she had accumulated enough practice at her 'design & technology' lessons at school, and begged me to let her do it. So I did. I will admit that I suffered a little bit when she was doing the first two pins, but it was 'ok' in the end. What a fantastic memento of a pedal. I don't think I'll be selling this. Plus it makes my strat+Marshall sing.

The main PCB:

The assembled box:

And the closed box:

Loved it. I might make more things in the near future.

Jon

My first build was an OS. Wasn't as tidy as that! Although I didn’t have any help

It's a good pedal I use mine all the time. It can be very subtle though, took me a while to figure if it was actually working!

It's good in front of dirt pedals to push them a bit harder for a lead sound. Amongst many other things. Very simple circuit but just right.

Yorkie · July 2022

My first build was an OS. Wasn't as tidy as that! Although I didn’t have any help
It's a good pedal I use mine all the time. It can be very subtle though, took me a while to figure if it was actually working!

It's good in front of dirt pedals to push them a bit harder for a lead sound. Amongst many other things. Very simple circuit but just right.

Haha. I find the compression is much more noticeable with humbuckers than with single coils. With single coils you get that subtle tone enhancement, whereas with humbuckers the increased sustain is great and very welcome.

I also seem to be getting a slight bit of grit when I crank the compressor - I find it pleasing.

Jon

Cookiemonster · August 2022

life pedal clone

Cookiemonster · August 2022

This one is a Rat built on vero.

roberty · August 2022

It's been a while since I built anything so I ordered a Maestro MFZ-1 kit, since I like the Carcosa so much and it's based on it

I might try and incorporate this artwork

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Post-Lockdown pedal building

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