Post-Lockdown pedal building

roberty · April 2020

Looks good @stickyfiddle - the enclosure drilling will have to be very accurate to accommodate board mounted jacks?

I have a Zander Foxxton Woods PCB to build. Putting off going through the BOM to figure out which bits I need to buy. Got a couple of Ge trannies for Range Master builds too. Should really put an hour aside to go through it all and order the parts

LastMantra · April 2020

roberty said:

Keefy said:

idiotwind said:

Keefy said:

Having been alerted to it in another thread, I fancy building a Multiplex Echo Machine. 1776 Effects supply the PCB but they are closed until the Zombie Apocalypse dies down. Ah well, that will have to wait for another day...

I've been planning to do one of these as well, though $13.30 shipping on a $15 PCB was holding me back a bit. I have found a vero layout for it here: http://guitar-fx-layouts.42897.x6.nabble.com/1776-Multiplex-with-charge-discharge-trimmers-td29819.html
Considering I've never used vero before, it's a bit daunting though. ...

Hmm... think I’ll wait for the PCB!

In other news I was able to install the input socket on my Big Muff Pi build today. Plugging in between Strat and amp, my first thought was: this sounds like a cheap distortion pedal. I quickly worked out that you need the sustain up to about 3 o’clock (at least with a Strat), the tone control makes a big difference, and it’s all about context. On its own it sounds, well, a bit shit, but when I tried playing along with Pink Floyd’s Animals, there’s the sound! You have to dig into the guitar quite a bit, you can’t just play a note and let the pedal make it sustain, it’s not as gainy as you might expect.

I also tried it with my Tele Deluxe, which is a much easier ride.

I’m currently sat listening to Animals (to be followed by Gilmour’s eponymous solo album from the preceding year) and you can hear how DG works the pedal.

Yep the magic in the muff is when you goose the sustain :-)

Although with some you can get a really cool "torn speaker" type sound with the sustain down

stickyfiddle · April 2020

roberty said:

Looks good @stickyfiddle - the enclosure drilling will have to be very accurate to accommodate board mounted jacks?

Yep. Thankfully the kit comes with a pre-drilled enclosure which should be spot on. I wouldn’t like to drill this many things in the right spots without a pillar drill!!

TTony · April 2020

stickyfiddle said:

Wobbly progress! Good build so far. Almost done on electrickery components with just chips, pots, switches and jacks left, I think.

Image: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/76/89/37/7689375817b1287e31db531ff1c49554.jpg

(title, not artist!!)

stickyfiddle · April 2020

Cheers @TTony, though I’m still a fair way from powering up on the biggest kit I’ve done yet, so the artist may yet prove to be accurate!! I’ll know more in another hour or so

LastMantra · April 2020

One thing I always do now with strip board (when I remember) is to run a blade or something along between the tracks (after soldering) More than once I've had tiny strands of solder (needed a magnifying glass to see) shorting things.

stickyfiddle · April 2020

Fully populated board.

Powered up and calibrating trim pots

Testing. Works and sounds decent

All cased and with knobs on. Overall a great little kit build and a brilliant sounding pedal. I haven't AB-ed with my Walrus Monuments yet but will do at some point. First impressions are that it's in a very similar ballpark but with more options from the Spacing & Harmonic Mix knobs, which is excellent.

english_bob · April 2020

All that, and working first time. Good work.

Does it still use "roll-your-own" optocouplers? How did those work out? I imagine them being a bit of a faff.

stickyfiddle · April 2020

english_bob said:

All that, and working first time. Good work.

Does it still use "roll-your-own" optocouplers? How did those work out? I imagine them being a bit of a faff.

Yeah. They were extremely easy actually, just an LED and LDR in a bit of heat shrink - about 1 minute's work each. They're just under the multimeter probes in that pic.

The only hitch was a small hole at the LED end of one of them as I got overzealous with the pliers trying to seal it completely. A bit of black sharpie stops any extra light getting in/out and it sounds good so I assume all fine.

english_bob · April 2020

Good to know. A friend of mine was thinking of buying one and getting me to build it for him. I've done a few pretty involved BYOC kits before but nothing quite as involved as the Quaverato.

Quite tempted to get one myself, partly because the kit is a total bargain, but I don't really need all that tremolo...

roberty · April 2020

That's awesome @stickyfiddle I am big on tremolo when not playing stupid heavy. How do the harmonics sound?

stickyfiddle · April 2020

It's a very nice harmonic trem. Not too phasy/univiby in stock config, but what's really impressive is you have a bunch of dips witches so you can control the crossover point for low and high frequencies separately so you can go for maximum high/low throbby stuff if that's your thing.

And dead quiet too. I read one guy on Reddit complaining about hiss or hum but I've had no issues. The initial quick "make sure it basically works before I put the knobs on" test turned into 20 minutes of Strat, JanRay and this. LUSH.

Keefy · April 2020

stickyfiddle said:

It's a very nice harmonic trem. Not too phasy/univiby in stock config, but what's really impressive is you have a bunch of dips witches so you can control the crossover point for low and high frequencies separately so you can go for maximum high/low throbby stuff if that's your thing.

And dead quiet too. I read one guy on Reddit complaining about hiss or hum but I've had no issues. The initial quick "make sure it basically works before I put the knobs on" test turned into 20 minutes of Strat, JanRay and this. LUSH.

I spy a couple of LDR thingies on that board. There's something about opto-based trem and phasing that does it for me.

stickyfiddle · May 2020

Fresh knobs!

And balls!! (couldn't resist - there's a joke here about tip cleaning as well but I'll quit while I'm ahead...)

stickyfiddle · May 2020

Aha...

Keefy · May 2020

That's a lot of knobs! I presume the one on the right is a KOT clone?

Had another go with my Ram's Head Pi fuzz today, this time into simulated amps on my Revival Drive - sounds immense! Waiting for some purple knobs to arrive, which will obviously make it sound even better.

Also contemplating a Blue Fool (modded MXR Blue Box) kit, but I really need to crack on with my amp build!

roberty · May 2020

stickyfiddle said:

Aha...

Ooh...

stickyfiddle · May 2020

Yeah, too many knobs. And combined with the Banzai ones it's FAR more knobs than I have pots to put them on, but that just means I have to build more in future

Left is the Death Drive (essentially a Green Ringer into Rat, with some circuit tweaks and extra controls), because Rats are life and I don't have anything this doomy.

Right is "KOT with everything" because sod waiting 18 months and paying 300 quid

I like the textured-powder-coated enclosures too. The only question is whether demo labels stick to them...

Cookiemonster · May 2020

What's a good soldering iron for pedal building ?

Alex2678 · May 2020

Cookiemonster said:

What's a good soldering iron for pedal building ?

This one worked for me - Silverline 643115 Soldering Iron, 25 W https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000O56TSI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_5I5SEbJG5N8A7

stickyfiddle · May 2020

I’m using a Weller 25W, which does the job nicely. Occasionally I find tips basically eat themselves and don’t last long, but usually fine.

steer · May 2020

I've just ordered a Fuzz Factory from Fuzzdogs. I put together a clean boost pedal from them a few years ago which was good. I have been hankering for a ridiculous fuzz for a while now.

stickyfiddle · May 2020

Death in progress. Board sorted.

And this is what we call “lights on but nobody home”...

It’s not passing any signal in bypass or switched on, suggesting something’s wrong on the switching. I was intentionally very light on the soldering for the switches in case I had to dismantle, but suspect something on the in/out wiring not right, and the multimeter suggests that’s the case. I’ll reflow those joints and hope for the best...

stickyfiddle · May 2020

That’s done the trick. There’s still a slight splutter even on bypass (cables definitely ok) so will reflow *again* with loads of solder this time just to make sure everything is 100%. This thing sounds MEAN.

I have a brief clip from my initial switch on which I’ll post once I work out how best to do that.

EDIT: trial imgur link:

https://i.imgur.com/8z749m5.mp4

I’ll try and get some better YouTube vids done when I get a chance.

stickyfiddle · May 2020

Finished! I’m going to have a lot of fun with this one.

Overall a slightly tricky build as I initially tried to fit in a battery but that wasn’t going to happen in the end. It’s also odd because you have to flip over the daughterboard for the boost switch to end up with the LED in the right place, hence the wires for that one being twisted compared to the other. The wiring for the jacks are also flipped left to right so the in/out wires cross over underneath the board. None of these things is any major issue but gave me a little bit to scratch my head about during the build.

There were also a couple of component values that were different on the photo in the build doc. Again not a problem but gave a little confusion as I usually use that as a sanity check before I trim all the component legs after soldering

stickyfiddle · May 2020

steer said:

I've just ordered a Fuzz Factory from Fuzzdogs. I put together a clean boost pedal from them a few years ago which was good. I have been hankering for a ridiculous fuzz for a while now.

Nice. I did one of his Fuzz Factories in the early days. It’s a mad circuit. Dead simple but full of brilliant crazy noises

timbuk02 · May 2020

stickyfiddle said:

Finished! I’m going to have a lot of fun with this one.

Blimey that looks quality! Particularly like the attention to detail aligning the retaining nuts A++

roberty · May 2020

Been playing with my fuzz dog fuzz factory tonight. It's actually pretty intuitive once you figure it out, with a few random sounds thrown in

Glad you like the death drive @stickyfiddle I absolutely love mine. I've had that same problem with not soldering the switch properly just in case before. Good idea in theory lol

Gone through my parts box for my Zander Foxxton Woods PCB. Pretty much there, just need the case and pots. Looking forward to that one

stickyfiddle · May 2020

timbuk02 said:

stickyfiddle said:

Finished! I’m going to have a lot of fun with this one.

Blimey that looks quality! Particularly like the attention to detail aligning the retaining nuts A++

The powder coating goes a long way, combined with the bigger LEDs in posher bezels. And I’m glad someone spotted the nut alignment. I don’t usually worry but I didn’t want to use the white washer on this one as they looked wrong, then it made it look weird if they were both straight

I have the KOT next. That’s going to be more of a hassle nut-washer wise as the LED hole is too close to the switch so after I’ve reamed out the hole to fit the bigger bezel I can’t get the washer on the switch at all... I guess that might also go without the washer, by necessity!

Keefy · May 2020

... or file a rebate in the washer to accommodate the LED?

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Post-Lockdown pedal building

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