Post-Lockdown pedal building

stickyfiddle · May 2020

Keefy said:

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

Yeah, that’s the other option. I might try it anyway, given I have spare washers and I won’t need them anyway if it looks naff. Thinking about it, it shouldn’t actually be too hard with a round file.

roberty · May 2020

stickyfiddle said:

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!

What current limiting resistor value are you using for the big LEDs? After some experimenting I think 12k is about right for mine

stickyfiddle · May 2020

I’m just using the same 2k2 that Fuzzdog supplies for its 3mm LEDs. You could definitely go a little less for a brighter LED - these don’t look anywhere near towards the point they might go pop.

I don’t generally like LEDs that make your eyes hurt, as some boutique manufacturers tend towards!

Keefy · May 2020

This is what my Big Muff Pi build looked like while I was waiting for the purple knobs to arrive:

And the completed innards:

Unable to leave well enough alone, I peeled off the sticky labels to replace with waterslide decals, and took off some paint too. So I rubbed it down, resprayed, put the decals on, let them dry, then added a few coats of clear lacquer. Thinking all was well, I started to re-install the electronics, only to find that some of the paint was as soft as Dairylea. So I scraped it all off with a scalpel:

Then rubbed it down with steel wool, put it all together, and added waterslide decals for the control labels, and a sticky label for the name. It lives!

stickyfiddle · May 2020

Nice! The bare metal suits it imo

Keefy · May 2020

stickyfiddle said:

Nice! The bare metal suits it imo

Yes I think it does. It gives it a Boo Instruments kinda vibe, and their stuff ain't too shabby. I might still replace the label-maker sticker with a waterslide though - I came up with a nice design using just 2 symbols.

EDIT: I had half a mind to leave the distressed white paintwork in 'tribute' to EHX's shonky paint jobs, but I couldn't be sure that the paint would ever go off!

Keefy · May 2020

Now I'm happy:

stickyfiddle · May 2020

Keefy said:

Now I'm happy:

Love it

roberty · May 2020

Keefy said:

Now I'm happy:

Looks great man

Ordered a couple of Rangemaster PCBs from websmurfer on eBay. Someone kindly sent me a couple of suitable Ge transistors. Was gonna vero it but the two boards posted were only a fiver and it makes mounting the board easy. One will be for a friend, Musso from the Black Apples. He doesn't know yet

Keefy · May 2020

roberty said:

Keefy said:

Now I'm happy:

Looks great man

Ordered a couple of Rangemaster PCBs from websmurfer on eBay. Someone kindly sent me a couple of suitable Ge transistors. Was gonna vero it but the two boards posted were only a fiver and it makes mounting the board easy. One will be for a friend, Musso from the Black Apples. He doesn't know yet

Please do post here, quite fancy building a treble booster at some point.

stickyfiddle · May 2020

Ooh, you’ve reminded me I think I have a Rangemaster kit somewhere in the parts box...

Keefy · May 2020

stickyfiddle said:

Ooh, you’ve reminded me I think I have a Rangemaster kit somewhere in the parts box...

I've got three AC128 trannies that I think I harvested from old radios - gotta be worth a breadboard build to see what they sound like.

roberty · May 2020

@Keefy will do! Got four or five builds planned at the moment, will pop them all in here. I'm not big on painting and decorating unfortunately, but a friend is quarantining at my place who is an artist and we have talked of a possible collaboration. I wouldn't know where to start

Always wanted to try a Rangemaster. I've got a Selmer Treble n Bass 50 head which would suit it well I think. The guitar channel is a bit shit but when you jumper the guitar and bass channels it's super meaty

Keefy · May 2020

roberty said:

@Keefy will do! Got four or five builds planned at the moment, will pop them all in here. I'm not big on painting and decorating unfortunately, but a friend is quarantining at my place who is an artist and we have talked of a possible collaboration. I wouldn't know where to start

Always wanted to try a Rangemaster. I've got a Selmer Treble n Bass 50 head which would suit it well I think. The guitar channel is a bit shit but when you jumper the guitar and bass channels it's super meaty

Sounds great! I restored a T'n'B head a few years ago and with a Les Paul it did that clean-but-dirty thing. I imagine a treble booster would work well with it.

roberty · May 2020

@Keefy the T&B takes dirt pedals really well for a doom/sludge sort of sound. Really fills out my 3 piece

Bits ordered! I'm going to do two germainum Rangemasters and the Zander Foxxton Woods:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-FXsNrlmWc

Tacked a few bits onto the order so I can do a Sunny T Extreme later on. Fuzz Dog have some AC128s landing soon so I want to do a germanium fuzz face. Got my eye on a couple of things a Musikding too

steer · May 2020

OK - my Fuzz Factory clone is now all together. Very quick demo and it is as Germanium crazy as I was hoping. I'm going to enjoy coaxing some sounds out of it.

I have polished up the enclosure. I need to label up the pots somehow, but am short of ideas for doing this. Don't want to paint the enclosure.

english_bob · May 2020

steer said:

OK - my Fuzz Factory clone is now all together. Very quick demo and it is as Germanium crazy as I was hoping. I'm going to enjoy coaxing some sounds out of it.

I have polished up the enclosure. I need to label up the pots somehow, but am short of ideas for doing this. Don't want to paint the enclosure.

I bought a Stabilo Write-4-All permanent marker pen years ago. It works very well on pedals- I've managed to rub it off a few enclosures deliberately, but it's resisted accidental wear.

If you or someone you know has nice neat handwriting it's a good low-tech, no-fuss way to label a pedal.

roberty · May 2020

english_bob said:

steer said:

OK - my Fuzz Factory clone is now all together. Very quick demo and it is as Germanium crazy as I was hoping. I'm going to enjoy coaxing some sounds out of it.

I have polished up the enclosure. I need to label up the pots somehow, but am short of ideas for doing this. Don't want to paint the enclosure.

I bought a Stabilo Write-4-All permanent marker pen years ago. It works very well on pedals- I've managed to rub it off a few enclosures deliberately, but it's resisted accidental wear.

If you or someone you know has nice neat handwriting it's a good low-tech, no-fuss way to label a pedal.

I got some letter stickers off eBay and go over them with clear nail varnish. I just stick the first letter of what the control is which is enough of a prompt for me. It comes off easy too if you change your mind later (nail polish remover). The Fuzz Factory is quite easy to remember because the crazy knob (Stab!) is in the middle

As an aside, the gate knob doesn't seem to do much on mine. Is this normal?

stickyfiddle · May 2020

@steer pics please!!

@roberty i don’t have an FF at the mo, but iirc the gate controls the pitch of the oscillation that you get when you turn the stab control down. Or the other way around, I can’t entirely remember...

steer · May 2020

Thanks for the idea - I might scour ebay for similiar letter stickers.

OK - here it is, just with the labelling to finish off. I might tidy some of the wiring up before I call it finished officially.

roberty · May 2020

Nice job @steer looks good!

english_bob · May 2020

Alternative suggestion- you can get one of those Dymo labelling machines for about £15 for the full Pete Cornish boutique look. The embossing ones are even cheaper.

stickyfiddle · May 2020

I’m a big fan of dymos. I still need to label up my recent builds

steer · May 2020

Good idea. I might even know someone who has one of these... damn this lockdown

Keefy · May 2020

I still have the little Dymo machine that I bought during my first term at Uni in 1979!

roberty · May 2020

Just got the fuzz factory out again, I really underestimated this thing at the time! So many good sounds. Nice and cutting for leads with loads of character

roberty · May 2020

Made a start on the Zander Foxxton Woods. Turns out I ordered a solder lug rotary instead of PCB mount. I snipped the lugs off but the pins don't line up so instead of a rotary switch I now instead have a modest contribution to global waste. I have a PCB mount coming weds from RS, it's Lorlin brand, hopefully the same dimensions as Alpha Taiwan.

Instead of germanium and silicon diode clipping I've gone germanium and asymmetrical germanium. Then there's the stock LEDs and transistor options. The diodes are accessible once the pots are on so should be easy enough to change later.

Guess I'll be building a Rangemaster this weekend lol

stickyfiddle · May 2020

Bill of materials sorted on the KOT Emperor. A couple of minor confusions. The channels are apparently the wrong way round compared to a "real" one (left into right instead of right into left). Not a big deal and can certainly be swapped over, but it's a little odd. The kit is also missing the nuts for the pots. I'm sure Mr Fuzzdog will sort me out, so I'll cannibalise some from a couple of old builds for now.

The build doc also mentions suggested changes for high gain mode, but doesn't include the extra resistor, cap and diodes. Freestompboxes suggests the resistor is the most important thing and I definitely have that in the parts box, so I'll try and first, and switch back to the stock one if I don't like it.

I'm not feeling great now, so the build will start tomorrow, with any luck

roberty · May 2020

@stickyfiddle Lee will sort you out he is just super busy at the moment and a bit stressed like we all are

Got my Rangemaster working, not boxed but sounds cool. I changed the input cap to 10n and tried a 50k pot too as opposed to a 10k one which adds some robotic craziness. It's a really cool circuit, sounds like shit unless it's into a muddy crunchy amp at which point it's quite magical

stickyfiddle · May 2020

Yeah, absolutely - it’s no bother and no hurry. I can still get it built in the meantime just with a couple of wobbly pots.

I also ordered a sex drive and engineer’s thumb 5-knob comp to try, which should arrive in the next week or so. When my incoming P bass eventually arrives the comp should help a lot

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Post-Lockdown pedal building

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