Messages

Congratulations!

Hey just found this thread. Glad you're doing better.  I had similar surgery to remove a 'free fragment' from my spine back in 2009, when I was 45.  The surgeon told me I'd likely have some permanent nerve damage, and to this day my left leg gives me problems.  But I am still MUCH better off having had the surgery.  I also have 4 ruptured discs and other issues, but nothing too awful.  You're so right about watching the body mechanics and so on.  I learned a lot of good techniques and exercises in physical therapy.  Wish I'd learned it earlier!

Thanks Synthcube for keeping Smallbear going!

Looks great!

Looks great!  I built the Dimension C about a year ago.  As Kevin's instructions say, follow his plan and don't freelance.  Low profile caps are a must.  The only thing that threw me off was the orientation of the header pins.

Dear all

I'm really stoked that today 4 new Lovetone projects were launched over at Aion

https://aionfx.com/news/four-new-lovetone-projects-doppelganger-meatball-big-cheese-and-brown-source/

I've helped verify both schematics and prototype builds
I hope that if these do well then the Ringstinger or Flanger might be on the cards
Kevin is a top guy and really cares about authenticity

Good stuff! I just ordered the Meatball and Big Cheese.  I had previously bought a PCB for a Big Cheese-type pedal from another outfit, but Kevin's/your schematic look different, and its good to hear that you've A/B'ed these to originals. So the other PCB will probably end up in a PIF here at some point 

Your trim pots in the picture look like they're fully CCW. Is this the position they were in when you took the voltage? Would expect them to be closer to 12:00

The solder sucker has been a life changer for me.  Before I got this, desoldering often involved burning the heck out of things while using copper braid.  Not fun.  This is simple.  Heat the solder, push the button, and the solder is gone. 

I just got this recently also and completely agree - its a game changer

I use the micro cutters from Hakko.  I don't build nearly as much as the rest of you but these have held up well so far.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FZPDG1K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks for posting - love the enclosures!

These are the hi dark ones from SB

Thanks very much!

Greetings all,
First, apologies in advance if I should have found this information elsewhere...
I'm working on a build of the Harbinger 1.5 and have a couple questions:

First, here's a link to the build doc: https://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/_folders/FilterMod/pdf/HarbingerOneFive.pdf

1. 18V Operation:  I'm building the Harbinger to run on 18V.  I'm sure this is a dumb question, but I don't want to mess this up: I assume that the input power is supposed to connect to the pads marked 18V near the bottom of the PCB?  I checked against the schematic, and this seems right, but the pads are in an unusual spot which makes me wonder if I'm looking at this wrong.

2. LDRs:  I bought the NSL-7532 "high dark" LDRs from Small Bear - the same as those linked in the build document.  The problem is, I also bought - in the same order - four of the 'regular' NSL-7532 LDRs for another project.   I love Small Bear, but they don't mark their packaging, so I'm not sure which LDR is which.  I want to make sure to use the "High Dark" LDRs in the Harbinger.

I tried to measure the dark resistance of each LDR type, but am not sure I'm doing it right.  My DMM only goes to 60M ohm, so I measured the LDR in parallel with 40M resistance.  Both LDRs measure about 500M ohm 5 seconds after light removal.  One of the LDR types, though, seems to increase in resistance after light removal much faster than the other.  It also has a lower resistance when illuminated (~  500 ohm vs. 1k ohm)  Also, this LDR has a much tighter trace of Cad Sulphide material (that is, more 'loops') than the other type.

Any suggestions on how to tell the LDRs apart is appreciated.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Looks great Kevin! Congrats!

This might not answer your question, depending on what you think of as "worked well as an alternative", but I built the Corona with the "Tubescreamer" diodes in the second position.  I had done some reading on the history of Tubescreamers and the OD-1 and thought it would be interesting to compare them (sort of) in the same pedal. 
Honestly, I haven't done too much playing around with it, but that was the theory anyway 

Does anybody want tricks and tips on better using these methods more effectively? Especially on double-sided PCBs?

Appreciate any suggestions.  And thanks to those who've posted already. I find de-soldering quite tricky