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Bought an El Cap thinking that the EXP jack would accept tap just like my Flint's EXP jack does. WRONG! Just favorite or an expression pedal. My whole board runs off of a Disaster Area SMARTclock, and I'd like to keep it that way, haha.

There are a few companies doing this, but wanted to see if anyone here has done so. Am I wrong to think I'll need some kind of switching jack to shunt the TAP footswitch and something gets plugged in?

I've always had an interest in graphic design, so recently "upgraded" from Inkscape (free) to iDraw ($25).... night and day to me. So I thought I'd read tutorials, and some of this I just figured out by trial and error because I didn't know the "lingo"... any who, i know this is totally random, but I decided to make my own little vector of a Strymon BigSky and was super proud of it, so thought I'd share, haha.

Holy. Crap. Dudes.

This thing is incredible. I just yanked 3 drives/distortions off of my board because I can get equal, if not better, sounds with this guy. I've been playing with this thing for 2 hours now and I have yet to get a sound that I didn't love, and couldn't dial in super fast.

Thanks for a super versatile pedal, and for making more room on my already crammed pedalboard. Can't wait to see more out of function f(x)

[A]

I don't know if we have a thread like this yet.... but I'm curious about what got everybody started in this hobby/addiction.

I'll go first, and my apologies, as this will be long winded....

For me it was kind of out of necessity. I started playing guitar when I was 9 years old, and then picked up a bass in my freshman year of high school (story behind that one was that I wanted to play guitar in the school Jazz band, but was late for auditions and they already filled that spot. so the teacher handed me a bass and said "here, just remember All Cows Eat Grass for the bass clef and go for it"). Still focused on guitar, then went off to college.

Played guitar in a couple of bands while in college, until one day when all of my pedals, and my amp were all stolen from a rehearsal space that was on campus. Being a college kid, I had no money to replace the gear, nothing was insured, I was screwed. I borrowed gear from friends for a while and then that band disbanded. Around the same time some good friends of mine kicked their horrible guitar player out, their bassist moved to guitar (and is incredible), and they asked me to play bass for them. The band owned the whole bass rig, so it was no cost for me. Did that with those guys for 4 years, then left and moved to Nashville, now focusing on bass. At this time the zVex Woolly Mammoth was going for like $350, and I wanted one, but now I'm newly married, right out of college, living in Nashville, in a sketchy part of Nashville, painting apartments to barely pay my bills while pursuing music. Just didn't have the money.... but I had spent hours soldering cable in college for our schools recording studios, so I was just curious, "can I make one? maybe it'll be cheaper. worth a look."

Hop on Google to search for a schematic. I find one on analogguru's site. Then I discover DIYSB and smallbear and add everything to a cart, and it was like $35 with everything but a circuit board. I was floored. "That's all that it is? Holy..."

Attempted a vero layout based on analagguru's schematic.... fail. Find FSB and Brian's Sabertooth layout. He may not remember this, but I emailed him a ton of noob questions, multiple times, and he kindly replied every time and answered. Ordered some tiny drill bits, bought some PCB etchant and cooper clad from Radio Shack, grabbed a magazine and an iron, and etched my first board, and eventually built my first pedal. The rest, as they say, is history.

I love this hobby, not just for the money it has saved me in gear, but also for the sense of accomplishment I get each time I fire up a pedal, and really for allowing me to build my guitar rig back up and start playing my first love again. I'm forever grateful for this community.

I'd love to hear your story.

Cheers everyone.

Ian

I had a PT-3, which was plenty big, until I bought a Big Sky (and completed the Strymon "big three"). They took up too much room for me to have everything I wanted on there, plus, I wanted to completely redo my setup anyway with a whole new gain section. So... in the true spirit of DIY, I decided to build one. It's roughly PT-Pro Size (not quite as long, but slightly deeper).

Super fun project using oak for the frame and Baltic birch for the top. IEC inlet, locking jacks, etc. I'm really proud of it.

I'm in the process of designing a case for it. I'm leaning toward a hinged lid vs. a lift off (since I put handles on the board)... but even as I'm typing this, I think I just changed my own mind, haha. We'll see. I'm open to Ideas if you all have them, or have built them before, any input is welcome.



Here is a "in progress" picture. Still a lot of work to be done, still some building to finish. I've done some more since this picture was taken too.

So, I know this isn't necessary because the Afterlife is pretty transparent, but on one of my guitars it seemed like when i turned it on, I got some extra treble in there. So, I added a switch and cap parallel with R3 and the LDR. I tested values from 100pF all the way up to 820pF, and in the end landed on 330pF. At least for this particular guitar that seemed to take of some of the extra "bite" I felt like I was hearing, but wasn't too drastic. 220p was good too. Anything above 330pF was too drastic/dark.

Easiest way I hooked this up was using a DPDT ON-ON switch. I removed R3 and soldered wires there soldered the wires and 220K resistor to the middle lugs of the switch, and then just soldered the cap to one side, leaving the other empty. Presto, change-o, done.

Again, minor mod, but served it's purpose for my situation.

I will take pictures and post voltages as soon as possible, BUT, I'll post this and see if someone has any ideas....

I built this up, I've checks cap orientation, all values, etc, but when I turn the volume up on this La Vache, I get this noise. I even get it when there is no transistor in the socket....

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/irmcdermott/la-vache-noise[/soundcloud]

This topic has been moved to Tech Help.

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=19319.0

This topic has been moved to Tech Help.

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=19243.0

This topic has been moved to Tech Help.

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=18083.0

Actually got this last week, but life has been crazy. Picked up a Martin D-17M, and I am in love. I nice acoustic was the one thing missing in my "collection." This guitar exceeds everything that I wanted in an acoustic. I love it.

OK, so I'll admit I haven't done much searching, but today has been a little crazy, my brain is a little fried, so I figured I'd ask you guys....

Had someone ask me if it would be possible to put two effects in one box (in this case, a boost, and a comp). He asked if it would be possible to have two footswitches and a toggle. Essentially, the idea he has is that one side of the toggle allows for independent switching of the effects via the footswitches, and then when you flip the toggle, one footswitch essentially turns them both on. Not sure if that makes sense, but that's the basic idea.

Thoughts?

Gilmour is my favorite guitar player, and I had been wanting to build this for a long time and finally did. From color scheme to graphic to font, this one is inspired by him and the tones from "Animals" and "The Wall". Love this thing. Many thanks to juansolo for putting together his spreadsheet.

Love these ZenDrives...

Graphic again, PulsarProFX decal.... i made the mistake and forgot to turn down the heat of the oven after I clear coated it. If the temp is too high, the foil will crinkle a little. Since this is a personal build, I'm not worried about it. You probably don't even need clear coat with this system, the graphics from what I understand are pretty durable. I really like the stock AD712 chips in these. I've built them with 4558 before, and just prefer them. Found some on ebay a while back. This was the last one I had.



Guts

Holy. Crap. I love this pedal. Wish I hadn't waited so long to build it! Great job, Brian!

Again, spray paint. PulsarProFX for the decal.



Guts

A while back I had done this board, so had a few sitting around. Decided to build one up as I'm building a new pedalboard. Just spray paint, and the PulsarProFX decal system for the graphic. I can't wait to build my spray booth in the garage so I can start powder coating again....



Guts

Alright, so while I'm in the new house, I haven't set up my powder coating setup until I can build a proper spray booth and upgrade to a decent oven. So for my personal builds, where I don't want to spend the $$$ on powder coated boxes, I've been taking my time with rattle cans making sure it looks good....

ANYWAY... I'm at Lowe's with my 3 year old son, and he asks why we're there and I tell him that daddy needs to buy paint for some of his pedals. He then tells me "You need a pink pedal, daddy." Seeing the opportunity for a fun little moment with my son, I say ok. We get home and I ask him "Eli, what picture do you think should go on this pedal?" He is all about dinosaurs (and all about Batman), so he tells me that it needs a T-Rex on it. So we get on Google Image search and I search for "T-Rex line drawing"... we scroll through a few pages, not finding one that he likes and then he blurts out "THAT'S BATMAN ON A T-REX, DADDY!" and sure enough, it was.... I love the Internet.

Here is my Boomstick build. Built on one of Haberdasher's etched boards, graphics applied with the PulsarProFX dry transfer system.



And the Guts.

Love my TimeLine. I've had it for about a year now, and it's a lot of fun. Just recently put a Klon back on my board (I have a love/hate relationship with that one), and there is a faint, but noticeable, whine/noise that is completely interactive with the TimeLine's Grit control. Changes pitch as you turn it.

I've been trying to read up on it, and it seems as though I'm not the only one that's had this issue, but no one has a solution. Klon is powered by my CIOKS DC10, the Timeline on it's own, separate, power supply. Seems like it may be charge pump related. I am using 7660SPCA charge pumps in my klon. Maybe I'll pick up a 1044SPCA and see what happens.

Anyone else have this issue?

Hey guys,

I had been powder coating for a while using just a little toaster oven. I'm starting to do some large items, like long faceplates for amps that are too long for the toaster oven. I have no 220V in my garage and really don't have the space in the garage to put a used oven. Do you think a little propane camping stove like this one would work? The 10x16x10 interior dimensions are perfect for what I need. Thing can run at 350degrees F for like 5-7 hours on 1 gallon of propane.

http://www.amazon.com/Camp-Chef-COJR-Portable-Outdoor/dp/B0078U0BTA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1407343779&sr=8-2&keywords=camp+chef+oven

So, I like learning new things. I saw a video of a guy who made a template in TouchOSC to control his iPad. Looked pretty cool, so I thought I would give it a try. I already have the M-Audio Uno to update my firmware and use the SPL, and an Apple Camera Connection Kit (basically just a USB female to 30 pin adapter), so I figured why not. Bought the TouchOSC app for like $5 and got to it.

The main reason I'm doing this is because I like to mess around with presets, create my own, but I can be kind of lazy and hate having to bend down to turn knobs, and navigate the parameters, etc. So, if it all works (which so far it is), I'll share it. If anyone else has messed around with this stuff, let me know, I'd love to pick your brain on some things I'm curious about.

Only been messing with the dTape setting right now, but my thought is that the main 7 knobs, the tap division, boost, and trails (persist), along with the looper, and banking will be on all 12 pages, and then the differences will be the specific parameters for each delay machine. It's really fun!

Here is a screen shot of where I'm at so far.