Topics

Here is a first (and probably last) for me. After months of breadboarding, trial and error pcbs, tearing out hair and crying it finally lives. Many here are likely familiar with the now defunct dual-channel Boneyard circuit. Well this is that except the layout is redone from the ground-up to KILL the oscillation that has plagued previous layouts and attempts over past years. Everything from adding buffers, shielded wire, tweaking component values, etc never quite worked. I want to graciously thank Ben (rollywow) for going down this rabbit hole with me. Although his layouts ultimately didn't kill the OS, we learned a great deal about how to end it once and for all. As he is very busy, I decided to stop bugging him for revised experimental pcb layouts and finally worked it out myself (he did give me many pointers again when I was creating my Diptrace pcbs). THANKS BEN!

So after finally nailing the pcb layout right, the circuit is dead-quiet and sounds fantastic, no buffer, no shielded wire, no band-aids  . So next I designed a cool box and went through the PPP UV screen printing and drilling process and had a batch of them made. I think they look pretty sharp and classy.

Not stopping there, I wanted to do a video pedal demo for business promotion, fun, and to sell some of these bad boys. Myself and a customer/friend recorded all guitar tracks in the vid. The video was created with Filmora software. I had a lot of fun with the whole process. This was all a TON of work but very rewarding to see it through. I hope you enjoy it.

I am going to order some pcbs from Seeed. They have already been verified through OSH Park so should be good to go for a larger batch.

Do I need to change anything in my OSH Park zip file when ordering through Seeed or is it good to go as is?

THanks

Hello people

I believe the Schoon Toon was jubal81's and I PMed him as well. But I thought I would post here as well in case anyone has had experience with this one. I am having a problem using it with a muff circuit.

There still is some fuzz/dirt in the circuit when blend is all the way to clean. Also the fuzz in general doesn't sound right (muffled, less gain) when used with the schoon toon.

Is this normal or did I jack something up? I verified all values and solder so I am certain I am good. Honestly I never have built anything with a clean blend so not sure what to expect?

Thanks for any advice!

Just curious what any of you folks in the know recommend for a video making/editing program? Of course I have Windows Movie Maker but curious if there are any (free) better options with more features, better UI, etc.? Looking to make a quality demo video so sound files, pics, text, maybe some video footage, effects and so on.

What say ye?

Hey gang I just finished this one up, my first 2016 build. Jon's Cardinal Trem I won from him in a PIF. I don't build to many pedals for myself these days but this one is a keeper. The harmonic tremolo setting is really something special. Very pricey to build this one but worth it I think.

I had this blue 1590B for a long while and finally found a good circuit for it. I used the optical bypass also from 1776. A tight fit to get everything in there but in the end turned out pretty clean. Obviously went for a vintage, cupcake-type thingy and covered it in ET. I like it.

I got to catch Primus last night in a great little theater. The last time I seen them was sometime in the 90's.

Honestly I am not a huge Primus fan but I have to say do not miss this show if they are coming to your area! Just outstanding in every way live. One of the best sounding treats I have heard in a while: Thundering and so incredibly tight.

The first half was essential 3-piece Primus with the Fungi Ensemble joining in the last half of the show, Oompa-Loompa's and all  It took you on a spacey-trip through the world of Wonka's chocalate factory. I don't do drugs but this would have been the time to be high. Anyway just wanted to share.

So I only have a Shure SM57 and Shure x2u to record straight to my computer using Audacity. I know by most standards this is pretty much crap but I have heard decent recordings around the webz with this basic equipment.

This is mainly concerning recording acoustic guitar right into the mic. The unedited recording is terrible: low volume and a lot of hiss no matter what I do. In Audacity I amplify it, then compress, then noise removal which doesn't help much. The noise removal tool weirdly makes the hiss "intermittent" which you can clearly hear as the track is playing through (listen to demo). Is it just the dynamic mic and cheap interface?

What are folks using (and doing) that doesn't break the bank to get fair recordings for demos and such? Thanks.

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/jpparlier/000-acoustic-record[/soundcloud]

I had this circuit populated for a long while and finally got to box it up. It is the baja chorus (EH Small Clone). I did the face plate using masking and liquid tin for the silver parts. The plate is also has Envirotex covering it.

I wanted to mess with some duo-toning on the etched plates as I have done several in either color but never together  . The result is pretty cool as many have also seen in other's builds on the forum.

Many will know who the fictional Buffalo Bill is and the significance of the "deaths head moth" symbol there. What does it have to do with chorus? Nothing really, my wife and I just like serial killer movies is all 

Anyway the demo gives you an idea of it's gorgeous, warm chorus. I really am not a huge chorus guy but this one is really nice for occasional riffage and what-not.

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/jpparlier/buffalo-bill-analog-chorus[/soundcloud]

Yet Another Boneyard 

This is one I did for a local fella who I do a lot of guitar work for. I have done a few Boneyards locally and people round here rave about em for good reason. This is the since discontinued dual-channel version with that infamous oscillation/squeal. The only way to tame it is to throw a buffer in front of the circuit (1776 Unicorn Breath klon buffer here). I also always use a shielded input and she is nice and quiet at idol.

Wiring this one is always kind of a pain and no matter how hard I try the result is still not as nice as I would like it but oh-well.

I have had my Boneyard for about 3 years and will not part with it. Such a great RAWK distortion that sounds even better at band-level volumes.

 

Hey folks I am curious of what type of contraptions you have come up with for pcb etching. I don't etch pcbs but do face plates for my builds and am really tired of sitting for 20 minutes and manually agitating the etchant solution in a bin.

I have a 9vDC motor I am pondering it's use for a SIMPLE device to agitate or gently rock a small etchant bin back and forth. I am visualizing an offset rod attached to the motor spindle that will turn "oblonged" and rock a bin sitting on top of it up/down as it spins below.

The motor is high speed though and RPMs are way to fast for this application. I put a 10k series pot in to sag voltage and slow the motor down but the pot is smoking so a new plan is in order 

Maybe I can try a 10w series resistor in the voltage line to better dissipate the heat. I want this as simple as possible so please share your solutions, thoughts, ideas, etc. I would love to see and hear them.

Thanks everyone.

Another Arcadiator from rullywow. I built the first one for a customer (The Megabyte) and decided I needed one as well BUT it may be sold already as well as another local guy is sniffing it 

This one is very similar to the other just changed the name and used a light blue box from smallbear which is really a fantastic color IMO. Tinned the face plate again as I dig the blue/silver look throughout. If you havn't yet heard one of these the quick silly demo gives an idea. Great project and great fun!

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/jpparlier/megabite-8-bit-noise-generator[/soundcloud]

So here is another theremin build for a friend of mine who flipped over my first one. Luckily member brejna made a fantastic compact pcb and made it available on OshPark here:

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=20204.0

Consider it verified and working great, thanks brejna! It is a very easy build. I kept the "Galactic HAM" name but made this one much more compact in a 125B. I don't think there is a need for a large enclosure/aireal as it is very responsive as is.  Just need an isolated jack and good to go. I am going to make up a couple more as some local guys are dying to have one.

Here is my Tube Driver from TH Custom Effects. I spent a considerable amount of time working the baxandall tone stack values to come up with a bit warmer drive with more flexibility but it still has a lot of "raw-grit" to it. I tried some different tubes and as others said a 12AU7 or T7 sounds good but I have an NOS Jan Phillips 5751 that sounds the best in this one to me. It is a cool drive with a gritty-unique sound for sure. I actually will use it a lot on my amp repair bench for driving power amps as it has ridiculous amounts of output 

Not sure why but my demo tracks got off-sync? Or maybe it was just my bad timing but you get an idea of tone nonetheless 

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/jpparlier/lil-toobie[/soundcloud]

So I placed an order with SB and of course I forgot isolated 1/4" jacks that I need (theremin build for a friend) and only have open neutrik jacks 

Any clever home-brew ways to isolate these from an enclosure? May some sort of shoulder washers if I could find them local? All ideas welcome.

I do have a local rat shack still open but I don't think they carry isolated phone jacks, could be wrong though.

Here is another recent build in my massive overdrive quest. The Sweet Honey using Chi-boy's Silk Hat pcb. I should kick myself for not building this one up sooner as I have had it a long time. I LOVE IT! I am always looking for very dynamic/clean volume roll-off overdrives and I have to say this is the best one I believe I have come across. Just awesome really. I need to check out some more MP stuff.

The enclosure is PPP transparent amber/copper with another tinned FR4 plate and some silver knobs to top it off. This one is staying on my board and stacks well with my Zen I just built. Kind of a bad recording but check the quick and crappy demo out 

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/jpparlier/sweetest-honey-od[/soundcloud]

Here is my Zendrive. Got the loaded pcb from another member but it had some issues that needed fixed. Got it sorted and decided I really like this overdrive. One of those must-try dirt boxes that I have never got around to building. Very rich sounding with just the right amount of mid-range. Playing with an AD712 and like it but may try some other opamps just because. Open to recommendations.

It features the OBD green from PPP and a custom etched round plate with silver tinning. I like the simplicity of this one. I have some other overdrives I will be posting as well as I built a bunch recently trying to find some keepers 

Inspired by guitarmageddon's theremin build I came up with this one using the paul in the lab vero. This one is quite special as it was a real father and son project. He is 9 and I am teaching him everything I can (including how to solder and build cool stuff). Watching him pick out components and complete some soldering is just awesome 

First, the misspelling of "Theremin" (used an a) wasn't noticed until after etching (sorry Mr. Theremin). If this were a customer build I would have started over but I can live with it.

HAM was the first chimp launched into sub-orbital space. Hero or helpless guinea pig? You decide. Anyway, it makes spacey-weird sounds as you know so we like the name/design a lot 

This thing is VERY finicky. On the test-rig with antenna hooked up remote to a nearby enclosure it was working/sounding great. With the circuit boxed (using the enclosure as the areal) it isn't working as well and the oscillation seams "dirty" like there is an overdrive hooked up to it? I isolated grounding and the circuit (wood block underneath) and played with wire positioning and it helps but still not what it was. Going to have to keep messing with it.

Might be my power setup/wiring. Using the battery gives better/cleaner results than the power supply. Anyway here we go.

   

Hoping some extra eyes can get me out of the hot box here. I did a theramin vero layout based on Guitarmageddon's build here:
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=19947.0

Here is the vero layout from Paul in the Lab:
http://www.paulinthelab.com/2012/04/theremin-veroboard.html

I have poured over this thing countless times, cut vero tracks, checked continuity and no luck getting it going. On the test rig the antenna wire is hooked to an isolated enclosure/aerial (not grounded). The trim pot and 1k off-board pot have no affect. When I touch the arial I get a local radio station coming through the speaker along with a prominent hum all the time.

Problem is there is no schematic/voltages that I know of so not sure what else to do. I am getting 5v on the output of the regulator. IC voltages are different at respective pins so IC2 could be a problem but not sure? I will list voltages for what its worth and close pics of front and back. THanks.

IC1:
1. 2.8  14. 5v
2. 2.8  13. 2.3
3. 2.8  12. 1.9
4. 2.8  11. 2.2
5. 2.1  10. 2.1
6. 2.8  9.  2.2
7. 0     8. 2.2

IC2
1. 2.2  14. 5v
2. 2.3  13. 0
3. 2.2  12. 5
4. 2.5  11. 0
5. 2.3  10. 5
6. 2.4  9.  0
7. 0     8.  5v

So I populated a rullywow Superjudge (Juan and Cleggy design) hearing such great things about this little jem. First impressions to me where honestly just ok. It has the definitive marhall-esque distortion but I felt it was somehow congested/a little dull, at least on my rig. Then...

I put my klone in front of it (buffered) and suddenly this thing turned into the circuit that I knew it was. Holy-hell it rocks wonderfully. This is with the klon off just using the buffer. It removed the blanket entirely and the pedal really came alive. I thought I was crazy and did some A/B and it most definitely is the ticket at least to my ears. Then kick the klone on to boost it and look out 

Anyway for those considering the Superjudge try the klon buffer in front of it. Crazy good.
Disclaimer: no disrespect to Juan/Cleggy/rullywow, etc. The circuit is fantastic but really benefited with a buffer in my rig. I would be curious to see if others notice such a difference.

Anyone who has built and used a Zen (serendipity or other) does the circuit have a fair amount of floor noise (hiss type of thing)?

I bought an already populated fabbed board (It says Greasy Mullet) from a member and it seems somewhat noisy, even with guitar volume rolled off. Now here is the kicker, I haven't boxed it yet and this noise is through my test rig but even much higher gain circuits don't have this amount of floor noise through my rig so before boxing it up I want to make sure there is or isn't an issue. I really like this overdrive and want to use it.

I did throw in different AD712 and a 4558 opamps and the noise is the same. It is not terrible but I am not sure it is correct as I heard others say these are dead quiet? Thoughts?