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I finished the Effects Layouts Crystal Shard: https://effectslayouts.com/product/crystal-shard/
It's a modified mashup of the EQD Chrysalis and Arrows aka an Electra circuit, and I like its character but do feel that it's quite a bit on the bright side.
In the BOM it says that it's "ripe for experimentation" but what could I do to get rid of the really excessive treble and instead add some bass and body? Increase C2 and C8? To what values?
I will definitely change the volume pot to a logarithmic one because it gets too loud too quickly.
Other than that it's a nice pedal, a simple uncompressed Overdrive.

Thank you!

I played with some recent builds today, and that Mugshot, wow! Clear and clean with lots of punch, instant favorite.

One question though: when I turned on a booster before it the Volume was quite high, of course. Turned the Mugshot down to zero, and it was still rather loud.
Is that just mine, or can the Mugshot not be turned down to silent (same as a SHO)?
It's not a problem, just asking.

Yeah, I know, inflation, Corona, global supply chains, raw materials... but JESUS CHRIST!
Especially Eminence.
Maybe it's better for guys in the USA, but over here ... phew.

Hey,
I haven't posted here in a while, and I haven't built a pedal either.

Since Covid hit there have been problems with overseas shipping, and shipping rates have gone up more than is reasonable. And the parcels are on their way for a long time, and tax, and customs ......
It's handy that a friend of mine will travel to the USA in September, and she has agreed to bring back some PCBs, she just doesn't want any unforeseen surprises at the airports.
She would have one domestic flight, and then the flight back from USA to Europe.

This might be a stupid question, but you never know what rules for flights they come up with next, so I better ask. Maybe they see electronic components as a threat, who knows.
Can you bring several handfuls of PCBs on an American domestic flight, and on a transantlantic flight?
I guess it shouldn't be a problem if you have the invoice that's in the Madbean envelope the PCBs come in, right? Right?

Thank you!

Dear forum,

I don't feel confident enough with my diagram reading skills, any help would be appreciated.
A friend asked me to build a Mojo Hand Colossus (=a variant of a Russian Muff with mids control and an input cap switch), he had an original years ago.
I can't find a PCB for it, but I have a Fuzzdog BMP board that should do fine: https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Big_Muff_Pi/p847124_20010593.aspx
The schematic is in the BOM on page 3: http://pedalparts.co.uk/docs/BMP2018.pdf

The Colossus schematic is on the Kit Rae Muff page: http://www.bigmuffpage.com/Big_Muff_Pi_versions_schematics_part4.html:



The question is (parts numbers are different):
How do I match this bit from the Kit Rae schematic

with this bit from the Fuzzdog schematic


Where does Kit Rae's C14 go on the PCB??
Kit Rae's C9 is parallel to the Mids pot, Fuzzdog's C10 is before the pot??
The Colossus uses much larger values around the Mids pot than other Muffs with a Mids pot (Musket, Hoof; see Fuzzdog doc for those). Is there something wrong?
This is beyond me, I'm sorry.

Thank you!!!!

Here's what I came up with matching the Kit Rae diagram with the Fuzzdog diagram for use on the PCB (The parts numbers are for the PCB, Kit Rae has different numbers). I think I have it all except for the parts around the Mids knob parts mentioned above:

R1 33k
R2 100k
R3 470k
R4 140R
R5 12k
R7 1k
R8 10k
R9 100k
R10 470k
R11 12k
R12 390R
R13 10k
R14 390R
R15 470k
R16 100k
R17 12k
R18 47k ??
R19 10k ??
R21 100k
R22 470k
R23 2k
R24 10k
R25 1M
(no R6 and R20 on PCB)

C1 10nF + 100nF/2u2 on switch
C2 470pF
C3 100nF
C4 100nF
C5 560pF
C6 47nF
C7 100nF
C8 560pF
C9 47nF
C10 22nF ??
C11 47nF ??
C12 100nF
C13 100nF
C14 100uF

D1-2/4-5 1N4148
D3&6 by choice
D7 1N4001

Q1-4 2N5088

Tone / Mids / Sustain 100kB
Volume 100kA

O just saw this. Oh dear.

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/31235-gibson-announces-acquisition-of-mesaboogie

I have a set of 3 Lipstick pickups for a Strat that I want to use in a cheap body that I got used. Since they're Lipsticks I'd like to do some form of serial wiring because that's what Danelectro did in the middle position of their two-lipstick guitars. I have a Danelectro Baritone and love that sound.

But also I'd like to do use a "Megaswitch" because I don't like the middle pickup by itself on Strats, position 3 of the switch should be neck & bridge.

And I'd like to just have Volume and Tone plus a Bass Contour knob aka G&L PTB wiring (https://tonefiend.com/guitar/two-band-ptb-tone-control-useful-easy-cheap-awesome/). I have (had) that on several guitars and don't want to do without it for serial wiring.

In short:
- all standard single pickup or parallel positions
- except position 3 (bridge & neck together)
- use a switch or push/pull knob to choose between parallel or serial wiring
- 5-way pickup switch but not more than one additional switch
- 1 Volume
- 1 Tone
- Bass Contour

I'm at a loss here on wiring because all diagrams I can find are for middle pickup by itself and with the typical Strat 1 Volume, 2 Tone.
Most diagrams I can find online for serial wiring have some sort of "bridge & mid parallel in series with neck" or some additional blend pot.
Is it not possible to just have:
- bridge alone
- bridge & middle
- bridge & neck
- middle & neck
- neck alone
all the combined positions either parallel or serial, depending on the position of the switch?

Thank you very much!

Does anyone know if Alpha is discontinuing these regular 9mm pots?

Some of the usual shops here in Europe (Musikding and UK Electronic) haven't had them for months.
I just saw that there will be a lot of new 1590A projects, so I should stock up.

The Runoffgroove Ginger is intended to be an Ampeg in a Box, primarily for Bass, but this pedal has been on my board for years, I love it, it's perfect for guitar! Thick yet open, dynamic, super effective Tone control.
The one thing though: it could have a bit more gain. I always have to hit it with a booster.

Mine is built on a TH custom board, but you can get them from Fuzzdog, OSH Park, and other places.
http://diy.thcustom.com/shop/rog-ginger-v1-0-pcb/
The TH Custom doc says: "The original circuit features 1N5818 diodes for D6/D7. I have fun listening to it with the same red LEDs in this place."
Mine does, indeed, have 1N5818 in D6/D7. Does this affect gain much?

Question: What could I do to squeeze a bit more drive out of that pedal without it changing its character at all?

Thanks!

(I wanted to post this in Tech Help, but since it doesn't concern any Madbean projects I'm posting it here. I hope that's ok)

I hadn't built any pedal in about two years but recently the bug bit me again and I built some fuzzes. And unlike before they all work.

I have a weird issue with these two, though. Clones of the Analogman Astrotone and the KMA Fuzzly Bear, both built on Fuzzdog PCBs:
https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/AstroTone_Fuzz_-_Sam_Ash_Fuzzz_Box/p847124_8861948.aspx
https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Ursa_Fuzz/p847124_19816586.aspx
BOMs are on these sites.

When I crank the gain they both sound weird, the sound cuts out, farts and splutters. Roll back the gain just a tad and they both sound fine. It's just that last millimetre on the gain pot.

The power capacitor on both these pedals is 47uF. I upped it to 100 on both but with no effect.
I checked all the values I used and they are correct. I reflowed all solder joints.
What else could I do? Any ideas of what this could be?

(That KMA Fuzzly Bear is one amazing Fuzz btw)

Thank you!

I'm shopping for a small bodied acoustic guitar (Parlor, 00, 000) in the range of up to 500 €/$ (used is totally fine, too), but can't seem to find the right one.

Ideally, it should have the longer 25.4" scale, 1 11/16 (43mm) nut width, and satin finish. Simple understated classic looks with no flashy glossy bling is nice, too.

But it absolutely must have a bigger/fatter (not: wider) than average neck, and that's the problem. "Modern C" necks are always marketed as comfortable, but that's exactly what they're not, for me personally. Too thin. I'm so used to my Telecaster Baseball Bat that I don't want anything else anymore.

Been looking into models from many brands, and the following fill most of the criteria (maybe not 100% looks-wise); Sigma and Recording King even fill all of them, including looks - except neck size:

all of the Godin brands (Art & Lutherie Roadhouse, Norman B20/ST40 Folk, Seagull Grand / S6 Original Slim Concert Hall, some by Simon & Patrick)
Cort (L450C - ugly Abalone rosette)
Guild (M-240)
Höfner (HA-CS7/8/28)
Ibanez (AVN9/11)
Kremona (M15)
Recording King (many models)
Sigma/AMI (many models)
Stanford (Déjà vu Little Sister)
Tanglewood (TW133 ASM)
The Loar (LH-204 Brownstone)

Some of these are rather obscure and I can't test them at the shop.

Or maybe does "Low profile neck", "modern C shape" etc. deceive me on paper and some of these models do, in fact, have a proper neck? I haven't played them all.
Does anyone of you have one of the above?
Any more ideas about affordable acoustics with large necks?

https://www.gearnews.com/bill-finnegan-is-selling-the-original-klon-centaur-overdrive-again/

It's not even funny anymore.

Want to build a Plate Reverb unit from an Ikea table?

Just saw that GFS is having a big sale:
https://www.guitarfetish.com/Giant-SITE-WIDE-MOING-Sale-ONE-TIME-ONLY_c_805.html

I'd like to get one of their bodies. So I'd pay 35 $ for the body and 70 $ for shipping to Germany.
Would anyone in Germany or Europe on here be interested in getting something, too, and we share the shipping cost?

A simple 2-in-1 of the Runoffgroove Tri-Vibe on a TH Custom PCB and the Yorkshire Pulse Tremolo, which is Juansolo's and Cleggy/Marauder's version of the Shoot The Moon. Switching is done using Jon's Millenium Bypass boards.

Recently, Juansolo and Cleggy/Marauder helped me a great deal in debugging my non-working projects. Without them I guess I could have just thrown those projects away, so thank you once again.
I'm not really building much anymore as the error rate really is too high, and I have everything I want, so I will take a longer timeout soon when the last remaining projects are done. I guess I'll make the occasional exception if a project is released that I desperately need, but other than that I'm done for now.

The two gentlemen from Yorkshire also generously gave me some of their own PCBs: their version of the Timmy and their Big Omar boost.

I'm really torn on this one. Not sound wise but with the result of my work.
I made a mistake in aligning the drill holes and the jack holes, so some caps on the Timmy and the jack touched each other when installed, derp. I rotated the PCB by 90 degrees. Not pretty, but it works now.
Also, the Big Omar knob is too close to the footswitch now. It does work, but it's not pretty or practical. Maybe I'll put a smaller knob on there.
Also, the two LEDs aren't aligned right.
Should have been more accurate and less hasty in planning and executing. Also, not my best wiring because of all the crammage in there.

But other than that, I'm happy. I managed to put two circuits and an order switch in a 125B with top mounted jacks.
I only played it for a few minutes last night, but they sound gloriously!
You know what a Timmy sounds like. I don't have my Catch 22 anymore, but from memory I'd say that this one has a tad more gain, if I'm not mistaken. And the tone knobs work the right way around, which is nice.
And the Big Omar, man! This one alone was worth the effort. What a great boost, lots of character.

Thanks, Yorkshiremen.

Just saw this. This guy made a working Strat from thousands of matches.

Reminded me of the cardboard Strat:

http://www.tcelectronic.com/sub-n-up-octaver/
http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/24135-tc-electronic-introduces-the-sub-n-up-octaver
Competition for the EHX Pitch Fork, but cheaper. Seems interesting.

Just saw this, you might find it interesting:
These guys (http://cloudshillfx.com/) made a delay pedal that uses a real 3.5" floppy disk. VERY pricey.

http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/the-worlds-first-floppy-disk-delay-pedal-exists-and-it-sounds-like-this-637344

I want to build a simple L-Pad attenuator for my 5 Watt Blackheart Little Giant Head.
More Info here: http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=7777.0
The amp has 5 watts and a 16 ohm speaker. So I guess I'll need a 15 Watt 16 Ohm L-Pad. Right?
But where to find such a thing? Especially in Europe? Musikding has the 8 Ohm version:
http://www.musikding.de/Attenuator-15W-8-Ohm

Parts Express has the 50 and 100 Watt versions.
http://www.parts-express.com/speaker-l-pad-attenuator-50w-mono-3-8-shaft-16-ohm--260-254
http://www.parts-express.com/parts-express-speaker-l-pad-attenuator-100w-mono-3-8-shaft-16-ohm--260-261
50 Watt is out of stock, and I don't necessarily want to ship one little part around the globe?

Can I not just use the 8 ohm version? I think that's what the expensive Bitmo kit uses, but do I need some resistors to compensate?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BITMO-10-UATOR-KIT-10W-ATTENUATOR-PLATE-4-GUITAR-AMP-/140480002003
http://www.xtremewebshop.com/prodotto-145518/-BITMO-10-UATOR-KIT---15W-ATTENUATOR-BOX-FOR-GUITAR-AMP.aspx

Thank you!