Messages

Thanks all! I didn't know Tayda did custom with no minimums. I'm thinking of putting together a small handful of Madbean projects right now, so I'm still hopeful I'll find another hobbyist that would be happy to get a little kickback for helping out.

I want to get back into pedal-building but I'm living in an apartment without access to a drill.

I know there are companies that will do large quantities of enclosures, but I'm really just trying to build a small handful of pedals.

Is there anyone in the continental US that would drill a couple enclosures for a fee?

Thanks!

Tayda will custom drill an enclosure

Oooh that's excellent news, thanks.

I just got a DIY pedal off of Reverb and the builder drilled all the holes on the face slightly left of center and it's a little irritating to look at. The pots are board mounted so my only options are to file the holes larger and slide everything to the side, or rehouse it.

I don't have a drill right now. Is there a place to go where I can send them the drilling layout (it's built on a Fuzzdog board which includes a layout in the instructions) or maybe a friendly board member that could help out?

Thanks!

VFE Focus now in stock. Also, I put up a small quantity of 6111WA tubes in the shop. I personally screened each tube and they should be fine for any sub-mini application. There's only 8 of them so they probably won't last long.

On the Focus - if you've built the Standout the Focus will be a bit redundant as it was most likely the "pre-cursor". There are differences (the Focus runs split-rail whereas the Standout does not and the filtering is a bit different in each). All in all it's a great little circuit.

Can the Focus be modded to lower the High Pass Filter to start at more like 30hz? I tried one with bass and I loved it for getting a tighter sound and a better DI'd distorted bass tone with the LPF, but it cut too much low end with the HPF rolled all the way down.

stag

That compressor sounds like something I'd definitely love to build up to go with my bass rig. I like my 4:1 but having a metering LED and sensitivity control would be the icing on the cake. I'm in the UK at the moment, but I've got a US address, too.

That is cool! I wonder - have you tried using your 3d printer to make stencils for the same kind of thing? Or are they prints too rough for that?

I mean, you could, but the real deal are like 50 cents a piece, the printer media would cost more than a trip to a fabric store.

I don't mean copies of the one he used - stencils based on artwork. Like a full sheet covering the enclosure with cutouts for the lettering, etc. Might not be practical...the pic just made me think of it.

Makes me think a 3D printed faceplate would be pretty cool.

I'm in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK if you need a guy.

Crisp/ not round sounds like you want something like an OCD or a distortion like a Rat.

However, the JMK Bass Drive can get quite crisp. It's a straightforward build.

The Ginger is also good, I used mine more as anpreamp as it was a very subtle OD. Boost in front of the Ginger brings it into better OD territory. The amp it's based on sounds great for cleaner guitar and bass tones, so it's no wonder it works well for bass and guitar.

The Valvecaster is great for bass too.

It's interesting watching the progression of the lightsabre fights.  ANH was really just a kendo fight with glowing sticks and an old man trying to spin.  Luke's beatdown of Vader in ROTJ is probably a favourite.  The prequel trilogy are too flashy, imo.

The Vader corridor rampage in Rogue One was worth the price of admission, and the fight in TLJ was great.

The change in fighting styles can be explained by the fact that Kenobi was old and couldn't fight like he used to, and Luke never had anyone to teach him the fancy stuff. It actually makes sense.

Vader in R1 is something I want to see a whole lot of. The fight in TLJ was excellent, but I wish there'd been an actual saber-on-saber fight. But I didn't even realize it was absent from the film until I got home.

I liked it. I saw it once. I think I'll enjoy it more in context with the final film. I also liked TFA, too, even though I think Abrams is an overrated hack.

Thanks for this post!  Just at the start of a similar journey. I have read a lot of great stuff about the broughton effects: http://broughtonaudio.bigcartel.com/products

I get the sense that the joshwah doesn't get very "wet" sounding and i like that about the source audio bef. Is that accurate? Also, what's better about his oc2 version?

I don't know... the Joshwah gets plenty quacky and funky to me. I'd need a sound sample of what one wants to achieve with an envelope to know if the Joshwah can do it or not.

The Broughctave has the following improvements over an OC2: no -2 octaves; separate volume controls for dry and octave down go well above unity so the solo'd sub can be heard in the mix; a filter sweep for both dry and octave sounds separately so you can tweak them for fat dub sounds or growly synthier sounds; dedicated Square wave control adds a square wave fuzz in unison with the dry signal (also has a filter control); second footswitch can be configured to solo the sub, engage the Square wave, or something else I forget.

It can sound just like an OC2, but the volume and filter controls let you really tweak it to taste.

Haven't tried the U-boat and I don't think I will unless I find one really cheap. What I really want is another Meatbox to add even more subs to all my tones.

I've run the gamut of octave + Envelope combos.

First came the OC2 paired with the MXR Bass Envelope. The MXR had a weird noise issue so I flipped it for the one-footswitch Source Audio BEF.

Used the combo a good few months, then got a second OC2: one for octave plus dry, one for octave no dry. Decided I liked the option of soloing the octave and flipped my OC2s for a 3Leaf Oftabvre. Around the same time I flipped the BEF for the SA Manta.

Enjoyed that combo for a few months and then Josh Broughton at TalkBass developed the Broughctave, a refined and heavily modded/ improved OC2 and eventually flipped my Octabvre for one of those.

Then Josh developed the Joshwah, which is sort of like a Mutron III but simpler, and since I found I only used one setting on the Manta, I flipped the Manta to get a Broughctave.

I now use the Broughctave into the Joshwah for funk and synth style tones. Add OD or fuzz or delay for super synthy sounds.

The world needs a Bass Micro Synth with rotary pots instead of the easily-broken sliders.

Honestly. Go buy yourself a multimeter even if it is the cheapest one you can find it is better than nothing. It is an essential tool for building pedals. You would have known instantly if something is fried in it. And build yourself an audio probe while you are at it.

Easier said than done given I'm moving overseas soon... but I'll borrow a multimeter and poke around. Given that it smells like fried electronics, I haven't even bothered opening it up to look at the guts.