Messages

It's a reference to The Kinks -- their legendary hit "You Really Got Me" had the guitar recorded on an amp that Ray Davies took a razor blade to, cutting the speaker cone to create distortion.

I think Link Wray was poking holes in his speakers in about 1958 to get a raspy overdrive (about ten years earlier)

Andrew

It's a great guitar - amazing tone. It was considered a "student model" when it was made. The body is a slab, no contouring like the higher end models of the day. The fret board radius is a lot bigger than a Fender, it takes a little more effort to play. That's the original (or I guess period correct) case too, it came with it.  I noticed on Reverb that those old Lifton cases go for a lot of money too. A friend of mine bought it in Montana somewhere in the late 80s. I'll have to ask him how much he paid for it - great guy - he let me take it and  let me pay in instalments (vintage gear was much cheaper pre internet).

I bought the Telecaster Deluxe at the same time. I actually lent the Telecaster back to the seller (he is one of my oldest friends) and he had it for about ten years - that guitar has travelled more than me from Montana to  Europe, Montreal and Japan - I think it might have been used on a Godspeed you Black Emperor album - I'll have to confirm that.

Two more - mid 70s Fender short scale bass and 70s (?) Hagstrom II.

I saw Nels Cline play an identical Hagstrom II many years ago with the Geraldine Fibbers.

Andrew.

I haven't posted in a while, because I haven't built any pedals this year, though I did build some speakers (LXmini) and am working on an Elliott Sound power amplifier.

1956 Gibson TV Special
1970s Fender Telecaster Deluxe
1992 American Standard Stratocaster
Mid 70s Fender Lap Steel (8 string)
1964 Fender Super Amp - (rescued from a painter's studio, which is why the grill cloth has paint on it)

I haven't really bought much gear since I started a family almost 20 years ago - I bought everything here in the 90s, the Stratocaster I bought new.

Andrew

Thanks for the info.  I hope the cheaper options return before too long.
Andrew.

Anyone ordered from Tayda recently? When ordering I now only see DHL as a shipping option (no postal service option). Is this a new thing?  If I am stuck using DHL, will I see any additional charges on my end?

Thanks!
Andrew

Meh. Added complexity for too little benefit. Also using "proprietary cables" seems like a bad direction to pursue.

Andrew.

I'm not really familiar with the VFE pedals, but I am assuming you are using a uC for the relay switching.
I would first check the power supply, uCs will behave weirdly if they are not receiving the expected power. Are you using a battery?

Andrew.

I've considered using a CD4013 for a flip flop, but it would need an additional transistor to drive the relay and it is a larger IC -14pins vs the 555 timers 8 pins.  I don't use batteries for my pedal board so the quiescent current of the 555 is not an issue.

Andrew.

I have used uCs in the past (Attiny13A), they work well and it is only a few lines of code. I don't want a uC in every pedal, so I have laid out a relay switching board using a NE555 and a P-channel JFet for muting. I'm waiting for them to arrive from OSH Park to verify...

I have read that the 555 timers can create current surges when switching which can be pretty noisy, I was pretty careful with the ground currents in my layout. Hopefully it won't be an issue.

Andrew.

The data sheet shows a circuit for a "distortion free attenuator for low level ac signals". Looking at the transfer function graph, the signals would need to be below 100mV pk - so it looks doable, you might need to attenuate to signal before the h11f1 and then add gain after.

Andrew.

It really depends on the circuit. Sometimes you can scale the resistances, sometimes it doesn't matter, sometimes you can add a resistor in series and live with the decreased range of the pot.

Andrew.

My first pedals used a CD4052 for switching. Then I switched to mictesters relay bypass for a while - I really like it and it is very quiet.

I decided to switch to an Attiny13A for the logic so I could

a)incorporate muting to get rid of the last bit of click when switching

b) add remote switching.

I want to have an 1/8 " stereo jack on each pedal. This would allow me to read the pedal's status and switch the pedal remotely. Rather than have an external looping box to have presets I would have an arduino nano based switch box  turning various pedals on and off as required. I am inching towards having a "proof on concept" finished, but my three children are stealing all of my free time these days.

There are a couple of benefits to this plan.
1) The audio does not have to be routed through an external switching box
2) The user can turn pedals on or off normally with the regular pedal mounted footswitch, the switching box would be able to turn the pedal back on or off when a preset is pressed.
3) MIDI could be incorporated for say a Strymon pedal. (Though the initial setup might not be as simple as I would like)
4) The cables carrying the switch logic I plan to use are cheap and plentiful (eBay)

Andrew.

Tayda sells scrap and fakes. One thing to use them in your own builds, but IMHO using their parts in stuff for sale would be unscrupulous.

I find this laughable. We are talking about guitar pedals here. If spending too much on parts helps your self-esteem go for it.

I am sure we have all heard stories of pedal makers (Electro-Harmonix for example) in the 70s buying whatever parts they could get a hold of and churn out (now iconic) pedals.

Personally, I measure most parts before I solder it them - and the Tayda stuff I have measured is in spec and I have not seen any failures.

The notable exception is some jfets they used to sell. Most everything else seems ok to me.

Andrew.

Maybe because the Millenium bypass turns on rather slowly so it might be less likely to produce a pop.

Just a guess.

Andrew.

The Good....

Big Star  -  #1 Record / Radio City
Curtis Mayfield   -  Superfly
Dinosaur Jr. - Bug
Elliott Smith - Figure 8
Hot Snakes  - Audit in Process
Flaming Lips - Hit to Death in the Future Head
Calexico - Aerocalexico
Ennio Morricone - A Fistful of Film Music
Guided by Voices - Do the Collapse
Husker Du - Zen Arcade
Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands
Link Wray - The Swan Singles Collection
The Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For the Deaf
Radiohead - OK Computer
Ramones - Any of the early albums
The Replacements - Let It Be
Slow - Against the Glass
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Television - Marquee Moon
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One

The Bad...

If I don't like it, I ignore it so nothing here