Topics

Built for a friend.  Went with a Neutrino and Fatpants.  The Fatpants is stock.  Added a switch for the Neutrino for Asy/Sym clipping.  Borrow (with permission) Captain Peyote and Grind Customs Switcheroo idea for making a order switching PCB. 
This build was a big project for me.  Etched both boards and the order switching pcb.  Spent a great deal of time making sure everything would fit in Photoshop.  It was a lofty goal for me and it was successful.  I really was disappointed in the cleanliness or lack of in regard to wiring.  Maybe not enough planning in terms of wiring.
Anyway, this is a fantastic sounding combo.  First time I played through it the family was out if the house so I really got to crank the amp.  Before I knew it I had literally broken a sweat!  It was a lot of fun, which is what it is all about.  I'm going to deliver the pedal today and hope this enjoys it half as much as me.  I'm thinking I need to build one myself.
Thanks Brian for so many great projects!!!

I'm ignorant to bass players needs and my buddy couldn't articulate.  What project would you recommend for bass player who does a lot of slap/funk?

I'm building the MB Upperdecker for friend.  I read somewhere it was recommended to use shielded cable.  Do I need to connect the outer shielding to ground for this be effective?  Or, does the metal shielding around the wire itself protect from interference?  I'm supposing it needs to be grounded but hoping it doesn't;)
Also, should I run shielded from input jack to 3pdt, 3pdt to board in, board out to 3pdt, 3pdt to output jack?  Is this overkill? Then there is the boost section that runs to it's own 3pdt.  Seems a real PITA to run shielded cable and ground it at every point where the signal travels!  Talk some sense into me:)

I've been searching for an epiphone dot or similar semi-hollow body.  Came across one in pieces on Craigslist with Gibson USA 490r/t pickups.  I had an old beat up epiphone hummingbird acoustic (without electronics) that he was interested in.  We did a straight trade.  Turns out the pickup wiring was a wreck.  In fact, the pots were covered in solder.  It would ground out when put in the body.  I had to remove the wrapping and rewire things.
Once I got it all put together I realized the pickups were out of phase.  So I flipped the magnet and now have a very sweet semi hollow.  I had a Washburn Wes Montgomery years ago and was never happy with the pups.  These 490r/t sound great.  Very happy!
Also in the deal: Pedaltrain Pt-1, set of Lace Sensor Blue/Silver/Red, and a brand new hards shell case for the Dot.
Couldn't be happier!

Built the Fatpants.  Hooked it up to my testing rig.  Hooked up the ground wire.  When I went to connect the 9v wire, there was a visible arc followed a few seconds later by the smell of electronics/fried.  I get close to 9v at the bias point when the trim is turned all the way up.  This has happened twice (the second time is when I saw the arc.  )
What would cause this issue?

Building one of these for a buddy and he wants to the option of switching between sym/asym clipping.  Is there a better way to do it than this?
Thinking of putting the diode in a socket, soldering wires to the diode and putting the other diode on a SPST switch.

I'm trying to find JRC4580D ICs in the US.  I found NMN4580D at mouser.  I'm building a MB Upperdecker.  Would this be a sufficient alternate?

I purchased a TLC274cn from Tayda.  I populated my board and it doesn't work.  My signal essentially stops at the IC in.  I checked Mouser and there seems to a variety of TLC274 with different numbers that follow.

Buddy of mine has a Maestro Fuzz -1A, meaning it runs on (1) AA battery.  He wants to be able to plug a standard 9v adapter to power it.  Could I use the Road Rage to convert the power to appropriate -9V and then use the Beavis Audio dying battery simulator to get to the 1.5V needed ?
http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/DBS/#Adding

Is there a better way to drop the voltage to 1.5V?

In the past I've used steel wool and acetone.  Is the steel wool neccesary for transfer.  In my mind a smooth surface would transfer better than a scuffed surface. 

I'm printing off images to transfer to copper clad tomorrow.  Do you transfer multiple images to one large piece of clad and then etch leaving the cutting of the board to last?
Or, do you cut the board and transfer individually and then etch multiple pieces.
Are their other options?  I've always cut the clad first.  But given the number of boards, I thought it might save time to transfer all at once. 

Can I feed the Road Rage 12V and use the 18v out?
Or does it just accept 9v?

Can the egghead be run at 18v?

I have a friend who's asked me to build him an OD/Boost combo pedal.  He's expressed interest in order switching via toggle or footswitch.  All he can tell me is that he wants a low-med gain transparent overdrive and boost. 
I'm thinking maybe a SHO type boost and an Eternity OD.  He mentioned a Timmy OD.  I know this is pretty subjective stuff but I'm looking for personal experiences and preferences here. Thanks:)

A buddy gave me this black distortion which gets mediocre reviews on the net and from me as well.  I'm not a distortion buff but I did like how well it cleans up.  After discussing the 500K reverse audio pot on another thread I think this is a real plus for this pedal.  You can really dial in some good OD type sounds with some subtle hair to it.
Most reviewers compared it to the earlier Tan version from the 70's stating the Tan was far superior.  So I thought, hey, I wonder if I can mod it to tan specs?  Turns out the pedals are exactly the same except for the clipping diodes.
Black=1N4148 (si)
Tan=1N270 (ge)
So I put diodes on a toggle switch.  Added true bypass and LED.  Replaced the DC jack with the standard Boss type.  Put new pots in and did my best to match up the knobs which were missing.
Like the germanium setting much better but think silicon has it's place to (more metal/less fuzzstortion).
This project was more about 'can I do this' than trying to produce a desire able product.
BTW, I almost lost my mind trying to locate the proper pcb mounting pots on mouser before saying screw it and order from SmallBear.  The combo of pcb mount, long shaft and knurled tip was too much;)

I have a basic understanding of the different tapers.  I have a Ross Distortion that I need to replace a pot on.  The distortion pot is a 500K reverse audio taper.  Would it be a big deal to replace it with a linear?  My mind tells me a linear would make more sense.  But, I've been confused about a lot of things pedal related;)
Wouldn't reverse audio put a lot of the distortion at the end of the pots rotation, making the majority of the rotation (beginning) fine tuning the more overdriven end?

My son, Luc, got some money for his birthday and decided he wanted to build an overdrive.  With help on this forum we went with the Egghead.  He soldered all the components and I boxed it up.  Since the circuit was based on the Clark Gainster we went with a gangster theme.  What better graphic for an 11 year old than Rocky and Mugsy from the Bugs Bunny cartoons.
What a great sounding OD by the way!
One last photo of my boy soldering:)

Build #2 from last night.  MB Sparkplug.  Tight fit in regards to depth.  Sounds great.  Look forward to playing with all the trimmers and knobs:)
It has been a real treat to work with a prefab board these last two pedals.

Friend of mine wanted a Gary Clark Jr sounding pedal so I built him this pedal.  I made the mistake of asking him what he wanted to name it.  Not crazy about the 'Dr Fuzzy' name but this thing sounds great!  I'll end up building one for myself at some point.  Excited to hear him play through it.

I have built a Kingslayer from an etched board.  It works but the signal is super hot/distorted. I audio probed the in on the IC and it sounds clean and the right volume.  The out on the IC is crazy hot.  I have a TLC274CN in there.  Got it from Tayda.  Just looked at SmallBear and there tlc274 had different letters following the numbers 274...believe it was acd.  Is it possible that I ordered the wrong tlc274?  Should I be looking at something else?