Messages

Yep, that's the one. I don't understand it, but it works.   

ATTN: papasaurus84- I must have gone brain dead and didn't realize that I was telling you that you could put 18v into a charge pump until I re-read my post. I built a separate little power supply that takes +9v in and turns it into +/-18v out. DO NOT put 18v into your circuit.  I don't see any way that the pcb and a power supply pcb would fit into a 1590A. You could use a 12V supply into the pedal to get +/-12v if you use a TC1044scpa or maybe even 15v in if you use the LT1054 but it will be pushing the limit. Probably will work for a long time but the charge pump could give at some point.

Thank you Rob! On the LT1054, I am only putting 9v in but getting +/-18 volts out. I have done the same thing with a TC1044scpa with no problems.

The suggestions with bringing the initial voltage down to 6V and doubling it is a good one.
But dont use a voltage divider, use a 6V zener diode to bring it down or a 7806 voltage regulator if you dont want to calc the correct current resistor for the zener.
How much does the boneyard consume (in mA) ? you might get away with a 78L06 if is below 60mA.

Can you explain how to calculate the current resistor for the zener diode Thomas? I didn't realize that you had to do anything other than put the zener in between +9 and the IC.

Yeah it will work at +/- 18v but I wouldn't use a MAX1044 in it for the charge pump. I think I used a TC1044SCPA or even safer bet is a LT1054 (with pin 1 not connected to anything). I used sockets for voltage regulators so I can change the voltage if I want to so the charge pump is giving +/- 18v all of the time and then the circuit is getting fed the output of what ever voltage regulators I put in.

I never thought about it (but it's a much better idea) to use the zener diodes before the charge pump to drop the voltage before you double it. Less voltage going to the charge pump, cheaper, and you don't have to incorporate ground one leg of the voltage regulators, you could use any charge pump you want. I will do it this way from now on and socket the zeners so I can try different voltages. If you want the full voltage, just use a jumper in the socket (or use a 9.1v zener so that any input voltage will be ok and not fry your circuit if you accidentally plugged in a 12v power supply).

I'm having problems with the input/tuner PCB. Maybe I wasn't ready either.... 

I have run mine at +/-12v, 15v, and 18v. It gets cleaner and quieter (less compressed) the more voltage you use. At some point for high gain it seems to sound better a little compressed to "sing". If using for med/low gain 18v is awesome. For high gain 12v worked very well. I built one with sockets for voltage regulators and settled on 15v. Of course this is just my opinion and sound is subjective.

THANK YOU! This will be a great pedal. I was just about to build another Boneyard in a 1590B but I am going to wait for this one. I agree that the +/- 12 volts sounds better. You notice it more if you are playing with lower gain like an AC/DC type crunch than when using this pedal as an 80"s rock box.

Thanks everyone. It's really not that scary since I still don't understand how it works, LOL. I just followed the instructions and took it slow. I asked questions when I didn't understand and Thomas explained what needed to be done. It's definitely the biggest project I have done just from sheer volume of work but not any harder than any other project. It is a pretty amazing project though so mad props to Thomas!

So I am trying to figure out what to do about labels. I used a pre-painted Hammond box and it has a fairly rough texture. I thought about masking and painting areas in white to be able to put labels over. Any thoughts?

Thanks. LOTS of holes had to be drilled and getting a decent rectangle with file really sucks. It came out pretty good. Everything is straight and you can't tell it's homemade from 10 feet away. 
I can post pics IF I ever finish my pedal board! Deciding what to put where is going to be harder than building this thing! I will get it done soon though. I have a pretty good idea of what I want where.

Well after quite a bit of work, I finally finished Thomas' PControl project. It's a cool switcher and everything functions as it should. Let me just say that Thomas is an awesome guy and answered quite a few questions about this project before and during construction. I decided to use a box about and inch wider and deeper than Thomas did so I could use two rows of switches and still have a reasonable amount of room between them. I haven't decided on labels yet though. Bottom row of switches left to right is patch selection 1-2-3-4. Next row left is Tuner out, middle is bank down, right is bank up. Top right switch is buffer on (up position) and the pot is volume. Program switch is the little one next to the display and the toggle is for loop 8 (down position) or biamping (up position). Here are a few pics:

I have used this setup on fuzzes and a rangemaster with great results. The first time I had seen this was on Joe Gagan's easyface fuzz. I didn't use the pregain on the schematic but it works well to vary the input gain when going between single coil and humbucker guitars.  For the blender, you do need a pretty big variance between the two parallel caps to get decent changes when turning the pot. His choice of a 10nF and 3.3uF caps with the 100KB pot works well.  

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_ff5_sc_easy.pdf?phpMyAdmin=78482479fd7e7fc3768044a841b3e85a

Sorry guys, try this one and click on "Shane's Marshall-style pedal":


https://soundcloud.com/kass-belaire

Man that is awesome!

Thanks! I really wanted that AC/DC type mid gain marshall sound and I really think this pedal nails it.