First up is a MB Poindexter. This thing is wild! Really over the top buzzy octave goodness. Sooooo loud. At first I was getting crazy clear radio interference when the gain knob was above 9 oclock, I added a 470pf cap which helped a bit, and then I did the inside of the box with copper shielding tape and that has it down to barely audible when the gain is up fairly high. I think also we have really crappy power and wiring in our house, and we are 1 km from a radio tower, so im happy with it for now. I had some little daughter boards made to hold the led in place under the clear pots and it worked out really well.
(http://i.imgur.com/JBA8u.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/FrYW4.jpg)
Guts
(http://i.imgur.com/XKrvo.jpg)
This is the little board for holding the LED in place inside the shaft of the pot. Works great.
(http://i.imgur.com/lgoMY.jpg)
Also here is a GGG Ross Compressor that I just finished. I've never had a compressor before so I cant wait to play around with it. If anyone has experience setting the trimpot, I would love to know what I should be listening for. I also learned how important it is for the enclosure to be perfectly level when pouring envirotex. :P
(http://i.imgur.com/leO7r.jpg)
Guts
(http://i.imgur.com/Iej70.jpg)
And last a kill switch. Cause why not.
(http://i.imgur.com/ohizG.jpg)
Looking very good, DuctTape! That Poindexter is very susceptible to RF and other noise sources, for sure. I remember testing mine on the breadboard and getting massive noise, which then disappeared after turning off a single non-incandescent light.
And, love the light up knobs, too.
Cool stuff Dave!
Jacob
Thanks guys, I have lots more in the works!
Quote from: madbean on January 29, 2012, 01:04:13 AMwhich then disappeared after turning off a single non-incandescent light.
I will try that tonight, there is 3 or 4 of those newer eco lights like 3 feet away from where I was testing it.
The light up knobs are great, I am building up a Pork Barrel right now and am going to use them to make the rate knob blink.
Dead King FX! 8) Love those lightup knobs on the poindexter... is that buddy holly?
Killswitch is a good idea... is that a momentary switch or latching?
Nice finishing Dave :)
very nice builds, duct tape. everything looks good. 8)
for the ross comp start with the trimmer halfway- with the equal measurements from lugs 1 & 2, and 3 & 4. then if you hear any thumping while you're playing you just finely adjust the trimmer one way or the other until you eliminate it. that's the basic trimpot instructions from guitarpcb's ross comp so I'm just guessing it's about the same procedure. good luck.
Quote from: nzCdog on January 29, 2012, 03:45:55 AM
Dead King FX! 8) Love those lightup knobs on the poindexter... is that buddy holly?
Killswitch is a good idea... is that a momentary switch or latching?
Nice finishing Dave :)
Yep, Buddy Holly it is. My band has been playing Weezer Buddy Holly so it was in my head. The kill switch is momenatry. Its pretty fun, I think building one you can use with your hand would obviously give more control, but its still pretty cool.
Haberdasher, thanks for the advice, I will finally be able to play around with it tonight so will give it a go.
Hi.. Awesome work! I recently built a Ross as well and I put light up knobs in too! I love them! Can you say "battery eater" ? lol.. Definitely a DC power supply required!
Although admittedly, I just heatshrinked the LED leads and secured them with a bit of hot melt glue.. :-[
Nice idea with the little boards though!
What do you think of the Ross? I compared it side by side to a new MXR Dynacomp, and the MXR was brighter and more transparent. But the Ross's compression was way smoother. I lowered the value of the .001 cap across the 150k OTA load resistor to 470pf and it brightened right up!.. I also upped the .05 output cap for even fuller bottom end response. I'm not a big compressor guy, but they are really nice with a clean sound. Especially with a Fender amp or in my case, the top boost channel of my DC30.
Dave
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the compliments! If you are interested I am organizing a group buy of the little lighted pot boards (and the pots themselves and clear knobs) in a thread here, as well as on the BYOC forum (most of the action seems to be there so far). We have lots of people in and look be be getting a pretty good discount. Right now I think it is about $0.55 for just the board, and $2.35 for a board/pot/knob combo. The thread is here if you are interested: http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=3767.0
For the compressor, I never even really tried one until I built the one above so I dont have anything to compare to. But I like it, I am still figuring out where it is useful and where not. I was playing some kinda rockabilly stuff with a bit of slap back delay last night and the comp sounded really good with that. I agree, for me I see best results with a cleaner sound, although it's fun to get that "sustain forever" on some good old distorted power chords. I mostly rock a Fender Hot Rod on clean, and get my dirt from my pedals, so it seems to be a good fit for me so far. I am interested in building a 5 knob compressor to play around with stuff like the attack.
I am really interested in your mods, as I to noticed that it seems to make my sound a bit darker than I might like, and I know I have some 470pf sitting around. What did you wind up going to for the output cap??
I'll check that link out Dave, sounds interesting. Oops right, I put in a 1uf. I like it..
Those light up pots look really good. The thick coat that the envirotex leaves is always really something to stare at!
I think I could find a use for a momentary kill switch as well..thanks for the idea. :)
If you do, make sure you get a momentary that has a short smooth action, that dosnt require a "click" to get it depressed. Mine you needed to get it to click much like a regular 3pdt and it made it really hard to get precise control. I ended up swapping out with a latching switch and gave it to a buddy who plays guitar and keys.
Quote from: madbean on January 29, 2012, 01:04:13 AM
Looking very good, DuctTape! That Poindexter is very susceptible to RF and other noise sources, for sure. I remember testing mine on the breadboard and getting massive noise, which then disappeared after turning off a single non-incandescent light.
And, love the light up knobs, too.
Hello. I have problem with RF noise.
What do you mean by "turning off a single non-incandescent light"?
Fluorescent lights generate radio frequency noise which can interfere with high gain circuits like this one :)
Quote from: nzCdog on August 14, 2012, 08:05:52 PM
Fluorescent lights generate radio frequency noise which can interfere with high gain circuits like this one :)
Ok. Maybe some schematic modification can solve this problem?
Quote from: medicament on August 14, 2012, 11:36:25 PM
Quote from: nzCdog on August 14, 2012, 08:05:52 PM
Fluorescent lights generate radio frequency noise which can interfere with high gain circuits like this one :)
Ok. Maybe some schematic modification can solve this problem?
Put a 22pF cap between the input and ground. Keep the leads as short as physically possible. Even a millimeter or two will keep it from working.
Quote from: midwayfair on August 14, 2012, 11:46:50 PM
Quote from: medicament on August 14, 2012, 11:36:25 PM
Quote from: nzCdog on August 14, 2012, 08:05:52 PM
Fluorescent lights generate radio frequency noise which can interfere with high gain circuits like this one :)
Ok. Maybe some schematic modification can solve this problem?
Put a 22pF cap between the input and ground. Keep the leads as short as physically possible. Even a millimeter or two will keep it from working.
to solve this problem i choose other transistor Q5. 2n3904 have big noise figure = 4 (in datasheet). i choose bc557bg (this transistor have noise figure = 2).
With this transistor i cant hear radio and other noise. May be in perfect find similar transistor with good gain.
Shielding the enclosure with copper tape and properly gounding it was a PITA, but totally took care of any RF problems, even under shitty power, and being 100m from a radio re-transmission tower.
Just a fast one, can I see the Kill switch gusts? I'm guessing you just put a jumper from hot to ground or do you put in a resistor, I don't want to damage my amp or pedals... but I think the volume control on the guitar dose just that, run off resistance to get less volume