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Hey y'all,

I'm working on the Black Horse Effects "1968" (a Rangemaster + a Fuzz Face with an external bias knob similar to Analogman's Sun Face). I'm using some matched Ge transistors from Small Bear for the Fuzz Face side, and the circuit has an internal 50k trimpot, and uses a 5kC external pot for the bias control.

I'm having trouble getting the Q2 collector close to -4.5v. Even with the bias controls, my is -7.71v to -6.53v. Because the circuit uses those bias controls, I decided to use the stock resistor values on the build doc:

R2: 33k
R3: 470r
R4: 100k
R5: 2k7

Do I need to change any of these values to get the Q2 collector value closer to -4.5v? (I did socket R2-R5 in case I needed to make changes.)

Here's a link to the build doc

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8HPHm7M8U3zdGxMWEFEazdSNVk/view?usp=sharing

Other relevant info:
Q1: cv7007, 93hfe, L =220
Q2: oc42, 168hfe, L = 54

Thanks!

Hey y'all,

I started building guitars about a year ago and a lot of pedal stuff sat at the back of the workbench for a while. I had a few unpopulated boards, a few spare enclosures, and a bunch of leftover parts from previous orders. In an attempt to clean stuff out, I was like, "Well, I shouldn't let this stuff go to waste!" This weekend, I finished two new builds and a re-build.

From left to right, it's the Stutr tremolo, the Woodstork fuzz, and the Glam chorus. I built the Stutr and the Glam over the weekend. Both are cool and I dig the sounds within. (Sidenote: The Glam reminds me a little of the modulation feature in the Multiplex Jr. delay, which I love. I assume it's because they both use the PT2399 that there's some sonic similarity?)

I built the Woodstork back in 2016, but fried it six months ago when I forgot my 1-spot and borrowed my bandmate's multi-voltage wall adapter. After realizing that there were too many parts I'd have to replace, I just bought a new board and started over (reusing the same enclosure and the Ge transistors). Once I had it working, I was like, "WHY DIDN'T I FIX THIS EARLIER?!?" I absolutely love how that fuzz sounds in my rig.

The art on the enclosures isn't anything exceptional. Overall, this weekend I was reminded of how much I enjoy building pedals. I still have a few boards left, and I hope to get those finished hopefully by the end of the year.





Cheers!

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Hey y'all,

I built the Harbinger in summer of 2014 and I've absolutely loved it. A few months ago, the effect stopped working.
It was like the effect got weaker and weaker. The pulsing didn't seem as deep, and eventually, it just stopped.

There's a signal in bypass mode, and there's a signal when the effect is engaged. I opened up the unit and saw that the mini lightbulb wasn't blinking anymore although the rate LED still blinks.

Here's what I've done so far:
1) Reflowed all the joints and connections (and double checked the connection at the speed pot)
2) Got out my meter and took measurements (see results below)
3) I remember reading on another troubleshooting thread to check Q11-13. When I checked values with my meter, I didn't get readings too far outside the range printed on the build doc. (I replaced them anyway to see if it made a difference; it didn't.) 

Here's what I haven't tried:
1) Throwing the PCB against the wall
2) Hitting it with a hammer
3) Getting a new Speed pot.






Any thoughts?

Hey y'all,

I'm looking for a new spring reverb tank for my AC15c1 (I can't repair the old tank). I've been looking on Mojotone and other sites, but I can't seem to find the exact replacement. The code on my tank says BS 3EB3C1B. It is a short, 3 spring reverb unit in a box that's the exact dimensions as this one on Mojotone: http://www.mojotone.com/amp-parts/ReverbTanks_1/8EB2C1B-Reverb-Tank-Fender-Style-3-Spring

However, this  replacement one doesn't match the code exactly. Will this replacement still work?

Sub question: can I use any spring reverb tank as long as the input and output impedance are the same as the stock unit? Like, any tank that has the code xEBxC1B?

Okay, this build report is long. For those with limited time / interest / attention span, just skip to the end.

Did any of you ever have to read Samuel Taylor Coleridge's epic poem, "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" in school? If not, here's the quick version: an arrogant sailor shows disrespect for the natural order of things and kills an albatross. Though it's never explicitly stated, one can argue that sailor kills the albatross as an act of defiance. The sailor wants to show his force over nature.

Once the sailor kills the albatross, all hell breaks loose. After killing the bird, a whole bunch of bad stuff happens to the sailor and the crew. For a good chunk of the poem, the sailor has the dead albatross chained to his neck as a consequence. At the end, the reader learns that, for the rest of his life, the sailor wanders the land and tells people this cautionary tale of what happens when humans defy the natural order.

So here's my cautionary tale and my own personal albatross. Gather around kids....

This project started over TWO YEARS AGO as a Fatpants / Afterlife. I didn't really know what I was doing. A friend asked me to build a 2-in-1 boost/comp pedal. I told him I had only built a handful of easy circuits, but that building a 2-in-1 "shouldn't be a big deal." Oh, I was so arrogant.

Now, in 2014, I had a limited understanding of electrical circuits and pedals. Currently, my understanding is still limited, but I'm learning more.  But back then, I was the type of builder who viewed pedal building sort of like Legos with a soldering iron. I was very much a "build by numbers guy." I was just soldering parts and putting stuff together. I didn't really know what components did within a circuit. It was like, "Okay so a resistor goes here, a cap goes here yada yada."

When I started this project, I had built only three pedals (very simple circuits) and didn't use a testing rig! What was the use? My first three pedals didn't give me too many troubles. Now, I look back and say, "Oh how foolish was I!"

So I start building this thing - which I dub the "FatComp" - and it's a struggle from the beginning. (I should add that, in addition to the FatComp for my friend, I decided to build one for myself at the same time). I make multiple orders from Mammoth and Mouser for components. I mix up resistor values as I'm simultaneously soldering on two different boards. I don't really understand how to bias the Fatpants properly. I'm confused about how I hook up two effects. The off-board wiring is tricky, etc. I made every mistake an overconfident rookie would make.

I used a 1590BB enclosure and didn't  really consider where I drilled the holes. I did some planning, but I didn't properly consider critical things like the space for the ¼" jacks. I didn't even use a drilling template! Since I was making a custom pedal, I was like, "I can figure this out. These knobs will go here, these switches will go here, etc." Man, was I naïve. When I went to box the effect, the guitar cable couldn't plug in all the way because the board was too close to the jacks. (Insert facepalm here)

After two months, I finish the first "FatComp" and it worked for a while. Don't ask me how (I was still struggling with the off-board wiring in the second one). The wiring was a mess, and I could never properly dial in the voltage for the Fatpants. In hindsight, that should have been a red flag. But I was like, "Whatever! Rock n roll!" I give it to my buddy and he's digging it.

Then, a week later, he's at rehearsal and goes to hit the Fatpants side, but the pedal shorts out. I open it up and it smells like burnt electricity. A couple weeks later, I finally build a testing rig, I do some troubleshooting, replace the IC and get it working. Two weeks later, the same thing happens. I try to diagnose the problem, I throw in another IC but I'm unsuccessful. I swap the Fatpants board from my pedal into his, and his pedal worked again (and still does).

In the mean time, Madbean discontinued the full-size Fatpants board. I was just going to buy another Fatpants board and start all over again, but now I was stuck with a 1590BB with all these holes, and a working Afterlife board. I basically left the whole thing untouched for 2 years. Since then, I've built other pedals and vehemently avoided making any 2-in-1s.

(Side note: On three separate occasions, I've replaced components on the damaged Fatpants board, but I can't figure it out. It doesn't work. I've replaced nearly half of the components by this point. The Fatpants board sits untouched in my "fail drawer" to this day.)

Fast-foward to the present. I decide now is the time to give this thing another shot. I decide that the best use of this pre-drilled enclosure is to run a Green Bean into an Afterlife. I tested and retested everything before cramming it back into the old enclosure. Again, I should add that because of the holes that I've drilled, I couldn't use PC mounted pots. That added another layer of time when soldering, and increased the possibility of a short somewhere. I just wanted to get this project finished so I could move on. (And, yes, I had to do a bunch of troubleshooting when I was wiring the footswitches.) Here's what it looks like:



Here are the guts:



When I was labeling the controls with a paint marker, a stray drip landed on the enclosure and I was like, "that looks like bird poop. How fitting." I then proceeded to dot the enclosure even more.



Does it work? Currently, yes. Does it sound great? Indeed it does. I am glad this albatross is no longer around my neck and is instead on my pedalboard. I'm sort of waiting for it to fail because this project still seems cursed.



Here's the thing: the layout, the drilling templates, the wiring guides, and the boards that Madbean provides are incredibly helpful (duh). And I just complicated everything by ignoring all of that. Lesson learned. Thanks for reading my tale of woe. Kids, follow the directions!   

TL/DR: I made a pedal and it took forever because I tried to do it my own way.

Hey y'all,

I'm building a 2-in-1 and running a Green Bean into an Afterlife compressor. Before boxing, I tested each circuit individually on my testing rig and both properly worked. I did all the off-board wiring and tested again. This time, only the Green Bean side worked. The Afterlife, when bypassed, still allowed a signal to pass through, but when the footswitch for the Afterlife was engaged, there was a small pop, the LED flashed, and no sound passed through.

I've double checked my off-board wiring against the Madbean doc and I'm not sure where I made an error. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Hi everybody,

I finished building this well over a year ago, but I felt lame just posting a plain blue box. My sister (who is a better drawer than me) did the sketch of the whale a few weeks ago. I absolutely love the sound of this pedal. That huge, rich, thick, swirly chorus sound is awesome! (Waaaaay better than some of those Univibe clones that are just phasers with different cap values.) I usually add some fuzz before this for that extra 'thump.' It sounds so cool!

I fell in love with the sound of the Univibe long before I started playing guitar. I remember hearing the Jimi Hendrix "Band of Gypsys" album and being entranced by the liquidy guitar sound on "Machine Gun." Nothing really sounds quite it. (Of course, as my hand-written warning states, the sound is there, but my actual guitar skills are no match for those of Hendrix.)

Hi everybody,

Here my latest builds. I finally took pics. The top is a Mudbunny set to Russian specs. Nothing too fancy (although I think I'm finally getting the hang of neat wiring).  The second is a Phybes Phaser inside a wah shell. I found a cheap (broken) bass wah off craigslist for $15 and used a stencil to spray paint the gold pattern.

Hey everybody,

Can the cold weather damage pedals? I built the Harbinger in July 2014 and it has been one of my favorites since.
I played a bar gig a few days ago and it was cold outside. I finished my set and had to wait around for someone else. Now, I hate leaving gear in my car, but in this situation it couldn't be avoided. It got cold here (like -2F) and my amp and my pedal board were in my trunk for about six hours. As soon as I got home, I unloaded all my gear and left it until today.

When I fired up my rig today, the Harbinger didn't work. It passes a signal when the effect is both on and off, but there's no modulation. The lightbulb doesn't pulse anymore, but the brightness changes when I adjust the internal trimpots. Any quick suggestions? (Aside from completely unboxing and going through the standard troubleshooting procedures.)

Also, has anyone had this happen to gear that was exposed to the cold?

Hi everybody,

I'm interested in building a Nom Nom that allows me to control the speed with my foot. I figure I'd ask a few questions before I did something stupid:

1) Is it even possible to put a Nom Nom in a wah? The "speed" control on the build diagram calls for a 500kC pot, but I can't find any wah pots in that value (I checked Smallbear & Mammoth)
2) Is there anything else I need to consider?

Answer: TWO TONEBENDERS, of course!

I built one for me and one for a friend. He and I were in our first band together back in high school (15 years ago, wow). Part of the fun with this project has been swapping out transistors and adjusting the trimmers. As I was dialing in these two pedals, I was hearing sounds that were similar to some of my guitar heroes. Like, "Oh, that sounds like 'Satisfaction', that sounds like early Zeppelin, this sounds like the Black Keys." ect.





The lightning bolt Tonebender has two BC109s and a 2n5088 in Q3. It can get some good "Mick Ronson / Spiders From Mars" tones. The copper one has three 2n3904s and is more dialed to Page / Zepp sounds. (I know that Ronson and Page used Ge Tonebenders, but with my LP Standard, Orange Dual Terror and Vox AC15, I was able to get close enough.)

Special shoutout to Mgwhit who helped me with a troubleshooting issue, and TreeSlayer who sent me two diodes because I forgot to add them in my original order. I've now built 12 pedals and I think I'm getting to the point where I should buy parts in bulk instead of ordering individual transistors / caps / resistors for each individual project. I inevitably end up forgetting something in each order.

PS: I also made a two function footswitch for my AC15. Can you believe they charge $40 for these at Guitar Center? Sheesh. (However, this is probably my first and last 1590A - way too small for my hands to work.)

Good evening everybody,

I'm working on Madbean silicon tone bender and using the 1776 Effects 3PDT breakout board with it. I got everything hooked up, tested it, and it sounds good & loud. However, the LED on the Tonebender board isn't lighting up.

I matched the terminals on the main circuit board (9V / G / IN / OUT) to the same terminals on the breakout board (but I didn't put a 4.7k resistor on the breakout board). I'm sure I'm missing one small detail but I can't figure it out. Any assistance would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi everybody,

I'm building a two button footswitch to control the tremolo and reverb on my Vox AC15. I'm also building the cable as well. Can I use regular instrument cable with 1/4" TRS plugs? Or do I need some sort of different cable to connect the amp to the switch?

Okay, so this build gave me some trouble. Initially, I couldn't get the modulation to work properly. However, I got some help in the tech support forum (shout out to mgwhit for the help!) and was able to get this thing working.

Then, it was time to drill the enclosure. The drilling on the top was spot-on, but I totally misjudged where I needed to drill the input/output jacks and the modulation switch. I drilled FOUR extra holes and everything was a tight fit.

Given the frustration and the extra holes, the title seemed appropriate. I would have ordered another enclosure, but I have three gigs in the next 11 days and I really wanted to use this because it sounds absolutely cool. Here are pics of my "Swiss cheese" drilling handiwork:





And the extra holes ( there are two more on the other side)

I had somewhat of a hard time with this pedal. I struggled with the wiring, but got it hooked up...and then the circuit had some problems. (I fried the first IC because I don't think I biased the circuit correctly). Anyway, long story short, here's a quick demo / me hacking around:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkfhhmD5PZ0

Hi everybody,

This is my first 2-in-1: a Fatpants + Afterlife combo. The wiring is sort of a hot mess, but it everything works and it sounds awesome. I have a 50s classic Tele and this throws some muscle into the tone. (Special shout-out to "Oldhousescott" who helped me with the wiring - I really learned a lot with this project).





I'll try and post a demo this weekend if I get the time.

Hello everybody,

I'm still fairly new at this and I'm working on my first 2-in-1. I've run into a few problems regarding the wiring. I'm combining a Fatpants and an Afterlife (the Fatpants is first in the chain) and, after looking at the 2-in-1 wiring diagram from GGG,  here are my two questions:

1) Since the Fatpants has an 18v output, how do I wire these two boards together?

2) Can I still run the Fatpants buffered while having the Afterlife as true-bypass (or do they both need to run true-bypass like the GGG diagram shows)? If so, how does this change the wiring on the GGG diagram?

(And here's the diagram I'm referencing: http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/two_in_one_wiring.pdf?phpMyAdmin=78482479fd7e7fc3768044a841b3e85a)

Update 2/18/14: I finished wiring everything according to the diagram below (except for the battery snap) but the LED for the Afterlife doesn't work.

It's weird because the LED did light up when I first tested the circuits. When I first tested the circuits, I was getting sound and everything sounded like it was working correctly. However, the output jack was scratchy so I did a little touchup with the soldering iron. After I did that touchup and tested it one more time, the LED for the Afterlife didn't light up. (I'm still getting sound from both effects when the 3DPT switches are engaged).

After checking all my connections related to the LED (I thought a weak soldering joint might have come loose), I popped the LED out and tested it to see if it worked (I put the LED on a 9V battery) The LED didn't light up at all. I found a new LED, tested it to see if it worked, and swapped it in to the Afterlife circuit. It didn't work at all. When I removed the new LED and tested it, it also didn't light up.

Am I burning out LEDs? Am I doing damage to the circuit? What's going on? Any help would be much appreciated.

Hi everybody,

I'm attempting my first 2-in-1 project by combining a Fatpants and an Afterlife in the same enclosure. I'm going to completely eliminate the battery snap on this project. After reading the build docs and looking at the "Two Boards / One Box diagram" from GGG, I had a few questions:

1) Can the Fatpants power the Afterlife? (Again, I'm still learning about this stuff and it may be a dumb question)
2) Assuming the answer to question 1 is "yes," if I connect the 18v+ pad on the Fatpants to the 9v+ pad on the Afterlife, I can eliminate the connection from the DC jack to the Afterlife, correct?
3) Is there any thing else I have to consider when putting these two units in the came enclosure?

Thanks!


Update: I had more specific questions and moved this to the regular Tech Help thread. Admin, feel free to delete this.

I have a couple general questions: when is it appropriate to substitute diodes? How would I know if a certain diode would work without significantly altering the sound?

I ask because I'm working on a Fatpants and I'd prefer to order everything from Mammoth, but they don't stock 1N5817 diodes.

I just finished fixing up this Baldwin / Gibson Les Paul Jr. copy. I shielded the pickup cavity and the electronics cavity with copper tape. I also I installed a new wraparound bridge, which allows for minor intonation adjustments, and a Dream 90 (a humbucker-sized P90). I'm playing through a VoxAC15C1. For about $50 I think the guitar ended up sounding respectable. (Sorry about the lo-fi recording quality of my phone)





And here's the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q30u4rIsTKs