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Messages - mjg

#766
Open Discussion / Re: NGD!! Finished #20
March 19, 2017, 09:52:02 PM
Looks beautiful Jimi.  A wonderful tribute. 
#767
It says near the bottom "Q1-Q4: J201" - so that's the transistors to use for all four of them.  'Q' means transistor for some reason. 

Just be wary of buying cheap J201 from eBay, they aren't always legit.

Edit: Yeah, What Alanp says.  He beat me by a minute. :)
#768
General Questions / Re: Backwards marked LEDs...?
March 16, 2017, 09:11:51 PM
I guess I'm lucky that I socketed that LED - I was being indecisive about where to mount it. 

If I had have soldered it in backwards that would have sucked.  I'll be double checking them from now on before soldering. 
#769
General Questions / Backwards marked LEDs...?
March 16, 2017, 08:52:08 AM
I've just spent about half an hour trying to work out why the rate LED on my "Shark Fin" build wasn't flashing. 

I tried some other coloured LEDs, and they worked fine.  But as soon as I put in a blue LED, it would stay on, rather than flash.  Tried resistors in series, which made it dimmer, but still didn't flash. 

After stuffing around for a while, I accidentally tried the blue LED 'backwards'  - it started flashing.    $&@&!!

Looking closer at the blue LEDs I've got, they are marked with the flat edge on the side with the longer leg.  Which is totally wrong isn't it?   :o  I was using the flat edge to judge polarity, but the legs were telling a different story. 

I then went through all the LEDs I got in that batch (yes, a cheap eBay buy from China).  The blue and red LEDs have the flat edge on the longer leg... the yellow and white LEDs have the flat edge on the shorter leg. 

So I guess I've learned two things - look at the leg, not the flat bit on the body... and don't buy cheap eBay LEDs from China? 
#770
Build Reports / Re: Chorus - Pork Barrel
March 15, 2017, 09:06:04 PM
Ooh, where do you get the glowing ring around the stomp switch. That is awesome.
#771
General Questions / Re: Golden Oldie, The EA TREMOLO
March 14, 2017, 09:06:17 PM
Would swapping your wires to lug 1 & 3 of the pot do the trick? 

A 'C' pot would change the taper, so it would change your speed more quickly at one end of the rotation than the other.  If you want to completely reverse the effect, I think just swapping lug 1 & 3 will do that. 
#772
Build Reports / Re: Sidescroller pedals
March 09, 2017, 09:09:43 PM
Very cool. I particularly like "Push start button".  :-)
#773
I ran a workshop with 5 people learning how to make a simple distortion effect.  I was pretty surprised that only 1 out of 5 people had already blown up an LED before I got to the bit about using a current limiting resistor...

The workshop was only on breadboard though - makes for easier 'undo'.  They don't have a rock solid pedal at the end, but they do have a sense of 'hey, I can make a cool noise with some bits'.  :)   They can then move on to soldering if they are keen. 
#774
Open Discussion / Punk death of a 70s console
March 05, 2017, 11:16:55 PM
Thought this story might interest some people around here - what happened to the mixing console used in one of the first punk recordings in the 70s. 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-06/the-saints-im-stranded-mixing-console-mystery-solved/8327034

(Have to admit, I'd probably have done the same thing...)
#775
Yep, just connect the black lines. Occasionally there will also be a ground connection to a pot that isn't on the layout, so watch out for that. It might be mentioned in a note instead.

Here's a few projects that I've built using this method - there are photos showing the under side of the boards. The connections are done with the legs of resistors usually, as that's what I'll be soldering on first.

http://graybloomfield.com/guitar/2016/05/14/tri-vibe/

http://graybloomfield.com/guitar/2016/09/04/ducky-von-quackenstein/

http://graybloomfield.com/guitar/2016/07/03/the-fett/
#776
Tech Help - Projects Page / Re: Testing rig woes.
February 27, 2017, 09:33:32 PM
As Jimi says, connect the DC jack ground to the input ground.  That should get your LED working when you switch the 'effect' on, regardless of if any test board is actually connected up. 

With my test rig, I only have 4 wires to connect - I don't think you will need the white alligator clip once you connect the grounds, because the board ground should connect up between the DC ground and the input/output ground anyway.  One less wire to worry about.  :-)

Some things you could continuity check (apologies if you've already tried these):

- With bypass on: 
   - should be connection between the long bendy bit of the input socket to the same on the output socket. 
   - should be connection between your input socket ground to the green alligator clip.

- With bypass off:
   - should be connection between the long bendy bit of the input socket to the green alligator clip.
   - should be connection between the long bendy bit of the output socket to the yellow alligator clip. 

If any of those don't work as expected, that may help narrow down the problem.
#777
I tend to make connections with perf board by just bending the leg of a convenient resistor or capacitor as you go. Rarely you may need to add a bit of spare wire.  Keep a few spare legs that you chop off.

If you are going to try unicorn tears, make sure it's the metric ones, the imperial ones are slightly the wrong size for the hole spacing.
#778
Build Reports / Re: Lovetone Flanger....DMinner style!!!
February 12, 2017, 05:40:06 AM
Don't tell me Neptune isn't a planet now too?  ;)

But seriously, that is an awesome etch.  Love the theme and the execution.
#779
Flipping the wires on the jack would work, but keep in mind that if anyone else uses your pedal they may try it with a negative centre supply, which wouldn't be good.

I had the same question a while back, after I'd built about 6 pedals.  I ended up going back and changing them all to negative centre, just to make them compatible with 'normal' supplies for guitar pedals. So if your just starting out, I'd suggest doing it the standard way from the start. 
#780
Build Reports / Re: Germanium and copper fuzz face
February 06, 2017, 03:56:44 AM
Very nice!

Maybe you could spray some knobs with a hammered copper paint or something like that?  I reckon that might work?