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I built one of these as a custom job for a client.

I really liked it, and it came out well, so I've built myself one too.

Two of my favourite mod circuits in one pedal: EA Trem and Magnavibe Vibrato.

Lovely enclosure courtesy of Ben Coles. I also used a Vactrol rather than LED+LDR combo (I prefer it this way).

Hope y'all digging it 

Hey Guys.

Have any of you guys had trouble with the Belton BTDR 2 bricks?

Got the Tenebrion reverb on the breadboard here and I'm scratching my head.

I've had the circuit functioning for a while, and then it has just has died on me and it's just outputting white noise. The rest of my circuit is working fine (clean buffered signal still coming through fine, voltages to Opamps fine etc.).

I have heard of there being issues before so was wondering if you guys have any info.

Maybe the belton IC is susceptible to static discharge or something?

It is also pulling my 5V reg down to a lower voltage, so I think the Belton is truly fried at this point.

Bit annoyed with myself as these modules are not exactly cheap 

I think this will mostly interest UK/EU guys.

Rapid (massive online electronic component supplier) are doing an end line/column pricing deal.

Just enter CAT14 at checkout in the coupon/code field to get the discount.

Big savings to be had here guys (big discounts on some stuff). They do most of the vanilla stuff we use (caps, resistors, transistors, volt regs, trimmers, pots etc. etc.).

Code expires 21/03/14. I'll certainly be making the most of it.

Rapid sell quality stuff too. Not cheap as chips stuff like you may potentially get elsewhere.... ahem... Tayda 

A simple vibrato I built for a customer.

Based on the Magnavibe/Escobedo Wobbletron. After trying a variety of LED/LDR combos, I used a VTL5C3 for maximum 'wobbliness'.

This effect is subtle, in a nice way (its not in your face like some modulation effects), and really comes into its own when combined with a little delay, reverb, and also with tremolo bar use 

Vintage style knobbies from RS in the UK (love em  )

I've also stopped using the connectors on my 3PDT boards, and now solder directly to the PCB. Much neater looking IMO.

Anyway, hope you like the pics!

For the UK/EU guys.

Thonk, a DIY Synth stuff shop, have VTL5C3's at £3.99 in their shop (3.85 for 10).

Seems a pretty good price to me.

They also have a wide range of 1900H clone davies knobs at a good price too (£0.70 a go).

Thought some of you UK guys might be interested... http://www.thonk.co.uk/shop/knobs-davies-1900h-clone-metal/

Been a while since my last build report!

Here be a Silicon (BC108) Fuzz Face build.

I'm happy with the way this one came out, and also the look of it.

Pretty much stock silicon FF except for a 47pf cap across the feedback resistor (a trick used in some of the new Dunlop stuff).

Used some old rubber tread from a scrap+crap old pedal I have.

The powder coated enclosure is one of Ben Coles (his boxes are soooo nice!).

Interesting info on the Silonex NSL-32 here.

Including a detailed schematic with ratio, attack, release controls (+ gain reduction meter).

Basically a schematic for a full 'studio' compressor.

http://www.silonex.com/audiohm/compressor.html

I thought our resident compressor guru (midway) might be interested  !

Hey Guys, doing a layout and I have a quick question...

Are there any disadvantages in using two ground planes on a 2 layer PCB (ie. top and bottom layers)?

Dual ground planes are something I have not really seen with a lot of guitar PCB's, so I was wondering if there are reasons why...

Cheers!

Finally finished up my Tele partscaster I've been putting together.

I was going for a Gibson/Fender 'Tele Junior' look/vibe. Kind of a 'beefed up' Tele with a bit of LP tone mixed in.

The body is a Fender Roadworn that I scored on Ebay. I routed it for a neck humbucker. I know the mixed opinions about relic'd/worn bodies, but I think it looks cool, so that's all that matters right? 

The neck is a Warmoth stock neck. It is their Boat shape, which is on the chunky side, and feels really nice (similar to my LP). It's a lot comfier than the neck on my Baja Tele (which may even be a smaller profile). The Radius is Warmoth's 10-16" compound profile.

The necks got a rosewood board, and the main neck material is maple with a brown lacquer finish. I was going to splash out on a full rosewood neck, but the costs were just a bit too high for me to stomach!

Most of the hardware is bought from Axes'R'Us, and WD Music in the UK. Wilkinson bridge (compensated saddles), Kluson 'Button' tuners (really really nice quality) for a bit of a Gibson vibe. The hardware is all aged to look a little worn.

I cut the Pick-guard on a jigsaw to get that shape.

Controls are a standard 3 way switch with independant 500K volume controls for each pickup (I never use the tone control on my other Tele).

Pickups are the Seymour Duncan lil'59 for Tele in the bridge and Creamery UK pickups 'Hot Swing-O' at the neck.

The creamery pickup is beautiful; probably my favourite Tele neck pickup I have tried so far (link: http://www.creamery-pickups.co.uk/custom-handwound-pickups-from-the-creamery/swing-os-humbucker-sized-filtertron-style-pickups.html#.Ulv6wVNK-yo).

The SD in the bridge I am not so sure about yet, I am still looking to see what other options are available for the HB size tele single coils. Any suggestions/recommendations would be most welcome.

Anyway, I'm loving it so far, and it sounds great for my needs. I hope you like the pics!

Got this new toy over the weekend



Kick, Snare, Hats and Toms are all analogue.

For just over £100.00 its great fun. Plus it has a built in speaker and can be powered by batteries. Perfect for annoying the wife with while watching TV 

Anyone else excited about this?

I know I am...but then again I'm a geek 

Really stoked to see one of my favourite musicians/producers, Flying Lotus, has got his own Radio Station in the game 

Well Hello Mr Starcaster and Coronado!





Yet more cool guitars to drool over!

I've owned a Baja Tele for a while, which never really did it for me.

Due to me already owning a Tele that covers my traditional Tele needs (my Eternal Guitars Betty), and not being able to sell the Baja for a decent amount, I decided to have some fun with it and turn it into an Esquire-ish beast.

Fitted a new Lil'59 bridge humbucker, new bridge, new pickguard, 500K Tone and Vol pots... and this thing sings. Also cures my GAS for now for buying any more guitars 

I'm loving it at the moment. Simple.... but very effective 

I bought a load of old Russian Ge Transistors on the 'bay a while ago and came up with this Fuzz Face variant while messing on the breadboard.

It's basically a tweaked Fuzz Face, gain preset to max with a 1K resistor, and with a Gagan pre-gain control and an output cap blend (I find some Fuzz Faces too woolly due to the amount of bass they can kick out).

Trannies are GT308V's (Q1 hfe ~ 80, Q2 hfe ~ 100) picked from a batch of about 50.

The 3PDT PCB is a voltage inverter/doubler PCB that I use for -9V/18V builds.

It's all sounding good, nice and open and 'crunchy' like a nice germanium Fuzz Face, but these Russian trannies can be quite noisy at times (more so than other Ge trannies I've tried).

I've got a few PCB's spare so was going to play around and see if I can come up with a more saturated/high gain Silicon NPN version that works for me.

Hope you like the pics!

Finally boxed this up over the week. It's a stock Stage Fright build.

It's sounding great; really nice 'chewy' phaser tones, and a nice variant from my Small Stone that I already have.

Another great project from Brian. Can't wait to see what other modulation goodies he has in store for us in the future 

It sounds great on guitar, and also sounds great on keyboards, synths, Bass (as Jimilee will testify  ) etc.

The 5/6 stage switch makes a big difference to the tone of the pedal (as others have noted); it's a really handy feature, and is far more usefull than I thought it would be at first.

The enclosure is one of Ben Coles offerings (funnily enough the same finish as Juan Solo used on his Stage Fright build!). Lovely metallic turquoisy colour.

The Jacks (Lumbergs) were a sod to fit in the enclosure; the eagle eyed amonst you may notice I had to desolder the LM13700 and socket closest to one of the jacks and solder the IC in directly for enough clearance.

Anyway, hope you like the pics!

Howdy guys.

Been a while since I posted a build!

The weather is glorious in the UK at the moment (high 20's to 30C), so I am trying to make the most of it while it lasts; it will start p*ssing it down with rain again soon no doubt  

This is another custom build that I recently completed.

It's a 2 in 1 pedal, with two Tesla Cannon circuits running with Master + A/B switching.

I used  BC184 transistors for the lower gain rhythm channel, and 2N5088 transistors for the higher gain lead channel. I also used larger coupling caps in a few positions on the rhythm channel to get a little bit more bass going on.

The pedal was hand painted at the request of the customer. I have not done this for a while (I usually use decals/labels), but I was pretty happy with the end results. I should get the old paint brush out more often!

It sounded great when testing, and the Master + A/B switching that the customer requested was a good idea as it allows you to go from clean, to rhythm to lead very easily.

Hope you like the pic, but no gut-shot for this one unfortunately (I know; lame right  ), as I was so eager to ship the pedal I forgot to take any!

Polyfuses/PTC's: I have seen these for quite cheap recently over at Farnell.

http://uk.farnell.com/multicomp/mc33169/fuse-ptc-reset-radial-60v-100ma/dp/1800726

You don't see them much in commercial fx pedals as far as I can see, but at the right rating (eg. 100ma or even lower if available) they could be another usefull protection component for shorts, damaged IC's pulling excess current etc, and also from preventing any damage to external PSU's etc. in the case of a pedal pulling too much current under fault.

Any of you guys got any thoughts on em?

I'm thinking I may plonk a few on my upcoming PCB's PSU filtering/protection stage.

Finally treated myself to a new amp!

Orange OR-15 head. This thing sounds AMAZING  !

Plus it looks damn cool to boot... I'm not embarassed to say that was one of the major appeals to me  

There is plenty (ok... loads) of gain on tap, but wick down the gain, wack up the master volume, and you get a really nice clean tone.

I also tried an Egnater tweaker, but it just didn't do it for me personally (I found it to be kind of a jack of all trades, master of none). Really, really nice and versatile amp though.

The Orange seems to take pedals well (as far as I can tell), although I haven't tried any old school fuzz through it yet (fuzz face, Tonebender etc.).

I also treated myself to a matching open back 2x12 cab loaded with Vintage 30's, as the one I was using (VOX 1x12 cab that came with my AC4) just wasn't doing it for me.

I went for a head and cab as opposed to a combo as it means I can still easily use my Ampmaker heads (Se-5a and WF55) that I built.

One happy bunny over here; I frickin love this amp!  

Another day, another Muff 

I built this one for a guy who loves his Skreddy Mayo, but wished it had more control over the mids, and a tad more gain on tap.

He is a massive Smashing Pumpkins fan so the name was his idea.

The PCB is my standard 'Tesla Cannon' Big Muff PCB, but with some tweaks to get a tad more saturation and gain going on (larger coupling caps, lower value emitter resistors etc.).

I used 2N5088 transistors (I usually use BC184C's or BC550C's) to bump the gain up even further.

Hope you like the pic's!

Any of you guys seen these/tried one before?

http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/SubZero-Tube-H5-Guitar-Amp-Head/NE1

£89.99 for an all valve 5W head is kind of crazy cheap  !