Hello all! I'm new here :). I'm a drummer who dabbles in guitar/bass and electronic music. I have done some circuit bending, tube amp building, and custom midi controller making, and am finally ready to get my feet wet in the pedal building realm! I'm planning my first build, a Madbean Mudbunny, and thought that it might be useful to document my first foray into guitar pedal goodness. I plan on detailing each phase of the build: design, parts sourcing, building, testing, and playing, with all the headscratches and hair-pulling that goes with each of them. My hope is that a thread like this might help other new builders some time down the road. So...on with it!
In this post I'll talk about my goals for the project, and show you my design for the enclosure of the pedal.
Goals: I wanted to take a classic circuit (BMP) that I can use both musically and to learn a bit about pedal building. I want to use this build to learn about the effects different components have on tone. As such, I'll socket the diodes and transistors so that I can play with the different combinations to find something that I find nice sounding. As a basis, I'll start with the Green Russian config. The Green Russian will also inform my enclosure design...
Design: I've used the Vector Pack to mock everything up in Adobe Illustrator (though I'd like to figure out how to do the same thing in Inkscape as it is free...). I imported the drilling template from the mudbunny pdf, as suggested by many, and think that I've lined everything up appropriately. I haven't actually done that with the drilling template objects yet, but it is the same process as I've done with the knobs. I still have to double check that everything is actually lined up correctly by printing and measuring, but this should provide you with a snapshot of what I'd like the end product to look like.
FIRST QUESTION! I really like the place that I've positioned the LED. However, I don't know if I'll have space with the pots there... is it possible to fit an LED in between the top two pots? Just wondering if anyone had attempted this before...
Stay tuned!
Quote from: blackedition on January 12, 2014, 05:49:39 PM
FIRST QUESTION! I really like the place that I've positioned the LED. However, I don't know if I'll have space with the pots there... is it possible to fit an LED in between the top two pots? Just wondering if anyone had attempted this before...
Stay tuned!
Welcome!
Yes it is. The leds are only 3 or 5 mm so you have plenty of room there,
Quote from: jimilee on January 12, 2014, 06:42:11 PM
Quote from: blackedition on January 12, 2014, 05:49:39 PM
FIRST QUESTION! I really like the place that I've positioned the LED. However, I don't know if I'll have space with the pots there... is it possible to fit an LED in between the top two pots? Just wondering if anyone had attempted this before...
Stay tuned!
Welcome!
Yes it is. The leds are only 3 or 5 mm so you have plenty of room there,
If you are going to use solder lug potentiometers for the sustain and volume then I agree with Jimmy that there should be plenty of room. If you are going to use PCB mount potentiometer then it will be VERY difficult, if not impossible, to squeeze the led between the pins of the two pots. Don't do it!!!! Take a look at the layout in the build doc to see what I mean:
http://madbeanpedals.com/projects/Mudbunny/docs/Mudbunny.pdf
If you are dead set on the led in that position I would suggest using solder lug pots for sustain and volume along with a PCB mount pot for the tone control. For the solder lug pots you would turn them 90 degrees clockwise (lugs pointing towards the footswitch) and use about an inch to an inch and a half of wire per lug to connect the pots to their respective pads on the pcb. That way you get the benefit of the pcb mounted pot (no need for standoffs to keep pcb in place) and get that led exactly where you want it!
It looks like you're already using the Vector Pack for your pedal planning and on page four of that you'll find diagrams of 16mm pots (most commonly used in pedals) and 24mm, there are also 9mm but you'll have to draw your own representation, just drop the pots onto the knobs in your diagram and you'll see how much room is available for any other bits you might like to add.
dave
i cannot believe i did this... i totally meant to post this thread in the member projects area... i think i inadvertently started the thread in global announcements section when reading the "rules of engagement" sticky. mods, i apologize! please move at your leisure. doh!
The goal I've set for tonight is to finalize the list of components and vendors I'll be ordering them from.
I've been thinking about logistics as well. I'd like to etch the enclosure. Though I don't have a laser printer, I have access to one at work. I can try to use that to make the toner transfers for the planned etch. Since it is a shared device, I'm not sure how much control I'll have over the settings, however. If that doesn't look like it is going to work, I might have to revise my enclosure design :(. I could always handpaint, but I've grown quite attached to my first design! Does anyone have any good cheap laser printer suggestions?
Stay tuned!
Well...that certainly took waaaaaay longer than expected. I think that I've finally got nearly everything i'm going to be ordering from small bear in the cart... while i'll be building the mudbunny first, i'm going to be ordering for two other pedals as well, which complicated things a bit (1st will be mudbunny, 2nd sabertooth, 3rd 1776 multiplex echo machine).
I have a few parts sourcing questions, though...
1) I'm ordering mostly box capacitors. I've seen many build reports on madbean that utilizes these. Should I be ok with box caps if they use the standard lead spacing?
2) (unrelated to mudbunny) I need a 47pF capacitor. What composition should I get? It looks like it might only be available in ceramic. Is that a problem?
3) (unrelated to mudbunny) I need a TL072 for the multiplex echo machine. the TL072CP is available from small bear. is this equivalent?
4) I'd like to socket all of my ICs. Should I be getting Mill Max or Dual Leaf? My gut tells me Dual Leaf...
5) I'm not sure where to order the dc jacks or the 1/4" jacks quite yet... Suggestions?
Those are the questions I have for my Small Bear order.
I'm going to be ordering the switches from Bitches Love My Switches (BLMS), as it seems to be the popular choice around here. I'll likely order my enclosures from either PPP, Mammoth, or BLMS.
Thanks in advance for all suggestions!
Quote from: blackedition on January 21, 2014, 01:35:41 AM
Well...that certainly took waaaaaay longer than expected. I think that I've finally got nearly everything i'm going to be ordering from small bear in the cart... while i'll be building the mudbunny first, i'm going to be ordering for two other pedals as well, which complicated things a bit (1st will be mudbunny, 2nd sabertooth, 3rd 1776 multiplex echo machine).
I have a few parts sourcing questions, though...
1) I'm ordering mostly box capacitors. I've seen many build reports on madbean that utilizes these. Should I be ok with box caps if they use the standard lead spacing?
2) (unrelated to mudbunny) I need a 47pF capacitor. What composition should I get? It looks like it might only be available in ceramic. Is that a problem?
3) (unrelated to mudbunny) I need a TL072 for the multiplex echo machine. the TL072CP is available from small bear. is this equivalent?
4) I'd like to socket all of my ICs. Should I be getting Mill Max or Dual Leaf? My gut tells me Dual Leaf...
5) I'm not sure where to order the dc jacks or the 1/4" jacks quite yet... Suggestions?
Those are the questions I have for my Small Bear order.
I'm going to be ordering the switches from Bitches Love My Switches (BLMS), as it seems to be the popular choice around here. I'll likely order my enclosures from either PPP, Mammoth, or BLMS.
Thanks in advance for all suggestions!
1. Box for most 1nf to 1uF (25-50v) 5mm lead spacing. Panasonic ecq are nice too but more expensive.
2. Ceramic. Most 1pF to 999pF are ceramic and are just fine
3. Yes. The "cp" just denotes the temp rating etc.
4. Dual leaf works just fine and is a bit cheaper than milled. Some swear by milled but I've seen crappy ones in both flavors. Milled looks more pro :)
5. Smallbear is good. BLMS is also good. Go quality on the 1/4" jacks (neutrik/switchcraft). Cheap jacks aren't worth marring an otherwise great build.
Glad you are getting along with pedal building, let us know if you have any more questions.
Double post. Whoops!
So it looks like PPP doesn't have 1590Bs in stock. Mouser seems a little expensive ($6 a piece unless ordered in quantity). BLMS has them for much cheaper. I'm not sure that they're actually Hammond enclosures. Anybody have any experience with BLMS enclosures? Any other suggestions?
Thanks!
$6 isn't too bad. There is Hammond (the original) and New Sensor which is a cheaper copy.
Quote from: blackedition on January 21, 2014, 03:16:10 AM
So it looks like PPP doesn't have 1590Bs in stock. Mouser seems a little expensive ($6 a piece unless ordered in quantity). BLMS has them for much cheaper. I'm not sure that they're actually Hammond enclosures. Anybody have any experience with BLMS enclosures? Any other suggestions?
Thanks!
PPP has the 1290 (which is the Hammond 1590B equivalent). I am sure they should have them in stock unless they told you otherwise?
Oops, they do have the 1290s. They are also $6. The price of the BLMS is a dollar cheaper... I might try out the BLMS... Not 100% sure; I'm a bit conflicted. I suppose it doesn't really matter that much...
Don't forget that for every additional supplier you have additional shipping charges, if you're trying to save money limit your suppliers to as few as possible to get the bits you need.
dave
i'm definitely trying to limit suppliers... i think that i will likely try to keep it to two suppliers... i can price it out if i get everything from small bear as well... we'll see if i can save any money by limiting it to a single supplier...
thanks for the suggestions everyone!
Also, I was wondering...what size soldering tips do people like to work on the pedal pcbs? I usually use a Weller ST6. I'm wondering if I should try a slightly larger tip like the ST1 or ST2.
Thoughts? For reference, here is a link that shows all the tip sizes compatible with my soldering iron/station (Weller WLC100)
for a ready made list of parts from Mouser, you might want to check this thread :
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=5703.0
the mudbunny parts are under "muffage"
note that the pcb mounted pots are not available from Mouser, that's one thing you'll want to get from SmallBear
I try to make note of price breaks as I go through my order, especially common items
as far as solder tips, I use an ST7 on my WP35 ... it's pretty close to the ST6, just conical rather than screwdriver. I think this is about the right size.
wow thanks for cluing me into that post. i'll probably not use it for the mudbunny because i'm pretty much done building the cart at small bear, but, it will be very useful for future builds!
unfortunately, it looks like this project is going to be in the planning stages for a little while longer... the wallet took at hit to the tune of $500 as a result of some car repairs (blasted cold weather...). however, the extra planning certainly won't hurt!
I went through the "which type of capacitor should I use" thing recently on my first scratch build. For your capacitors, you can look at the layout diagram for your pedal and see which caps should be film (box), which should be ceramic and which should be electrolytic. You can pretty much guess which you need by their value, but there is some overlap in options in some cases. I have found that on my pedal I needed some 1uF box caps and some polarzed 1 uF electrolytic caps as well. On the layout diagram, the Film caps are rectangles, ceramic are ovals, and electrolytics are circles.
Quote from: AntKnee on January 27, 2014, 02:44:05 PM
I went through the "which type of capacitor should I use" thing recently on my first scratch build. For your capacitors, you can look at the layout diagram for your pedal and see which caps should be film (box), which should be ceramic and which should be electrolytic. You can pretty much guess which you need by their value, but there is some overlap in options in some cases. I have found that on my pedal I needed some 1uF box caps and some polarzed 1 uF electrolytic caps as well. On the layout diagram, the Film caps are rectangles, ceramic are ovals, and electrolytics are circles.
That's a great point. I'll have to go through the layouts of the three boards that I'm going to be buying parts for and see if things line up in regards to what I was planning on buying versus what the layouts call for. Once I think I've compiled everything, I am going to post screen shots of my carts at the various vendors to show what i'm planning on getting. if people are interested, they can give me feedback on components that they think could be improved/changed.
Unfortunately one of the electrolytics that I was going to be getting from Small Bear went out of stock. I also might be waiting for the JMK testing rig to go on sale before I build these. I could likely follow the tutorials and build one myself, but I'd like to see what the "kit" testing rig looks like first :).
I'm curious about that test rig also. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure he only does PCBs, so you'll still have to build it yourself. I'm thinking it will be a board to attach wires to. Maybe he will chime in on that.
yeah i figured as much. however, i'm still curious, haha...
i'm also curious about the tiny tester for jfets. as of right now, i only have a multimeter, and have no idea how to go about testing the fets with that...
First off - Welcome to the MAAADNEESS! The Mudbunny is a great first project! Even if it says "Cowboy" it's just due to the number of components involved. You've got a good station, so you shouldn't be a stranger to soldering. Your Led placement should be good if you follow the suggestions from the folks above me. Madbean has a nifty trick he shows off in a build report of the Zero Point SDX (http://www.madbeanpedals.com/builds/reports/zpsdx/index.html) (about halfway down) about solder lug pots as board mounted that would be PERFECT in your situation - just lengthen the wires a touch
Quote from: blackedition on January 21, 2014, 11:26:23 AM
Oops, they do have the 1290s. They are also $6. The price of the BLMS is a dollar cheaper... I might try out the BLMS... Not 100% sure; I'm a bit conflicted. I suppose it doesn't really matter that much...
For the record:
<~~~~ This bitch LOVES his switches, and his enclosures. The 3pdt's are nice and solid. As with ALL multi-pin devices, it would be a good idea to solder one or two then wait a bit so you're not overheating the device. Besides the "jelly" there's also some lubricant inside the switch you don't want to kill as well.
Quote from: blackedition on January 23, 2014, 01:15:46 AM
Also, I was wondering...what size soldering tips do people like to work on the pedal pcbs? I usually use a Weller ST6. I'm wondering if I should try a slightly larger tip like the ST1 or ST2.
Thoughts? For reference, here is a link that shows all the tip sizes compatible with my soldering iron/station (Weller WLC100)
As mentioned by Blues Healer - that ST7 (fine point conical) will be perfect.
Other things that have been made mention of that are helpful
Chomosphere recommomends Bluetack/Poster putty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4ACT2w93Mc) as a great holder for things as is this little inexpensive vise (http://www.harborfreight.com/2-3-4-quarter-inch-articulated-vacuum-vise-3311.html) from HF. Check your dollar store for the poster adhesive.
And don't use silly putty.
Trust me on this.
nice... they seem to be really well regarded :)
I can't find it - and I'll check with AlanP he used to have a shared 3PDT board that was cheap from OSH 2.50 for three and free shipping.
I apparently posted instead of previewed at one point - so there's some editing that went on after you replied. Might be of interest on you.
wow great suggestions, thanks a lot!
as far as the solder tips go, i have the st6 tip, but i'll probably order an st7 as well.
that little hobby vise looks awesome! i was thinking of getting one of the panavise jr.'s, but for the money, the one you linked looks more versatile. it will also match my HF desktop drill press :).
i've never tried the blue tac method for holding components as i've always been a 3m blue painter's tape devotee when it came to securing components. i'm not averse to trying it out though!
as far as the 3pdt boards, i lucked out and was able to score quite a few from 1776 when they were restocked earlier this month (i also got the multiplex echo machine board ;) ).
i'm really looking forward to hitting the ground running with these builds. i have to go through the build docs again to make sure that i've got the right cap form factors (box, radial, axial, electrolytic, ceramic, etc...). other than that, i was super inspired by the electric mayhem thread, and want to build a dwarfcraft great destroyer as well, so i might have to get a little bit of vero :) i know i'm getting ahead of myself, but, i'm excited :)
anywho, this weekend i am going to be traveling, but i hope to order all the components for the first few builds by the next weekend. i enjoy electronics enough that i know i am going to want to do at least a few builds, so i am going to order as many of the common components in relative bulk (200 packs of common resistor types) to keep the unit prices down per build... if the first few builds go well...well, i can see myself making a little pedal building station in my music room:)
(not related to mudbunny build) -> another random question i have, is in regards to trimpots. are they standardized in terms of their lead spacing? i'm not sure which one i should from small bear for the dwarfcraft great destroyer and the multiplex echo machine... also, the great destroyer calls for a 22k trimmer, but small bear only has 20k and 25k, i figure the 25k would be a decent substitute?
any thoughts?
You are correct in that a 25k would suit you just fine. Trimmers - They aren't all spaced the same - there are different ones. Typically Madbean boards are setup for 3362P trimmers. You can find them readily at Mouser (http://www.mouser.com/Search/Refine.aspx?Keyword=3362P-1) or Tayda (http://www.taydaelectronics.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=3362P) Steve stocks a similar item SKU1015 (http://www.smallbearelec.com/servlet/Detail?no=160)that will fit pin spacing wise, but will be a bit larger of a body and you might need to put it on the opposite side of the board depending on the project.
I'm not familiar with his other trimmers, but here's a very cool thing about Smallbear.- email him. Tell him you're working on X project and need to know Y - You will get an answer, usually from him, always with the right info and always complete honesty!
I like those Bourns trimmers, and that brings something up .... look at some of Brian's projects, and you will discover a few things as far as components.
also, there is a guide, probably either on DIY stompboxes, or on Beavis Audio's site ... as far as components, there are basic conventions in the way things are spelled out on the list of components, such as uF is electrolytic, nF is film, pF is ceramic, etc ........... there are some exceptions though ...