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Hello,
I'm back to work and back to the build report section.
Here's a project I built before holidays. It's a Pete Cornish SS2 overdrive with switchable Cornish buffer between the input jack and the SS2. So the buffer can be always ON in my pedal chain I want it to AND I DO WANT IT TO. I was very surprized about how clean it is. I had only true bypass pedals before I did want buffers to make a mess with my fuzzes. And it didn't !!!

Let's get back to the SS2. It is the sweetest overdrive I've played with by far. It sounds gorgeously with the neck pickup for sirupy solos without any harsh treble. I didn't do any mods to add bass in the circuit since I've liked it that way. The sound remains clear whatever complex chords you're playing. I use it almost first in my FX chain to take advantage of the buffer, to have a main low/mid gain overdrive and also to kick the next drives and fuzzes.

The finish is simply done with a light hand-sanded 1590BB enclosure which I previously machined with a core drill of different diameters. I applied some sparkle blue paint before sanding the enclosure. I wanted some kind of stellar look with the circles and LEDs. I chose a non conventional layout for the knobs and switches and I think it looks great (at least for me).
I added the labels with my usual rubber stamps and Stazon ink.

Hope you like it !!!













PS : I regularly (everyday) take a look at the forum even if I don't post many comments and I have to admit that the level is very very high. I've seen lots of great builds and I think that the contests are pushing everybody higher and higher. It inspires builders who thus learn lots of great stuffs from here. So thank you !!!

Hello Madbeaners,
I once owned a Blackout Effectors Twosome which gathers together two of their best fuzz circuits: the Fix'd Fuzz and the Musket. The first version of the Twosome allowed only to use one side or the other of the pedal with a single ON/OFF switch and the A/B selector switch.

Then I met Madbean gorgeous work, built my first Muff/Fuzz clones and sold my Twosome.

Blackout Effectors struck back with a special edition of the Twosome named Very Special Twosome where both sides can be activated separately and they also added the famous order switch to select which side feeds the other.

So I decided to build my own thanks to Tagboard layouts (http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.fr/2012/02/blackout-effectors-musket-fuzz.html and http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.ca/2013/02/blackout-effectors-fixd-fuzz-deluxe.html).
Big challenge with 11 pots, 7 switches and I wanted all jacks on top to save some space in the pedalboard !!!

I am pretty glad about how it came out especially with all the wires induced by vero layouts.
Both sides sound really amazing on their own and crazy noisy sounds can be reached with both sides ON.
The order switch is very useful and really brings this pedal a step higher in the Fuzz world.
It totally is the Swiss army knife of the fuzz.

Honestly, I found it to sound even better than the Twosome I owned. It got back immediately in my pedalboard.

My first Twosome color was a kind of orange sparkle so I used my (almost empty) red sparkle spray can.
With the help of a friend at work, I added a frame all around with the milling machine. Usual black stamped letters for the labels.
I only had 10 pieces of little black flutted knobs so I used white one too for the volume control of the fix'd fuzz. I haven't place any order since then so I decided to keep it that way.

Highly recommended build for every fuzz lover !!!
Let's make way for the pictures:

Hello Madbeaners,
I've finally managed to box my Pork Barrel.
I ended up with a 125B enclosure because I could fit in with a road rage in a 1590B without getting rid of an annoying clock noise.
It sounds so much greater when powered at 15V so I couldn't resign myself to use a standard 9V supply and remove the roadrage.

I did the depth/rate LED mod but I prefer lower settings with a slow subtle chorus. So as the depth and rate knobs are set very low, the LED almost doesn't blink.

By the way, I was not a chorus kind of guy but Madbean makes me change my mind AGAIN !!!
This is a great project that sounds very GOOD.

For the finish, I chose something sober. Because it has only 2 controls, I put 2 BIG knobs to fill the space and simple stamped labels as usual.

Here's my Love Squeeze compressor clone with bloom control.
I got the board from Pickdropper's very first run (http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=7764.0).

I was (and still am) very happy with my Afterlife and its sensitivity control mod suggested by Midwayfair.
But I heard about the Love Squeeze when Rothwell released it and I was difficult to find a Europe based seller to get one so I forgot about it.

I wanted a subtle compressor, a compressor you almost forget it's ON but you miss it when it's OFF.
I have to admit this one has all that I could wish for.
The bloom control adds something very interesting with some brilliance back in the sound.
But the main feature of this compressor is its complete silence.

I found an old can of gold hammertone paint at work so I decided to give it a try. But I'm not very satisfied with the result since we can see the brush marks. I only painted one coat but I think it was too thick.

I want to thank Pickdropper again for his layout that makes the wiring very clean.

Hello guys,
I loved my Current Lover but since I've heard about the Collosalus project and watched Brian's video, I wanted one too.
Lots of components but great layout from Brian as usual so it came out pretty easily.
Currently, it is biased for a 9V power supply and it sounds great !!! Very different from the Electric Mistress.
I do have some clock noise for fully counter clockwise settings of the manual control that still need to be biased better I think. But I also want to try biasing it with the 12V outlet from my Voodoo Lab PP2+.

I wanted a different finish for this one so I asked a friend of mine at work to use the milling machine. I used a huge milling-cutter with a high speed pass to get this look. And I asked him to let one part raw for me to stamp the control labels. I think it came out great and quite original (I believe). I just hope it brings the Collosalus the recognition it deserves.

The pots spacing isn't very large so I put the well-known black pointer knobs above the black letters. I really like the way it looks with those chrome/black enclosed jacks and DC jack !!!

Another great MADBEAN project that everyone needs to build, box and rock again and again !!!

Hello,
when I began DIYing, I wanted to build a Snarkdoodle so I bought the version 1 fabbed board. But I had not built it yet when the new version came out with mojo lead spacing for some caps. So I bought this new board too (thank you Brian, please take my money again  ).

Recently, I was wondering which one to build first and what specs TSF or WHRL to choose. The answer was obvious : "BUILD BOTH !!!" and the second answer was obvious as well : "BUILD BOTH IN ONE BOX !!!".

So here comes my TSF + RL 33rd build.
I tested a new configuration for me: one ON/OFF switch (on the right) and one A/B switch (on the left). The LEDs on top indicate which one is selected with the A/B switch and the third LED above the right switch indicates if the effect is ON or OFF. I can't activate both at the same time but I like the idea to have one with low gain settings and the other with higher gain, and be able to switch easily from one to the other.

I chose to build the WHRL with some mojo components (caps = the bigger the better !!!) and no boost switch and the other board for the TSF specs with the boost toggle switch.

Concerning the finish, it was some kind of stroke of luck. I was sanding the enclosure before painting it. A friend at work told me about the ultrasound cleaning machine we have. So I gave the enclosure a bath in the machine and you can see the result. Not clean at all but I really like the way it looks !!!
Then I used the usual stamping process with black ink for the lettering and white knobs to contrast with the rusty box.

Oops, I almost forget to say it sounds really great with a huge amount of volume. I think I prefer the WHRL and the TSF with boost switch engaged is too noisy. I also have to say that it sounds very good after a fuzz !!!

Hello,
I wanted another overdrive. I got rid of my TS-9 some years ago.
It was one of the first pedal I bought and it was the perfect playground for experimenting, tweaking, modding, stacking. The result was great but I bought an OCD (replaced by THE EGODRIVER now of course) and I didn't play with my TS-9 anymore.

So I sold it and now I miss it.
I have a GreenBean board waiting to be populated but I wanted something else.
I found videos of the Rockbox Boiling Point gorgeous and since I've known it's a TS clone, I decided to build it on vero using the layout from TagboardEffects (http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.fr/2012/09/rockbox-boiling-point.html).

FYI, the Boiling Point is $389. Is a great paint job worth that much

Sounds great the first time I plugged it but with a lot of hum with a One-Spot power supply (normal, isn't it?) and almost no hum with my Voodoo Lab PP2+. I still have to tweak the power filtering section a bit more for it to be perfect !!!

The 3 clipping options are very useful and sounds really different.
The second toggle switch is a bass contour whether you use single coil pickups or humbuckers.

It a high gain version of the TS with no bass loss at all, no mid hump and more dynamics.

I chose a sober finish with green painting, green LED (a TS-like has to be green, no?), white knobs from Tayda and initials stamping.
I liked those knobs so I ordered some more on my last order but they shipped me cream ones   !!!!
I didn't name it because the answer of that question is obvious "What is green and has 3 knobs for volume, tone and drive controls ?"

No more comments, here are the pictures:

Hey guys,

Here is my Smoothie Phase and Vibe.
I added the vibe mod and a rate indicator LED.
It sounds great. I'm not a phaser guy but this one is light and smooth, and the vibe mod adds something more to it.

I built it some time ago but I was waiting to get stamps for digits to finish it.
Now it's finally done and I hope you like it too.

Hello,
I've found a video of the new Mojo Hand FX fuzz pedal and I have to admit that I was very impressed by the sound and versatility of this fuzz.

Here's the video:

I have questions for Muff experts:
What kind of Muff the Iron Bell is ?
Is the colour control knob identical to mid knob on the mudbunny board ?

I didn't find any schematics.
What I like about this pedal is it can be either warm or crispy and it sounds very good at low gain settings where most muff variants are muddy and undefined.

I'm interested in any additional information you could find.
Maybe it will be another column to add to Juansolo's Muffs.xls database and mudbunny project doc.

It's been a while since my last post.
Here is a Chunk Chunk populated board I got from Brian last year.
I finally boxed it up recently and I'm very happy about how it came.
First time I finalized such a layout:
125B enclosure
top mounted jacks
Ultrabright blue LED (sanded by myself to make it diffused)
6 knobs
Shielded wire in the input

I didn't have enough knobs left of the same color so I mixed them up.
Actually, I like to have different colors for EQ and VOL/GAIN.

Lettering is still made with stamps and silver Stazon ink.
I painted the enclosure with a new dark blue spray can and cured it 1h at 90°C.

I forgot to say it sound HHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !!!!
I'm not a big-distortion-guy but I have to admit I like this one. It made me play some old Metallica riffs.

After the Cave Dweller I built, I wanted to give the Sea Urchin a try.

I hope I'm not cursed with delay but I had to deal with some issues.
First I used a 78L05 reg instead of a 7805 so it took me some time to figure out that the 78L05 had a 180° rotated pinout.
Then, sometimes I have no delay repeats when I power the Sea Urchin. When I checked the voltage readings on the reg pins, I saw that sometimes I have less than 9V at the input and of course less than 5V at the ouput. Sometimes it works great. I have to unplug and replug the power jack several times for it to work. I may have a problem in the power section.
If anybody has an idea, I'll take it !!!

So here are the pics:









Oh I almost forgot to say that it is a really great delay !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi,
I used to play on a Lovepedal Kalamazoo and I decided to do a clone on vero.

I know Lovepedal released a gold version of the Kalamazoo with a "better IC" than the original silver version but I couldn't find any information about what IC it is

I changed the JRC4558 IC for an OPA2134 and the 1N914s clipping diodes for BAT41s.
I find it more dynamic with very precise and percussive attack. I really like it that way !!!

It is a really good overdrive with a good gain range but I find the tone and glass knobs range very limited.
It has a fine spot depending on the guitar and amp settings.

Hello,
I've finally put together all parts for the Gristleizer.
It's MusicPCB's board. It's a great board but the building process was not so easy.
There's a lot of wires, the project doc is not as detailed as Madbean's or GTR2's.

The waveform rotary switch has a weird behavior since I have oscillations in the first two positions, then 4 "steady" positions and finally oscillations in the next 2 positions. I may not have the good rotary switch. It is from Banzai and the description is very sparse and unusual for me (I ordered a 1x2x6 switch thinking it is a 2P6T ).
By the way, I ordered new switches and I will perform more tests.

I decided to keep the main LED always wired so it blinks all the time and I added a ON/OFF LED and a bi-color LED on the VCA/VCF switch.

I built it for a synth I have and play with. It is an old monophonic Roland SH1000 and they are already good friends !!!

Here are the pics:











I wanted to do a 2 color enclosure but the first result was not as good as I expected.
So I was about to remove all paint with a sandblaster I have at work and I decided to keep it partially sanded.

I built this one in less than one hour (except for the enclosure drilling and painting).
I add the sensitivity knob that MIDWAYFAIR suggested. It adds more versatility and make the sound shine with a good attack and sustain when rolling back the knob and add extra squish with the knob all the way up.

I am very glad about the finish of this one.
Just one letter for the knob labels to remain sober.
Hope you'll like it too.

Hi,
I built this Mangler some time ago and I finally boxed it up recently.
I first built it for a pair of PNP AC128 but I wasn't happy with the sound.
I chose to put some Si PNP trannies in it for a different character.
I had some 2N2907A and I am quite happy with them.
More gain, less compressed, more highs but a bit harsh.

I add a vero -9V inverter.

I used stamps for the knob labels. I like the yellow and black contrast.
Here come the pics:

Hello guys,
I finally populated another Cave Dweller board with components I gathered from my stock.
I would like to thank GTR2, MIDWAYFAIR, JKOKURA... for their help even if I couldn't solve the problem (http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=6183).
I desoldered all components but the board is now damaged.
By the way, here's a new Cave Dweller.
It works the first time.
I add the 15k resistor on the Dweller pot to move the oscillations at the end of the pot sweep.
I have some noise at the highest time settings but it is very usable.
The slap back settings are really great.

BUT I built it for a friend so now I have to build another one for myself !!!

Here are the pics:

Hello,
I was really impressed by the Black Arts Toneworks Pharaoh.
So I wanted to add it to my Muff variant collection.

I am not very proud of the way I boxed it. I forgot how tall the DPDT switches were.
It fits but that isn't very nice !!!

It was also the first time I soldered sockets on the DPDT switch but the legs are very fragile !!!

So I built it with the specs from this thread: http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=2385.0
with 1N914 for the Si diodes and 1N34A for the Ge diodes.

Thanks to Brian, I also found an easy way to label my pedals: STAMPS !!!
This one was my first take... and I kept on labeling all my pedals this way with different fonts and colors.
I will post a family portrait soon.

By the way, it sounds very good !!!

Hello,
another 2-in-1 build = Fatpants boosted Egodriver !!!
Identical to the previous one I made some time ago for a friend (http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=5824.0).

I think it sounds greater than my stock OCD.
I recommend everybody to add a Fatpants to the OCD because first I love how the Fatpants sounds alone, second it adds gain and sustain to the OCD and third I took advantage of the 18V output from the Fatpants to power the OCD and it adds headroom and dynamics !!!







Hope you like it as I do !!!

Hello,
here's one of the very few builds which is not coming from Madbean but I think it is worth showing.
It is MusicPCB Tap Tempo Tremolo with all possible controls:
- big cream knobs from left to right are VOL, DEPTH, WAVE DISTORT and SPEED
- small black pointer knobs are WAVEFORM and MULTIPLY (ratio)
- footswitches are Tap Tempo, Multiply and true bypass ON/OFF

Some reports mentioned ticking problem when using only the blinking LED connected to 3PDT bypass switch.
So I chose to have the blinking LED always connected to the circuit in order to know the tempo even if the pedal is bypassed and add a traditional ON/OFF LED on top of the bypass switch.

The build came out pretty well except for another drilling layout issue I made. I thought the board would have fitted between the jacks but it didn't. Fortunately, I tilted the board, rotated the tap tempo switch and it fitted.

It works the first time, no ticking problem.
It sounds really great.
The most impressive feature was the range of the speed knob that goes from very very very slow oscillations (several seconds) to very very fast. The drawback is that the speed is very sensitive to the knob sweep. No big deal.
Sincerely I love it. It immediatly replaces without any regret my Empress Tremolo which I thought I would have kept forever  

Some shots:

Hello,
I've been lucky since now because I always managed to debug my non working board alone.
A friend came on tuesday to build its Cave Dweller.

I ordered all components as usual from Banzai and Mouser except for the PT2399 IC which is from eBay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160635992207&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:FR:3160)

We triple checked all components.
It was very tricky to make the Panasonic 1µF cap fit.
I ordered 1/4W resistors so they are all standing.
The board will be boxed up in a 1590B so I needn't bother saving space.

He soldered all components and we tested the board with my test rig.
Here's the problem:
- totally clean signal with echo and dwell pots all the way down
- whatever the position of time pot, we only hear noise repeats when turning either echo or dwell pots

We tried several PT2399 (all coming from the same eBay supplier)
We socketed C3 to try different values

No change !!!

I took some photos of the board:









I included an audio probe to my test rig but never used it yet. Honnestly I don't know where to probe.

Any help will be very welcome.

THANK YOU