madbeanpedals::forum

Projects => Build Reports => Topic started by: pandadandan on March 19, 2010, 01:19:11 PM

Title: Macheen
Post by: pandadandan on March 19, 2010, 01:19:11 PM
Here's my recently-completed Macheen.

(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w20/pandadandan/DSCF9279.jpg)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w20/pandadandan/DSCF9476.jpg)

Note the immense size of the 100uf cap.  It's only rated 25v, but it's huge.

I love the red pcb, too.  Cheers Mr Bean
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: madbean on March 19, 2010, 01:36:51 PM
Very nice! Super clean build. I really like the copper plate on the front. It gives it a nice steampunk style.
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: culturejam on March 19, 2010, 01:52:06 PM
Yes sir, that has got some steampunk-esque qualities. Very nice.


I built the Macheen way back when madbean first made the layout:

(http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh218/reverse_engineer/macheen1.jpg)


(http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh218/reverse_engineer/macheen2.jpg)

Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: pandadandan on March 23, 2010, 03:12:01 AM
CJ - love the creaminess!

If you can be bothered, I wholeheartedly recommend moving the trimpot to the outside.  That control has some great settings on it.

If I were to make another, I'd play around with the diodes.  Switching the germs for some silicons a la Tim Escobedo's Tripple Fuzz may yield some "nicer" tones.   ;D
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: brainbender on February 07, 2011, 02:57:47 PM
Quote from: pandadandan on March 19, 2010, 01:19:11 PM
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w20/pandadandan/DSCF9279.jpg)
:o
Gotta love it!

Quote from: pandadandan on March 23, 2010, 03:12:01 AM
If you can be bothered, I wholeheartedly recommend moving the trimpot to the outside.  That control has some great settings on it.

What that trimmer actually do? ???
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: gtr2 on February 07, 2011, 03:04:27 PM
Insane!  :o
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: FuzzMonkey on February 08, 2011, 05:06:52 AM
Very cool.
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: B_of_H on February 08, 2011, 04:14:53 PM
nice work!  I can't wait to build mine up. 
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: rhcp311 on February 10, 2011, 04:18:50 AM
Whoa! Very cool looking. Great job on that one. I'd be happy if mine looked 1/10th as neat as yours.
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: Om_Audio on March 15, 2011, 07:58:09 AM
Wow- love both of these builds. I just got my pcb today from madbean- it's standard green though.  :)
In any event- this will be my first build and I am very excited.
Good to see you don't have to wire pots direct to the board. Also, I def want to put the trim pot on the exterior- but a 1K or a 2K? Anything else I might want to do like socket the transistors or anything? I know about the SHO switch- not sure if I will do that.
I love the one on this page with the giant black knobs-
http://freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=22&start=80

I already decided before to use the same black rainbow box- and I have a cool graphic in mind- just need to buy trim and enclosure and decide on layout!

Om
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: bigmufffuzzwizz on April 15, 2011, 12:56:49 AM
Finally received the parts to populate mine. Gonna take your advice and put the trimpot on the outside for more flexibility.  :)
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: jimmybjj on April 15, 2011, 01:00:51 AM
wow, never saw this one. very nice indeed!
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: Om_Audio on April 15, 2011, 01:04:22 AM
Nice! I just got all my parts as well- but the pot I got for external trim is way bigger than the other ones (diff supplier)- hope it is not an issue. Working on layout ideas- woot- I'm thinking the one dead center. Will try to start building next week. Good luck!!

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rff2u81iyDY/T0OFff6qMzI/AAAAAAAAcnY/KbgCSfh3BX0/s640/macheen%2520pedal%2520layouts.jpg)
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: bigmufffuzzwizz on April 15, 2011, 06:30:53 AM
Nice layouts you got there. I'm was thinking about doing the same design, the one you have dead center. You should be fine with a bigger pot(24 mm?). It's just physcially bigger and if it will fit with your knob layout then don't worry about it.
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: JakeFuzz on April 15, 2011, 06:51:25 AM
Yeah OM that is going to be badass! I just bought that exact same enclosure from PPP for my Lunar Module, looks great in your pictures.
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: Om_Audio on April 15, 2011, 07:37:11 AM
Thanks guys! Oh man, the Lunar Module name just SOUNDS so cool- I have to look that one up!!
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: bigmufffuzzwizz on April 15, 2011, 05:46:23 PM
Quote from: Om_Audio on April 15, 2011, 07:37:11 AM
Thanks guys! Oh man, the Lunar Module name just SOUNDS so cool- I have to look that one up!!

http://www.guitarpcb.com/apps/webstore/products/show/1904365
Just finished mine the other night. It sounds amazing. Lots of tonal options between the presence(bright) knob and the body(tone) knob.  :)
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: JakeFuzz on April 15, 2011, 05:54:37 PM
Quote from: bigmufffuzzwizz on April 15, 2011, 05:46:23 PM
Quote from: Om_Audio on April 15, 2011, 07:37:11 AM
Thanks guys! Oh man, the Lunar Module name just SOUNDS so cool- I have to look that one up!!

http://www.guitarpcb.com/apps/webstore/products/show/1904365
Just finished mine the other night. It sounds amazing. Lots of tonal options between the presence(bright) knob and the body(tone) knob.  :)

I think all of us LA folk should get together and have a pedal geek convention/jam one of these days.
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: bigmufffuzzwizz on April 16, 2011, 04:33:11 PM
Quote from: JakeFuzz on April 15, 2011, 05:54:37 PM
I think all of us LA folk should get together and have a pedal geek convention/jam one of these days.

I'm into it!! I just put this same suggestion on a thread in the BYOC forum
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: Om_Audio on April 18, 2011, 07:01:07 PM
Sounds like a good idea!
Title: Re: Macheen-build and a question
Post by: drbob1 on June 05, 2011, 03:46:40 AM
The build went well, except that this was my first pedal I had to order the BOM instead of a kit and it took 3 tries to get it all here! That said, it fired up right away. I don't remember how my earlier Machine acted and it didn't have the external trim knob, so a couple of questions:
1. Limit is pretty subtle-shifts the distortion just a bit but not a huge effect. The Ge diodes are mismatched because I broke one of my first pair. Is that a problem?

2. Adjusting the trim pot for most of it's travel is pretty quiet, then the last 30% is where all the magic happens. Is that right?

3. Adjusting the gain, it crackles and fades as I move the knob, then stabilizes when I stop moving it. Again, some of the early travel seems less useful as the unit loses volume (if both are under 50% it won't get up to unity, although if both are maxed it's DAMN loud!).

Does it sound like it's working correctly?

BTW, I got a "blem" prefinished enclosure from Pedalparts: fast shipping and a great product for a great price!
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: bigmufffuzzwizz on June 05, 2011, 05:37:28 PM
Drbob1-
I would suggest starting your own thread. Since you finished your build you could put it in the "Build Report" section, or in the "Tech Help" since that's what your asking for.
With that said your build sounds like its working correctly. The gain knob more so changes the "distortion" or gain where as the limit knob has to do with the crossover distortion. If you do a double stop bends you can hear it get more dramatic and more of a crazy filter sweep going on, the pedals "blooming" effect.
I noticed the trimpot sounded the best towards the end of the turn but after 50% is where I start really enjoying it. The higher the more dramatic the effect should be.
I'm not sure about the volume symptoms you are experiencing, but the knob should crakle, since its an SHO circuit(crackle okay!) Now you gotta make a build report and post pictures of the inside and outside!!  :) Congrats on your first Madbean pedal!
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: pandadandan on June 06, 2011, 10:18:10 AM

Here's a video where I turned down the trimpot in order to get a particularly horrible overdrive sound.

"Useful" is a very subjective word  ;) ;D
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: drbob1 on June 06, 2011, 01:34:00 PM
Wow, that is awful in a glorious way! And yeah, that's kinda how it sounds, so I guess it's OK.
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: bigmufffuzzwizz on June 06, 2011, 03:46:39 PM
whoa neil thats some mean heavy stuff!!! I wanna take a video of some of the other extremes of the machine to show people what it can do!
Did you take those videos of wata?
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: brainbender on August 02, 2011, 06:18:34 PM
I like those weird pedals and I'd like to make one, but im not sure what should i play through it...  :D
Noise, industrial? Any sugestions? :-\
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: LaceSensor on August 03, 2011, 10:39:34 AM
Quote from: brainbender on August 02, 2011, 06:18:34 PM
I like those weird pedals and I'd like to make one, but im not sure what should i play through it...  :D
Noise, industrial? Any sugestions? :-\

The Machine can simply be used with another distortion or fuzz to really make leads pop.
sounds kinda synthy. Its not all just noise. But it can be  ;D
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: bigmufffuzzwizz on August 03, 2011, 03:55:48 PM
I'll be the using my Machine for pure rock n roll sonic bliss! It's supposed to be replicating the sound you'd get when you crank a high gain tube amp, which is where you'll hear crossover distortion. Like MB explains, it can be described as a blooming/sweeping effect. It really makes bends sound massive.
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: brainbender on October 03, 2011, 11:10:00 AM
Sounds interesting! I'll build it as soon as i get some more time for myself. I like weird effects. :)
Title: Re: Macheen
Post by: Om_Audio on February 28, 2012, 01:18:13 AM
Finally finished mine- LOVE it:
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=3738.0
and also useful topic on external trim pot mod:
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=3941.msg35278#msg35278