Messages

How many I have depends on if I am chasing others' sounds (usually many pedals) versus creating my own (usually less).  I like chasing the Plexi sound in a pedal since it's a bit harder to tame a 50W Marshall at home. If I had to pick 3 ODs/fuzzes I would go with the Aristocrat (single), MI Audio Blue Boy Deluxe and MI Audio Neo Fuzz.  


Off the board - Sonic Titan (clone), DIY Big Muff, BSIAB2, Eternity (clone), Zen Drive (clone), Dirty Bomb, modded DS-1, COT50 (clone), Purple Plexi (clone).....I have built ~ 20-30 others which I have traded or salvaged for parts.

On-board - BYOC TriBoost, MI Audio Neo Fuzz, MI Audio Blue Boy Deluxe, Aristocrat, Sun King, Boneyard (currently trying this one out)

Next to build - Cosmopolitan, LaVanche, Boomstick

I have played around with the input and filtering caps and would now like to shift up the frequency of the clipping portion of the circuit when in high gain mode.  Any suggestions for a starting point?

Canes fan here!  Was glad to see Chara win one.  I also became a Tim Thomas fan along the way.    I think Vancouver has realized that it is hard to win a cup with tic tac toe passing and highlight reel goals.  Ugly goals always seem to win out.

Hockey players are the best ambassadors of their sport...compared to any other athletes IMO.  I'll be a Canucks fan if they come out of the west next year though......

....still thinking about decreasing the low end when switching to high gain.  I might play around with the input cap and make it switchable (on the same switch as the low/high gain switch).

I will verify that 47 ohms at R5 made it right for me as well.  I also subbed back in the 1M pot for the high gain channel.  Note that I built mine without the boost and I used a MAX1044 for the charge pump.  I haven't had good luck with the TC1044 chip.  It was noisy with the Fatpants so I decided not to use it with any of my other builds.

I threw back in the red LEDs and it kills now!  The EQ has seemed to sort itself out as well.  On the low gain channel it is a bit brighter while switching to the high gain pot you hear more clipping of lower frequencies such that palm muting comes easily.

I'm boxing mine up as well.  Can't wait to crank it once the baby wakes up!

Like mjcyates, I too was underwhelmed with the LEDs in the clipping section.  I wanted more clipping and compression like the BSIAB2 or red channel of the Aristocrat.  I replaced D1 and D2 with BAT41's and D3 with a MA856 (1N914 works well and is not much different, if any).  These changes gave a much spongier feel and sound is somewhat reminiscent of the MI Audio Crunchbox (which has clipping LEDs). 

How much difference would different sizes and types of red LEDs make? 

This pedal is thick!!!.....possibly a bit too thick for my tastes when using humbuckers (even with the tone knob maxed).  Which cap(s) should I experiment with to shift the frequency curve toward the upper mids?

I love the switching ability from low to high gain.  Most brown sound pedals seem to excel in low or high gain but this one seems very well balanced.  After changing the clipping structure and once I get a handle on the tone shaping, I may push the high gain pot up to 500k to see if it can be tolerated without oscillation.

Sorry, no pics yet...  I never box it up or wire in a 3PDT until I am sure I like the circuit.

Cosmo's are gone..  Crap!  i waited too late.

This teaser may postpone my cosmo order which is ok considering I have a boneyard to build.  What effect category does the surprise fall under?

thanks guys!  I can usually trace the negative side back to ground but it is a bit harder for me to do so in this layout.  I hope to get this one together soon!  I always seem to overlook one or two parts when I place a Small Bear order so, it may be another week or so.....

...in regard to the clipping LEDs pictured on the Boneyard PCB, is the bottom or the top of the pictured LED meant to be the longer leg?

Hope the boneyard ends my search for the perfect plexi circuit.... or at least delays it.  The versatility of the gearhead will be sweet as well and like nothing I currently own..

Can't wait!

Nice work ibodog.  You managed to keep the offboard wiring clean.....something that troubles me the most.

I gave up etching for vero a while back.  If anyone etches a board from Brian's layout I will pay $10 for a board for myself. 

I have a vero layout from fsb but the offboard wiring isn't ideal as all the pot leads are not located in a single general area.  With 5 or 6 pots that can get messy awfully fast.

Yeah, the screwdriver is  different from tonebenders and appears be an incredible stack mate with other ODs.

I'm surprised this has not come up.  I would like something a little different from a fuzz and OD and this might fit the bill...especially if it does Zeppelin tones as good as they say.

I built this one on vero board (without the treble trimmer) a few months ago and it is by far my favorite OD.  My vero build seems to pick up radio frequencies and I was just curious if anyone gets this too using Bean's layout?  I want to move my build over to a new board to take advantage of the trimmer, especially if this layout seems to be less prone to RF interference.