Hello Everyone,
My name is Rick and I just recently started to work on my first build. I have plenty of experience with soldering from performing pedal mods and working guitar electronics. I decided to go whole hog and attempt to build a Total Recall as I always wanted one so badly...
So far so good, the Madbean PCB has been a pleasure to work, possibly my most pleasurable soldering experience to date. Using a 25W iron I got from Radio Shack for like 8 dollars...works just perfect. I've populated most of the board and just waiting for my Xvive BBD's and a NE570 (The NE570 was the hardest part to find, had to order this from China via Ebay) and pots, jacks etc.. Since I have some downtime on the build I wanted to ask a few questions.
1) I ordered the parts via Mouser using Madbeans cart. This was honestly the most convenient thing in the world! I was so bummed thinking about having to source parts until I saw this option (Thank you Madbean!). My question is about the 1uf Film caps, I see most other builds have different style caps for these. I was curious about what effect does this have on the sound?
2) I am about to order the enclosure. I will probably go with a pre-painted/drilled one from PPP, Mammoth etc..Regarding artwork, is there any very basic artwork around for the Totall Recall build? Also, If I get the enclosure pre-painted do I apply the artwork after? I'd like to learn more about this aspect of pedal building building eventually but right now I'm concentrating on getting the builds done right, so any info would be appreciated!
3) Any other tips and suggestions would be appreciated. I'm sure there will be a quite a few questions from me once the build is completed and it's time to test with a audio probe and calibrate. That part will challenge my skills for sure...
Attached are a few pics of what I've completed so far. Best regards,
Rick
(http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/ac33/Rickyannotta/IMG_20160721_093403.jpg)
(http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/ac33/Rickyannotta/IMG_20160721_093217.jpg)
Forgive me for the rudeness of me (I did a TL;DR), but I have to say:
Way to have some balls, man. First build and you're doing a Total Recall!? Mad props to you!
Looks great so far. One thing you might consider is using ic sockets for the remaining chips. Those xvive chips ain't cheap.
Mammoth does a good job with enclosures but if you are planning on doing board mounted pots (which is a good idea for a circuit like this) I would not get a pre drilled enclosure. Their spacing will not match the spacing on the board. Drilling enclosures isn't incredibly difficult, especially if you use a stepping bit on your drill. You just need to be careful and make sure everything is measured correctly.
As far as artwork goes just have fun with it. Look at build reports on here and you can get an idea of what others do and how it looks. A lot of people etch enclosures, others hand paint every one, others use decals or transparencies. A chap on here who goes by juansolo has an excellent tutorial on using whaterslide decals an coating the artwork with Envirotex (a clear apoxy).
And remember to rock it BEFORE you box it.
Quote from: daleykd on July 21, 2016, 05:20:18 PM
Forgive me for the rudeness of me (I did a TL;DR), but I have to say:
Way to have some balls, man. First build and you're doing a Total Recall!? Mad props to you!
This. And to solder those ICs right to the board? Balls of steel I tell you.
I think it was mentioned before, but you probably want to do your own drilling to fit board mounted pots. You can use a simple waterslide for graphics, or venture into the rabbit hole of acid etched enclosures. You'll even find people on the MB forums that may be willing to sell you an enclosure they drilled and etched if you would rather go that route.
Yeah you have some real big ones. That's one build I would like to do one day but it just scares me (the cost of it not working). And thats a +1 on socketing the IC's. Since you have experience soldering you may not run into problems but it makes it so much easier if you have troubleshooting issues. As far as the 1uf film caps i don't think there is any mojo out there as long as you're using good quality ones (and I am sure their are some guys that have built them using Tayda caps and it worked just fine). I really hope it fires up for you the first time. That would be absolutely awesome. Happy building.
Thanks for all the comments everyone...It's not so much balls as much as not knowing what the hell I'm doing ???. Anyway, FWIW I was pretty quick with regard to soldering the IC's but now that you got me thinking about it I'm a little worried about the CD4047, since I remember spending a little more time on that one with iron. How delicate are they? Is there anyway to check them before the build is completed? The rest of my parts arrived except for that damn NE570, I'll probably end up waiting a month since its coming from China. Good thing my Os Mutantes Fuzz Kit arrived in the mail today as well!
WRT the enclosure, thanks for all the tips. I will be using board mounted pots so I'll order the pre-painted enclosure and drill myself since I have access to a drill press, thanks to a kind neighbor who is also a guitar player. But if anyone has some pre-drilled/etched ones for sale I would happy to check them out!
In the meantime, I'll put together the rest of the board and start reading up on how to test and bias these things (And put together my fuzz kit).
Thanks again for your help,
Rick
My first build was done without sockets and very little soldering experience (I did my own guitar stuff, quite different than soldering pcb's) and it worked. If it doesn't fire up the IC's you soldered in would be one of the first places I would look at in case you over heated one. All the voltages should be in the build doc. My biggest concern is if the chip is damaged, its getting the damn thing out. I have burnt up several boards with my awful desoldering technique. LOL. You are probably a much better solder man than me. Also if you don't have any earthquake tape (clay like stuff you use for stabilizing hanging pictures) get some. Its very handy when you forget to put a smaller part (socket/diode/etc) after you have your caps in. It will hold them in place.
Quote from: BrianS on July 21, 2016, 11:57:46 PM
My first build was done without sockets and very little soldering experience (I did my own guitar stuff, quite different than soldering pcb's) and it worked. If it doesn't fire up the IC's you soldered in would be one of the first places I would look at in case you over heated one. All the voltages should be in the build doc. My biggest concern is if the chip is damaged, its getting the damn thing out. I have burnt up several boards with my awful desoldering technique. LOL. You are probably a much better solder man than me. Also if you don't have any earthquake tape (clay like stuff you use for stabilizing hanging pictures) get some. Its very handy when you forget to put a smaller part (socket/diode/etc) after you have your caps in. It will hold them in place.
Yes, getting the damn things out is a female dog (in heat) for sure! I literally just had to cut out a failed switch in joyo pedal with a dremel >:(. I think my soldering skills have finally improved but I have screwed so many little projects in the past to finally figure out how to do it right. But having a great pcb like madbean provided with an iron that heats at the right temp sure helps a lot. That being said I also have knack for dealing with small parts and pieces. I think I just have nimble fingers....
So far I am very happy with the build and how clean the soldering is coming. Will order some sockets in the meantime, since there not much for me to do until the NE570 arrives and that could be weeks.
Best regards,
Rick
This can help with the desoldering.
https://www.amazon.com/Engineer-SS-02-Solder-Sucker/dp/B002MJMXD4
One of my favorite tools on my bench. It works flawlessly.
Just be careful you dont fry the pads when using a solder sucker. That happened to me a few times the first time I had to de-solder something. Copper braid is slower but it cleans up better if you take the time with it.
edit: note this opinion is based on a Radioshack brand solder sucker, better equipment may change matters.
one more thing to add here: afaik the NE571 is a replacement for the NE570. the 570 was like 7€ at banzai and after I thought that one was dead, I went with the 571 from uk-electronik.de (2.9€). Found out the 570 was good after all, so I stuck with that, but the 571 did pretty much the same before I found the culprit and switched back.
good luck with the rest of the build.
If you're drilling a powder coated enclosure, make sure to cover it with masking tape, otherwise you'll get scratches.
Not recommended MN3008 with ebay. So every time I I was receiving chips not work .
Thanks for all the suggestions! You guys are super-helpful. I have both a solder-sucker (from Stew Mac) and a braid. So far I found the sucker works better for larger projects, like guitar wiring, but the one you posted a link to above is about 2x the price what I paid. Maybe that is the key? So far I haven't mastered de-soldering PCB traces but I think maybe utilizing flux with the braid may hold the key (or possibly a good sucker like posted above?). If all else fails I break out the razor blades and dremel >:(.
One question I have...Can I use those long sockets they sell at radio shack and just break them apart as needed to socket the IC's or do I have to order those special from smallbear?
Best regards,
Rick
The solder sucker I posted has better suction than the cheap ones everyone sells. It is also much smaller. You can get in and out very quickly with this little guy. The only problem with it is that you need to clean out the tip after every few pads, it's easy to pull the solder out of the tip it just slows down the process a bit. It has a little bendable silicon tube on the tip so it is easy to get into tight spaces. I had a cheap sucker before but I've never tried the wick stuff out so I guess it could be better. I was going to try some wick but this thing works well enough that I have never felt the need to.
I generally tape off any enclosure that I'm drilling. It protects from scratches and gives you a surface to draw measurements onto. If you have access to a drill press that will help a lot, just remember to measure carefully.
If you're talking about the straight strips that break apart yes you can use them. Just to keep them straight you can use the earthquake tape or cut some off and put them at the ends to keep it standing upright.
Hi Everyone,
I'ts been about a month since I've worked on my build. I've been busy and also had to wait for the enclosure to be painted from PPP. Anyway I made a classic newbie mistake and ordered a regular 1590BB enclosure as opposed to the correct "Tall" one, so I may attempt to make it fit (balls of steel I guess ??? ). Anyway, I have the board populated, and the pots installed. Anyway here is my latest round of questions:
1) Do I just have to wire the power supply and switch to start testing with an audio probe (rock it before you box it)?
2) Are there specific instructions for testing this pedal or is it a generic procedure (I know there are plenty of videos and tutorials floating around).
3) Do I need to insulate the back of the PCB from the board mounted pots. Mine are rather close already and If I attempt to squeeze this in regular 1590BB, I can tell these mini pots will hit the solder joints on the back of the PCB.
So thats it for know, hopefully I haven't asked anything too dumb or obvious in the build notes. As for the enclosure, I have a handy neighbor with a drill press, a dremel and a lot of ingenuity who may be able to help me. I've read I will have to consider toggle placement and use a low profile power jack. But these are considerations that can wait until after I have the circuit tested. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
Best regards,
Rick
Quote from: Mantaray14 on August 19, 2016, 10:17:39 AM
Hi Everyone,
I'ts been about a month since I've worked on my build. I've been busy and also had to wait for the enclosure to be painted from PPP. Anyway I made a classic newbie mistake and ordered a regular 1590BB enclosure as opposed to the correct "Tall" one, so I may attempt to make it fit (balls of steel I guess ??? ). Anyway, I have the board populated, and the pots installed. Anyway here is my latest round of questions:
1) Do I just have to wire the power supply and switch to start testing with an audio probe (rock it before you box it)?
2) Are there specific instructions for testing this pedal or is it a generic procedure (I know there are plenty of videos and tutorials floating around).
3) Do I need to insulate the back of the PCB from the board mounted pots. Mine are rather close already and If I attempt to squeeze this in regular 1590BB, I can tell these mini pots will hit the solder joints on the back of the PCB.
So thats it for know, hopefully I haven't asked anything too dumb or obvious in the build notes. As for the enclosure, I have a handy neighbor with a drill press, a dremel and a lot of ingenuity who may be able to help me with the enclosure. I've read I will have to consider switch placement and use a low profile power jack. But these are considerations that can wait until after I have the circuit tested. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
Best regards,
Rick
1) You'll need to connect the power. When audio probing you don't necessarily need the switch as it's the last part before the output jack. You obviously need to connect something to the input (preferrably a looper for setting this one up)
2) when testing, you'll need to add the bypass switch and connect the output to a jack and amp or probe pin 2 of the blend pot directly. other than that, you've already got your necessary connections. I would recommend building a testing rig at some point, it will make things so much easier and you'll need it over and over again if you continue with this hobby.
3) YES. you need to insulate the jacks!! Otherwise you'll short things out causing all kinds of problems. Smallbear carries those purple pot-condoms and many 16mm alpha jacks come with a dust cap. Other possibilites include electrical tape on the pot, piece of cardboard, and so on.
you can fit it in a regular 1590BB, but it will be more challenging especially depending on the type of jacks you use.
I started playing around with the enclosure to see if I could get it to fit. It's very challenging to say the least. My question is this...Would I be able to get away with mounting the LM7915 Voltage Controller ion the other side of the board? If I could do that I just might figure out a way to pull it off.
Best regards,
Rick
Quote from: Mantaray14 on August 28, 2016, 03:33:07 AM
I started playing around with the enclosure to see if I could get it to fit. It's very challenging to say the least. My question is this...Would I be able to get away with mounting the LM7915 Voltage Controller ion the other side of the board? If I could do that I just might figure out a way to pull it off.
Best regards,
Rick
Absolutely. As long as you've got all the pins going the right way, or wrong way since it's upside-down.
I always mount whatever I can on the other side if it's in a spot where I need space for jacks. The only thing it doesn't work for is ICs in a dual package because no matter how you orient them on the other side of the board the pinout will be wrong.
I bought a bunch of cheap alligator clip patch cords for hooking up the IN, OUT, POWER, and GROUND wires to whatever. Handy:
https://www.amazon.com/Elenco-TL-6-Alligator-10-Piece-inches/dp/B0002JJU28/ref=sr_1_4?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1472856903&sr=1-4&keywords=alligator+clips (https://www.amazon.com/Elenco-TL-6-Alligator-10-Piece-inches/dp/B0002JJU28/ref=sr_1_4?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1472856903&sr=1-4&keywords=alligator+clips)
You'll need a little amp of some sort, and of course 9v for power. One tip is to make sure your battery isn't heating up when you first fire it up. Obviously don't want it bursting into flames because of a short in the power section unless you're into that kind of thing. I went a bit crazy and bought a linear power supply with short circuit protection and amperage setting. You can see how much juice your board is pulling etc.. $50 US:
https://www.circuitspecialists.com/bench-power-supply-csi1802x.html (https://www.circuitspecialists.com/bench-power-supply-csi1802x.html)
I tried solder suckers, the Radio Shack Bulb de-soldering Iron, braid, and then just bought this through hole solder/de-soldering station and never looked back. Braid will always be useful for cleaning up solder in a lot of instances. But nothing beats having a de-soldering GUN!
https://www.circuitspecialists.com/ESD_Thru-hole_Desoldering_Soldering_System.html (https://www.circuitspecialists.com/ESD_Thru-hole_Desoldering_Soldering_System.html)
Oh and if you're still using a sponge to clean the tip of your iron get one of these gold thingys with the gold stuff inside:
https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-599B-02-Solder-Cleaning-Holder/dp/B00FZPGDLA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472856791&sr=8-1&keywords=Hakko+599B-02+Solder+Tip+Cleaning+Wire+and+Holder (https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-599B-02-Solder-Cleaning-Holder/dp/B00FZPGDLA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472856791&sr=8-1&keywords=Hakko+599B-02+Solder+Tip+Cleaning+Wire+and+Holder)
Cheap sockets for chips:
http://www.taydaelectronics.com/connectors-sockets/sockets/dip-sockets.html (http://www.taydaelectronics.com/connectors-sockets/sockets/dip-sockets.html)
I like the cheapy ones better than the machined ones they seem to hold on to the chip better.
A lot of guys won't use Tayda but some things are a good deal.
Don't know if any of this is helpful just throwing it out there.
Just wanted to give you guys an update... My Total Recall is up and running!
It took me a few extra weeks to work on the enclosure but it's in the regular 1590B and everything.
I tried a quick run through today to bias, another challenging aspect of this pedal. I think I got it sounding okay, but I'm gonna try again tomorrow. Kinda hard since I've never even heard one of these pedals in real life before.
Anyway this post is worthless without pics so I hope to post a few and maybe a even a video clip if I get it sounding great in the next few days.
Best regards
Rick
Okay, was able to spend some time biasing the pedal tonight. The instructions get you in the ballpark but that last part with the Gain 2 trimmer is tricky. I know the instructions are wrong but was still having difficulty until I just used my ear and ended up bringing that trimmer down quite a bit. Then I fine-tuned and found a sweet spot. I'm sure as I get acquainted with it I'll tweak some more. Anyway here's a few pics a snapped. The knobs I picked these up at Radio Shack in a pinch and will prob change. Also I drilled the hole for the LCD too big so I'll be ordering as socket for that LED. My only regret with the enclosure is that I didn't bring that LED up just a bit higher...otherwise totally happy with my first project! Anyhow here's a few snapshots I took tonight.
(http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/ac33/Rickyannotta/DSC_0016.jpg)
(http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/ac33/Rickyannotta/DSC_0004.jpg)
Can I just say, for your first project, you did an amazing job.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This is your first project??!
Man, you rule, that's just amazing!!
Seriously man, this is an impressive feat! Great job Rick.
Thanks for the Compliments! I got it sounding pretty great too by following the bias directions (except for that last bit with gain2) and then fine tuning by ear. Will see if I can post a quick video clip of it sometime soon. It's a dirty sound but in such good way!
Dang, looks fantastic! especially for a first go at building. My pedals generally aren't close to that tidy.
I actually like those knobs. I picked up some from a Rat Shack that is closing and they are on the nicer side compared to what you get from most places.
Just wanted report that I'm totally in love with this pedal. Thank you Madbean!
There's not a lot of demos on this pedal so I put together a little diddy, recorded on my crappy Sony Xperia phone. The repeats sit in the pocket perfectly, very inspiring pedal for ambient style music. Playing a EBMM Silhouette Special into a 20W Brunetti Maranello amp. Straight into the Totall Recall and into the clean channel.
[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/richard-yannotta/sounds-from-sunday-morning[/soundcloud]
Quote from: Matmosphere on July 22, 2016, 01:28:33 AM
This can help with the desoldering.
https://www.amazon.com/Engineer-SS-02-Solder-Sucker/dp/B002MJMXD4
One of my favorite tools on my bench. It works flawlessly.
Same one I bought the difference between it and the el cheapo I used to have is unbelievable I haven't ruined a pad since switching to it.
Your pedal looks awesome man the tonal recall is next when I finish my current batch of boards.
Looks great indeed!
If that LED bothers you, try one of these:
http://www.musikding.de/Washer-M12-2mm
They are slimmer than those white nylon washers so the LED won't look so close to the footswitch.
That's really impressive. I finally bit the bullet and bought one also. I hope mine will work but wow there's a lot of parts that I can screw up. Great job!
I just ordered the parts from the pre-selected cart in the build doc. 90% of the parts are there and clearly labeled by mouser. From there just take your time and go one part at a time!
Hearing yours made me realize that there is clearly something wrong with my build. I tried to bias it twice and it is quite distorted. Need to open it back up and check for errors.
great job and nice audio demo
Excellent job! You learn so much the first build, but then of course you want to build something else:)
For biasing, it sounds very good! A little grit but lovely. I think I rebiased mine 3 or 4 times. It should sound close to the sweetest delay you've ever heard when its right. It really is a GREAT pedal.
The grit in the recording is from the phone. I was very surprised it sounded that good using just a cell phone!
FWIW, I'm already building an Afterlife...