What are some goals for you people, for the new year?
Mine?
Figure out a Eurorack BBD delay, with either XVIVE3005 or the MN3008 chips I have lying around.
See if I can't make at least capacitor money with some of these synth boards on muffwiggler.
Get a forum-wanky soldering iron. But only if my 40W pencil dies, I can't bring myself to uncrack my wallet otherwise.
Aww man, 40 whole watts? I'm still using a 15W iron. :-\
My goal will be to finish off this guitar I'm building, which was meant to be a christmas present, but looks like it's going to go into 2017. Once that one is finished, my kid wants a new one too, so that's the goal for the new year... new guitars for everyone.
I want to start ( and hopefully finish ) a guitar project. I would also like to get into pickup winding/building, but first a guitar.
I'm tempted to get a GFS body since they have a 10% off christmas sale.
Alan, please let me know of any synth boards you want to sell.
as far as pedals go, gather the rest of the lovetone pcbs out there so I can build a complete set over time ... build a bbd delay pedal
2016 was kind of a wash for DIY stuff, so... this year's main goals:
+ Start approaching pedals from a "designer" perspective now that I have a few years of builder equity (and attendant troubleshooting) under my belt. This includes GOING SLOWER - my tendency to not test Chinese/Thai parts (diodes and ICs, in particular) before I throw them into a build has led to a whole bin of unusable veros and PCBs. It also includes breadboarding, vero design, and PCB design... I've dabbled in all three, but I want to get more ambitious. I've done a Naga Viper PCB layout where the individual pad specs came out too small and, about a month ago, I did a vero layout for PAiA's Pygmy, a Pignose-alike kit from the '70s that runs at 12v, and was treated to what appeared to be a low-voltage burble (think of a fuzz that only really makes sound when the guitar volume's maxed) and the smell of electrical peril when I built it up and plugged it in. Ideally, I'd like to be making appropriately sized PCBs and be able to troubleshoot things like that Pygmy project through sheer force of electronics knowledge. (I may post it here anyway, though, just to soak in the wisdom of people who clearly know what they're doing.) Stuff I'm curious about: voltage regulation, transformer math, designing around ICs, and wire choices - I feel like my fail rate has increased 100fold since I started using Barry's Best pre-bond from GPCB, but it may be that I've been in the habit of picking difficult and squirrelly projects that require more than just a mechanical soldering of pads.
+ Build a tube amp into an Epiphone Valve Jr. using the 5e3 PCB I got during last year's PIF. I could use a cheap(ish) tweedy thing 8) Once I have the hang of it, I may try a sub-mini Marshall ala Thomasha...
+ Mod my Alesis 3630 compressor (and try to troubleshoot the Altec 1678 I tried to mod).
+ Build 2 FetBoys and 4 API 312s for my studio, as well as FET U47 and C12 clones. (If I get just the APIs and U47 done, I'll be happy.)
+ Proceeding from those earlier Chinese parts complaints: actually pony up for quality controlled stuff from our shores that I know will work. Now that I've built most of the non-delay and -modulation pedals I've ever wanted (Big Cheese, Sparkle Drive, Hotcake, Mutron III, SHO, Civil War Muff, Centaur, Honey Bee, Meathead, Companion Fuzz), I can sort of lay back and - again - take my time with the stuff I want to build next (Vibutron, Cream Puff, Polyphase, Current Lover, Fender Blender).
+ And, finally: more multi-builds! I did one this year, hated every minute of it, and can't wait to do it again :o
SMD
build amp
*whoops double post*
This year I didnt do much building, so my first plan is to build more, finish Drolo's MDD for starters. I also want to learn more of C++ for building my own VSTs and start working on an arduino-based MIDI controller. Id also like to learn some basics of DSP and signal manipulation. So pretty much plenty of programming, but I'll see how much DIY time there'll be with all the university and music school work I have.
I didn't build much in 2016, and half of the things I did build are still unfinished.
In 2017 I'd like to actually get back to building. In the category of "Long Term Expensive Projects", I'd like to step up my skills and build a Neve 2254 or two. We'll see how that goes!
Finish off a tube cricket project.
Finish off a Triple Wreck clone.
Build a Black forest.
Build a decent power supply.
Learn/Attempt Etching skills for enclosures, and pcb's.
Revisit an old pedal I attempted back in my TAFE days (over a decade ago) that never worked.
Stop. (at least for the moment)
-Get out of my slump/haitus and make a small-ish batch of my 14 second delay
-Make a noisy effect of some sort, bitcrusher/ringmod/noise machine of some sort
-Record some live livingroom ambient jams on video
-Draw more
-Make a reverb of some sort maybe
The general 2017 plan is to move from Fresno, CA to a little farm in Georgia roundabout mid-June, get more chickens and maybe a milk cow, raise the family with Mama. In just a few weeks we are welcoming a new little one, #6! Once the sleepless nights and newborn hijinks settle, yet before I pack up the shop, I'll build some pedals, wind many pickups, and finish up some guitar builds.
I don't think I'm going to build any pedals again for the moment, my AxeFX takes care of those needs, but building new guitars is still in the works, I'm thinking of building a bass guitar too. Also some FRFR speaker cabinets would be very useful.
I've had a number of days to think about this now, and I have a number of goals for this year. In no particular order:
- Lose weight. No seriously, I need to, and I'm going to.
- Read through the Bible 2 times (I usually average 1.5 times per year)
- Go on a 3-4 night Hike (by myself if I can)
- Finish my non-working pedal collection (around 10), or at least trade away that which I don't want to work with so someone else can benefit from them.
- Finish the 40ish pedals I have ready to be built
- Redesign and relaunch my pedal website
- Finish the 10ish new PCB projects on the go and release them for JMK PCBs
- Start the 5ish new ideas for PCB Projects for JMK PCBs
- Redo my big pedalboard (PT-3) for recording
- Finish the Lightning clone head I started a couple years ago.
- Build a 1x12 cab (maybe 2)
- Trade/Sell Guitars, Amps and Pedals
- Record an EP
- Finish painting the Imperial Assault Figures I have and may acquire
- Shed stuff
- Cut back on the number of small purchases I make generally and start to become more Minimal in my approach to most things
Yikes. This is going to be a full year. I'll try and remind myself of all of these things at the end of 2017. Let's see how many I manage to complete, or at least make progress on.
Jacob
My greatest and hardest building ever.
A TDA2003 5w amp for guitar. Two channels (clean/high Gain) + boost (pre/post high gain channel) with footswitch control.
I'm freaking about 2017. 90% confirmed I will be going back to study part time while working full time... and I will have increased responsibility at work. My own fault :o :-\
I'm looking into building some phono valve pre-amps, 'coz I've just gotten into the whole vinyl thing.