A friend of mine lost her brother "chuckbuick," aka Mark Green early in 2017. I have been asked to go to her house this weekend and play through all the beautiful pedals he created. As is evident on this site, he was a great contributor, helpful individual, and a master at SMD!
I'm reaching out to the forum to ask if any of you have some positive/personal things you could share about Mark. I have the great privilege of getting to sample and play through the almost 100 pedals he left behind this coming weekend. This will be very cathartic for his sister, who looks forward to hearing what sounds his creations were capable of.
I thought it could be very meaningful if I could share with her some positive things from individuals on this forum when I go to see her this weekend.
For any of you who knew him or interacted with him, I would be grateful for any positive things you might have to share. Thanks very much for your time and consideration.
All the best,
Jeff Reed
His custom SMD PCB layouts were always clean, elegant, crisp, and at the same time somehow managed to get ten kilograms of stuff onto a five kilogram board.
Hi Jeff,
I have many positive things to say about Mark Green. I worked with Mark on his first few PCB layouts. I had been doing SMT type stuff for a while and that interested Mark because of his experience at work. We corresponded through PM at BYOC and via email. Mark quickly made some fantastic layouts. I still remember him saying it was "his favorite puzzle game", which I thought was a fantastic way to describe board layout work.
Mark was very generous. In the beginning, he sent me one of every PCB layout he did. At one point, he did a layout with 0402 passives and I said something obnoxious along the lines of "that's fine and all, but call me when you start building with 0201 parts." Sure enough, he did a layout with 0201 parts. He sent me a board and all of the parts to build it. I did build it but, to my shame, still haven't boxed it. I plan on completing the build in his honor shortly.
I've mentioned it earlier on this forum, but I lost two friends in 2017 as well and I'm still reconciling it. My deepest condolences to his sister and to his friends. I didn't know him outside of the Internet, but he was a friendly and kind man and I think the world is a lesser place without him.
Sincerely,
Dave aka pickdropper
Please share my condolences.
Mark was not only supremely talented, but understanding, generous and kind. Not only did he share a project with me, he refused to give up on me even when I was ready to give up on me. I fried some components and we went out of his way to get me some more and walk me through the process. He was a good friend to this community and we grieve with you.
Thanks for giving us this opportunity and please let his sister know we miss him, too.
Jason (jubal81)
Unfortunately, I did not have much contact with Mark. However, I always appreciated his layouts, which were optically pleasing as much as they were sonically. He was a master-SMD builder and the first go-to-guy for any question on the matter. When he started to contribute to Grindcustoms I was very impressed with the output of the collective and all the layouts he did.
I dearly miss having him aroud here.
I also echo what the others said. My condolences to his family.
Felix
I would drool over his work. In particular, these two beauties. I wish him the best in the afterlife and will continue to admire his work.
I would love to get these boards so much. Absolutely gorgeous.
Im very sorry for your loss
His builds and PCB layouts were borderline legendary in SMD
I cant begin to fathom how talented (or perhaps how long) it took him, especially the A/DA flanger - wow.
Certainly he was a great contributor here and I will be sad to not see any more of his builds reported on.
I appreciate this is a very niche and limited perspective. Being in the UK I never met him, but this community will miss his presence.
Take care.
Ian (LaceSensor)
He was a very nice, generous, funny, and talented guy. His work is some of the best I've seen in the hobby world, and much of it eclipses "professional" pedal companies.
I hope you blocked off several hours for this event. Just playing a few pedals could take almost an hour. With all the wacky stuff he made, you could spend days and still not really get deep.
Count me among those who admired his work a great deal. It's so easy to forget that there are real people—not just individuals but whole families and relational networks—behind every poster on an Internet forum like this. Condolences to Mark's whole family.
If there is any sort of fundraiser in his memory, especially to support causes pertinent to his death, I am certain this community would be eager to contribute. Let us know.
We did have a thread for Mark last year with quite a lot of responses. Just mentioning that because it is worth a read-through since there are many wonderful replies/stories in it. We were lucky to have him here and his passing is a big loss for the DIY community.
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=25511.0
Man I had no idea.
RIP Mark.
:'(
I only got to work with/interact with Mark when he did a couple projects with Grind Customs. His personality really melded with the whole team. SUPER talented and really humble about it. He has been missed around these parts for sure but his legacy (build reports & project postings) lives on, here on the forms.
His builds have made it in my "inspiration" folders over the years.
Its a good reminder on how easy it is to slip into a dark place and loosing the struggle. I wish his family my condolences.
Make some epic noise with his arsenal of great pedals!
Cody
I was always in awe of his work. No disrespect to anyone else on this board (and we have plenty of supremely talented people here), but his SMD layouts were definitely next level.
And he was always super generous. As a few other people had mentioned, I had asked him about a board he made, and he just sent it free of charge, offering any help he could, and never asked for a penny in return (even as I kept asking to pay him). Definitely a person I loved seeing posts from.
His work was really second to none, IMO. As good or better than any other work I have seen on here. He obviously took great pride in his craft.
Mark's work was inspiring. Every time I saw his stuff it made me want to work harder, execute things better, or research something I had not seen before.
When I first started in this hobby Mark seemed like he was one of the most exprienced builders on the forum. He was very knowledgeable and was always willing to chime in and answer questions. He would take the time to help people understand a difficult concept if they were stuck.
Not many of us actually know each other in person, and I never had the chance to meet Mark in person, but if his actions here were any indication of what type of person he was then I'm sure he did a lot of good before leaving us.
His work set the bar for the rest of us and his presence here helped make the community a welcome place for hobbiest of all levels. He will be missed here greatly, please pass on my condolences to his friends and family.
I'll echo sjaustin. If there is every a fundraiser in his memory please pass that information onto us I'm sure that there are many on here who would be willing to contribute in his memory.
P.S. Take some pictures of all of those amazing builds for us if you can.
I had the pleasure of interacting and having dealings with Mark. He was a super cool cat and always helpful and patient.
When Mark passed, I received an email from his sister telling me such and offered my condolences as well as a request on where to send flowers, etc. Never heard back but assumed it was due to the massive time involved with the dealing of the loss of a loved one.
One of the best designers and builders I have ever seen in my time.
I'm shocked and saddened. I didn't realize he had passed away. I'm really sorry for not having seen the 2017 thread about his passing. My sincere condolences and prayers to his family. His work was beyond impeccable and I know that each pedal he built will be considered priceless.
I wish I had been active when he was around. I've seen his work and it all looks amazing, but that is all I know about the fellow.
It seems a bit of a shame that only 1 of his boards ended up on OSHPark. I'd love to see his designs delighting DIYers for years to come. I'm tempted to get the board that is up, just because, seems like the right thing to do, ya know? https://oshpark.com/profiles/chuckbuick
I didn't know him, but his builds and boards were next level. I was given a triple wreck board of his, but I didn't feel I could do it justice when I heard he passed on, so I PIF'd the board in his honour.
I proofread his osmium build docs. I gave him a couple of suggestions which he took. Beautiful layout and great sounding pedal. My soldering on the board looks decent but Mark's was impeccable.
I, always, loved his layouts and positive comments. We miss him here.
Quote from: Cyclops on January 03, 2018, 03:29:14 AM
A friend of mine lost her brother "chuckbuick," aka Mark Green early in 2017. I have been asked to go to her house this weekend and play through all the beautiful pedals he created. As is evident on this site, he was a great contributor, helpful individual, and a master at SMD!
I'm reaching out to the forum to ask if any of you have some positive/personal things you could share about Mark. I have the great privilege of getting to sample and play through the almost 100 pedals he left behind this coming weekend. This will be very cathartic for his sister, who looks forward to hearing what sounds his creations were capable of.
I thought it could be very meaningful if I could share with her some positive things from individuals on this forum when I go to see her this weekend.
For any of you who knew him or interacted with him, I would be grateful for any positive things you might have to share. Thanks very much for your time and consideration.
All the best,
Jeff Reed
Hi Jeff-
it makes me super happy to hear that these are going to get played sometime soon! Please give my best regards to Mark's sister, I got an email early on to hear that he passed, and I can only imagine how hard things have been for her.
As for Mark, sometime I think in 2013, I wrote this crazy post about how to be an smd badass or something like that. (I worked on military radios during the early 90s, and was a trainer in assy, rework and repair for a while. Went to grad school and didn't do much with electronics until I discovered the whole diy stompbox thing in 2012 or so.)
I got spoiled with madbean's pcbs but much prefered smd work over thru hole. (There were only a few people I knew of doing smd at all, one being pickdropper, alanp, and another was muddyfox.) Anyway, Mark contacted me about that post I wrote in dec 2013, and offered to send me some of his pcbs and build docs for feedback. I gladly accepted and was blown away with how elegant they were in terms of layout, and they were a joy to assemble.
I hadn't posted a build report of anything yet, and he encouraged me to do so. I think my first report here was for the osmium pcb. It's still one of my favorite pedals, as well as the others I built using his pcbs.
He also encouraged me to try doing my own layouts, since there still weren't many smd pcbs available. I'm so glad I did, it enabled me to take my own approach to some old circuits and cram them into 1590a boxes. I always offered some of my pcbs in return, but he always declined politely, with a comment that he "had so many of his own to do." lol.
I had a bit of a rough time in late 2014 due to work issues and injuries that put me on pain meds. The meds affected my mood in a really bad way, especially when I was also taking cold medicine, and I am grateful for the low key support he sent me. (Also my wife for putting up with me.)
Amazing how generous and supportive he was, while remaining quite humble at the same time. One thing that I think bears another mention is his dry sense of humor. Almost never failed to put something funny in a post, and I miss seeing that here.
When I heard of Mark's passing, it came at a time when I lost a couple of other friends- it affected me deeply and he is missed. I so wish there was something I could've done to help.
I haven't been around here much, been doing more playing than building, but something compelled me to check in and I'm glad I did. I wish everyone here the very best in 2018, and look forward to seeing what Jeff's experience is with these pedals.
- Billy aka wgc
oh yeah, just remembered a story he mentioned about convincing a co-worker that Alvin Lee was Jake e lee's dad. lol
Thanks everyone for your kind and thoughtful posts. I will be heading off to Mark's sister's place today and look forward to sharing your thoughts with her, and to immersing myself in sound explorations of his pedal-making genius.
Cheers,
Jeff
Quote from: madbean on January 03, 2018, 03:37:34 PM
We did have a thread for Mark last year with quite a lot of responses. Just mentioning that because it is worth a read-through since there are many wonderful replies/stories in it. We were lucky to have him here and his passing is a big loss for the DIY community.
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=25511.0
Thank you Mad Bean, I had no idea about this thread!
Jeff
Quote from: culturejam on January 03, 2018, 02:45:58 PM
I hope you blocked off several hours for this event. Just playing a few pedals could take almost an hour. With all the wacky stuff he made, you could spend days and still not really get deep.
I have set aside a whole day. Frankly, with over 100 pedals that he made to plug in, I will only be scratching the surface. For me, it will be an absolute gear orgy! I will literally being trying pedals that he may only have made, or if made by others, were made differently by him. A true privilege!
Quote from: Cyclops on January 05, 2018, 06:49:35 PM
I have set aside a whole day. Frankly, with over 100 pedals that he made to plug in, I will only be scratching the surface. For me, it will be an absolute gear orgy! I will literally being trying pedals that he may only have made, or if made by others, were made differently by him. A true privilege!
Enjoy! And please give his family members our regards.
All,
I tried a post after I got back from the Mark Green "Try 84 self-made pedals in 1 day" weekend trip, but my phone crashed when I tried to post and I didn't feel like typing it all again. Today is a better day, and I'm putting my sausage fingers to work on my home computer. To play 84 pedals that one person made over the small span of 5 years was truly a once in a lifetime experience. With the exception of a few that didn't work, they all sounded amazing. I"m going to post three pictures. Two of the pictures are the two pedal boards that sum up all of the pedals he made, and the third picture shows the guts inside the "Unicorn pooping out cupcakes" pedal. I believe it was a Klon Centaur clone, because it had the Chimaera PC board inside. Check out one of the pedal board pics to see the killer graphics on this pedal. It had tons of gain! I've played an original Klon, but this one had two DPDT switches on it. The Cupcakes switch was tied to the Gain pot on the right, and the Unicorn Tears switch was tied to the Boost pot on the left. With both engaged, it was tons of creamy gain! I'm not sure if this is a mod someone on this forum came up with, or if it was Mark's own doing. Whatever he did, it was awesome.
He made pedals in probably every category: flangers, choruses, delays, other modulation pedals, tons of Fuzz pedals, overdrives, distortion, tube screamers, EQs, and other pedals beyond classification. I'm not the pedal maker that many of you are, I just solder my own cables. However, even with my untrained eye, it seems like he experimented with different parts and different designs from the clones he was making, which makes most of his pedals one of a kind in my estimation.
I also want to thank you all for the many positive comments you made about him. I shared them with Mark's sister, and she and her family and friends were very encouraged by the things you all had to say. Seeing all he did inspires me to make my own pedals, but my wife might kill me for yet another music-related hobby!
All the best,
Jeff