Whew, after much stress Keefe saved my Dirtbag with a CD4047 just in time. Just so you guys dont make the same dumb mistake I have taken a nice big picture of the inside and how the regulator heatsink is attached to the enclosure. ;)
This build uses MN3005's from the ebay seller Magazine Vault. They appear to be legit but I think I still have some tweaking to do. Repeats are perfectly warm, but I am getting a max of about 480ms, which is fine for me but it would be nice to wring a little extra out. Other than that it sounds absolutely unbelievable, I just did a rough bias without an audio probe. Depending on where the feedback knob is you can just go into these ambient dreamland jams that sound so amazing. I did a rough comparison with the carbon copy; the Dirtbag is not as dark sounding as the CC and has much less grain to the repeats. The repeats are also punchier sounding. The max delay on my Dbag is about 75% the max on the CC.
I did an etched faceplate mounted on a Hammond factory finished enclosure. The faceplate looks good, the imperfections in the lines make it look even cooler. It warped pretty bad when I quenched it from the iron so it is lifting by the slightest hair on one corner. Used a variable voltage regulator (LM317) tuned to 15 volts on Vero. Mini chicken heads from Small Bear are probably my new favorite.
Thanks so much to Keefe for getting a CD4047 on super short notice.
Demos in the new year when I get my microphone back from a friend.
(http://i693.photobucket.com/albums/vv299/pnordeen/20111221_181810.jpg)
(http://i693.photobucket.com/albums/vv299/pnordeen/20111221_181830.jpg)
With the rest of the setup
(http://i693.photobucket.com/albums/vv299/pnordeen/20111221_181909.jpg)
Congrats on this build man! looks absolutely beautiful...and your setup looks really cool! Looking forward to your new demos man :)
-Kaleb
Quote from: k.rock! on December 22, 2011, 04:31:37 AM
Congrats on this build man! looks absolutely beautiful...and your setup looks really cool! Looking forward to your new demos man :)
-Kaleb
Thanks Kaleb! I dig the etched faceplate look. I am definitely going to be experimenting with that look in the future.
Quote from: JakeFuzz on December 22, 2011, 04:36:38 AM
Quote from: k.rock! on December 22, 2011, 04:31:37 AM
Congrats on this build man! looks absolutely beautiful...and your setup looks really cool! Looking forward to your new demos man :)
-Kaleb
Thanks Kaleb! I dig the etched faceplate look. I am definitely going to be experimenting with that look in the future.
Yeah man...I need to learn how to do that, cause it looks LEGIT...how the heck do u do that anyway? lol
-Kaleb
Wow nice job. The dirtbag is such an epic build... no room to spare in there!
Very cool looking pedal :)
I took Brian's drilling guide and imported into photoshop at the same resolution. I marked the hole centers then upped the resolution to 600dpi, keeping only the centers. Then I cropped to the size of the top of the box and do an outline. From there I just started adding things I though would look cool. I really wanted it to kind of look like the original with that off center quadrilateral thing going on. It also helps to know the diameter of knobs so you can use the circle tool make an outline, helps for when you are making the labels.
Then I get rid of everything that isn't going to be printed on. Then I add drilling hole centers, like solder pads where the center of the holes will be. And that's pretty much it. I ironed it on and etched it.
Sweet looking build! I hope mine turns out as nice.
Andy
Man that is awesome and I know you must be relieved you didn't cook your 3005s.
I can't believe the 4047 got out there so fast considering this is probably the busiest week of the year for shipping.
Anyway I think it came out great so congrats. Have fun tweaking dude.
Just beautiful. Enjoy it.
Looks great. Love the etched faceplate.
Love the look! Excellent work. It's a tight build for sure.
Josh
Thanks guys. I am super happy with it. Cant wait to play with it more tonight. ;D
Looks really good. Can't wait to hear a demo.
Quote from: dwstanford on December 22, 2011, 03:41:01 PM
Looks really good. Can't wait to hear a demo.
Actually I can have a video demo of this next week. I am going to my parents house for Christmas and can use that awesome camera that I used for the other demos. Ill even do a side by side with the Carbon Copy!
That will be cool. I'll try to work up a demo of mine also.
Does the internal regulator kick it up to 15v even if you're plugged into a 9v power supply? If so that is one sweet touch!
Quote from: Bret608 on December 22, 2011, 05:49:50 PM
Does the internal regulator kick it up to 15v even if you're plugged into a 9v power supply? If so that is one sweet touch!
No, I wish. That would be awesome. The regulator just takes it from 18-24 volts DC and pushes it down to 15 volts. To go up you would need a charge pump and a regulator.
Ah! That is still really cool though...I don't know of too many power supplies that will get you into that 15v sweet spot for high-headroom BBDs!
Quote from: Bret608 on December 22, 2011, 06:26:16 PM
Ah! That is still really cool though...I don't know of too many power supplies that will get you into that 15v sweet spot for high-headroom BBDs!
Haha I know what you mean. I spliced up an old 24V Epson printer power supply to power both my Dirtbag and Warhead. Got it at a swap meet for 2 bucks.
So here is an interesting question. No matter what I do I cant get more than about 480ms out of this. Is it possible that I have one real MN3005 and one fake relabeled MN3008? Would this work out to about 450ms of delay time and would it even operate at all with different chips? I am guessing the audio probe could probably help me get down to it since we are checking each chip output individually. Very strange. One chip does have the smooth top border and other doesn't, but I have seen both styles on real MN3005's. ???
It could be. It could also be your 240pF is not actually 240pF or your 100k delay pot is less than 100k. You can measure the pot easy enough. If you have the cap socketed you can switch them out.
One super easy way to test is to simply remove the second BBD. Audio probe pins 3 and 4 on BBD1 and note the delay time. Now switch the BBDs out and compare. You may need to adjust the bias slightly, but I bet not.
I did not measure my delay times precisely, but I'm pretty sure I got over the 500ms mark. That's what it "felt" like.
I used a 1% silver mica for the 240pf. The delay pot was around 97k but it don't think it should change it that much right?. Hmm ill do the individual tests tonight.
Nice build.
How do you guys meashure the delay time?
I use a stopwatch - set the delay time knob to max, add in some repeats so the delays hang around for a couple of seconds. Hit a staccato note on the guitar and the 'Start' button on the stopwatch simultaneously, and press the 'Lap' button on the stopwatch for very echo. I just take the average of a few readings.
If you don't have a stopwatch there's plenty of free stopwatch-type apps or online tools out there for your phone or computer.
I record a set of staccato type notes into my computer using audacity. Then I take the selection tool and measure the time between the beginning of the first note to the same spot on the repeat. I usually have to change the time scale to milliseconds but it gives a pretty accurate time. I'd say with the right note types you could get within 10ms of the actuality time.
Paul, did you reach a conclusion on your chips? I am very curious as we got our chips from the same source.
I haven't been able to get these checked out yet. Been crazy over the holidays with family. I will try and do it tomorrow or Friday. I tried to order two more from the same place but they canceled my order saying they were out of stock. I hope I just biased them wrong it looks like getting a hold of one more is going to be a pita.
Hey Paul as near as i can tell i'm getting about 500ms out these chips. I'm not sure if i measured right, any critiques? I play a chord with the feedback all the way up. What is the average time in a factory dmm?
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-JUqg_dmy2Ps/Tv6Mq9dUhEI/AAAAAAAAH3U/4N7oBwsIZoI/s400/new2.jpg)
Yeah I think if I tune mine a little better I could probably get there. I still haven't been able to get my probe out and check them. I did record a demo. Waiting for it to upload right now. These high def files are huge! I think that is a good range for the dmm some people report delay times of 600+ ms. I don't think I can get there. I really don't care that much it still sounds ridiculously awesome.
Beautiful inside and out!
Congrats!!! Great thing you didn't fry those little guys! I HAVE to come check it out...and we can compare to my real DMM :)
Hell yes! I would love to compare with your original. I need to put a few more hours into getting everything just right on the delay time. I still need to buildup the shrine too! I have all the parts just need to buckle down and do it, maybe this weekend...
Quote from: JakeFuzz on January 03, 2012, 04:42:16 PM
Hell yes! I would love to compare with your original. I need to put a few more hours into getting everything just right on the delay time. I still need to buildup the shrine too! I have all the parts just need to buckle down and do it, maybe this weekend...
Yes do it!! You gotta let me know how that works out for you!