Here is a round up of the pedals I've managed to get done in the last two months. Some of these were quite straightforward, others have had issues that took a while to get sorted out but I've happy to say they are now on my 'finished but might tweak' list ;D
(http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l231/gingataff/marchapril1_zpsaed47849.jpg) (http://s97.photobucket.com/user/gingataff/media/marchapril1_zpsaed47849.jpg.html)
Top row left to right:
Afterlife, my first 1590a. Went together very cleanly and smoothly. I'm proud of the guts on that one.
Zero Point Mini, 5 knobber. Added the knobs for modulation. Thanks to Juan Solo I could eliminate the clock noise with some shielding.
Collosalus. More clock noise with this, had to do the mods in the power section as per the doc. Clean as a whistle now.
Pork Barrel. This one had a charge pump and sounded great with a battery but there was a terrible noise with a power supply. I've removed the charge pump and now it's ok but I prefer it at 15v. I'm going to put the road rage in a small enclusure and try it externally instead.
SJ Effects Prince Albert. None more black? Stuffed with huge caps but I botched up the dc jack and only got round to fixing it yesterday. Sounds awesome.
Bottom row:
Bloviator. I was going to call it Top 'N' Bottom but I liked Top 'n' Tail better.
Rub-a-Dub. Short brick. Not sure where I got the idea for the name and graphic...
Bumblebee. This has got the mojo thing happening and some nice trannies from Chromesphere. Thanks mate!
Honeydripper. Another homage. This pedal should have been made last year but I had to learn how to draw circles in Illustrator first ::)
I have more pics and gut shots which I can add later if there's interest.
I'm trying to decide whether to put the Prince Albert or the Honeydripper in the April contest. Times running out. Must decide...
love the rub-a-dub and the Prince Albert.
Just kidding, those are only my favourites, I love them all! :)
Love the theme on the reverb.
Those Bare Box builds look great!!
Thanks for the comments guys!
Yeah I'm happy with how the rub a dub turned out. Real fender knob for extra mojo :)
The bare box pedals all had ideas for graphics but either I lacked the tech (laser etching, etc) or my ideas sucked, so I felt it best to leave them alone. The exception is the Prince Albert which does have a Tramp Stamp but you'd have to ask nicely to see that ;)
Quote from: gingataff on April 30, 2013, 09:01:29 AM
Thanks for the comments guys!
Yeah I'm happy with how the rub a dub turned out. Real fender knob for extra mojo :)
The bare box pedals all had ideas for graphics but either I lacked the tech (laser etching, etc) or my ideas sucked, so I felt it best to leave them alone. The exception is the Prince Albert which does have a Tramp Stamp but you'd have to ask nicely to see that ;)
I love the Rub-A-Dub.. great look. Can I ask how you did the graphics on it. I am trying to find a way to do a nice white graphic without doing silkscreen. Maybe a sticker of some sorts.
The rub a dub is a sticker. It's stuck on a piece or 0.5mm aluminium sheet and cut it to size, then sprayed it with matt lacquer.
The 'Buzzaround' Bumblebee is the same but I sprayed with a mix of matt and gloss lacquer.
Here's a closer pic
(http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l231/gingataff/reverbdeluxe_zps949ae60b.jpg) (http://s97.photobucket.com/user/gingataff/media/reverbdeluxe_zps949ae60b.jpg.html)
and the Bumblebee for comparison
(http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l231/gingataff/buzzaround_zps1bcb861e.jpg) (http://s97.photobucket.com/user/gingataff/media/buzzaround_zps1bcb861e.jpg.html)
Perfect.. thanks. I will have to try that. Great idea.
Dang those are really tidy, great job
Wow these are nice! How bout gutshots?
wow, great amount of good work there, but to me the honeydripper just stands out in the crowd. keep'em coming! eheh
That's some really nice work. All together that's a great pedalboard load. I usually don't go for the matte look, but the reverb is really, really sharp.
Wow, those all look great. You sure have been busy. I really like the Rub-A-Dub the best though too. Classy!
Thanks guys. a lot of love for the rub a dub. Maybe I should have entered that in the April competition.
Oh well, I just entered the Honeydripper. Here are some shots and a demo of that one.
(http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l231/gingataff/dippy6_zpsa69b8538.jpg) (http://s97.photobucket.com/user/gingataff/media/dippy6_zpsa69b8538.jpg.html)
(http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l231/gingataff/dippylit_zpsa99ea3e7.jpg) (http://s97.photobucket.com/user/gingataff/media/dippylit_zpsa99ea3e7.jpg.html)
[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/gingataff/gotcha[/soundcloud]
..hey buddy..that rub a dub thing is soooo cooool!...
Nice builds man, love the aluminium / sticker idea! Hope you liked the transistors!
Paul
Just adding some gut shots.
SJ Effects Prince Albert. Caps galore and my first attempt at a home made stamp.
(http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l231/gingataff/rah_zpsc1e059b4.jpg) (http://s97.photobucket.com/user/gingataff/media/rah_zpsc1e059b4.jpg.html)
(http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l231/gingataff/rah3_zpsd4fd83ef.jpg) (http://s97.photobucket.com/user/gingataff/media/rah3_zpsd4fd83ef.jpg.html)
(http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l231/gingataff/rah2_zps61972913.jpg) (http://s97.photobucket.com/user/gingataff/media/rah2_zps61972913.jpg.html)
Bumblebee with full mojo and Chromesphere transistors. I really recommend this fuzz.
(http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l231/gingataff/buzzaround2_zpse40b14c0.jpg) (http://s97.photobucket.com/user/gingataff/media/buzzaround2_zpse40b14c0.jpg.html)
Looks great man! Hope you like the transistors?
Hey what brand resistors and caps are those? They look cool!
Paul
Hey Paul,
The transistors sound great although if I max everything it gets a bit squealy. I'll try playing with the sag to see if that helps but to be honest there's is so much gain on the Bumblebee that I don't feel the need to max it.
I expected a thin 60s sound but it's so warm and beefy!
The bumblebee is using Mullard tropical fish film caps and Roderstein lytics (a cheap xicon for the power)
the carbon comps may be Allen Bradley, Kamaya or Xicon, or perhaps a mix. I forgot ;D
Road Rage is bog standard.
The Prince Albert has a mix of Mallory, Vishay and SOZO film caps, a funky styrene cap for one of the pfs and a high voltage mlcc for the other, and Nichicon lytics. Dale resistors throughout. Those standing caps make it a tight squeeze. :o
I think low leakage and low hfe will get a more old school sound, starved, splatty sound from the buzzaround. I have low leakage high gains in mine and it sounds like a modern distortion pedal! I have enough old school sounding fuzz pedals i decided to leave it that way :D Its a very transistor dependent circuit. If you have other transistors lying around, throw them in and see the difference! q1 and q2 are a darlington pair so they will multiply the leakage. I havent really found a huge difference with noise though from high (400ua) to low (10ua) leakage. There really is no combination that ive heard in it that doesnt sound good! I really have to mod it with a dpdt to switch between 2 trannies on q3 at some point...
Love the look of those resistors in the prince albert! They look copper colored in the photo!?
Nice builds :D
Paul
I've got a tb set from small bear that I'll try at some point
the resistors are brown, must be lucky lighting;D
Sent from my SC-02B using Tapatalk 2
Nice collection. I like the variety.
I'm working on my Buzzaround now. I got 2 sets of Paul's transistors to try but the gt309s are not cooperating so far and I don't have any way to test them. The Ac125s sound good though. What do you have covering your tranny leads? Is that tiny shrink wrap or wire insulation?
Thanks!
The leads are covered with the insulation from the same brown wire that I used to wire the pedal, I thought it would be a nice match. I just stripped it off in long pieces and cut to length.
I'll probably do some transistor swapping at some point but too many other builds in the queue at the moment. ;D
I think I'll use the wire insulation idea on mine. I did get the Russian transistors to work this morning but I didn't like them. I tried in various configurations alone and with the AC125s and I always preferred the AC125s. Still sounds a little trebly for my taste but I can probably find a setting or two that I like. I saw a post about adding some bass to a buzzaround somehow. I'll have to track that down and see if that helps.
All great looking builds, but I love the Buzzaround in particular - recreated the vibe of the original perfectly. Looks fantastic.
das234:
I think if you were to adjust the capacitor values in the tone control section of the circuit in the Buzzaround you could go some way to making it less trebly to some extent... I think there's a 1nf cap in there which you could up? But it's prob about 3 years since I built one and the details are a bit hazy, so don't quote me (or act on what I say until you look into things) ;D
Remember, the Buzzaround was the original 'darlington' fuzz circuit. The MK III Tone Bender and its numerous derivations was a copy (by Sola Sound) with some development of the circuit. I think that has a 2.2nf cap in place of the 1nf in its tone section... but transistor choice will affect things quite a lot I'm sure.
Awesome all round. 8)
Quote from: jvg13 on May 19, 2013, 10:38:31 AM
All great looking builds, but I love the Buzzaround in particular - recreated the vibe of the original perfectly. Looks fantastic.
das234:
I think if you were to adjust the capacitor values in the tone control section of the circuit in the Buzzaround you could go some way to making it less trebly to some extent... I think there's a 1nf cap in there which you could up? But it's prob about 3 years since I built one and the details are a bit hazy, so don't quote me (or act on what I say until you look into things) ;D
Remember, the Buzzaround was the original 'darlington' fuzz circuit. The MK III Tone Bender and its numerous derivations was a copy (by Sola Sound) with some development of the circuit. I think that has a 2.2nf cap in place of the 1nf in its tone section... but transistor choice will affect things quite a lot I'm sure.
I tried swapping C4 with a 2.2nf. It seemed to fatten up the low end but also seemed to really boost the string noise on the low strings. Could be my imagination but I swear I heard the difference. Guess I'll go back to the 1nf and play with the tone knobs on the guitar to tweak the tone.
Quote from: das234 on May 19, 2013, 03:26:04 PM
I tried swapping C4 with a 2.2nf. It seemed to fatten up the low end but also seemed to really boost the string noise on the low strings. Could be my imagination but I swear I heard the difference. Guess I'll go back to the 1nf and play with the tone knobs on the guitar to tweak the tone.
Thinking on it, I remember now from breadboarding these circuits that taking all the output signal direct from the collector of q3, as the unusual buzzaround does, instead of after q3's collector resistor like the fuzz face & tone bender mk ii circuits, results in a brasher sound. It's a big part of the buzzaround's character I thought (my humble opinion).
If you look at the mk iii schematic you'll see that it's really a combination of both approaches, it retains a high pass filter connected to q3 connector (I believe I'm right in saying).
If you've not tried the mk iii circuit that cld be more to your taste. But diff tyes of transistors will affect how all these old circuits sound quite a lot I think.
Awesome stuff man, super clean. Really enjoyed your dipthoniser demo... now I NEED one 8)
You gotta keep on keepin on :)
Thanks guys, I really appreciate the comments.
This quality and support on this forum is inspiring and although I've still got a long way to go I've learned a lot from you guys.
;D I was fighting a deadline and a hangover when I recorded that.
The dipthonizer is quite different to the nautilus/mutron iii, a bit more unconventional but worth building IMO.
I look forward to your build.
Quote from: nzCdog on May 19, 2013, 06:44:51 PM
Awesome stuff man, super clean. Really enjoyed your dipthoniser demo... now I NEED one 8)
Which enclosure did you use (or recommend) for the honeydripper? That's on my list but I haven't bought parts for it yet.
Good question, that's an odd shaped enclosure I found in an electronics shop.
Smaller than a 1590bb but taller, almost as tall as a 125bb.
The doc suggests a 125b or larger and I think it's going to depend on if you are using any tall components (especially the bigger electrolytics) and where you want to put the jacks. I used some big caps and standing resistors in mine so height was definitely an issue, moreso because of the rotary switch.
If pedal board space is no problem then a 125bb will give you plenty of room, the 1590bb or 125b will need careful planning but should be ok if you use small components.
I stole a good idea from Juan Solo which was to fit the jacks under the board. You need to use insulated jacks and be careful drilling the holes. You'll also need extra washers to act as spacers to keep the board high enough.