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Speaking of tweed, I noticed some in that last pic.  What amp are you running this through?

Good question. There's a good chance it's a '73-74 Super Reverb based on the chassis. But the speakers date it at closer to a '71. I bought it used from probably the 3rd-5th owner. The 2nd-4th owner re-"tolexed" it with tweed and replaced it with a black-face front-plate. It is definitely a 70's silverface Super Reverb if anything. It is definitely an end-game amp. I can't think of replacing it with anything else, except maybe a solid state Roland Jazz Chorus (I know that might seem like a silly notion - but at the moment it sounds quite good in my drunken state post-MS-defense)

Thanks for all the help mgwhit! I might try out the 22uF C2 mod when I'm... not back from bars. <3

my wife would have a fit if I soldered at the kitchen table

Yeah my gf is started to despise my new-found hobby.

La Vache is up and running! If anyone is reading this: I chose a Les Lius clone as my first pedal because I think it is the best at getting the Fender cranked-tube distortion. I really love the Derek Trucks / Warren Haynes pure overdrive tone and this does a good job of covering both. It also can cover a variety of Clapton / Robby Robertson tones I feel. Not exact, but good enough for 1 pedal.

Comparing to the actual Les Lius.... the La Vache is slightly darker which is noticeable at a lesser gain setting. The La Vache has adjustable gain whether you are "boosted" or not. The Les Lius gain is only adjustable for the boosted switch. One of the best features of the Lovepedal series is the soft-touch momentary for a bypass switch <3

EDIT: I haven't experienced this to this level before - but I think dialing in tones with this pedal is extremely dependent on amp-end EQ and pickup volume knob. IMO - I still have a lot of learn

Here's an action shot of the finished pedal next to a current-gen Les Lius:

Oh, BTW: the "work in progress" background gets you some extra points, it's a fantastic picture, even for people who don't build pedals!

My kitchen table is a mess! I live in an apartment, so no dedicated work space!

That looks like a work of art! Did you do that yourself? And if yes, how? Amazing looking finish, great graphics, and so shiny! Me like 

Paul

Thanks! I got a lot of influence from Cloudscapes on DIYStomboxes.com. If you check out the album (http://imgur.com/a/tMOTD) I started with an unfinished 1550M enclosure then sprayed it down with brown/tan spray paint. I used Cloudscapes' technique to splatter on different shades/mixes of acrylic paint (50/50 with water i think). I drew the paisley directly on the acrylic with a ball point pen (something with a lot of output like a Pilot G-2 07 or 10). Then I covered everything up with Envirotex (a pour on epoxy resin). Took 2 days to fully harden. There's a good tutorial on DIYStomp... if you want me to find it later.

There's a +9V and two ground pads, one on the right side with the +9V and another on the bottom of the board with the in/out pads.

Yeah that's what I meant. I forgot to actually look at it while writing the post.

Can we take a big step back for the novice?

If you have not boxed your board yet, you do need to ground the rings of both jacks.  When it's boxed, as long as you're using metal jacks, you only need to explicitly ground one (as it will ground the enclosure and the other jack will ground through that).

I'm going to take a shot in the dark and guess that using plastic enclosed jacks defeats this convenience. Saw them on Mouser and didn't realize how huge and a waste of space they would be.

http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=NYS218virtualkey56810000virtualkey568-NYS218

While it was grounded, it was working fine except the occasional giant pop from the 3pdt. I'm going to go back a re-solder it since it looks like a shit job anyway.

And please go take care of your dissertation!  This can wait.   Good luck!

Thanks! At this point there is no point in cramming which is pretty frustrating. I basically need to be prepared to talk about any structure in the human body at macro, micro, neuro, and embryo perspectives. fml

Here's my enclosure btw! Posted it on another forum a day or two ago: http://imgur.com/a/tMOTD

Novice alert.

So the La Vache pcb I got in the mail recently has both a - terminal and a ground. On top of that I cannot get any signal out unless I ground the ring of the output jack to the pedal ground.

I need to check over everything again and will post pictures. I have my MS dissertation this afternoon so I clearly need to stop distracting myself.

Here is a pic I found off my Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/nordicskiah/status/209044473299214336/photo/1

This kinda stuff seems to be in a grey space between guitar pedals and analog synths... here's a link to an existing analog sequencer (the Galego and Bean ones being digital.) These typically run on 4000 series logic chips.

http://www.synthesizers.com/q119.html

Yeah, I find this really interesting. I'm not sure what the official definition is... but the digital component is being used to control a single analog component of the circuit. From what I can tell the analog signal is never converted to digital. Does the tracking get screwy in a circuit like the one you posted? I'm still trying to learn a lot more about this.

[More links (partly for my own reference):]

Has anyone re-drawn Galego's schematic to be clearer? http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/6888/schemtrem.jpg

Why does there appear to be 2 grounds?

Ok, so I've been trying to break down Galego's sequencer/voltage controller and I've made a couple conclusions. I'm a novice so these are based entirely on observation. I would love it if Brian pitched in to make this project a reality!

• Galego's schematic can be found here: http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/6888/schemtrem.jpg
• He uses a VTL5C3/2 vactrol to convert the PIC18 output to a variable resistance in both circuits. This is different than what Brian used! I think the optocoupler Brian uses is different. I have no idea what it is. Brian's PIC might also be different. I can't see it in the videos. The PICBasic scripting is also different.
• I asked before why there are 2 grounds. There are actually 3. 2 appear to be the same (?). The third is due to the PIC circuit running on 5V (something to do with the MC78L05CP

My free time right now is going toward a LaVache, Zombii, and then a LowRider. I really would like to move on to this style of a sequencer by August. I checked and my local hackerspace (Cleveland) has a PIC programmer I could use. Let's make it happen!

More links (partly for my own reference):

• Galego's Trem Schematic: http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/6888/schemtrem.jpg
• Galego's Wah Schematic: http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/2640/wahschem.jpg
• Basic Wah he built up from: http://www.beavisaudio.com/projects/colorsoundwah/index.htm
• Thread on DIYStompboxes.com: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=89578.0
• Vactrol Optocoupler Galego used (I think): http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?sku=70219701
• Data Sheet for Vactrol above: http://www.alliedelec.com/images/products/datasheets/bm/PERKINELMER/70219701.pdf
• Galego Trem Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E3PCA-tY-I&feature=plcp
• Galego Wah Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6Nd1IL9GQQ&feature=plcp

Has anyone re-drawn Galego's schematic to be clearer? http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/6888/schemtrem.jpg

Why does there appear to be 2 grounds?

On another note: how difficult is it for an amateur to get into the world of PICs? If I were to jump in, is it possible to start with other codes (like this trem) and easily produce a functioning pedal as my first project? What extra expenses would I be looking at? PIC programmer I assume?

Thanks!

Thanks! I'm guessing MadBean used the same circuit just a different LED layout and soft-touch momentary switches instead? Looks a little beyond me at the moment. I want to get the LowRider done first!

I've tried looking around but absolutely cannot find anything else on these two videos posted by MadBean:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFG4A70Sb_c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95SCeElWPlI

Is the controller a project from here or outsourced? I've looked around but can't find more information on them. How would it be connected to a simple wah or trem?

Thanks!