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Hi guys.  I have a lot of catching up to do.   When I was building years ago, I always followed madbean's build instructions and produced a perfectly fine pedal.  I'd like to start modding and thinking outside the box (no pun intended) a little this coming new year.  I'm building a sunking II (klon-a-like) and I didn't want to use the clip mod.  Instead I put symmetrical choice diodes on a rotary switch.  The switch is all set and I just have to attach the poles (one anode and one cathode) into the empty space where d1 and d2 usually are.   I currently have the anode pole attached to d1 anode and the cathode pole to d2 cathode, but it doesn't sound like any difference is taking place when I turn the rotary switch.  Hoping someone could help me.  Where should I attach this rotary back to the pcb?  Any and all help/consideration is greatly appreciated.  Steve. 

Ok, I've decided I would rather know the answer then be embarrassed about asking it. You would figure with all the literature I've read this would have popped up somewhere. What is the L pad for on a pcb....
Ex: http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/Laserwolf/Laserwolf_2015.pdf

what is the SW pad for?
Ex: http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/Sparklehorn/Sparklehorn2014.pdf

Thank you for any and all information. Also, keep the snickering to a minimum. 

Steve.

Hey guys...
     Lately, I've been trying to think of creative ways to decorate my pedal builds. I'll stroll through Home Depot or Office Depot and see if any new ideas pop into my head......Nope Nothing!    , but I did find something online.  Apparently there is something called vinyl wrap that they put on cars. The cool thing is that this wrap is pretty strong and it can be heated to stretch over curves or corners. So if they can use it on cars, why not on our cherished pedals?  Another cool thing is that they sell samples of this stuff on E#ay.  It comes in 3x5, 4x6 or 4x8 I think. So I bought several samples for less than ten bucks. I haven't tried heating it yet (my best guess is the auto body guys use a heat gun), but I did get some nice results. 



This was a desert camo sample. Another cool thing about this stuff is if you put it on and it's not straight? Just peel it off and reapply....I did this several times with this 4x6 sheet. So it cost me about $2.50 to get this cool desert camo look. If I painted this it would have looked much worse. 
The T3 was sprayed on afterwards using those block stencil kits. I just picked a letter and number and thought it would look cool as a military code or something.
I tried to do my wiring on this one as neat as I could. I'm getting better 








I put the correct IC in IC3 after this pick (charge pump). 



Ok, before I forget....I have to say thank you to Brejna for this magnificent layout and pcb he did on this Brutal Metal Shred Machine.  I also have to thank JokerRx? For reverse engineering this fantastic pedal. Thanks guys....keep building and keep smiling.

Steve.








     

Hello guys,
     I realized I have never owned a CD4049 overdrive circuit before so I thought I would give Brian's Danger Zone a test drive.   Well I'm glad I did. This is an awesome creamy to crunchy tone. I just plugged my SG into the DZ into my JC120 clean and went to town. I think I blacked out for a few minutes. Really great tone!  It took me about 1 hour to put the circuit together and test it out (I must be getting better in that department), but it took me days to do the graphics/design and it still came out meh. I need to repaint, but I'll show you guys what I did.



BTW, this is one of Mac's enclosures. Well worth the money for something different.
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=20786.0







Obviously Dan (DMinner) has influenced me with new design ideas.



If anybody has suggestions as to better ideas to repaint, let me know. Keep in mind that the 'Danger Zone' part is a regular etch and the knob labels are a reverse etch. Thanks for looking and keep building.

Steve

Hello ladies and gents.  I present to you the LaserWolf that looks so sweet because I didn't do the artwork.  )










As you can see I used two different style of knobs because I didn't have 8 of either type, but I did have four of each. .
I figured the larger knobs can go in the back to make it just a tad more accessible. First off I would really like to thank Brian for creating this beautiful board. I have purchased boards from many different sites, but honestly, nothing compares! 
     Just a little over a year ago, I couldn't build a confidence booster correctly, now I get to stare and enjoy my favorite pedal ever (that includes production pedals). This forum has truly been a godsend for me as it really helped me get through the hard times this past year. I wake up now and look forward to building and I hope that never changes. Each and every member here has helped me in some way and I am truly grateful.   Lastly, I want to thank Dan for making this killer enclosure for me. That boy has got Talent! 
     Ok....what's next?  The Tightmetal I just bought from Brejna or RullyWow's King of Bone?  These are the fun choices in life.

Steve.

It sounds cool, but I'm still waiting for JHS to come up with something original.

http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/jhspedals/unicorn

Hi guys. I just spent half an hour writing up a nice build report / tech help problem that suddenly disappeared. So this one will be shorter.
Just finished the giant hogweed by David. Has some really cool sounds, but I'm having a problem with the volume levels. When the octaves switch is off, I barely reach unity. When I turn the octaves switch on, I get a big jump in volume.  The only snafu I had building this was with T7. I used a BC549, but I had it soldered in the wrong direction. So I attempted to desolder it (huge disaster) and I eventually wound up resoldering a new BC549 via point to point using the schematic (see pics).



Here are the voltages I took.
t1 e-156mv, b-737mv, c-2.1v
T2 e-1.51v, b-2.1v, c-7.9v
T3 d-5.8v, g-2.53v, s-730mv
T4 e-440mv, b-355mv, c-9.4v
T5 e-0, b-348mv, c-350mv
T6 e-0, b-335mv, c-350mv
T7 e-1.13v, b-1.63v, c-6.9v

U1 1    2    3    4    5    6     7    8 (in volts)
    8.8 6.6 6.5  0    0  .175  9.5  6.6

U2   1     2     3      4      5      6      7      8 (in volts)
      4.7  4.7  4.7    0    4.3    1.4   4.7   9.5

U1 is LM308n, U2 is TL072

supply voltage is 9.66 volts



I will post more pictures. Any help is greatly appreciated. I have the build on my workbench so I can take any other readings if needed. Thanks guys.

Steve.
     

Hi madbeaners....
     Wanted to share this king B build. Pcb was purchased by murdog47.  He might have a few left. Since the Jack White pedal costs more than 3 bills and has zero controls, I thought this was a good cost savings.
Can anyone spot the huge error I made with this box?  Suggestions on a fix? All tranny's are 2n2222 by Motorola.  As usual, all constructive comments are most welcome. Thanks.

Hey Guys and Gals,
     This is my first shot at Brian's Sunking II. I opted to not do the clipping mod, but I did the fat mod and the thick mod. Everything is stock per Brian's directions. I love the pedal, but I can't really hear a difference when I switch either mod. Granted, I don't have great ears and I haven't played this pedal thru any of my tube amps yet. Maybe others can chime in with their experience. The enclosure is one of those cool models from Mouser. I hit it with Rustoleum Metallic Blue and then put the waterslide decal on top. I wanted it to look "abused" like you would find other tools in a garage so I hit it with the metallic blue again and used a dry sponge to tap on the wet paint around the sides. I really want to start labeling my knobs and switches. Hoping you guys can advise on what programs/designs to use to accomplish this. Overall, I'm happy with the build and eager to give this circuit another try with the clipping mods next time. Great circuit Brian!
     Cheers, Steve.

     This is my first build project that I wanted to share with the community.  Several weeks ago, I read a great post about underrated circuit designs that are worth building. One of the most common answers was the Clipper Ship by Midwayfair (Jon). Since I've really admired Jon's designs and his AWESOME build instructions, I knew I had to try this circuit out. Luckily, Jon had a board to sell me and I was off and running. Jon goes into great detail about different transistors and diodes that would be suitable for this build. I decided to try using the MN35 transistor (Hfe=56, Leakage=0.06 mA) and the D9K russian diodes I found on Ebay. 
     Building this low part count circuit was a blast and the result was I now have a fantastic overdrive pedal to play with. I'm always hesitant to post a build report because frankly, you guys are incredible with your own reports. Jon convinced me that posting my builds will only make me learn more and become a better builder and that's all I really strive for.  Any and all comments are appreciated. This community is all I hoped it would be. Thanks guys. Steve.

http://s1033.photobucket.com/user/TGP39/media/imagejpg2_zps49a96c7c.jpg.html
http://s1033.photobucket.com/user/TGP39/media/imagejpg3_zpsdb951465.jpg.html
http://i1033.photobucket.com/albums/a420/TGP39/imagejpg1_zps0dcebf8c.jpg.html

     I'm brand new to photobucket, so if I posted these links incorrectly, please advise. Thanks again.