Topics

1

Tech Help - Projects Page / Total Recall no modulation

« on: January 17, 2021, 07:52:39 PM »

Hi all,

My Total recall doesn't modulate. I get echoes and it biases properly. I get varying voltages in the modulation clock section, but no mod. The only voltage that seems odd is pin 1 IC9, whcih reads 0 when it should be varying.

Things I've checked/tried:
Verified resistor color codes in the mod section
swapped out the 4558 (IC9), 4047, and both BBDs for known working ones
Replaced the mod pot
checked the mod switch (works electrically but has no effect on circuit)
no continuity across caps in that section
compared resistor voltage drops with a working Total recall
Removed IC9 socket
diode seems to be electrically sound
reflowed all joints in that section
Cleaned back of board with flux remover

Looking for more ideas.

Thanks,

Marty

2

Open Discussion / Anybody need a strat?

« on: August 28, 2018, 06:12:24 PM »

This one is only $10,000, and it has a sticker on it:

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Supreme-Fender-Stratocaster-Guitar-/222758449948

3

Open Discussion / Some beautiful guitars

« on: August 21, 2018, 08:12:33 PM »

Rare that my jaw literally drops from pictures of guitars, but here we are:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/metcollects/the-four-seasons


Check out the write up and the pics.

I think I'd be OK with Spring or Winter

4

Build Reports / Digital Sunshine (Tesseract Reverb)

« on: November 28, 2017, 03:23:05 PM »

A collaboration with Dan (dminner), and and unwitting collaboration with Chris (diablochris). Dan and I had three pcbs between us and figured we should build a third pedal and surprise Chris with it. He should be getting it in the mail right about........now.

Dan designed and etched the enclosures, Chris designed and procured the pcbs, and I helped a family of rats build their nests in the enclosures (everything off-board).







Props to Dan and Chris. These look and sound awesome! The "sun" is the indicator light and a chaos button that leads to self-oscillation. Dan also wanted the chaos control on top for easy tweaking. There's a world of sound in there. Super fun and potentially very deep.

5

Build Reports / FLANGER CATS!

« on: September 02, 2017, 11:29:09 AM »

LION FLANGE






A/DA Flanger from lectricfx Flintlock. All of these three were laser etched in Rowmark LaserMax plastic. LEDs are hidden under faceplate (had to carefully drill through the back to get them to shine through. Still waiting on a switching jack for the expression pedal. Sounds ridiculously great! Very difficult for me to calibrate. In short, neither multimeter I had could track the frequency calibration in the higher ranges (random drop outs to zero). Took it to work and saw on a scope that the frequency gets noisy after about 1 MHz. A really good frequency counter solved it and let me get it locked in. Watch the Moosapotamus videos on calibration as well. Very helpful.l

TIGER FLANGE








MXR 117 Flanger from Madbean Collosalus. Had given up on it about a year ago due to a fire engine siren at all settings. Finally realized my cap for setting the clock frequency was 47n instead of 47pF . Fixed that and its golden. Great sounding pedal!

COUGAR FLANGE







Electro Harmonix Electric Mistress from Madbean Current Lover. Another great circuit, and a rediculous reduction in size form the original pedal. That is Anne Bancroft (Mrs. Robinson) from The Graduate.

FLANGER CATS UNITE!

6

Build Reports / Dimension C and a pair of Drolos

« on: August 29, 2017, 07:21:30 AM »

I'm in one of those months where a bunch of long-standing projects finally come together .
The push started with Aion's Dimension C.






Screwed up the laser etch by having an extra outline on some of the words that I didn't notice until too late. Also don't have a reliable alignment method, so its a bit to the right:). I did the minimum bypass route.
Couple of tips:
Do all the grounds first (like LaceSensor mentioned in his post). Leave the wires long enough to tilt the board up sideways out of the enclosure (you will probably need it).
If it doesn't work at first, flip it out of the enclosure and make sure all the connections between boards are making contact. This fixed mine.
Use a scope. I biased by ear and liked the effect a lot. Couple of really great modes. Then had a friend with a waveform generator and oscilloscope let me bias it. My waveform was HORRIBLY off from symmetrical. Got it biased up and the effect went from good to sublime.

Drolo's Twin Peaks Tremolo and Liquid Mercury phaser:





Had some envirotex goofs on the Twin Peaks LEDs and botched the water slide on the Mercury. Willing to let it go to have these AWESOME sounding pedals available. Also decided after the labels to have the tap tempos together, so the labelling on the Mercury is wrong. Still love em.

Marty

7

Build Reports / Rustbucket

« on: August 25, 2017, 08:02:54 AM »

Hey all,

Finally finished my Rustbucket build! This thing is very fun once dialed in. Lots of components but fired right up. Thought I'd take Bean's naming seriously and make a bucket of rust:)











So, for the finish the sides are just spray painted with a Krylon Cinnabar "stone" spray paint. The top was a bit more fun. I took some used FeCl3 etchant (don't know if the "used" part matters), taped up the unpolished enclosure sides with painters tape and put the enclosure face-down in the etchant. After the first five minutes, I left the pedal there for 1-2 hours (+/- 5 minutes ). This gave a nice corroded look to the top. I also had some corroded copper wire that I flogged the top with to add some hints of green. The water slide decal wouldn't stick to the rust, so I sandwiched it between two layers of envirotex. Happy with the results but it took a week just for the envirotex/labels. The good part is those labels are not a full sheet but the envirotex hid the edges. The knobs are from the thread started with Leevibe's amazing Pennyroyal chorus (http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=20699.0). Got them off ebay.

Thanks,

Marty

8

Build Reports / Metulz and Fuzzez

« on: May 03, 2017, 08:34:00 PM »

Grind Customs Metal Trilogy:








Enclosures are burgundy 125B from pedalpartsplus. Graphics laser etched directly into the powder coat. Envirotex makes it shiny. Font is Augustus from dafont.com. Knobs came from Paul at diyguitarpedals (http://www.diyguitarpedals.com.au/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15&products_id=432). Paul is great to deal with. Actually took knobs off his own builds to fill the order. I live in Kentucky and shipping from Australia was still fast and cheap, considering.

Madbean Mangler and Black Horse Effects Dual Fuzz






The Mangler has "the Continental" set of transistors from Small Bear. The Dual Fuzz is a Range Master treble booster clone and a FuzzFace. All transistors from Smallbear (OC75 for the TB and Continental for the FF. Can't remember where I got those fuzz knobs. Two things I learned: A properly biased Fuzz Face with good Germanium is a sublime experience. A treble booster (with a good tranny) is insanely great! Put it on a neck humbucker and get smoothness that cuts through like you wouldn't believe!

Marty

9

Build Reports / My wife helped me:)

« on: December 22, 2016, 12:32:37 PM »

Proudly presenting the first collaboration with my wife, who is one heck of a painter. Artwork is done in acrylic. Board is Aion Refractor Klon clone. Lots of Envirotex on the top and bottom. the knobs were found through LeeVibe's AMAZING Pennyroyal chorus (http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=20699.msg203220#msg203220) which leads to ebay. Careful when you order them. I thought I was getting 6 and got like 40 or so:)
Enjoy!

10

Build Reports / Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated AutoWah-inator

« on: November 23, 2016, 11:15:59 AM »

Have to admit, of all the shows my kids watch, Phineas and Ferb is legitimately funny. I have grown quite fond of the villian, Heinz Doofenshmirtz, his naming scheme for his evil inventions (its always "name of thing"-inator), and his often tragic insistence on including (inapropriately placed) self-destruct buttons on his devices. Board is the old MadBean Auto-bahn made by Haberdasher.

So, to honor the Doof:





Guts are ho-hum:



Thanks!

11

Open Discussion / PSA for Yoda fans

« on: September 05, 2016, 07:38:24 PM »

Kohl's has the crazy "Legendary Yoda" figure on clearance for ~$72, plus a $10 off promo "QUICK10". If you balked when this guy came out at ~$170, here's a chance for a third of the price:

http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-2229822/star-wars-legendary-yoda-interactive-toy-by-spin-master.jsp?skuId=legendary+yoda&search=legendary+yoda&submit-search=web-regular

12

Build Reports / Laser Wolffe

« on: July 04, 2016, 09:49:14 PM »

Forgot gut shot 1st time around

1st of several pedals based on watching cartoons with my boy. There's a slight chance I took to the Clone Wars more than he did Laser etched on a new toy at work. Just etched off the powder coat, which honestly looks pretty bad until envirotex. Then it gets a great shine and the rough parts of the enclosure look more like jewel facets in the right light. I've learned that fat fonts don't seem to work out so well.

Only issue with the build is that I could only get two options for the script switch. If I added the third it sounded like the phaser had a flat tire (bottomed out on the down swing like it was grounding out on something).

The drive is AWESOME! Will definitely be building more BSIAB type pedals. The effect order really makes a huge difference. The phaser seems to disappear when the drive is last. Awesome board, Bean!

13

Open Discussion / Tube primer

« on: May 12, 2016, 07:07:59 PM »

Posted this in a thread in BST, but thought others might like an interesting read. Miles is awesome:

http://http://www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com/Primers.html

Check out the Part 1 pdf. Lots of great tube info on that site. Guy makes a living customizing amps to a guitarist's liking (and other things, I'm sure). Not affiliated. Just an admirer of a dedicated data collector.

14

General Questions / Lazertran inkjet waterslide decals and envirotex

« on: April 20, 2016, 08:09:32 AM »

Hey all,

Just tried Lazertran inkjet waterslide decals and they turned white upon drying (which the instructions said they would). It says a thin coat of oil-based varnish or polyurethane will turn it back to clear. Has anyone tried these and gone straight to envirotex? Did it turn clear without the varnish step?

Thanks,

Marty

15

Tech Help - Projects Page / Aquaboy DLX Clock time question (2013)

« on: April 07, 2016, 04:16:48 PM »

Just finished the Aquaboy DLX (15V with road rage, 2 x XVIVE MN3005)

All seems to work fine, but my clock frequency (3101) doesn't want to go below ~ 11 kHz, when the build doc says it should be around 6.5kHz. I tuned it by ear to where I don't hear clock noise in the audio, and the max delay time is about identical to my Total Recall with 4 x  MN3008.  It sounds great. Is it higher because of the higher voltage? Do I just not know how to measure frequency?