Topics

Hi,
I'm trying to fix a Carvin 722 monitor and I need to replace a jack on the pcb. Can you identify what part I'd need? I can find any Carvin part sites online to replace the whole PCB, so I'm trying to just find out what the jack is and replace it. The pics of the PCB are attached.
Thanks,
Brad

Hi,
I have destroyed a couple of these now and could use some help. The switches arrive with the straight shaft that has a channel in the side, like in the pic, but the diagram of the same switch shows it should have a threaded top. How do you get the cover off the top to reveal the threaded portion? I tried a wrench, but the whole top just rips off.

The Pork Barrel question made me curious if I could use a Buff N Blend (creates a mix knob) With the Pork Barrel. The GuitarPCB site mentioned trouble if the pedal inverts the phase. Does the Pork Barrel do this? It seems like a good pedal to add this on to.
Thanks

After a lifetime of guitar, I picked up a bass about a year ago. I had been building a decent amount of pedals for guitar, but learning bass took up that time. So, a year later, I'm curious about pedals for bass. Of the guitar pedals I built, I've found these useful for the bass-
Kraken, Smoothie, Pork Barrel and especially an older 2-knob Bloviator (which I didn't like at all with the guitar). Lots of the pedals didn't really translate, at least to the R&B, blues, funk, classic rock stuff I play.

Oddly, EQ seems to be the biggest effect and tone shaper I'm interested in for bass. So, are there any pedal projects out there for EQ, especially for bass? Also, has anyone switched over to bass and found certain pedals useful from the DIY community? I'd be interested in some pedal versions of preamps if those are out there.

I bought a pre populated Stingray bass 2 band eq , did the offboard wiring and the 1megc reverse audio tone pot works backwards. Any ideas? Turned full clockwise it is most mellow and backed off all the way it is brightest. It is wired as it should be, but I swapped the outside lug wires to see if that would do it, but that didn't work and stopped it from functioning properly. Swapped back, it sounds great, but the tone is going backwards - turned up to 11 delivers the most mellow tone and rolled off gives the most treble boost. Any ideas?

I'm interested in changing the 3band eq on my Stingray into the classic 2 band model. Is there a PCB somewhere for this project?
Thanks,
Brad

I've made the move to bass, or at least added that to my playing and I want to build a pedal like the Brown Dog (discontinued) gated fuzz for a synthy bass sound. Are there any good PCB projects out there?
Thanks

After my 6 in 1 I decided to finally get back to some pedals for myself. I wrapped up a Bloviator first. This is a stock build that really has an interesting effect. My son is a big H.P. Lovecraft fan, so I joined him this last year in reading many of his stories. Excellent stuff, in the Poe style of verbosity- a perfect bloviator, although I quite enjoyed it. So, the pedal is the cover to one of his books. The knob titles (contour and process) didn't real help me to use it so I just used two geographic location from the writing. The mini LED's as eyes worked out well.





This Civil War Mudbunny is much smoother than the Green Russian version I made earlier. I'm looking forward to experimenting with it.

I built this 6 in 1 effect for a friend of mine to give his son for Christmas. The kid is a huge RUSH fan, so I gave him what I thought he'd need to get a good 2112 sound
- Buffer- Unicorn Breath (Modified "Centaur" Buffer) from 1776 Effects
- Boost- SHO 'NUFF (Guitar PCB version of ZVEX Super Hardon)
- Overdrive- Guitar PCB King of the British (68 Plexi)
- Chorus- Madbean Glam
- Delay- Madbean Mimik
-Reverb- Madbean Ping
I built these stock and connected them with the Guitar PCB 3PDT wiring boards. This was my first time using the switch boards and these were really handy for the multi board.

For the graphics, I powder coated the giant enclosure white white and then drilled the holes.  Next, I put on a laser waterslide decal that I designed on Gimp featuring a painting that I thought resembled a temple. The kid is a big fan of record art like Yes and Asia, so I thought this would be interesting. Finally, I applied a clear powder coat. To avoid burning the decal, I cured it in the oven many times in shorter time increments. The back of the pedal features the lyrics to The Temples of Syrinx and the 2112 RUSH art logo. I put a personalized note on the back. The wiring in the interior isn't tidy looking- I marvel at people who make theirs look so neat.
4)







Here's an idea of how huge it is- the Blue one is my Multiplex Echo, which was the previous biggest enclosure I'd used.

I was really pleased with the detail in the waterslide because I've burned some in the past.
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http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v327/bscur/IMG_1545.mp4

I wired up my Glam pedal and I have a chorused sound, but a volume drop when the effect is on. The pulsing LED works, but there isn't a light showing on the on/off LED when it is on.
Q1 seems the farthest off- read left to right across the flat side it reads 2.64, 2.50, 2.50
REG left to right across the flat side 9.09, 0, 4.96

IC1 numbers all match up

IC2
1 4.96
2 2.47
3 0
4 0
5 1.63
6 2.4
7 ignored as per directions
8 ignored as per directions
9 2.48
10 2.48
11 2.48
12 2.48
13 2.48
14 2.48
15 2.48
16 2.48

I'm a long-time guitar player who recently picked up the bass. I'm looking for suggestions of great projects for bass. Also, are there mods to make some pedals more bass friendly? My pork barrel, naughty fish, kraken  etc. seem tuned for the guitar. What do I need to know about bass pedals? Thanks.

This was a test rig I've wanted to build for a while. The enclosure was a failed drilling for an Echoplex that was too crowded. I set it up to accommodate LEDs, two LEDs  and the modulation LEDs. I tried it with a Bloviator and found it a great help. I used to have a bunch of alligator clips and there were always grounding issues and clumsy connections. So, now the pedals can be properly "rocked before boxing".

I recently finished this one and it was very gratifying. The Naughty Fish gave me a lot of trouble, but this fired up right away and sounds very lush. The hardest part was dialing in the right combinations of trimpots. Thanks for the tech advice on that. When I had it too bright, it made a clearly on/off modulation slapping/thumping sound instead of the throbbing sound when it was glowing and just pulsing light. I socketed Q13 and bought some MPSA13's but ended up not using them. For the graphics I based this on one of my favorite authors- Franz Kafka. He's been a favorite my whole life and I enjoy how he distorts reality and imparts a dreamy, often nightmarish quality to his work. This seemed about right for the sound of the pedal and I found a font based on the look of his handwriting (although obviously not in German).

I wrapped up my Harbinger One last night and it fired up right away. Sweet! However, I have questions about dialing in the two trim pots. Is it ideal for the lamp to go from bright to completely off, or should it be pulsing bright down to dim? Also, should the indicator LED be pulsing in time with the effect at all times or does it drop below the threshold of triggering the LED? Should the photocells actually touch the lamp or do you back them off a touch? Lastly, do you prefer it before or after dirt (or where do you like it in your effects chain in general)?
Thanks,
Brad

Hi,
A friend of mine asked if I'd build a 6-in-1 for his son's birthday. I've built three other pedals for him, so I said sure. I have a few questions. First- where can I get large enclosures and what are the standard sizes for something maybe 6"x 12"? Also, would you alter this order of the effects: Unicorn buffer, SHO, KOTB, Madbean 1590G chorus, delay, reverb? How do you mount boards to an enclosure? With so many, they probably need to be more secure than usual. What is a good, basic mini board to attach the switches to so that I can daisy chain the power? What were your revelations when you added a bunch of boards into one effect? If I can get any advice from people who have learned from their experience, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks,
Brad

I recently finished up these two. The Naughty Fish was a challenge, but I learned some things. The enclosure was looking amazing when I had the All-In-One-Chrome powder coat and then the waterslide decal, but the clear powder coat over the top actually took away a bit of the chrome's gloss. They both sound great. The volume control on the Naughty Fish is a must and I need to find out how to put something like that on my Kraken. That thing gets really loud. The Green Russian is the first Muff I've ever owned. It has such a diverse tone control- fat all the way up to a Black Keys' sharp bite.

I had trouble earlier with my Naughty Fish pedal. I fixed it, but had trouble with the Up- side of the pedal. I've owned many envelope filters over the years and I think that this one is just more precise in its need to be dialed in. After fiddling with it, I found that all of the switches/positions worked, but they all needed specific tweaks to the gain and peak knobs. As a result, the volume knob is a must-have addition to this pedal. I love the squishy, funky sounds that it has and clearly there are more sounds to unearth. If you feel it isn't working, spend time dialing it in. This pedal, by far, requires the most adjusting and experimenting every time a switch is flipped out of all the pedals I've owned. It is also definitely worth the effort. Thanks for all of the help.
Brad

Okay, earlier in the week I couldn't get me Naughty Fish going. Now it sounds pretty good on all permutations of the down range switch. When I switch it to the up position it doesn't engage the filter sound at all, just plain guitar. Is that one of the two vactrols? I'm looking at the schematic and I see Hi/Lo A involves vactrol 1 vs Hi/Lo B dealing with vactrol 2, but which is high and which is low (A or B)? I'd like to know which area to look at. Or I guess the range is more in this section? I'm mostly illiterate at schematics. I guess I'm still trying to figure out is Range A up or down?
Thanks,
Brad

Hi,
I got some advice in the tech section to "lift a pin" on pin#1 of an 8 pin chip. What does that mean? How do I do it and what does it accomplish?
Thanks,
Brad

I just fired up my Naught Fish for the first time and sadly, there is only a loud motorboating sound when the pedal is engaged. The sound seems to change a bit if I turn the knobs or flip the switches, but there isn't any guitar sounds. I put the socket in backwards for IC1, but the chip is in the correct way. I didn't think that mattered- does it? 
Thanks,
Brad
Here are the IC numbers:
IC 1
1) 0
2) 0
3) 0
4)8.41
5)0
6)0
7)0
8)8.83

IC 2
1).49
2)0
3)0
4)8.41
5)3.31
6)3.55
7)3.47
8)8.83

IC 3
1)0
2)0
3)0
4)8.41
5)0
6)0
7)0
8)8.83

IC 4
1)1.35
2)4.80
3)0
4)3.79
5)8.40
6)2.56
7)1.44
8)8.83