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New (Old) Oscilloscope Day!
Scored this bad boy from the "Investment Recovery Center" at work where they sell off old gear that the company is no longer using.
Even got a set of leads/probes with it. No I just have to download a user manual and re-familiarize myself with them a little bit. It's been quite a few years since I've had to use a scope.

Finally sent one of our "My Little Klony" overdrives out for a decent demo video. Pretty happy with the quality and it's definitely much better than anything I could have managed on my own at this point. I really need to do some trial and error with my video equipment 

[youtube WIDTH=640]https://youtu.be/eOMpLQkoqts[/youtube]

Pretty much the same as the discontinued Fat Pants Jr.
I've added pads for connecting pins 1 & 8 on the charge pump to allow for using other ones than the standard LT1054CP. I also added pads for using either an SMT or through-hole JFET.
I built a few of the old Fat Pants Jr. boards in 1590B enclosures with this same graphic. This is the first in a 125B with top-mount jacks using my new boards.
It really is a great little boost!

I bought two sets of boards for this project soon after it was released. Sat on them for quite a while and eventually jumped on the chance to buy two of the custom enclosures during one of the limited runs. And promptly kept sitting on them.
I was talking to a guy who was interested in one of them so I got started building. That was almost three years ago! I've had them nearly completed for a long time, they just slipped through the cracks.
Well I finally got around to finishing up the last little bit of wiring and went through the setup/calibration process. Everything works as expected and they really do sound great.
Here's the one I'll be keeping for myself!

This might be a long shot as it's not pedal related. I know there are a bunch of folks here who work on a lot of other electrical/electronic things so.....
I've tried looking on Mouser but without a better name or part number, it can be nearly impossible to sort through search results effectively.
What I'm looking for is the split-ring terminal that can be clamped down on a binding post. We've got just a few left in the shop at work and the ones we have are older and from what I know, aren't available from the old supplier/manufacturer. It doesn't have to be the same model, just needs to be able to work as a replacement.
If it was for a project at home, I'd just find a large enough ring terminal and cut a slot in it. Unfortunately that's not an option here. We've got to make up some new leads to use with our temporary battery chargers and I'm 100% sure the company won't be happy with a homemade solution.
So, does anyone know of a part number, accurate name, manufacturer, supplier for this kind of connector?

Here's a demo from a Facebook friend of mine Mark Weeks on his Youtube channel "The Distortion Principle"
He runs it through clean(ish) and dirty channels on three different amps so it's not a short video.
I've got build docs and plenty of boards if anyone is interested in building one for themselves.
Cheers,  -Drew


[youtube width=640]v4SAmaUxWgc[/youtube]

I've read all but the last book and just finished watching season six about a week ago.
Kinda bummed that Amazon Prime doesn't have any immediate plans to keep it going for what could have been three more seasons.
I've been watching a bunch of "Ty and That Guy" on Youtube as well. I really love how nerdy those guys get about sci-fi, tv and movies ingeneral.
On a positive note, I was able to pick up a drill press from a mechanic named Amos Burton....

So I started working on this one almost a year ago after buying a partial kit of NOS enclosure and parts. The kit was a Blackout Effectors Cadavernous Pandimensional Reverberator. It was one of those reverbs that I always really liked and wanted to buy but never pulled the trigger. After Blackout closed their doors, these became a little more difficult to find on the used market. I got the kit, ordered a used original pedal from Guitar Center (to check wiring and general assembly), got some help from Kyle with parts of the V-1 schematic and then got to work.
I've played around with some of the component values and general circuit layout. There are a few changes I'd like to make for future versions and will likely redesign the board/layout. I decided to go ahead with a pretty straight-forward "stock" build since I already had the first version of boards and an enclosure. I noticed a little switch pop when engaging the circuit so I'll have to play around a little bit and see if I can get rid of the noise. Other than that, it's pretty awesome!
I also did away with the internal switches to assign the expression pedal control and just added another jack. Now it's as simple as just plugging into the one you want, or using both. I added a remote jack for the momentary "spiral" foot switch for more placement versatility on a pedal board.

So they announced on their social media accounts that there might be a deal in the works and that ordering will remain closed for a bit longer. Their homepage has the same announcement.
Just wondering if anyone might want to start some rumors.....
Kidding of course. But this is exciting news. Sure would be great to keep this resource around in at least some capacity!

I recently had an opportunity to work with a team from Levatas and Boston Dynamics in one of our substations at work. We ran a proof of concept mission with one of their SPOT robots conducting inspections. It can be programmed to check gauges/meters, take pictures and do thermal imaging.
I love this kind of stuff and have watched a bunch of Boston Dynamics' robot videos. It was pretty cool to be able to help out with fielding this first test. They even let me have the controller and take spot for a walk!

Thought y'all might like this one.

Looks like most of the usual stops are out of stock....
Anyone have any trustworthy sources before I take a couple shots in the dark on EvilBay?

So we moved into our new house about a month ago. I've just about got the basics all set up and ready to go.
The workbench is a combination of rack shelving components from Menards. I was going to buy a sheet of plywood to cut for the work surface/benchtop. I walked over to the lumber area to find that a sheet of 3/4" birch ply was $98.00 (instead of the $35.00 or so that I remembered from a couple years ago) So I found a pre-finished section of laminate countertop for just $60 instead. It fit perfectly and I just built up the area in back for the parts bins to sit on.
Also found this old card catalog cabinet at a local antique store. Should be a great way to store and organize my PCBs.

Looking for lower values than what Smallbear has to offer but I'm not sure where to look.
Ideally, I'd like to find B10k and B25k (or B20k) and Smallbear only have B100k in stock.
I've checked other places (BLMS, Stompbox Parts, Tayda) but not having any luck......

We're going to be moving into a new house in a couple of weeks and I thought I'd see what advice/tips I could find here.
I've been building for a little over six years now and have moved once already. My current shop space is pretty limited and I've had to make do in a lot of different ways. I'm going to have WAY more space in the new house which I'm really looking forward to. One thing I already know that I'll be able to add is a drill press and that makes me very happy!
What I'm wondering is this:  If you had to start over in a new space, what would you do differently right from the start? Anything from tools/equipment, furniture (workbench, shelving, etc.) How would you lay out your space for more efficient workflow? Has anyone had any aha moments that made you think "I wish I would have done that a long time ago."?
I've got a few ideas already but figured it couldn't hurt to look for additional inspiration.
You can kind of see my current workbench situation and I got the sheet pan rack idea from Dan Schumaker here a couple of years ago.

I went with my daughter on her 8th grade school trip to Washington D.C. last week. One of our stops was the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. I spent some time as an Aircraft Electrician in the US Army and have always been fascinated by all things aviation so I was already super excited to be there.
We were up on a platform next to the space shuttle Discovery and I noticed there was a glass wall behind us overlooking the hangar where I'm guessing they do repair work and get aircraft ready for display. I looked down and saw something really cool....
THEY HAVE AN X-WING FIGHTER!!!

Finally finished this one up last night. It took me a while to get started because I was tracing the circuit and didn't want to solder anything to the board until I was confident that I had a good schematic. This has been on my most wanted list for quite a while so I'm pretty happy to have had the chance to dig deeper into it. I was pretty surprised to see that it's not an FV-1 or similar project, just a BTDR-3 Belton Brick. Kyle has been selling off a bunch of old Blackout Effectors stock in partial kits on eBay. He only had two of these available so I'm lucky that I checked before the last one was gone!

I posted about these after buying a couple for myself the other day....
The seller listed more of these. Looks like the price went up $10 from the previous listing but still not too bad if you're interested in having one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Blackout-Effectors-Whetstone-Phaser-Kit/402682139523?hash=item5dc1b9d383:g:W8wAAOSwRVpgFvmf

Well, I have no idea what's under the hood on this one but I'll be finding out soon. I finally decided to pull the trigger on one so I can see what's going on in there. I'm hoping to be able to trace the circuit and see if it's something that would be (or could be made) DIY friendly.
I'll post some updates here once I have a chance to look it over a little bit...........

So for the info part, I just found this listing on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Blackout-Effectors-Whetstone-Phaser-Kit/402670971013?hash=item5dc10f6885:g:W8wAAOSwRVpgFvmf

I know there are a couple of DIY projects/boards available for this one but I couldn't resist as I've always wanted one, just never pulled the trigger.
I figured one or two of you all might be interested as well....

For the question part, does anyone have any info, schematics, references, etc to their Cadavernous Reverberator V2 (or the original, but preferrably the V2)?
It's a reverb I've looked at a bunch of times but never bought either.
Being that they're out of business now, those are getting very hard to find good deals on too.....