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Wife working from home started me on a silent rig quest that led me this and now I'm in headphone heaven.

It's a full Dumble ODS preamp with Russian 6n17b submini tubes in a 1590XX enclosure. I used grill cloth to cover the heat vent ports for the tubes.
Well-worn 555 SMPS with about 140V at the plates.

I added a high-voltage mosfet buffer on the output (Dumbleator style) and it even works really well as a boost/OD pedal into another tube amp. Mostly I run it into a delay > diy Surfy Bear reverb > Two Notes Cab M+.

Had a Two Notes Captor X for about a week and I'm loving it. Just about never get the house to myself since the pandemic started, so been looking for a silent option.

Playing my whole setup through headphones doesn't have quite the same feel, but it sounds really pretty good and the X has a few features that make up for it. Twin tracker is a lot of fun and the reverbs sound great, if not a little over the top for my tastes.

Also, the software is really simple and intuitive. Still have some things to figure out, though, like assigning the presets to the rotary switch and how to download and use other people's presets.

Only criticism so far is the lack of an aux in like the Suhr product. Just ordered a cheap mixer to get that job done.
I'm so impressed, I'm contemplating getting the CAB M pedal and building some tube preamp pedals to skip the amp altogether for home playing.

Commissioned build from a friend who's real name is actually Slag. He played my other LM-inspired build and had to have one.


Build on Professor Poopie Pedal PCBs (Aldrin and C-Buffer) with a few of my own tweaks. And damned if it doesn't actually sound just as good if not a bit better than my FauxJo monstrosity. 

Always loved the Lunar Module circuit and I finally got around to doing something special with it. Gotta give a nod to Leevibe for inspiring me to get creative and it was a lot of fun.


Calling this 'FauxJo' because it looks oh so boutiquey when you look inside at those tube amp parts, but flipped over, you see all the SMD work on the other side.


For SMD, there's a cornish buffer (all MELF resistors and SMD film caps) that feeds a sound-to-light circuit and the fuzz itself. A PNP mosfet for polarity protection; twin polymer caps with an inductor to filter noise; all the other big caps are polymer SMD as well. The transistors are also all SMD.


The lunar module circuit is modded a bit (used a PCB from Bugg for socket testing). It's also all Sozo caps, polystyrene caps and carbon comp resistors.


The box is a Hammond textured black with a reverse laser-etched faceplate. Recorded a little video to show the indicator light.

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Brought this big little guy home Monday and wife and I love him to bits. My first puppy - always had rescue dogs all my life.


His name is Banjo and he's 8.5 week old Briard who weighed in at 14.5 pounds at the vet yesterday  . Gonna be a big boy. Briards are kind of rare, but they're big, shaggy sheepdogs - almost like the real dog version of Barkley from Sesame Street.


Trying to think of safe things to expose him to so he'll get used to them from the start. Just got the suggestion this morning to go get a kiddie pool, which I think is a great idea.

Working on a project and I'd like to add some groovy light effect. Breadboarded a couple sound-to-light circuits and found that using an entire optical compressor sidechain gives a very nice and smooth result. Problem of course is it's a lot of circuit.


Wondering if anyone has suggestions for something simpler with a smooth response.

Fun little satire film promo from the Fruit Bats. Lots of funny bits, but the Grandma's Soup pedal is pretty sweet (starts at 2:40).

Been a gloomy couple of months. Work drama and my extreme old age finally caught up with my dog, Sizzles.

Good news is the wife and I are leaving for a week on the Big Island of Hawaii next weekend. Reservations for Huggo's for a sunset dinner, volcanoes park, stargazing at the observatory and whale-watching cruise on the list so far. Wondering if anyone has other suggestions or tips.
My brain is already on vacation for sure. Gonna be a long week...

Finally settled on D'Addario about a decade ago, but got intrigued when I saw Infield strings and the first set has won me over.
Smoother feel and bends feel more natural and in tune. 10s almost feel like 9s. Good tuning stability and sound great.

It's on again, doods!
https://www.arrow.com/

Found this on Hackaday.
Post also has links to other DIY solutions, including 3d printed versions.

Saw these DeMont 3PDTs mentioned on here and thought I'd give one a go and it's very sweet indeed. Solder cups are a breeze to work with and the actuation is almost like a momentary switch with a small about of actuation click.


Only downside of course, they're $15 each. 

Saw this in P. McKinght Namm video. Pure Tone jack with multiple contacts. Looks like it takes up even less space than the mini Lumbergs, too. Downside is they're $4.29 each.

Ordered a board this morning to check it out. It's JFET-based, but I there's no schematic or much details about the circuit topology. Demo sounds very nice, though.


He also has completed pedals for sale. The new site also says he's going to start selling pedal version of the SurfyBear reverb. Pics look very snazzy.

I've been expanding my beer horizons for a few years and now that I live in the Hops capital of the universe, it's only getting worse. Which reminds me - I need to make sure I have the day off for the Hops festival ...


I've had a lot of really great beers since moving to the Pacific Northwest last year and my favorite brewery so far is Fremont in Seattle. During the hops harvest, they have beers made with fresh, organically grown hops which was the hook that got me to notice them, but everything in their lineup is spectacular. The seasonals are a treat, with fall's Bonfire Ale taking the prize.

Taking a long weekend next week to visit Victoria and wondering if anyone has some suggestions on things to see or do. We''ll have the car with us, so we could check out other spots on the island, too.


Other than just walking around town, looks like the Butchart Gardens are a good bet and the Royal BC museum looks pretty interesting.


We don't have any itinerary, so open to whatever. Only my second visit beyond the Canuckistani border, so if there's any uniquely Canadian food or experience I have to try, lemme know!

Grabbed a cheap, mixed up bag of Ge diodes a couple years ago and the most common type in there turns out to be one of the best sounding clippers I've heard. Not sure what they are though - no markings on almost all of them, even to mark the cathode.


Vf is .25 to .27
A couple have a yellow band, but look otherwise identical.

Saw an ad for old tubes ($6). Took me a week to get around to going over there, but the guy said he found a bunch more and would sell me the whole lot for $20. He said they were pulled from organs years ago. No boxes. They were all loose in shopping bags.


Got about 24 12AX7s and maybe 40 12AU7s.
Part numbers are all in hexagons. Long, black, 3-rib plates. D-Getters.


A couple still have "Lowrey Organs" on them. A couple still have "Made in USA." One has that with the codes 58-2 / 274.


No idea how good these are. Wondering how to find someone nearby with a tube tester.