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I have been working on Haberdasher's Flintlock Flanger and am about at the end of my rope. My build went ok, but the flanging was weak or nonexistent. I was getting some flange warble and the knobs seem to be working as they should, but it sounds terrible and there is virtually no sweep.

I ever bought a multimeter with a frequency counter thinking I could bias this up, but the meter is auto ranging and reads 0 at the test point (and at pin 13 of the 4047). I know it works because it reads frequencies elsewhere on the board, but not at the critical place.

Here are some voltages for my clock ICs (supply voltage is 14.9V) . Can anyone help me get this thing working by suggesting things to look for? I don't see any obvious soldering bridges or placement errors, but this is a big PCB. Thanks in advance

   MN3007
1   14.74
2   6.99
3   9.37
4   1.026
5   0
6   6.99
7   9.09
8   9.09

   4007
1   0.27
2   .16-.20
3   0
4   0.2
5   0.2
6   0
7   0
8   0.2
9   0.22
10   5.83
11   7.5
12   0.109
13   13.99
14   13.98

   4047
1   13.86
2   0.1
3   7.5
4   13.98
5   13.98
6   13.98
7   0
8   0
9   0
10   6.99
11   6.99
12   0
13   13.87
14   13.98

   4049
1   13.99
2   6.98
3   6.99
4   6.99
5   6.99
6   6.99
7   6.99
8   0
9   6.99
10   6.98
11   6.99
12   6.98
13   0
14   6.99
15   6.98
16   0

I haven't been following all the Silver Pony/Klon discussion very closely and just briefly checked in on the Klone Science thread when I came across this article:

http://manticorefx.wordpress.com/2014/08/17/klonformation-in-need-of-klonfirmation/

I don't know if this guy is a poster here, but he should be officially titled Dr. Klon for his study on the topic!

Hi guys,

Over the past few months, I've built a couple dual pedals, where I put two circuits on one PCB with the switching all on-board so that everything fits into a 1590BB with topmounted jacks and board-mounted pots. So far, I've done a Fulldrive/OCD, a King of Tone/Crunchbox, and a Cornish G2/SS2.  Anyway, I love these pedals and find them crazy versatile, and I have an extra drilled enclosure lying around so I was thinking of doing another one but I can't decide. I want to know what you guys think would be cool.

Off the top of my head, I was thinking of doing:

1. A Colorsound Power Boost (run at 18V via a charge pump) and a Big Muff. Gilmour seems to like this and I've always wanted to try the colorsound.
2. A Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz and RM Octavia to get my Jimi on.

What do you guys think? Any other suggestions?

For all you Klon experts out there - I've notice a few klone builders have been adding bass boost switches whereas others have been adding a bass contour knob. JHS is also modding the new EHX Soul Food to add this control. Does anyone know what this mod is? I assume it's a pot that blends in a larger capacitor, but where is it in the circuit? Just curious about this! Thanks.

It seems that Yamaha has bought Line 6.
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/7951.T/key-developments/article/2891556

So do I pick up an M9 when they go on clearance, or wait for a new model that is surely coming soon?

I've been reading forums for a while and especially at FSB, there is always some discussion when a pedal is traced about how badly or well designed it is. It got me thinking, is there a consensus about what the best designed pedals are from an engineering standpoint? Perhaps we can come up with a "Best Of" list for 2013. For example, I love the RAT and what it does, but is there a better engineered distortion that improves on it? People love the Klon, but does the Kingslayer do a similar job with a better design? Usually I just go by sound, but I'm curious what other more knowledgeable people think. Are some circuits clearly superior to others?

Hi everyone,

I'm debating ordering some enclosures from PPP and getting them custom drilled. The problem is that I'm not exactly sure how to best send them the template and I don't want to waste money if I screw it up. Is there anyone that can share a template that turned out as they expected? Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I recently picked up a Vox VBM1 (Brian May recording amp) that had been damaged and went looking for the schematic to try and fix it. The PCB had really been mangled and had some lifted traces, so it has fallen to the backburner. However, after looking at the schem, I wonder if I can't convert it into a pedal by omitting the amplifier section at the end. I had a couple questions that I was hoping some stompbox gurus could help with.

The amp has 4 major sections. A standard Brian May treble booster using the common values from the well-known schematic, a "Deacy section" that is the similar to Brian's Deacy amp using PNP silicon transistors. The transformers are simulated using opamps. Finally, there is a tone control followed by an output section with a direct record out and a standard out that is fed to the fourth section, an amplifier stage driven by an LM1875. I am going to omit this last stage and just feed the volume pot to a standard output jack.

1. The amp has a transformer that feeds the treble booster section with +9V, feeds the "Deacy" section with -9V and the opamps are biased at +-15V. I thought I would simplify by changing the transistors in the Deacy section to their NPN equivalent (KTC3198) and use the +9V supply here. I would then bias the opamps with +-18V fed from an LT1054. If you turn around all the polarized components (e.g., C8, C12, D1, etc.) in the Deacy section, would this be suitable?

2. The schematic is difficult to follow because you can't really tell where the junctions are. This is not always a problem, but there are some sections where this is confusing. For example do R24 and R25 connect? I don't think they should, but I suppose it's possible. R27 looks like it should connect with R28 and C21, but NOT R32, however these are depicted in the same way. I'm not that knowledgable about circuit design so can anyone shed light on this?

3. Is there anything special that needs to be done other than the above to make this suitable for use in a stompbox? Assuming everything is biased properly, it should sound the same as amp and maybe even better if you're not using the crappy speaker that it comes with?

Thanks for your help. Once I nail this down, I will do a double sided layout for a 1590BB and post it once I verify it.

***edit*** Sorry...I just realized I have this in the wrong section. It should be in Open Discussion, but here is my question anyway:

I have a quick question for you experts out there. I am trying to make my own PCB layout for an overdrive I'm working on. I'd like to include a switch to select between 1N914 or 3mm LED clipping diodes (diode clip to ground). I was looking at some schematics for pedals that do this and noticed that some have the common lug of the DPDT tied to ground and the switch selects which set are in the circuit (see Madbean's Slow Loris for an example). Other pedals have what looks to be a similar arragement, but the common lug is tied to the signal path (see the Kingslayer for an example)

My question is: are these essentially the same thing and if so, is there one that is better to use for a tighter layout?

Also, could I use a DIP switch instead of a DPDT to obtain the same effect but also giving me the option of having both sets of diodes at the same time if for some reason it doesn't sound terrible.

This is probably a newbie question, but I'm just getting into schematics and layouts on my own. Thanks for any help in advance!

I have a quick question for you DIY experts. I got into pedal building this summer largely by putting together an Aristocrat from Madbean and reading over information from this forum! I'm sure some of you can relate, but I went a little crazy. I got into etching and built about 10-15 pedals (e.g., Slow Loris, Sunking, Ego Driver, Rangemaster, Grapevine, etc.). Anyway, after doing this I realized I have way too many pedals and I'd like to sell some of them. Not for profit, but to recoup some of the money I have spent putting them together and unclutter my life a bit.

Does anyone have any suggestions for where the best place to sell them is? Obviously most people on this board would not be interested but what about Craigslist? Ebay? Other forums? Also, what is a good price? I was thinking about $40 + shipping would be reasonable. They are all clean builds with alpha pots, etc. but the enclosures are mostly unpainted.

Does anyone have any suggestions or tips?