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Hi. Ive been away for a long time but wanting to get back into the pedal scene.
Recently I lost my job and had a legal battle to fight about how that went down.
Now I am looking to take a career break and focus on things that make me happy (or happier)

I have a few ideas floating in my mind, resurrecting my old "gigahearts_fx" name and doing some pedals that people might even want to buy. hey, we can dream.

To that end, I want some help with a circuit idea. I think I know the answer but no harm asking smart people than relying on my brain.

I want a circuit that turns "on" in response to a threshold or gate influenced by picking strength. That to me would be an envelope detection circuit. however, what I want it to do is (when "on") divert the signal to another effect, or a send out somewhere else perhaps, rather than influence the Q of a filter as in an autowah.

Therefore, what would I need to tie the envelope circuitry to, in order to do that?
In things like the Lovetone meatball, the pick attack causes an LED to get more bright, but I want to avoid LDRs where possible. Is it something that a basic transistor can do based off the change in voltage coming out of the envelope generator?

Hope this makes sense

Thanks for any help

Ian

Hey everyone

I recently acquired a 78 IC deluxe big muff - the first version with the blend switch
Schematic is here https://postimg.cc/F7LVjGz1

It came with a 110v transformer and plug, and Im in the 240v UK
So I took an EHX transformer from another 70s pedal I have (Clone Theory) and wired it up.
Pedal works as it should, to the best of my knowledge

Two issues however.
1 - ideally I want to get rid of the noisy transformer
2 - its getting quite hot in operation and Im not sure thats normal / risky. Not too hot to touch but very warm
3 - the pedal uses a wierd power supply set up with a rectifier diode, and Ne5554n regulator chip

The power requiremens are basically bipolar +5v and -5v

I am wondering however if its possible to run it just off +9v and ground?
Alternatively, does anyone have a nifty circuit to make +5v and -5v like a RoadRage but different??

Thanks for the help!

Ian

Hi All

Looking for some advice.
I have used the same soldering station for a long time, a Xytronic LF-1680
Its electronically controlled and can set the temp.

Ive always used (dont judge!) 60/40 solder, 1mm, rosin flux coated.
Ive never really needed extra flux.

Recently the iron tip thing broke - not the metal tip, but the ceramic part inside somehow.
I ended up replacing the whole "wand" as it was better value to do so.

Now, fast forward a little bit, I am really struggling with cold joints. Ive replaced the tip multiple times. I havent changed brand of solder.

Any ideas wtf is going on? Can solder go off?
Ive ordered some more solder, and some additional stand-alone flux to try and figure this out.
Its sooo wierd, Ive never had this issue in like 15 years.

thanks

testinh if this works.

Lace

Did anyone jump on the hype train for this one?

555 units, apparently its thru hole construction. Lazer etched, cute wooden box, velvet bag.
If it is indeed thru hole, the $250 is pretty reasonable

https://www.ehx.com/products/double-anniversary-big-muff-pi/

Waiting for $1000 on Reverb lolz to commence

Hi

I am endeavouring upon a project to build a Danelectro style guitar - yes, with the plywood and masonite etc.
I have looked at the original Dano wiring and understand how it works. For those unfamiliar, its two single coil "lipstick" pickups with Volume and Tone for each. The pots are stacked dual concentric, there is one 100k/1M stacked pot for each pickup, volume (100k) and tone (1M). The tone cap for the neck pickup is 0.047 uF, and the bridge pickup tone cap is 0.01 uF. The pickup-selector toggle switch is a single pole on-off-on switch, offering the following sounds:
•   Bridge pickup alone
•   Bridge + neck pickup in series
•   Neck pickup alone

The wiring is as such: with the bridge pickup engaged, the neck pickup is shorted out with its hot and ground connected, and the bridge pickup is directly connected to the output. With the neck pickup engaged, the output of the bridge volume pot is connected to ground. In the middle position, both pickups are connected in series.



T ofhe issue is two fold - those type pots are comparatively very expensive, and Dano used custom ones with 100k/1M in the stack. So I cant actually find them and even non-custom ones are more than the rest of the materials for the guitar.
I want to keep the clean "two knob" look but simplify to a master volume and tone, while retaining the series switching which is part of the charm.

Would this make sense in that case?


I can make pedals but wiring guitars gives me a headache, especially understanding series/parallel, coil splits etc.

A spare set of eyes would be welcome! cheers

Another day another chorus pedal. This time, the Asheville Music Tools ACV-1
https://www.ashevillemusictools.com/products/acv-1

To say this one is special would be an understatement. I have been looking into the AMpT Asheville pedals for some time but never pulled the trigger as in the UK with the import fees it's kinda insane. Also I was waiting for the flanger which was the last release and the video demos left me colder than I was expecting - I said to a friend at the time I actually prefer the chorus.

I picked this up locally, so local the guy was just down the road and dropped it round by hand - good service! It was significantly cheaper than acquiring one new. The box is standard but it comes in a nice suede bag thing which was cute.

The pedal itself is a marvel of engineering and no I haven't had time/courage to take it apart. Suffice to say there are many hundreds of SMD parts ripe for Behringer to clone here. The fact they squeeze all this into a standard Hammond case is beyond me. The efforts for shielding and signal screening while a bit rustic on first glance clearly are effective (theres copper tape round the I/O ribbon, and a laminated metal sheet under the jacks).

The sound itself is continuously varying - the LFOs are beautiful and distinct. It is capable of chorus flanging and doubling in much the same way the Lovetone Flange with No Name is/was (I've got one of those too so I know what I am hearing is legit).

I haven't found a dud sound, it can go to the borders of oscillation not quite as crazily as the Lovetone unit but very much in the same realm of warble-siren. For classic 80s chorus this has it all in spades and so much more. I cant think of a chorus tone you couldnt acheive here, and with the mix control you can also go pure pitch vibrato.

My only critique is two fold: I have a strange affection for stereo and this is mono. Also it would have been cool to have a second footswitch to replace the polarity switch (similar to the original FoxRox TZF, again one of my favourite permanent collection).

Bottom line is this is the crème of analog chorus modulators in a surprisingly compact package and if you can afford one please buy one cos no one's cloning this anytime soon. For me the online videos didnt do this justice, and perhaps dont do the other pedals in the line justice either. I will certainly jump on the delay if I ever see one more affordable than new....

Hi all

I am intrigued by the Charvel DK24 HH pickup switching options.



I have scoured the internet for a wiring diagram and happened across this



My issue is I dont have the original pickups to play with (which are expensive SD units)
I do however have some Duncan Design 4-wire humbuckers to experiment on!

Main problem however seems to be the way the hot and coloured wires work on the Duncan Designs
The SD have the North Start (Black) as Hot, and the South Start (Green) as ground
The Dunc Design have the North Start (Black) as Ground, and the South Start (Green) as hot

Would it be so simple as, following the wiring diagram, swapping around the green and black wires?
I assume this, if it worked, would just mean the positions as it relates to the specific "inner/outer" coil that was active might just be flipped over from pos 2 and pos 4 on the selector switch...?

I am hopefully reliably informed that all humbuckers have the same "orientation" of the coils meaning North is always slug, South is Screws

Any help would be much appreciated as Ive never attempted wiring something so complicated and the diagram isnt exactly the best (!)

Cheers

Hi all

Just incase anyone here messes with guitars

I have a Squier Paranormal telecaster thinline with the jazzmaster pickups
I swapped the stock units out for Pure Vintage 65s and replaced the switch, and pots (CTS)
Also I added copper shielding tape all around

Now the issue I get is when I have it plugged in when I touch any metal work, it creates a static "pop" type sound
To me this is a grounding issue but I cannot figure it out
Ive had the guitar apart 3 times, rewired it, changed the switch

The only thing I havent done is change the pots again which I could. process of elimination I guess
Im loathed to beleive the pickups are "bad" inherently but I guess that could be a thing

Note, Ive tried other amp, cables etc.

Any ideas?

HI

Doesnt need to be a DIY project
Wondering if anyone knows of a pedal that does stereo delay auto-pan
This is not ping pong (which is just back and forth at a set "width" between two amps) but a gradual rotary panning across the stereo field?

I have a little fender mustang headphone amp thing that has this effect and I think its awesome. Would like to know if any pedals do it?

Cheers

This was so much fun being involved in and its the first pedal I have actually built from scratch in...a week shy of a year! whoa.
Ive modded stuff and rehoused stuff in the meantime but actually making something totally from bits, so thankyou to the DIY community for the inspiration and JHS et al for the impetus.

The vero was my own layout based on the hard work of  Bugg, and some parts inspiration from Bean (cheers guys)
I honestly dont think this is all that rad of a thing, but its a moment in time and cost me about £25 in parts, £17 of which was the fancy Hammond green box.

I hope you enjoy the play on words and honest circuit description as much I as I do.

Anyone here talking about this? Did a search came up blank
Quite a cool story (Josh JHS and his EHX loving mate design a "homage" to the 70s) turned into a bit of a business idea (1000 expensive pedals, limitless nano EHX pedals) and a whole host of controversy over "original transistor designs" when it turns out to be a straight lift of two DIY classics.

Have a look here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu2xGg49RCw&t=2423s
https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?t=32602

Ive made a vero cos why not. Ill try and build this soon.

Howdy.

Earlier this year I picked up a Squier Telecaster Paranormal Cabronita which has turned into my first adventure into proper modding.
(Ive assembled guitars before but not done marked reconfiguration work...)

This is essentially a Telecaster thinline with a Cabronita layout, but instead of filtertrons, its got jazzmaster sized pickups.
Bought sight unseen from a Reverb listing of a bricks and mortar in Scotland (I am about 4 hours away) it was listed as new but I guess ex display. WAs SUPER cheap (about half MSRP).

I liked the guitar immediately - its super light at about 6lb on the nose, and really lively, resonant, and loud acoustically. You would expect that of a thinline tele perhaps, but theres something about this one. Ive had others that havent been as alive sounding.

It wasnt all honey moon though, the pickups are I beleive pretty closely related to the Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster pups in that they are more like P90s than actual vintage JM pups. The position of the pickup selector also was a position I never normally approve of being right at the back. These two things gave me some ideas.

Stock photo



From here I decided I definitely wanted to change the pickups. I got a set of Fender 65 Vintage (used in various reissues from the US, as well as for example the Troy Van Leeuwen signature JM) from Reverb for about £75 which I felt was good value. I really wanted that JM sound, or at least to see how close I could cop that vibe in a lightweight tele format. I also said that if I was doing that I would of course shield the guitar and replace all the wiring and inevitably budget af components.

Pre mod. Suprisingly the pickups have cloth wire which is neat touch. The rest of the shit, not so hot!


Copper tape a plenty.


In doing all this I wanted to re-locate the toggle switch to the "les paul" position. This left the slight dilemma of what to do with the extra hole in the front of the body. Solution - killswitch.



these were from Amazon and I got a pack of 10 so if they flake out I can keep swapping them. For now I can say it works and does the "thing" you expect.
I wanted something small, chrome ideally, and these are 12mm cut out. The arcade button things are nice and all but I wanted something subtler.

The rest was CTS pots and cloth wire.


The relocate to the upper bout for the toggle was drama. I bought a switchcraft JM switch, but the threading wasnt long enough for the thickness of the top goddamn it. This meant routing an access hole in the back of the body, that I wanted to avoid. In the end, I did that by bodge job (pics to follow) and reused the existing switch for now, as I did not want to further have to bodge in the new fancy switch and risk damaging the top of the guitar.



note I dont have the "proper" tools for this and made do with the bits I have in the man cave


To craft a cover I cut a peice out of an old black scratchplate, and hand finished to size with a dremel...
Annoyingly on the last bit of working with the hole cutting the finish chipped away. Im planning to live with it, at least for now.


Really happy with the results!



Must be said working on guitars shares many skills with pedals but to me at least its a helluva different game!
Cheers!

Hey y'all
Very rarely do I post an NGD, yet bizarrely this year I have bought two guitars! - see my other post for the second one.

Yesterday I ended a 4+ year debate as to whether try to find the accompanying cousin for the much loved Billy Corgan Stratocaster.
I acquired the aforementioned Fender in late 2008, wanting a hardtail strat and realising it was that or a Buddy Guy mexican (pretty much).
Speaking to my oldest friend a week ago and reminiscing on many moons past, the Smashing Pumpkins came up and it relit my interest in the BC-1 signature from the Reverend brand of guitars.

I remember watching some YT when it came out and thinking it was cool enough, but honestly I am not a lifer SP fan, and Corgan I enjoy as much for the ability to laugh at him and his ridiculousness as his songwriting ability (!). Anyway, long story short I revisited all of the reviews (yet to find a bad one), and browsed eBay. Lo and behold there was one about 90 mins from me for a decent price, and in a colour I wasnt aware of (matt black).

I decided to buy it and I am very glad I did - its cool! Devisive looks aside, I actually appreciate it, and its cooler in person.
Kinda has a vibe of a offset, maybe more Coronado that Jazz/Jag as its got a bit of a fatter ass, and it certainly feels a bit Rick inspired too, no bad thing.

Before I wax lyrical and share some stats and thoughts, heres the pics:




Weight similar (strat 7lb5oz, BC1 7lb15oz)  Balance better on the Strat I think. Tuners feel better on the Strat but locking on the BC1. Other hardware much similars, the bridge peice feel nice on the BC1 certainly, and the E spots have some tracks for the grub screws to run in. Wiring in the Reverend is actaully very good! Components seem fine; full size alpha pots and shielded single core cable for the connective wiring. It's not boutique (ie cloth coated wax dipped etc) but neither is stock Fender stuff.

The Fender neck is admittedly nicer in feel especially on the rolled edges fingerboard and fretwork marginally better. Fret ends better on the Fender and they've been crowned finer and more consistently on breif inspection. I imagine I'll do some fretwork on the Rev in time... that said the headstock shape doesn't upset me - I actually think its in suiting, and more palatable than many adjustments to the classic Fender lines - and it's roasted maple feels really nice smooth and dry, almost unfinished on the back. The Strat is all satin finish so similar feel really but its "glossed over" a bit over the years of play in a good way.

Sound wise the Fender has all the 5 positions and 2/4 are coil split meaning you can get the classic spanky tones which I personally enjoy. Overall I LOVE the sound of the Strat. Rips with gain but clean and sparkly, very balanced too. Can of course do modern very well.
The Rev on my limited playtime thus far is a bit chunkier and only has three pickup switch positions. The bass contour, which is a Reverend trademark I think, might as well have three way switch lol it's basically booming bass - less booming - off. But it's a cool thing! Needs more exploring for sure. I am not so convinced it makes the Railhammer "HumCutter" pickups sound like single coils per say, but it definitely "revoices" things.

Fit and finish great on both however it goes to Fender for the thin nitrocellulose finish vs whatever synthetic finish is on the Rev (mostly cos I'm a nitro cork sniffer). That said the Matt black finish is really nicely done and only one tiny flaw that most people wouldn't notice. Considering I acquired this second hand its either not been used much, or is quite robust to use. Time will tell. Ive heard the finish is quite thin, which I always prefer to 5mm of poly

Minor point: the Strat came with a high end G&G case. I acquired both guitars second hand but the Rev comes with nothing (!) so it would need a case purchase. The Strat is also a bone fide California build USA Strat. There were unsubstantiated rumours that the early models out were under the guidance of the custom shop. I wouldnt doubt it as mine is lovely. But I take that with a grain of salt. The BC1 like all Reverends to my naive understanding are designed and setup/final QC etc in the USA, but the actual build is done in Korea. Honesltly if you didnt tell me that on the headstock I would think it was a lower end US guitar. The only thing I wish was immediately nicer would be some rolled fingerboard action..

Lastly maybe it's psychosomatic but I hear the "mid honk" that Corgan describes in the Rev; something that accentuates specific frequencies akin but not as extreme as a "cocked wah" approach. Nice.

Happy with both!

Ok I need to get something off my chest and I dont know why and I dont have anywhere else to write this.

Today, Boss released (with the typical these days simultaneous bowel opening on all socials/YT of every influencer known to man hyping up a pedal) the new version of their "Slicer" effect. So whats my problem?

My problem, irrational as it is, is that now we have all these people getting hyped over an effect and a set of features that for the most part have not changed. Also I am seeing people blabbing massively about how this pedal and the effect it produces is a creative wonderland that its generating song idea after song idea. Ive read the manual, and other than a few more banks and patches, plus some kind of online extra patch download facility, the features are the same. The control parameters are the same. The stereo options are the same, albeit now much harder to change (involves setting multiple knobs to specific positions and powering up and down etc...). The only benefit other than more patches and some online swap outs seems to be the dubious point of it being smaller.

So again why am I pissed off?
Well ive had a SL-20 since forever (they came out in 2008) and it was an amazing pedal to own. I stuck a Digitech space station in front of it on the synth swell patches and literally wrote songs off it. I even actually had a band and played it live! Its pissing me off now that an ignored gem is now suddenly everyones must have flavour of the week. "You had me at midi clock"...erm the original had midi. It also had a in built looper recorder which this doesnt have, and the secondary footswitch was also tap tempo of course, which is <trust me (bro)> *essential* for live use unless you are synched to midi, which I wasnt ever.

I guess my answer is I am depressed that my music and band went nowhere, and only about a hundred people ever heard them, as the band (for spurious reasons) only actually played those songs with the SL-20 live once...Im totally embittered by this hype around it. Noone gave a fuck about slicers last week and now everyone wants one, and I see these paid shills as pretty yawn-worthy and personally I pretty much distrust youtube demos dumped on day of release.

Rant over.

Subtext. Work is proving challenging, my dads just out of cancer surgery (which went well, thankfully), and the world is in constant turmoil. It seems the SL-2 releasse was the straw that broke this camels back.

Peace. Lace.

Hi yall

PReface - the last time I recorded any guitar on my PC I was using a Line6 guitar port(!) and Adobe Audition.
I appreciate things have moved on!

Question - can anyone recommend me a place to start where I can do a basic multitrack recording (only me mostly, so doesnt need more than one input necessarily) into some decentish software for not "mega bucks"?

Where would be a good starting point?

thanks!

Following from my dual parallel stereo Behringer ultra vibrato rehouse post, here is another rehouse project

This time it's the stoner rockers favourite Boss FZ-2 knock off, the SF-300 Super Fuzz

Modifications include bypassing the flip-flop switching for true bypass operation, putting the octave capacitor mod on a footswitch to go from sizzle to inferno, and changing the slide switch for a rotary mode selector - the added benefit of including the 4th so-called "secret" mode which is a mix of Fuzz 1 and 2.

All wrapped up in a purple Hammond case (1590XL / 1790ns) so it's big and vintage feeling. I was playing for a DAM style / boutique fuzz vibe overall, with 70s retro font and chicken head knobs.

Mods and instructions here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1U_uanZZQ6463Fj_zyF2kRtD-brLEqN14gemASVcTgUA/edit

Enjoy!

I have rehoused a Behringer Ultra Vibrato before so have some skill and experience there. Despite that I still managed somehow to kill one board in the making here(!) meaning 3 UV300s we're killed to achieve this 

It's a stereo in stereo out parallel dual vibrato. The idea came from another DIY project here with the dual small clone choruses in a box.  I retained the original switching which I suppose is a reasonable buffered bypass, but replaced the tactile activation with soft touch SPST switches. The un/latch selection is now on a toggle per side. The other toggle is to add a capacitor in parallel to c15 to slow down the LFO rate range. The range of useful cap here starts about 330nF, and I actually put another 680nF in parallel, as I wanted it to go super slow.

There is a stereo splitter/buffer on vero which allows multiple use permutations in conjunction with switching jacks on the inputs and outputs. You can do mono in& out and just use one of the vibratos which basically gives chorus (because the outputs are summed, and you have clean basically from the active op-amp splitter circuit ahead of the vibratos), or a parallel dual vibrato in mono.

You can also do mono in stereo out and have different vibratos on each amp which is really cool, or indeed stereo chorus wet/dry with only one side engaged, with the ability of course to switch between a slower and faster with crafty foot position on both switches. Lastly it's possible to stereo in/mono out but it's probably an option I'd never use

What is mighty neat, is that ability to "punch in" a random warble either in isolation, or even better perhaps on top of an already warbling sound - by having one side set to latch for the constant warble, then a momentary on the other side to punch in.  Anyway, theres so many options and permutations.

I didnt get round to any labelling or graphics yet, perhaps I will.
The case is from Hammond, one of their standard electronics enclosures. This one is 180mm x 180mm x 56mm at its highest. Its reminiscient of things like the SnazzyFx and a bit Lovetone-ish cos of the slant front. The base is steel but was fine to drill, the top is aluminium. Its powdercoated in contrasting greys.


For the curious, I have added the buffer/splitter vero and a basic scheme of the in/out switching jacks.

Enjoy!

Hi everyone

Long time no see.
I recently picked up an old SnazzyFX  Wow&Flutter.
Its a broken tape deck simulator which basically has an envelope control over the delay time - its super rad.

The question I have is.... which component(s) around a PT2399 set the max delay time ? Is it as simple as the actual delay potentiometer resistance?
This pedal has a B50k for the delay time control and the max delay feels about 300ms. Figured you could get double that or more out of a PT2399?

Looking at an archetype like the Rebote and Deep blue, they are also B50k.... so its probably something else.

Any comments appreciated (!)

Dear all

I'm really stoked that today 4 new Lovetone projects were launched over at Aion

https://aionfx.com/news/four-new-lovetone-projects-doppelganger-meatball-big-cheese-and-brown-source/

I've helped verify both schematics and prototype builds
I hope that if these do well then the Ringstinger or Flanger might be on the cards
Kevin is a top guy and really cares about authenticity

No affiliation, I don't get paid to promote or any cut from sales
Just a love of Lovetone and sharing the joy of these amazing analog creations into the hands of people that either never heard them or wouldn't pay klon money for them.

The PCBs are lovely, build docs ideal and I would vouch for the sound quality. Some small adaptations made all very sensible (eg film vs electro caps, rationalising some switching options, even adding a feature or two for the meatball).

Will be great to have addtional reliable source for these circuits for years to come

Ian (apparently I'm the DIY Lovetone expert?! SOTSOG; shout outs due also to alanP, RG keen, GOvlacky, Dino and Phil at deadendfx, and more)