Topics

Hey guys, it's been a while since I've done any building. Hope everyone is well!

A while ago I started building for friends of friends again and it took the enjoyment out of building. Again. Long story short, my last day at work was the 20th March and it's looking like I maybe furloughed until October, so I've picked up the guitar again and I've really been enjoying it. Decided I needed some new pedals (I've been using the HX Effects recently and it's amazing!), so I've been designing a few new boards.

They are all designed for a 125B and have pads for top mounted jacks, which allows for 6 wires to go from the effect board to the foot switch board. Ive got foot switch boards for optical bypass and I'm about to send the files off to get the 3PDT footswitch boards made.

They are:
AM Radio - Lofo Mofo
Hog Roast - MB Bacon Bits (my Blackstar HT5 loves that pedal!)
Don't Eat Yellow Snow (Snowjob - I miss that pedal)
Dirty Ego - Clarke Gainster
Fuzzy Wuzzy - Maestro MFZ-1

I've also got the boards designed for 2 ABY pedals. They both have switchable buffers, one has a Klon buffer and the other has the Cornish buffer. The components are on the top of the board along with the foot switches, and I've got a SMD DIP switch on the back so the buffer is switchable. Had to design the Eagle part for it as I think a TH one would sit too high for the back plate to fit. Last night I finished up a silicon fuzz face. Never managed to get into fuzz, but I'm hoping that it may help me close to ZZ Top tones.

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

I'm in the process of attaching all the wires to my Dreamtime builds and just ordered the last capacitor that I needed. However, I've noticed that C2 and C8 are supposed to be MLCC caps. I've used normal ceramic disc caps for them (I clearly didn't read the build doc properly!), will they be ok or should I get some MLCC caps ordered and replace them?

I've got 2 Alpha Dog boards sitting here for the last few months and I'm finally getting the parts ready to build them up (along with some others that I've just ordered). I think I've found the relay that I need from one of the local companies that I order from, but I'd just like someone to confirm that it's the right one. It's this one here https://www.rapidonline.com/panasonic-tq2-5-low-profile-dpco-1a-5v-coil-relay-60-4245

After a bit of an eventful time trying to get a bunch of enclosures painted up thanks to work and being called in for what ended up being a 26 hour shift), I finally managed it today. However, I knew my powder coating gun has had issues for quite a while, but I think it's getting to the point of being unusable soon, so I'm currently looking for a decent replacement.

My current one is by a company called Electrostatic Magic and doesn't have a need for an additional power supply, which is a big plus. However, the trigger had been playing up for a while and now doesn't seem to do anything, and the only way to regulate the air flow is by the air flow screw in the base of it. Also, I've found coating the lower part of the sides hard with this gun, and I'm assuming it's either because of the faraday effect, or more likely, because it works by generating x amount of electrostatic electric which isn't powerful enough (I think this is the most likely answer).

I'm currently looking at either the Harbour Freight one or the Eastwood Hotcoat dual voltage. I'm leaning towards the Eastwood, but they won't have anymore stock until the 10th Feb, I'm not sure if the UK stockist will be the same date or not though.

Does anyone have any experience with either of these systems or any other recommendations?

I've just seen some decal paper that doesn't leave a film and just wondering if anyone has any experience with it. The only time I've used decal paper was years ago and putting a clear powder coat layer on top. The issue with that was on the lighter colours, if you weren't extremely careful, the water marks showed as brown spots under the clear coat.

Seems to work the same way as normal decal paper, but the glue sticks the image down and then the film can be pulled off, and then baked in an oven to cure the image. Here is a link to the video https://youtu.be/4gP9ChoGSTY

I'm thinking of trying to build a little multi effect unit for my acoustic guitar. Mainly because I think it would be fun to use but also because I'm thinking of doing some open mic nights in the future.

I can't decide which circuits to use though, despite doing some research and watching videos on YouTube. At the moment, I'm thinking of compressor-chorus-delay-reverb.

Compressor - I've read that optical compressors sound nicer for acoustic, so would you use the 4:1 or the Afterlife and why?

Chorus - thinking of using the Glam, good idea?

Delay - Mimik or Cave Dweller? I built several of the original Cave Dwellers and loved the darker, maybe even eerily sound, but worried it may not suit the acoustic well for a nice sounding, ambient delay.

Reverb - thinking of the Ping, unless there is a better option.

Essentially, I want the controls to be simple as it needs to be a simple pedal. The compressor is going to be wired as always on I think, although I'm not sure how beneficial it may or may not be.

I'm also thinking about powering it with a power bank, I use a brilliant one for when I go away with work that has 20,000mAh, 5VDC and 3.4A output. Obviously I'd need to get that ramped up to 9V but I'm failing to find anything good online that could do that, as having a power supply indie the pedal could be quite cool, although I'm not sure how handy or beneficial it could be.

I'm trying to find a 10KC pot in 9mm size but I'm struggling to find one anywhere other then Smallbear. If I wired up a 10KA pot in reverse, would I be correct in saying that it will work the same as a C pot? Looking at a taper graph, I think that should be correct but I just wanted to make sure.

I mentioned in another thread that I'm looking at making a compressor and chorus for my acoustic. I've found some circuits that I like the sound of, and at a push I think I can design them onto a board, including board mounted 9mm pots. In total I'll need 6 pots and 2 foot switches. If I put them into a 1590B (with the box in landscape), would it be too compact in terms of useability? Never attempted something like this before, and I don't have any 1590B enclosures to hand at the moment.

I'm really getting into the acoustic guitar lately, and thinking about trying some effects for it. I've got a really cheap AXL chorus from when I first started playing guitar, must be about 25 years old now, one of the really cheap ones from eBay (knowing me back then I can't see it costing more then £20-30 back then). It's never been even been used!

But I know there has to be a better option and I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the MB boards for acoustic guitar use? I'm more leaning towards a chorus rather then a delay though.

Just wondering if anyone on here uses the (I think new) enclosure customisation service from Hammond. The place where i buy the Eddystone range from now offers it, so thought that i would try it out. Here are my thoughts.....

It was very easy to supply a technical drawing. I made the rectangles for each side of the enclosure then measured off of a centre line, and submitted that the my local company, and within a day Hammond had sent me a technical drawing to check and sign and send back to them if it was right. Around 2 weeks later I received the first test box, the holes were all perfectly placed, but the hole for the power jack was placed on the wrong side. After speaking to my local company, they heard back from Hammond and they said it was human error where the enclosure was placed the wrong way round in the CNC machine. Rather then sending out another test enclosure, they sent me a new technical drawing as I wanted to change the power jack hole (6mm to 8mm), and a week later all 100 enclosures had arrived (bearing in mind I'm in the UK and they customise them in America). Overall, I'm extremely happy with them, especially as getting the holes lined up perfectly on a 1590A isn't easy.

Just a bit of info if anyone is interested. They give you a free quote, and if you decide to go ahead with it there is a £105 one off fee, if you decide to repeat the same order then you don't need to pay the fee again. The fee covers drilling, powder coating and silk screening, I just had the drilling service done. If I wanted some enclosures with 1, 2, and 3 holes for pots, then that would have incurred 3 setup fees so I decided to have drill markers on the silk screens instead, in hindsight I should have had the footswitch and LED holes drilled as well.

Overall, I'm really happy with it. The cost per enclosure if I had 100 for the price break point is £3.58 each, and including drilling they were £6.12 each. The quality of the drilling is really good, every box I've tried is 100% perfect.

Made a silly mistake when designing some boards and used the wrong component part. Is there much difference sound wise between the 1n914 and the 1n4148 diodes in the Green Russian circuit?

I've used the size for the 1n4148 and not the SOT23 package for the 1n914. Made the same mistake on another board design as well

I've only built a handful of 1590A pedals with through hole components which was several years ago, and can't decide on how to do a couple that I've got. I'm waiting for various bits and pieces to arrive so I went through one of my old parts bins and found some PCBs that I bought off someone for the Deep Blue Delay. I've managed to find out it's the Sea Flea and the layout was done by Alan P, but I'm wondering if anyone else that has built them has soldered the chips direct to the board or used a socket. I'm thinking about the space and clearance to the enclosure lid (and the fact that I don't have any sockets for them at the moment).

Just seen that Bean is having a blowout sale on his Bacon Bits PCBs. If you've never built one and use a small amp (I use a Blackstar HT5), then you're seriously missing out. It's quite possibly the best pedal I've ever built and makes my amp sound amazing!

I've been talking to a friend today about the Muff projects that I'm doing, and he wants one. However, rather then have it in the pedal board friendly 1590A size for when he gigs, he wants it in a 1590BB. Both the boards that I've designed and Beans boards don't have board mounted pots, So, I'm thinking of using some PCB mounts, but the only ones I can find are the ones which are round and go through holes in the board. Are there any ones that can clip around the side of the board?

Also, does anyone know where I could buy a sheet metal enclosure like the Green Russian Muff? That's the model version that he is after so think it would be a nice surprise for him.

Just looking for some advice here. At the moment there are a few fairly big recycling campaigns and campaigns against single use plastic, and my company is starting to make big changes to stop using it as much as possible. I've recently started building pedals again and already have a lot of those little plastic component bags left over. With them being the wrong type of plastic to be recycled, does anyone have a way to either reuse them or do anything creative with them, etc?

Has anyone had any experience with this? I've been looking at having some pedals screen printed but it seems that catalysed 2 part ink is needed, which gives off nasty fumes and is a pain to clean up, (and most places don't do this) so I've been looking at UV printing. I know PPP do it but with being in the UK it's completely uneconomical to use them for more then a few enclosures.

I've found one company locally that can do it and I'm currently waiting on a quote from them for it, but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with a home set up for it?

Hey guys! After getting massively disheartened with my last few builds and chucking in the towel, the building bug has returned! the final nail in the coffin was spending about 15-20 hours designing and building a Klon to go into the 1590A box using SMD, only for it not to work.

I've decided my first build is going to be a Clark Gainster in SMD. I build loads in the 1590B case, and just found my old 1590A layout, but with a few errors that I never saw before. First job is to redesign it slightly. While waiting for the board to come in, I'll get everything ordered for it and the box powder coated, and maybe see if my laser cutter still works as it's just been sitting in the garage for a few years, otherwise it's going to be a water slide decal.

Firstly, apologies for not being on the forum much lately, work and life have got in the way of building again.

Bit of a back story, these were announced in NAMM in Jan last year, and the guy in the shop is adamant that I was the first person in the UK to have them or order, which was back in June! Well, they finally came into stock last week and managed to get down to the shop yesterday after work. It's about a 90 minute drive, but the shop is definitely worth it.

So, without further ado, I would like to introduce Satch (purple) and Satchy (yellow)!



Satchel is my favourite guitarist, so I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of these, the only bad thing is that they are already outdated as he has switched to Fishman pickups now. First impressions is that they are nice to play, and the Seymour Duncan pickups are great sounding. I don't like the mini pickup selector switch, it's sharp and if you catch it, it feels like something has put a deep scratch on your skin, and last night I discovered that I prefer it when the trems are sunk into the body like on Ibanez, as these ones have the trem on top of the body and I find I keep catching it at bit. I've got a busy day, I'll try and get some pictures on what I mean tonight or tomorrow.

Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk

I've always wondered about this since I started SMD about 2 years ago and never been able to find an answer.

A lot of pedals have a power filtering section, and some use a 47uF cap and others use a 100uF cap. I've always wondered if there is any difference between them, and if the 100uF cap can be changed to 47uF with no adverse effects. I've dug out my old electronic books from school and couldn't really find any answers for it. The 47uF caps work out around £30 cheaper per 100 so it's quite a big potential saving.

Had to do a bit of work with the laser cutter today, so thought that I would video it.

The first video is of the solder paste stencil for Unicorn Slaying (a 1590A Klon) as that's on it's way, and the second video is of a enclosure being etched. The pedal is for a friend who gigs around 80-100 times a year, and is pedal mad. He is limited on boad space, but loves this pedal so I redesigned the board for a 1590A enclosure, and it's a overdrive/fuzz hybrid (Nick Greer Green Giant).

https://youtu.be/_n8j-5eqhWY

https://youtu.be/os9-90J47hM