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Hi, this is a current lover I built a couple of months back, I think Josh was in the middle of  finalising his  clickless switch board and I can assure you it was worth waiting for. Anyone who hasn't tried them...well you know where he is, they are fantastic. I used  a mouser momentary switch, I ordered about 10 a year ago and thankfully I now have a use for them.

The enclosure was a fail on this one I got the chemical ratio wrong Anyway I distressed it a bit more...lol and had a bit of fun with it.

The circuit worked first time and sounds like it should. I am still trying to get used to that new switch it makes no noise...no crunch. Just a flash of light when you plug it in to say.."Hey I am working just press me once more gently and I'll give you the sounds"
Cheers
Mike

Seeing some of the etches that Graham has done in the past few months and reading the simple to follow instructions he provides, I thought I would have a go....I have tried etching enclosures in the past. But, never got the results that I was anywhere near happy with.

Well I used the base from my Zero Point delay machine as it has been removed for the last six months...basically for trimming/ tweaking/ changing components in the skts etc.

Went through the tutorial ending with spraying the etch with matt black paint and the following day rubbing it down, and this morning spraying it with a few coats of laquer.

Well,  for a first attempt I was more than happy with the results, its not that difficult and I would recommend anyone to try Grahams' technique.
Thanks
Mike

Hexjibber
http://diy-guitar-effects.tumblr.com/etching

Hi, Liustucru built one of these a few weeks ago and said how good it was...so as I had all the parts and some mojo vero which is 30yrs old I built it.

I had one little mistake and with vero you have to triple check which hole you put the component in...or it can be a PITA  fault finding it if just one component is in the wrong hole.  I found it thankfully!! (Jimilee I used loads of wire on this as well!!!)So going to the sound side it is what it says a "Light Drive". Very DG and I have  it pretty clean with a light touch of growl in it.

For the parts count and two veroboards it  cost very little. I suppose you could put everything on one board if you wanted to. In fact  Jacob mentioned perhaps making a board...so that might be worth looking at, or someone maybe could do a single side for etchers

I have the G2 built up on veroboard as well, its not been tested...waiting for pots can't wait to hear what that sounds like.

Thanks
Mike

Hi, Finally finished the Sharkfin.

Sounds good... Really quacks on the filter side which I like, the S&H is funny I thought it reminded me of the music in the film Ice Age for some reason. Yes there is a wide range of sounds which I haven't heard yet so I have a bit of twiddling to do on the two presets.

The Ua741 ic's are out of another project which I have got problems with. I used them just to see if they were ok so they will stay with it now. The stomp switch LED is a tri colour, which I got from Rapid. It has anode and cathode just like a regular led....surprised me as I thought there would be a few leads on it.

The filter led is orange, it works only in the S&H mode. One thing I did notice..the S&H  is on the input side, it doesn't matter I just routed the leads across from the stomp switch to the jack. Just thought I would mention it as I didn't notice it at first until I had drilled all the holes.

Anyway there it is...a nice project worth doing, thanks Brian.

Mike

Hi, I have been on Madbeans about 8 months, and have had a great time. I want to make someones day We all love a freebie.

So this is my latest  2 in 1 build....... The first person to guess the names of the two builds  such as  Fatpants and digdug etc, I will send them a Prof Tweed fabbed board.  Be aware this is not as easy as it looks.

OK thought this might happen... everyone is saying Green Bean well that would be too obvious thats why I said  its not as easy as it looks, think outside the box.

Good Luck
Mike

I have been practicing  the Rain Song quite a lot lately by Led Zeppelin...cos I love the song and as you will know if you don't play a song for even a few months you need to refresh the part  that's between your ears.

Anyway in the process of all this I read somewhere that JP  used a theremin ...so just wondered if anyone else had tried one or built one. There seems to be no end of circuits for them and kits, some units on flea bay are going for really stupid prices.

So if anybody has experience of the Theremin I would love to here you tell all.

About Theremin
Theremin kits are on the market once again in the United Kingdom. Simply log on and buy the kit that takes your fancy. The Theremin, invented in 1919, was among the early few musical instruments that were fully electronic. The credit of it's invention goes to a Russian by the name of LÈon Theremin. It's uniqueness lies in its ability to be played without being touched. The musician stands before the instrument and gently waves his or her hands in the proximity of two metal antennae. The distance from one antenna determines frequency (pitch), and the distance from the other controls amplitude (volume). Typically, the pitch is controlled by the right hand and the left hand controls the volume. Some performers have been known to reverse this arrangement. The theremin’s circuitry has two radio frequency oscillators, one of which operates at a fixed frequency. The other is a variable frequency oscillator. A beat frequency in the audio frequency range is generated by the difference in the frequencies of the two oscillators from one moment to the next. This results in audio signals that are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker, thus producing a sound. When building your own theremin, referring to earlier schematics might prove helpful. A theremin is made up of power supply for which chokes or capacitors are used, the main chassis, mounted coils (coupling to be avoided), pitch oscillator coils of the right dimensions, forms, audio transformers, multi-section, power-style resistor and, the antennae, which need to have the correct diameter.

All sounds painful

Mike

Built this up and boxed it a few weeks ago, but forgot to put it here, until Ian was asking for some Transistor Volts readings.

I wired the stomp switches different. Thats not saying Jubal's is wrong

Not a stand out and hit you pedal, but it sounds ok and with the boost its much better.

I finally finished up my Doppelganger this morning, it has taken some time and has been a fairly pleasent and great learning experience.  I think the most difficult part of the build was obtaining the ldr's...I eventually got them from futurlec . It sounds similar to Lacesensors build, it is very whooshy with the blend and colour pots fully cw. I tried the different combinations of op amps and in the end settled for the TL062 and LM324N. Also stayed with 1K span controls,HF span and LF span were more or less the same.. so it is as Lacesensor's build instructions.

One thing I noticed was it sounded a bit scratchy and not quite right when I was testing the board outside the enclosure which wasted me a bit of time...once in the enclosure and the base on it was fine. So if you do ever build this you may want to watch for this.

Must thank Lacesensor for his great work and for the docs and layouts.... Electricstorm for the layout he sent me for the pcb etch....Ian (irmcdermott) for his drill template.

Thanks

Mike

Got round to building this phaser and it is a joy to do.  I did run out of 39k resistors so I used 33k for R29,R31,R34. It is really smooth...will put 39k in there when I get them. Might be interesting to see if it makes any difference.

There is a distinct difference when you go from 5 to 6 on the dpdt switch, its like a brighter clean sound on 6 and the other side 5  is darker..hard to describe but sounds good.

I did a practice graphic on the base plate, and then did the front more or less the same, photography always seems to give back different colours of the enclosures and this one is no exception.

Hope you get round to building the Stage Fright its worth it

Mike

Another Harbinger, not on the same level as Pryde's which was accompanied by an excellent sound demo.

I had one hiccup with this build which I managed to rectify, that being a faulty Q1 which I replaced. The unit sounds really nice and I am well pleased with it. I thought I would try an etch on the base plate as well...it was a bit of a failure   I had never tried  it so it had to be done. It does say Harbinger One but it is quite faint.

Leave you with a couple of pics of the build

Thanks

Mike

I put off building this great unit as I had so many builds on the go at the time. I was also waiting to see if any more mods were being introduced. Anyway, I started the build which seemed very straightforward, looking at the video of what Brian had done.

OK..I finish to the stage of rocking it, I switch on..slight burning smell!!!!!! Hmmmm, turns out I have D1 reversed. I then try to think back to when I  put that part in, was I distracted.  Replace the diode check continuity, check volts with all semi's out of circuit, Fire up again, I can bring the volts up from zero to nine on my psu, now it seems the PT2399 stages are not functioning..

To cut a long story short..it got to the stage where I ordered another board from Brian, in the off chance that I couldn't fix the problem. Being that the board is double sided and all the pots sitting there. The build is also quite tight.

Well I did fix the problem, which was probably down to distraction, R47 is 630 ohms yep, I had put 630K in there. You can actually see the corrected resistor sticking up in the picture. I always double check every component before I insert  it in circuit... and when its  soldered I tick it on the BOM. So why did I make mistakes??

You really need to concentrate when you are doing bigger builds, maybe take more breaks and above all don't have any distractions. Believe me, I have had enough years soldering components and if you can avoid these little pitfalls which can put you back days/weeks..then just remember these few words.

There are some pics here...still waiting for the knobs to finish it, not one of my best enclosures but I am trying to get better at doing graphics

Loved doing this build as I etched the board and  didn't feel to bad about drilling big holes in it  to accommodate the wiring...and there was lots of it in this single sided version. Thanks for the single sided version Brian

I used the  Vactrol VTL5C2, and it works fine..so from what I have read in the forums this range of Vactrol 1,2,3 all seem to work.

It really is a great pedal, the LED is usefull for seeing what is happening and shows how sensitive the unit is.you can have it quacking... to going insane and back,you guys who have built it already know what it can do,  the LP,HP,BP modes are all good ,I am getting used to it and have it on its own and sometimes between a fuzz and Josh's multiplex.

Anyway here are a couple of pics I took of the build, I broke a pcb drill  so I used it as a sort of /engraver and as you can see its something different ??Haha, it then got serious and the letters got smaller and yeh eventually some mistakes...but I am going to practice with this method  see what happens with the next build............................  

Enjoy
Mike

Yep.. there are still some being built, I love this pedal nearly as much as my multiplex   It has grown on me, it has a subtle sound all of its own.

Thanks
Mike

Have recently finished this great project, and tried all the mods...I basically kept it as is. Had some fun with it and would recommend building it.  Had to re-learn that Peter Frampton song "Show me the way"  I always liked that record and with the various wah's its great fun.

The enclosure I used was a fairly tight fit, it was one off those Tayda enclosures  1590N  120mm x 64mm x 36m anyway I also had some jacks as well from Tayda which were not great. I won't be buying anymore from them. I think it has been said before they are ok for caps,res, and some semicons.

For the graphics, this was how it started. I had a cct board which didn't work with pre etch resist so I  used a permanent marker pen and did it freehand...not great but  it is original. For the paint it was a coat of white (rattle can) and then splashes of orange..I didn't have any yellow so it looks like marmalade and not honey. I then hit it with fast dry clear enamel ...and that was the big mistake, but it worked out

Hi guys, does anyone have a copy of  an Angel Chorus so I can etch a board from it??? I have seen it mentioned in the forums before but I can't find it.
Thanks
Mike

Hi, having seen a few builds being done lately... the 2 in 1 enclosure syndrome, I  am interested in putting a Faultline, Pork Barrel  and Roadrage in the same enclosure.

Can anyone do me a schematic to illustrate how I can do it???  I want to be able to switch it so I just have the Faultline seperate as well.

I have an idea how to do it...But.. Hmmm,  I don't want to mess up the builds, I would rather have  somebody with a bit more experience on pedals just to nudge me in the right direction... Thanks.

I have recently been trying out overhead transparency's with my inkjet with the diy pcb's  and the results have been great..the only down side is I don't want the board layout and circuit descriptions on the same page.

I know there is probably a way I can just have the circuit on its own...and as it is quite expensive I would like to be able to put as many as I can on one A4 sheet.

Can anybody give advice on this...on how I can do it??  Sorry I am not that computer au fait, there always seems to be such a big learning curve and I ain't getting any younger

This build is a vero by Ivlark which I found a few months back. I did have problems with the build, I could get the signal to the output of the board and then dead after that.

I happened to see Bassman did a build of a 4 knob compressor by Ivlark...looking at the wiring of his stomp switch it was definately different to mine. Well  I found a diagram that matched his wiring and all was cured thanks Bassman.

The unit sounds awsome and I am really pleased with it.I left the sockets in the vero just in case I want to change more components which didn't help in getting the lid on!!

I did the enclosure with acrylics black,white and orange and clear coated. So it is similar to the boutique model in style. I am not very good at finishing enclosures lol but I try.

I must say the hardest part was shoe horning everything in to this eddystone enclosure which was really on the small side 111mm x 60 x 31  plus the switches had the caps and diodes tagged on them...but it was great fun