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By the way, I am using the MI1210CLF-R

Not sure if I should try the VTL5C3

I am just not convinced that my Nautilus is working correctly. I mean, I have listened to all the demos I can find, and while I am able to achieve some of the sounds, I also get crazy noise and some feedback/squealing on some settings.

I really can't get a good sound with the range setting to the right, with the filters going low>high. It only seems to sound decent with the range setting to the left where the filter dips down (LED dims with dynamics).

Checked all my resistors, capacitors, reseating ICs, ....

I am not sure if I am looking for Mods or if my build is not working correctly.

I guess the next step would be to take pictures and post in the right section.

Okay, so I did Jons recommendation of the gain pot being switched out to a 1MC, and this helped out a lot.

That being said, is there any other mods people have done to this?

This is such a great pedal but it's also very sensitive to certain settings and gets "out of control" pretty quickly.

Having never played an original, I am not sure if this was how the Mu-tron behaved as well.

Any tweaks people have done?

it can be a tricky one to dial in. First off, start with the sweep control all the way down. Don't play with that until you have the other controls figured out. Start out in low pass mode on the rotary as that is the most guitar friendly. Put your peak and gain at 12. The hi/lo switch can be in either position. Now when you play you should get a funky filter sound on one setting of the range switch (up/down) and a sort of laser beams shooting underwater sound on the other. This switch has probably the most impact on your sound and most of the settings should be "normal" in one mode and wacky to unusable on the other. From here you can make slight adjustments to peak/gain/pass.

Awesome, will follow this advice when I get home this evening.

I appreciate your help!

So I just finished the Mudbunny Mayo build and while everything went smooth, I noticed that it just didn't have enough distortion and was really missing that "Muff" sound.

So after a little forum searching, I realized that the BC550s are actually mounted opposite of the PCB graphic layout. I assumed (stupid,  stupid me) they mounted per the pcb graphic since the note in the build document just mentioned the BC549C as having a reverse mount.

Anyway, I didn't socket them, again...stupid me, so do you think I just just clip them high up and then heat & pull the leads out one by one? Or should I even attempt to pull all (4) transistors out and try and save them? I have removed capacitors before by doing the "rocking" method but that seems to be much easier with two leads rather than a 3 lead transistor.

thoughts?

Hi all,

So I finished my Nautilus build last night and everything went smooth. On first launch it was acting a little funny so I took the socketed ICs out and reseated them. It seems a little more consistent at that point.

While I was able to get some interesting sounds, I was also able to get really crazy, pretty unusable sounds as well. I also noticed a "little" overdrive/distortion on most settings. I was definitely able to get that envelope-ish effect, but I could quickly lose it and get some pretty noisy  sounds. I also noticed that extreme change in the gain in the last 15% that the build document mentioned. I might do the mod mentioned there eventually.

The build isn't boxed yet so it was a little pain to tweak the knobs/switches while playing.

I am just not sure if I am getting the sound I am supposed to.

Any info on this build and what to expect, what to tweak, etc., would be appreciated.

Usually....

Biasing a BBD based circuit requires the use of an oscope at minimum. You will need to bias the BBD input and also the BBD output. Having the oscope allows you to dial in the waveform perfectly.

Most of the time....

These adjustments can be done by ear. But... it is not perfect 

would a cheap one like this work http://www.amazon.com/Seeedstudio-DSO-Nano-Oscilloscope-v3/dp/B00BB4ETJW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1392053298&sr=8-3&keywords=oscilloscope

or any other suggestions. Don't want to break the bank if possible.

I guess the first biasing I will have to do is on some chorus pedals with MN3207 and MN3007

Hello all,

Can anyone explain what exactly one needs to do this and/or links to some past discussions about it? I did some searching but it seems there is a ton of info about it and maybe someone knows a better place to start. I have read the article on GPBC but it seemed that a part 2 was never created.

I am looking for info like: what you are looking for, tools needed, can it be done by ear without tools, etc. and so forth.

I have some builds coming up that will need biasing and I am not sure where to start or what equipment is essiential.

Thanks!

Wow, just wow.....I love it. I love everything about it.

what welcoming and encouraging responses. I did not know what to expect posting my first "noob" post. Already a wealth of information in these responses.

A few resposes to things mentioned here...

So far, all of my PCB purchases have been from here (Madbeans), GPCB, Synthrotek, BYOC, and 1776. 80% of my components have been from Smallbear and the rest from Mouser & GPCB. I am a little worried now because last week I purchased about 50 pots and 50 trim pots from Tayda. I hope I didn't make a mistake....? Most of the pedals I am building won't be for gigging (haven't done a gig in years) and I couldn't resist the .50 cent pot price. Any success stories with Tayda pots? ...yikes.

Favorite Pedal? Not really, and to be honest....I have spent more time building and less time playing. Just so damn addicting. As a guitar player, I have always enjoyed psychadelic/experimental sounds so I am really excited on some of the builds I am currently working on or about to start. Nautilus, HoneyDripper, Mini-Me Chorus, Soaring Skillet, Current Lover, Harbinger One...and I want to attemp the Multiplex Echo Machine Deluxe that I saw on 1776. I have always been a huge fan of the Rat and Big Muff so those were a must as well.

I am glad you mentioned a bias trim being a must for anything with a BDD. I did not know that. Luckily, it looks like all the board I have currently bought have that. I will probably just stick to buying boards here and the other places I have purchase from.

I do plan to build an audio probe, I just haven't needed one yet and I guess that it why I haven't built one. It's definitely on my things to do list. So far the best investment I have made is a Hakko Station. I bought kind of the entry level one for about $100 but ...boy...did it make a difference!

Again, thanks guys!

Greetings Everyone,

I am new to the forum as well as pedal building. I have been playing the guitar for about 25 years and recently stumbled across a DIY pedal site and thought that it sounded interesting. Without knowing a whole lot about it, I decided to order a pedal kit (Reverb) from BYOC and give it a go.

Although I crawled through the build at a snail's pace, ...to my surprise, the pedal started up perfect at the first go. I had already convinced myself prior to launching it that it wasn't going to work and I had screwed up somewhere along the way. I seconded-guess every thing I soldered. So, you can say that when IT DID work, I was totally thrilled and completely addicted to this new hobby.

Soon after that, I started reading, video watching, reading, more video watching of anything and everything that related to pedal building I could find. I knew that I didn't want to buy "kits" anymore and wanted to source the parts myself. I ended up building a RAT & Fuzz Face from Synthrotek, as well as a EA Tremolo from GPBC, stocked up on components, PCBs, etc. All pedals worked on first launch, and haven't really had any trouble besides realizing that I soldered the wrong "X" to "X" right after I soldered them because I was rushing and not paying enough attention.

So now I am finishing up the Nautilus (waiting on some trim pots) and I am hoping that it works on first launch. This was obviously my most complex build so far but everything seem to go smooth.

My question is (if you even made it through all this rambling) is .....this just luck that I haven't had any issues up to this point or is having pedal build issues more rare than I thought? Are most pedal issues bad components? And if so, is it pretty common to get bad components?

Personal stories welcome

(Promise future post will be shorter!)


Thanks!