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Got my order from SmallBear in today.  Got my order from mklec last week.  Got a couple MN3007's and a couple MN3101's from forum members.  Making my Mouser and BLMS orders soon too.  Can't wait for this to drop!

Awesome, good!  That way I don't have to worry about getting 2 of one and 8 of another or anything.

So how can you tell if it's 2mm or 2.5mm based on the layout?  Any examples?

Ok thanks, that makes more sense.  I was looking at electros with 5mm lead spacing and that's likely why they were all 10mm in diameter, lol!  So does it make a difference between 2mm or 2.5mm lead spacing, or is one close enough to the other that both will work in these projects?

I am about to make a decent sized mouser order for my first few pedals, and was going over and double-checking some specs.  I've found a couple posts here regarding electrolytics, one recommending audio grade caps, and another warning of cap size, recommending to keep them to 5mm diameter or 6.3mm for larger values.  The problem I'm running into is that the audio grade electrolytic caps on mouser are usually 10mm in diameter. 

Which advice is more important?  Anyone have a "favorite" electrolytic cap they use all the time?  (47uf, 100uf, 1uf, 220uf, 10uf)

EDIT:  And should I be looking for 5mm lead spacing on electrolytic caps?  That's kind of confusing as well, the build docs I'm looking at certainly don't appear to show lead spacing as wide on the electrolytic caps as they are on the box film caps.

Thanks for helping out a noob.   

Wow, I just placed an order with mklec on Thursday afternoon, July 3.  I got my Paypal email confirming my order, and an email confirming the shipment of my order within an hour.  Then the parts were in my mailbox today, July 5, sent via USPS First Class (cheapest shipping option) from MS to IL.  I didn't order a ton, and didn't need super fast shipping, but man did I get that delivered anyway!  Parts are neatly packed, clearly labeled.  So far so good!

Thanks mklec!

I know it's been said a lot already, but dang when I saw the wiring in the gut shot I was seriously impressed!  The attention to detail is astounding, and inspiring.  Great looking build!

I have downloaded the build files for the Porkbarrel (the one that includes the single sided etch image) and, even though that etch image is in the Porkbarrel version 2 build file, the image itself says "Ver 1.5" on it.  Consequently, I also have the Porkbarrel 1.5 build file.  Are the differences such that the version 1.5 etched board still works for the version 2 of the circuit, and that's why there was no "Ver 2" etch image?


(Edit:  Actually, even in the version 2 build doc, the first pages calls it Version 4 - 10.04.10.  Confusing)

Yeah.

We watched The Viper and The Mountain yesterday. I still feel icky from that ... also, I feel manipulated because of the physical and logical impossibility required to *spoiler* *spoiler* like that just to *spoiler* yet another character, but whatever. Lexa told me it happens more realistically in the book.

Coincidence, I watched it yesterday too.  And I know exactly what you're talking about.  I knew it was coming, but when it happened I actually physically felt sick for a few moments.  It was just enough different from the books to be really disturbing.  Of course, I had to watch the next episode in order to give my brain time to purge that scene before heading to bed.

Thanks!  I kinda view etching as a second, separate project.  One, can I make a PCB by etching it myself.  And then, two, can I make a pedal work.  I'm probably going to buy a couple prefab boards too.  That's probably the safer route on project two, lol.  But for now I'm still trying to put together a spreadsheet of all the different boards I want to make and see how many of each component I need to order, to know which quantity price break makes the most sense.

Hi all, my name's Steve.  I've made a couple posts here now, and have been lurking for almost a couple weeks (I think - easy to lose track of time when you're reading topic after topic after topic and learning this stuff).   I've been playing guitar since I was a sophomore in high school, having picked it up to start a band.  That band fell through.  Started another band, split off and merged with yet another band, and played for some church camps for a couple years.  That's where I met my future-wife; and now I'm 33, married, full time job, father of a four-year-old son and two-year-old daughter, and I just picked up guitar again to play with my church praise team.

In my getting back into guitar again, I started looking into effects again.  When I started I was playing a Peavey strat copy through a Peavey 15-watt solid state combo unit that was just awful.  So I picked up a Grunge pedal.  Eventually I sold off that Grunge and picked up one of those old blue Digitech RP7 multi-effects units.  I had fun with that.  It was relatively inexpensive and could do all kinds of effects, no matter how bad they sounded.  (haha)  The Peavey 15w combo turned into a 100w solid state head on a 4x12 slant cab (again, yuck) and the strat copy turned into an Epiphone SG.  My band disbanded because everyone went their separate ways for college, and I pretty much quit playing.  But not before selling off that Digitech RP7 and the half-stack, and lucking into a Mesa F-50 1x12 combo amp as part of a charity auction. 

So, fast forward through 10 years of basically playing nothing but acoustic to back up my wife's singing, and now I'm part of my church's praise team where we play a lot more modern stuff.  I recently picked up a TS-9, and then started looking into delay pedals, when I stumbled my way through the internet and into the world of DIY guitar effects through Chromesphere's YouTube channel (thanks Paul!)  I've worked with small electronics before and have done some modifications to things, but have never really made anything from scratch.  But last summer I finally picked up a nice Hakko soldering iron (don't know how I got anything done with those crappy box-store pencil soldering irons that never got up to temp), and as of yesterday I picked up some HCl and H2O2, ordered a sheet of copper-clad board, and made a project list including a Green Bean, which will probably be my first pedal to replace that TS-9 I just bought.  It's probably overly-ambitious, but I like learning these things and completing projects.  Wish me luck!  Before it's all said and done I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions.  But, like I said, I've been reading the forums and scouring all the tutorials to hopefully answer most of those questions before they arise.

So how exactly is this gonna roll out?  One massive .zip to download?  Or is the first page list going to start populating with links to build docs?

(Just need to know how I should check for updates)

Thanks Brian, this is awesome. 

Yeah, I worked at RadioShack while in college back in 2001-2003.  Most of the people I worked with back then were MUCH more knowledgeable than the people working there now.  They made us take certification tests on electronics and consumer products - we had to know how things worked if we were going to be able to give advice on the products.

But also about that time is when the cell phone craze was starting up... and companies wanting us to sell cell phones were offering "spiffs", i.e. cash rewards for selling phones.  While I loved the money, I hated what that did to a lot of the sales staff.  I asked people when they came in if they needed help finding anything, and if they said "no" then I left them alone.  I only asked about phones if they were looking at phones.  You know, treat the customer the way you'd want to be treated.  (Turns out that approach worked, because I out-sold the majority of my store's sales staff despite being part-time)  But then the stores all started redecorating, minimizing the emphasis on components, electronics projects, and radios, and maximizing emphasis on other ready-built consumer electronics.  Product quality suffered.  RadioShack execs tried to keep up with the "Smurfs" (Best Buy) and the "Commies" (Circuit City) as best they could, but the company ended up losing its identity.

Now, if you want that knowledge and support, you go to internet forums to discuss with like-minded, experienced people, and buy components from Mouser and Digikey.  Unless you want something TODAY.  Then you can stop by a RS store and maybe find something close to what you were looking for, if you can stop the sales associate from pouncing on you for spiffs.

That got kinda long, lol.  But it was a trip down memory lane.

The GreenBean is mostly the same except there is one less switch. I dropped the Fat switch in favor of a better layout on the PCB.

Okay, first post here.  I'm researching and reading (going on day 3) before I make an order and start in with my first pedal, which I think is going to be a Green Bean.  Is the above quote a typo?  Isn't it the "Bright" switch that's gone, and not the "Fat" switch?  Or am I just missing something altogether?

Thanks, this forum has been extremely helpful already!

- Steve