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My experience with the Ali boxes is that the corners on the Hammond are a little bit rounder. Should be a good fit either way.

Thanks for the kind words on the Troyka. That layout and board is from Chuckbuick so I can't take credit for that. He does some of the nicest layouts, I can't say enough good things about them.  Beautiful stuff. (It's a great pedal too, though I tend to prefer my engl red Sonja build.)

But I'm super stoked and flattered if anything I've done has inspired someone else in even the slightest way. Usually I post to say, "here's a few things I messed up a little, here's the issue, maybe you can avoid the same." 

The corners on a Hammond are rounder indeed!

I saw all layout Chucksbuick did here on the madbean forum. Great great stuff. And you can take credit for the impeccable job on the assembly and finish.

Anyway... Take a look at this.



Are you going to believe me when I say I skipped swearing time a together and popped a bottle of champagne right away for good reasons? Man what a beast this is! I was a little bit worried that the linear bass pot instead of a reverse log would limit its useable range, but it is perfect. I suspect that the real TW has a very narrow useable range with lower bass settings.

I am really stunned how versatile this pedal is. At lower gain settings and the brutal/normal switch to normal, it does a very good classic rock tone. Higher on the gain, on brutal and with the mids low its chunk chunk heaven. Very good tone stack! I love it!

Whilst The switching now being done by a DPDT and an opto mosfet, it still isn't completely silent. On higher gain it still gives a noticeable pop when switching on. Not very loud though but not much better than with a 3PDT. Switching action is much better. No more pain in the feet when switching whilst wearing socks :-).


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Haha thanks guys. I think making these 3D models works great as a tool to see if everything is going to fit like I want (and it looks cool). I just found out that the MN3007 socket is fine and doesn't touch the underside of the jack. The jumper block on the other hand... I'll have to move that one around a little.

The biggest drawback of Sketchup is that the models that you can download are not very accurate most of the times. I used a 9mm pot from the 3D Warehouse (where you get the models), but it was pretty different from the metal shaft 9mm Alpha's I made. The last ones are very specific to the models of pots I use though. It always a good habit to check the models against the data sheets and real life components.

Sketchup has got a bit of a learning curve, but it's very intuitive. Good thing is there are countless tutorials online. I'm a bit short on time lately, so I might take me a while to write a tutorial. That's less than awesome . If you want to read into some of the existing guides, search for EagleUp on the internet. That will get you started and there are great tutorials for installing Sketchup and EagleUp. I'm on a Mac and installing was far less easy than it is on Windows. Installing on Windows should be very convenient.

You could always try an online 3D (Eagle) board viewer (search for it). It's nowhere as extensive in the possibilities as Sketchup, but very good for a quick mockup.

Got some more work done on the Small Clone; added a charge pump board to it. It accepts a wide variety of it's and offers options for boost (solder jumper) and clock speed cap. Nothing new for the rest, just a digital test fit. It should fit, albeit some small margins.

I get the ic's for the Triple Wreck tomorrow, so this on is on the verge of being fabbed at OSHPark.

Stunning work again. I particularly like that etch, I wish I was as skilled as you doing those etches.

Next time drilling: use a centre punch and start drilling with smaller drill sizes (I usually start with 1.5 or 2 mm) and then go bigger. From 2 to 6 mm works better than starting with 6 mm IMHO. Use new drill bits. Older or less sharp bits tend to drift away. Work exactly perpendicular on the enclosure surface and correct when the bit drifts aside by angling the drill in the opposite direction and straiten again when back at the point where you want the hole. Using a drill press is recommended but not mandatory. I can work with 0.5 mm margins sung just power tools. Good for me, I know  but with some patience and care I'm sure you can drill almost perfect. That is, if you want that to be perfect too... You might just not care, cause this finish is already very very cool.

Boards are 87.6 x 33.6. Between the pillars 21.6. Check the data sheet of the 1590a. You should probably have some space left. Renders in sketchup with carefully modelled parts suggest everything should fit in a Hammond 1590a.

Here's what I'll do: buy a genuine 1590a and confirm that it will fit (I bought a load of those really nice and sturdy cheap Chinese boxes).


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Bit difficult to see... there is 0.5 mm space all around the board.


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I've got 1590a clones from Ali. Not sure if they are exactly the same size as those from Hammond... I've got room left in the enclosures I use.


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Haha great. When looking at the Troyka build I was thinking: I want that too (that's yours right?)! Definitely one of those benchmark builds for me.

I was really surprised drilling came out so neat. The holes for the plastic shaft are only 0.5 mm bigger than the shafts. There is no margin for error. Having a good template, centre punch and stepped drill bit made it easier.

Thanks for your generosity. I've got some tl072 from TI lying around. I've read though that the 4580 is the ic that delivers the real Triple Wreck sound. I haven't got a hot air soldering station so changing ic's is a bit of a challenge. It can be done, but I'd rather wait whilst being an impatient person...

It still is easy to put at least some strain on the pcb. Put the foot switch too high: strain. Put the nut on the toggle switch to low: strain. A better way to do the foot switch would be to use a double height pin header. First mount the main pcb with the header soldered to it, then place the foot switch with pcb. When all nuts are fastened solder the foot switch pcb to the pinheader: solid connection, but no strain. Not sure about a better way to do the toggle yet. It would be nice if I could somehow figure out a way to get the top of the switch exactly to the height of the metal shaft pots.

I'll be taking orders once this pcb is confirmed working, I'm fully satisfied and I put together a small building guide. A guide is pretty much needed as it is very likely to mount parts in the wrong order and get yourself into problems that way...

After verifying I'm open to mods and additions for next runs of the pcb. Should be fun to mod this circuit to taste and/or get more versatility out of it.


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Good lord that's gorgeous! Definitely my benchmark for clean work. Just everything looks shiny. How do you get that board so clean? Isopropanol?

Could you please share the layout for that board with me? Not for copying as I will mount all pots (depth, rate, mix), jumper blocks, switch (chorus/vib) and jacks on the same pcb. The way you made your layout would sure give me some clues how I should or could do mine.


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Haha thanks guys. The ic's should arrive shortly after October 11th. Fingers crossed and let's hope it works...


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Of a CE-2 you mean?


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the Mattel tab on the base of one of the pots was touching a grounded connection of the output jack.

That'll be good though won't it as it'll ground the enclosure? or are you doing that another way?

That will be done but at the switch. There is an extra wire pad on the switch board present for grounding the enclosure. Can be done in more than one way though. I find that a tab pressing to a solder joint is not solid enough to be considered desirable, hence I removed it.


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Thanks Brejna! Everything that works satisfactory will be put on sale. When the time is ripe. I wasn't really planning to do a CE-2/3 as there are already a number of others (Pork Barrel, Ensemble King and derivates, etc.) and I have got a Pork Barrel already. Yes, it's a bit big to my liking 

The resistors are all 0603 as are most capacitors. Some caps are 0805, mainly the larger values. This way I can get a better voltage rating and usually a better capacitance/voltage behaviour (bigger ceramics seem to be better at that). Tantalums are either 3216 or 6032.

That is great, I thought you would do ce2 too..
Anyway I am interested in this project, but I hope I will find dealer for the 0603 components

Let me begin with your last sentence: you can get 0603 part from virtually anywhere. If I'm not mistaken, 0805, 0604 and 0402 are the most common and cheap SmD parts you'll find. No, not at Tayda or Smallbear, but anywhere from Aliexpress to Mouser.

I am working on a small CE-2. It is using a double decker pcb (clock, BBD and power supply on a small board on top of the main board), but it's a lot of work and time is scarce... I've made a start designing it, but no idea when I'll finish it. Eventually I will.


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Thanks. I'll leave the Vgg supply as it is at the moment. It should work as intended.

I did take a look at the Celeste. Very interesting and I took notice about the separated supplies in that design.

I started reading more about grounding (TI papers on that matter for example). It is much more complicated than bypassing. I usually place bypass caps as close as possible to the ic needing them, thus hopefully taking out switching from the power supply at the source of the problem.

It looks like in the original SC all grounds are shared too. As far as I can see a very simplistic design, pcb wise. I designed the VDD supply very close to the clock and BBD. Not separated. Not the best solution, but the return paths are short and the ground planes petty solid. For 30 bucks I can take the gamble and see if it works. I hope I have better luck than I usually do in a casino.


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Very nice, did you have to do any adapting to the neutrik jacks to clear the pot legs?

I've had a look at the previous iteration you uploaded, it doesn't look like it should all fit, need to get my calipers out and check my 1590a measurements, looks like you got the jack spacing just right.

Yep, i got it just right except for one minor thingy... the Mattel tab on the base of one of the pots was touching a grounded connection of the output jack. That should not be a problem, but nonetheless I removed that tab (just like you do with the protruding tab on the other side of most potentiometers). I soldered the gain and volume pit from the component side, as the bottom side is covered mostly by the jack. I already knew that was the best (if not only) way to solder them. The connections are very solid though, because the holes are through plated. I'm very pleased how this worked out: solid and simple as long as you do it in the right order.

Literally can't wait for the rest of the ic's to arrive. So curious if it really works and how it sounds!!


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