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So I came across this gem earlier tonight, which has a completely ridiculous fuzz guitar all throughout.

The song's from 1966, so I figure it's probably a Maestro or a Tonebender, right? The kinda farty solo moment at 0:13 makes me think Tonebender, but I defer to the more knowledgeable crowd here.

So I'm building my roommate a Sea Urchin delay for his birthday (today). I put it on the test rig, everything worked. Now, after I've boxed it up, I'm only getting clean signal, even when the effect is engaged. Turning the effect on has no effect on the sound at all. My audio probe is only giving me clean signal too, no matter where I check.

I tested the 3PDT for proper continuity and it seems fine - continuity between the middle and bottom rows when the effect is off, and continuity between top and middle when it's on. I'm going to keep troubleshooting this right now, but in the meantime here's a picture. Hopefully someone will see the dumb thing I'm missing. Thanks!

(If anyone's wondering about the rubber band - I accidentally drilled the LED hole too high to put a nut on the bezel, so I'm gluing it in place.)

I know there are a couple of you around here who've done this - I'm just curious about how people feel about it. If you're satisfied with the transistors in a circuit and you've got a heat sink handy, is there any reason not to? I was thinking about securing the transistors in my Tonebender that way...not sure if I trust the super thin leads on those GT108s.

I have no intention of doing this myself, but I came across this and thought some of you guys would get a kick out of it: http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/07/how-to-make-a-surface-mount-soldering-iron/

This is another long overdue build report. So way back when Brian announced the Pepper Spray boards were being discontinued, I decided to make good on my desire to build both the stock and Albini versions to see which I preferred. I got the boards populated pretty quickly, but boxing them took much longer. I finished the Albini version back in September, but didn't get the stock one boxed until right around Christmas.

Both of these have NOS 1N695s from Small Bear in the stock clipping position, and Telefunken OA126s I got from chromesphere in the other. I was pretty surprised by the different levels of compression the diode switch gets you, especially when you lift them altogether. I think that all three sounds can be usable in different situations, so it's a pretty helpful mod. I plan to record a demo where I A/B them back to back, but the short version is that I like the stock specs better.

The gray case on the left is the Albini specs, the vanilla one on the right is the stock build (a not-too-subtle nod to the original enclosures).



The wiring is neater in the Albini one because I had more patience at the time. I boxed up the stock one immediately after wiring up my Distortion + and having it not work due to a cold solder joint, so I wanted to end the day on a more positive note. So that one turned out a little sloppier; I wanted to feel better faster! Note the flying CLR in the Albini box - I know it looks like it's pretty low in the photo, but I promise there's actually plenty of clearance between it and the enclosure. Sometimes you just have to live dangerously.

It's been a while since I posted a build report, and this is overdue on top of that - I finished this build right around Christmas. Anyway, this is a stock Distortion +, made on CJ's Plus Dist PCB. The enclosure is Anodized Yellow from PPP. I like the matte finish, it's a nice change from the usual glossy stuff.

I built this guy because the guitarist in a band I was recording had one, and I thought it sounded great. Unfortunately, once I actually had my own, I didn't love the sound as much and I'll likely end up selling it. Fun build, though. There's a metal can 741 for maximum mojo.



This is what passes for neat wiring, for me. After almost 4 years of the hobby, I'm slowly starting to improve.



(I noticed the extra wire sticking out of the input sleeve after I took the photo and clipped it. That's what I get for fixing a cold solder joint before taking a picture.)

Today I got my Tonebender Mk II up on the test rig - built on one of Stomptown's PCBs, with a transistor set from chromesphere. It's a stock build, but as per Paul's suggestion, I replaced the collector resistor of Q3 with a pot to have greater control over the biasing. (I believe I used a B25K, figuring that over twice the resistance of the 8.2k in the schematic would give me a fair variety of tones.)

It's sounding mostly good, but the low E and A strings develop a bit of...how to put this...fartiness...as the notes sustain. They start out okay, but you can hear the notes start to sound a bit pinched after a second or two. I can affect it a little bit with the bias pot, but it never seems to go away completely. Can anyone offer some pointers as to how I can get this thing a bit happier? I'm new to the Tonebender world, but I want to learn.

My transistor set, if it helps:
Q1 GT108V - 87.4 hfe - 51.6ua leakage
Q2 GT108V - 89 hfe - 76ua leakage
Q3 AC125 - 109.3 hfe - 178ua leakage

As threatened in the "weekend plans" thread, I did finish up my ZPSDX today. I'm pretty happy with it, but the feedback knob seems to only be usable up to 9:30 or 10 o'clock. After that, it's into self-oscillation. Anything I can do to spread out the usable range?

Also, which of the delay modes are which? In the build doc, they're listed (from top to bottom) as Analog, Tape, Shimmer, and Deep, but the descriptions don't match up (to my ear) from how the rotary switch actually turns. I'd expect the Tape setting to be the grittiest/most saturated, but I get that sound when the rotary is in the third position from the top - what the build doc lists as Shimmer mode. What's the correct order?

So today I went to box up this Distortion+ I've had waiting around forever. I checked it on my test rig first, and everything was rockin'. I proceeded to wire it into the enclosure, and when I went to flip it on for the first proper time: nothing at all.

Even stranger, when the pedal is engaged, the LED lights up but then immediately fades to nothing. I'm using the same power supply as I did when I had it on the test rig. I checked continuity on my 3PDT, and that's all as it should be. I do have bypass signal. I didn't break any wires in the boxing (have continuity there too). The PCB's not touching anything (I mounted the pots via extra diode leads, so it's happily floating). There's no continuity between +9V and ground. The only thing that changed between testing and boxing is that I removed the metal can LM741 and shortened the leads -- I'd left them at full length in the socket to make sure it tested properly. As far as I can tell, it's properly seated in the socket. Could I have somehow killed the IC while trimming the leads? And if I did, why would this affect the LED behavior?

I need some more eyes and brains on this, it's endlessly frustrating. Here's a picture of the guts. (It may be hard to see, but there's a wire running from the sleeve of the DC jack to the sleeve of the input jack, and a second wire from the input sleeve to the 3PDT.) Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, guys.

So I built this MFZ-1 for someone, from the Tagboard Effects layout (I'd link it here, but their search function seems to be broken at the moment). It was perfectly functional on the test rig, boxed it up, still fine, stood in the room while he tried it out, no problems.

Then he went to take it on tour, and it stopped working. He thought the footswitch had failed, so I figured I'd just replace it, but now that I actually have the pedal back in my possession it's much stranger than that. When the pedal is engaged, the LED flashes once and doesn't stay on. The signal cuts out entirely as well, but bypass is still fine. I was guessing that maybe the switch wasn't holding the connection on the effect side, but it shows continuity on the proper lugs when it's both engaged and bypassed according to my multimeter. Nothing's shorting out that I can see - I covered the bottom of the vero with electrical tape in the boxing process.

No pictures at the moment, but does anyone have any ideas about what might be going on here? It's too late for me to really dig into the thing and poke around, but if anyone's seen this before I'd be glad to hear about it. Again, this was a completely working build...until it wasn't.

A little while ago I posted a thread about my new amp, a 68 or 69 silverface Fender Pro Reverb. I bought it thinking that it was using the AA165 circuit (which would be blackface specs), but once I looked inside I saw that it was actually the AB668 circuit. I want to restore it to the blackface circuit, but I've never done any amp work before. The mods themselves don't seem that difficult, but I'm not quite sure how working point-to-point is mechanically different than working on a PCB. It seems like it might be easier to cut out a component and solder the new one to its existing leads, rather than to completely desolder and remove it intact, but I'm just speculating.

If anyone's done this before, I'd be curious to hear your experience. I'd also like to hear from any of you amp builders in general - what's the actual work like? What should I know beforehand? I already know how to properly discharge the filter caps, but what else?

Also, where do you buy caps and resistors of the proper values for this kind of thing? The usual pedal supplier suspects don't seem to carry resistors past 1/4 watt, and I'm not sure if Mouser has carbon comps anymore. Is it worth just buying a kit of everything from somewhere? (Like this: http://vintagefenderamprepair.com/mods-2/home/pro-reverb/) Or is that way overpriced?

I guess another important question would be: is it even worth doing this on my own? Is this a project that's better handled by an experienced tech? After around 30 pedals I feel confident that I can do the actual work properly, but amps are a new world for me. I'm ready to learn, but I also don't want to accidentally wreck a perfectly good amp.

Please excuse the terrible picture. Now, I know what some of you are thinking - silverface? Go home, dude. But check this out: according to the tube chart, this is the AA165 model, which uses the blackface circuit. It's a blackface in silver clothing.

This is my first real amp, and the first that I've bought for myself. We have a 1966 blackface Pro at my studio, and it's essentially everyone's favorite amp there, so I've been on the lookout for my own for a while. This one popped up on Craigslist for an entirely reasonable price, and I had to go check it out.

I was shocked at how clean it was when I got to the guy's house - I'll have to try to take better pictures at some point, because this amp is almost in mint condition. It's insane how clean it is, I think I must be the third person to own this amp. It has the original leather slipcover (with the original owner's name written on the inside of the handle flap). The dude who sold it to me isn't a guitarist, he plays accordion, and he said he got the amp in a trade at an accordion shop in New Jersey. Apparently the owner had it just sitting in the store for years. I can't be certain, but it really seems like it was owned by one person who must've sold it to the accordion shop decades ago. They traded it to the guy I got it from, and now it's mine.

It's even been recently serviced by a great local shop, so it's sounding as good as it looks. Original RCA and Telefunken tubes (barring one replacement), original transformers, original speakers (reconed). Classic Fender tone for days.

So I have this 1590BB that I drilled for a WEM Project V before I finished building the circuit (on vero). Turns out with the size of some of the necessary caps, it won't fit into the box as I drilled it. I have a spare 1790 that I can use for the Project V, but I don't want to waste this 1590BB either. I figured you guys might have some good suggestions as to what I might put in there instead. What should I put into this empty enclosure?

My other mic pre build thread seemed to interest a few people around here, so I thought I'd post another one for my most recent project: a pair of Hairball Audio Lola mic pres. (Here's the Tape Op review that got me interested in these in the first place: http://tapeop.com/reviews/gear/93/lola-500-series-mic-preamp/)

So after waiting patiently for these to make their way to Brooklyn from Seattle, USPS finally delivered these to me:



Let's get to work. There are three PCBs that go into making one of these: one large one that comprises the audio portion of the mic pre, and two smaller ones to make an LED meter. Pictured here is the main PCB, populated with all of the passive components:



Note the cluster of standing resistors in the top left - these set the gain levels for the Grayhill rotary switch that'll come a little later. You may remember these Grayhill switches from the Classic API VP28 build. What else is going on this board? Input and output transformers, op amps, phantom power/phase/line switches, Bourns t-pad attenuator, DI jack, relays (for the three switches and DI jack), a ribbon header (for connecting the meter assembly), one very large 1000 uF cap (which goes underneath the left alligator clip), and two 1k resistors that were accidentally left out of the kit. Mike at Hairball sent those resistors to me via two-day delivery on his own dime - an extremely classy move.

Enough talk - let's add those missing components.



You'll notice that the board is now also mounted to an L-bracket for final placement in the Lunchbox. While the main PCB is actually complete now, this mounting is temporary. You need to do this to ensure that the t-pad and the DI jack will align properly with the faceplate. They don't sit flush to the PCB, so you need to get them aligned before you can solder them in. This means that you need to solder just a couple of pins to hold them in place, then remove the L-bracket for final soldering. If you guessed that this step is the biggest pain in the ass in the entire build, you guessed correctly.

After testing, it's time to move on to the meter assembly. Here's the brains of it:



All standing resistors, again. I'm starting to understand why some people hate them. All of those ICs get soldered directly to the PCB, too. Slightly nerve-wracking. This photo is zoomed in, so it looks huge, but the board is pretty small. There's a 2.2 uF electrolytic cap towards the left side that's one of the smallest I've ever seen. The holes above the large IC are for a header that mounts the LEDs to this board. And speaking of LEDs:



It looks simple, but you really need to take your time and be sure your LEDs are flush to the PCB and aligned in a straight line. Once you're set there, you can put it together with the meter PCB...



...and then mount the full meter assembly to the main PCB:



And it's done! There's a ribbon cable that connects the meter assembly to the main PCB, which I didn't get a picture of for some reason. Here's my current Lunchbox situation:



I didn't get a picture, but the three pushbutton switches are illuminated with pleasant blue LEDs. The meter LEDs are white up until 0 dB, then three orange ones, and a violet one at the top of the meter.

All in all, I'd say these were easier to build than the VP28s were. They took about the same amount of time, but the Lolas have fewer components. I haven't gotten to really check them out yet beyond the basic "all controls function" test, but I'm going to be breaking them in on a long tracking session next weekend. Needless to say, I'm really excited.

While aligning my studio's 2" machine for a session last week, I discovered a problem with one of the record cards. Yesterday I walked in and found the problematic card on the workbench, and thought it looked cool - figured you guys might like it too. So here's a record card from our 3M M56 - the finest 16-track 2" machine 1971 had to offer.



Fun fact: this tape machine used to belong to Eddie Van Halen!

So, I thought a couple of you from the Ferrite DI thread might be interested in what I've been up to this week. I mentioned that I had a couple of the Classic API VP28 mic pres in the works, and now they're fully armed and operational. I took a bunch of work-in-progress pictures while building the first one, and earlier tonight I finished the second. Here's a slightly more in-depth look at the build:

First: sort the components. Note that this is actually two sets of components - each mic pre will use half of these. At least half of the caps are MLCCs, and man can it be tricky to read the values on those guys.



Here's the PCB with all passive components and op-amp sockets installed.



Next step: install the switches and transformers. I didn't take any pictures of the underside of the PCB, but you can see just how many pins needed soldering here by comparing to the previous picture. There's also a long two-pin header that'll attach to the signal indicator LED in the final step. This completes the main PCB.



Now, we populate the HPF daughterboard. That L-shaped header is how it ultimately connects to the main board. The big holes in the top left and bottom right are for mounting brackets that'll secure it in place. C4 and C6 are intentionally left blank. I really like how the rest of the caps look like candy.



Next, the filter circuit gets mounted to the main PCB, all the switches get colored caps, and the entire PCB assembly gets mounted to its L-bracket.



Here's the naked face of the L-bracket. That empty chunk next to the buttons is where the indicator LEDs go.



At this point, the build is nearly finished. All that's left to do is install the faceplate and solder each switch's indicator LED (these mount on the back of the main PCB), as well as the signal indicator LED (which mounts to those long header pins above the pushbutton switches). Unfortunately, I forgot to get pictures of this part during both builds. After all the soldering is done, the op-amps are installed...



...and you're done!



My second build went a little more smoothly than the first - notably, the wiring on the output transformers is neater - but I didn't take any pictures of that one, as they're almost identical. Right now I've got these mounted in my new Lindell Audio 506 Lunchbox, which is exciting by itself. These kits aren't particularly difficult to build, but they are time consuming. I think each one took about eight hours in all. I made sure to be careful during each build, though - if I didn't like the look of a solder joint as I was working, I'd redo it then and there. I wanted to make sure that these would fire up on the first try, and they did.

So now the obvious question: how do they sound? Well, I haven't had the chance to fully test them yet. I confirmed that all buttons and gain/fader switches work as they should, but I haven't really been able to hear any program material through them. I've got a big tracking session this weekend, though, and you'd better believe I'll be using them. I'll report back after that with my impressions.

I hope this stuff is interesting to you guys! I had a lot of fun putting them together, at least.

Here's the second half of my diyrecordingequipment.com purchase - the Ferrite DI. So named for the custom Cinemag transformer that powers this guy. If you don't know of them, Cinemag is a company that's been making audio transformers for decades, and they're a big part of the sound of some classic gear (API, Universal Audio, etc).

Like the Line2Amp reamp I posted a few days ago, this is an extremely simple build. You've got two 1/4" jacks, an XLR output, a ground lift switch, and the transformer. The build involves you wiring the transformer leads to their appropriate lugs, and that's pretty much it. The transformer itself mounts on the outside of the enclosure, which I wouldn't necessarily choose to do if I was designing this kit, but it seems sturdy enough. (The enclosure itself comes with a pretty rad silkscreened design.)

So what does it sound like? I'll be making some sample recordings when I get a little free time at work, but until then, I'd say it sounds pretty much like I expected: a round, solid low end, with slightly softened transients. In short, it sounds transformer-y. If you've ever used a good passive DI, you'll probably know what to expect.

You'll notice two ring terminals in the gutshot - these provide the ground connection for both the enclosure, and the transformer. They get attached to a screw in the enclosure's lid, so they've got to be unscrewed to see the guts. Forgive the crappy photos, I'm not good at taking them.



Note: I mounted the XLR panel upside down here, otherwise it would've been impossible to solder its connections.





Again, another dead simple, useful, and great-sounding project. For anyone interested, you can find the kits here: http://www.diyrecordingequipment.com/store/kits/ferrite-passive-di/

Boy, that subject line is a mouthful.

So anyway, I've been filling in some holes in my gear collection lately, and one thing I've always had my eye on is a reamp box. They're super useful for the studio, where aside from their intended use, you can also hook them up to integrate pedals into your mixing process. However, I've always found them to be slightly more expensive than I wanted to pay.

Enter diyrecordingequipment.com. It's mainly a collection of links and info about DIY gear around the web, but the guy who runs it also sells a handful of projects. When I saw that he had a reamp kit for cheap, I figured that was my cue to finally get one.

The build itself could hardly be easier - there's a transformer, four resistors, two jacks, and a ground lift switch. I think everyone here could put one together in 30-60 minutes, depending on how quickly you can work. Check it out:



The kit usually comes with a silk-screened enclosure, but he was out of them when I was putting my order in. I was impatient, so mine's just in a blank 125B:



The silk-screened enclosures are pretty nice, I kind of wish I'd waited. I'm not really upset about it, though - I still have a functional reamp for under half the cost of buying one, and in less time than it'd take to go to the store.

I'm giving this its own thread, so as not to further derail the Belton-based reverbs conversation.

I found the pedal I was talking about - it's the Echo-Matic. I'm not sure what book this actually comes from, but check all of this out:

So I built a modified Vox Repeat Percussion from the Tagboard Effects layout below, and I'm glad I tested it before boxing, because I'm not getting any signal out of it. If I touch the 2N2646 or some of the capacitors, I can hear a rhythmic ticking that changes speed when I adjust the Rate knob. I tried to use my audio probe, but I couldn't seem to get anything even at the input wire. This makes me think that something's grounding out somewhere, but the pedal isn't even in an enclosure yet.

I didn't make any mods or substitutions - I moved the 9V wire a couple of spaces to the right from where it is on the diagram, just to be closer to the actual jack (it's at the top of my enclosure), but this shouldn't make a difference.

I checked my parts placement, trace cuts, and jumpers. I don't see any solder bridges. I'm sure all my transistors are properly seated in their sockets. I even tried a different 2N2646, but nothing seems to be helping. I'd love to get another pair of eyes on this, in case I missed something.

Here's the layout:


Here's my board:







A little more detail on the switches:



P.S. Before you give me a hard time about the 9V wire fraying, that's because the bonding wore off after I clipped and unclipped it from my test rig a few times.