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It seems that Yamaha has bought Line 6.
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/7951.T/key-developments/article/2891556

So do I pick up an M9 when they go on clearance, or wait for a new model that is surely coming soon?

Thanks everyone for the interesting responses. I was mostly referring to circuit design, although its difficult to separate it from manufacturing considerations. I was just curious to hear from some electrical engineering types to see if there is a "perfect" fuzz or distortion,  even if it doesn't sound like the classic "flawed" circuits!

I've been reading forums for a while and especially at FSB, there is always some discussion when a pedal is traced about how badly or well designed it is. It got me thinking, is there a consensus about what the best designed pedals are from an engineering standpoint? Perhaps we can come up with a "Best Of" list for 2013. For example, I love the RAT and what it does, but is there a better engineered distortion that improves on it? People love the Klon, but does the Kingslayer do a similar job with a better design? Usually I just go by sound, but I'm curious what other more knowledgeable people think. Are some circuits clearly superior to others?

That's mine. The build doc is called English Sustain and can be found at the above link.

Not sure if this is one of mine or not (I don't know what the MKC1 would stand for), but if so you can find the build doc here http://goo.gl/XVZjsK,

Two follow up questions:

1. How accurate can your measurements be. My PCBs are laid out for board mounted pots, which are approximately 650 mils apart. This translates to .65" or 16.5 mm apart - can PPP do drilling to a tenth of a mm/hundredth of an inch? I've sent them an e-mail but maybe someone else can chime in.

2. 16mm pots have little anti-spin tabs that I usually break off. Has anyone tried having small holes drilled next to the pot mounting holes to use these tabs for their intended purpose? It looks like 7.8mm ought to do it - anyone have any experience?

Thanks everyone! This is really helpful. Given that enclosures vary slightly in size, I wanted to make sure everything was measured from center rather than from the edges, which appears to be no problem.

Hi everyone,

I'm debating ordering some enclosures from PPP and getting them custom drilled. The problem is that I'm not exactly sure how to best send them the template and I don't want to waste money if I screw it up. Is there anyone that can share a template that turned out as they expected? Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I recently picked up a Vox VBM1 (Brian May recording amp) that had been damaged and went looking for the schematic to try and fix it. The PCB had really been mangled and had some lifted traces, so it has fallen to the backburner. However, after looking at the schem, I wonder if I can't convert it into a pedal by omitting the amplifier section at the end. I had a couple questions that I was hoping some stompbox gurus could help with.

The amp has 4 major sections. A standard Brian May treble booster using the common values from the well-known schematic, a "Deacy section" that is the similar to Brian's Deacy amp using PNP silicon transistors. The transformers are simulated using opamps. Finally, there is a tone control followed by an output section with a direct record out and a standard out that is fed to the fourth section, an amplifier stage driven by an LM1875. I am going to omit this last stage and just feed the volume pot to a standard output jack.

1. The amp has a transformer that feeds the treble booster section with +9V, feeds the "Deacy" section with -9V and the opamps are biased at +-15V. I thought I would simplify by changing the transistors in the Deacy section to their NPN equivalent (KTC3198) and use the +9V supply here. I would then bias the opamps with +-18V fed from an LT1054. If you turn around all the polarized components (e.g., C8, C12, D1, etc.) in the Deacy section, would this be suitable?

2. The schematic is difficult to follow because you can't really tell where the junctions are. This is not always a problem, but there are some sections where this is confusing. For example do R24 and R25 connect? I don't think they should, but I suppose it's possible. R27 looks like it should connect with R28 and C21, but NOT R32, however these are depicted in the same way. I'm not that knowledgable about circuit design so can anyone shed light on this?

3. Is there anything special that needs to be done other than the above to make this suitable for use in a stompbox? Assuming everything is biased properly, it should sound the same as amp and maybe even better if you're not using the crappy speaker that it comes with?

Thanks for your help. Once I nail this down, I will do a double sided layout for a 1590BB and post it once I verify it.

Thanks midwayfair. That's what I thought, but then I confused myself and needed a second opinion. I think I am going to go with a 3-way internal dip switches in the end and have 3 clipping options (plus a diode lift when all are off).

***edit*** Sorry...I just realized I have this in the wrong section. It should be in Open Discussion, but here is my question anyway:

I have a quick question for you experts out there. I am trying to make my own PCB layout for an overdrive I'm working on. I'd like to include a switch to select between 1N914 or 3mm LED clipping diodes (diode clip to ground). I was looking at some schematics for pedals that do this and noticed that some have the common lug of the DPDT tied to ground and the switch selects which set are in the circuit (see Madbean's Slow Loris for an example). Other pedals have what looks to be a similar arragement, but the common lug is tied to the signal path (see the Kingslayer for an example)

My question is: are these essentially the same thing and if so, is there one that is better to use for a tighter layout?

Also, could I use a DIP switch instead of a DPDT to obtain the same effect but also giving me the option of having both sets of diodes at the same time if for some reason it doesn't sound terrible.

This is probably a newbie question, but I'm just getting into schematics and layouts on my own. Thanks for any help in advance!

Thanks everyone for your advice and suggestions. I have posted an ad in the Buy & Sell forum (with terrible pictures) so please take look if you are interested.

I have a quick question for you DIY experts. I got into pedal building this summer largely by putting together an Aristocrat from Madbean and reading over information from this forum! I'm sure some of you can relate, but I went a little crazy. I got into etching and built about 10-15 pedals (e.g., Slow Loris, Sunking, Ego Driver, Rangemaster, Grapevine, etc.). Anyway, after doing this I realized I have way too many pedals and I'd like to sell some of them. Not for profit, but to recoup some of the money I have spent putting them together and unclutter my life a bit.

Does anyone have any suggestions for where the best place to sell them is? Obviously most people on this board would not be interested but what about Craigslist? Ebay? Other forums? Also, what is a good price? I was thinking about $40 + shipping would be reasonable. They are all clean builds with alpha pots, etc. but the enclosures are mostly unpainted.

Does anyone have any suggestions or tips?