Topics

Dudes, it feels like too long ago since I've posted a proper build report, so here it goes! I'm going to need your help on a number of things, any advice will be appreciated!

First off: It's a 1776 Five O'Clock Fuzz. No fancy mods, just the plain by-the-numbers build, here she is:

Guts:

yup, AC125's in there, kindly provided (for cash, of course!) by Chromesphere. Look up his store, it rocks!







Enclosure is one of those Hammond Trapezoidal ones, but for a change the wide part is at the bottom, just to try something else. Finish is Hammond factory black, abused with a red paint pen, hope you like it!

The help I need is as follows:
-I used to be able to rotate my images on the old Imageshack, but on the new one (it sucks, as far as I'm concerned!), I can't figure out how to do that!! This has been very frustrating for me, Mrs Dutch is suffering from my angry moods and swearing at the PC, so please advice!!!  
-I have no snappy name for this pedal as of yet, suggestions are welcome....
-Provided I can get it biased right and record a demo in time, should I enter?

Thanks for lookin' and any advice you might have,

Paul

*EDIT* :I managed to rotate the pics after looking at another forum members pictures on the old Imageshack and from there clicking to my own pics?!#$>?&^? Why can I not access that myself???
Goin' mad here.......

Say I want to build a huuuuuge box, housing a couple of fx that I'd like to run through the fx-loop of my amp. Said box would be positioned on top of the amp, and I would like to be able to switch the fx on and off from my pedal board (hence the remote switching), but if necessary also plug it in front of any other amp and still be able to control them, sans the remote control. My brain says relay-based switching, but maybe there is a different, simpler way of doing this? Any tips?

Paul

Sorry if I'm not making much sense, I'm on one of those 'really-excited-about-something-I-just-thought-of!!' trips....

So, I've got my head around the whole CLR thing, have some preferred values for LED's from different suppliers etc. But how about 2 LED's with one CLR? The logical side of my brain says to half the value to get the same kind of brightness, but is this correct? Anybody have some experience with this? Thanks in advance,

Paul

Hi all,

Been a while since I posted a proper build report, so it's nice to be back with something to present to you all. I got some more stuff that is near finished, but little time to actually build at the moment, damn day job!!  

This is the MBFTS, or Mad Bean Forum Tribute Screamer. I tried to incorporate as much stuff I've got through the forum as possible, as a big 'Thank You!!!' to all the nice folks here! This is for all of you, and here is the list:
-Mad Bean Greenbean board
-Lighted pot+board from DuctTapeRiot
-Enclosure from colesbd
-Diodes from Chromesphere and Midwayfair
-caps from monkeyssj1
-Tips, tricks, inspiration and info from a list of members to long to write down.......

And here she is.........
Uploaded with ImageShack.com
Uploaded with ImageShack.com
Uploaded with ImageShack.com
Uploaded with ImageShack.com

The only mods I made are jumpering the BRIGHT switch, converted the FAT switch to a MORE GAIN switch (let's me choose between the standard 4k7/47n combo or a 1k/220n combo. The latter gives way more gain while keeping the original clipping frequency) and I used a 500kA pot for the Gain. I usually run the gain pretty low, so this gives me some more fine control in that part of the pot travel. And to make it really easy on myself, all the switches and pots are wired instead of board mounted......  

Diodes are 3 NOS 1N4148's for the asym side and 2 OA126's for the sym side, IC is a TLC2272, which I like a lot so far. Took it to rehearsal last night and it sounds pretty good. With the gain low, volume up and the 4148's it slams the crunch channel of my Marshall quite nicely, thank you! With the gain at max, the MORE GAIN switch set to 'Stun' and the OA126's, it tore the clean channel of my amp apart! Not an especially nice sound, but cool to have for sure! Maybe some tweaking of the diodes and IC can improve this.....

Anyway, thanks for looking, and remember, this ones for all of you! I've got a special idea for something I'm going to do with it.......

Paul

So, I guess you all, just like me, have had some kind of injury related to pedal building. To start with the "NO PICTURES PLEASE!!", I've been reading a web page of a guy building Marshall-like amps who endured some pretty horrific injuries while building, and although I could stand looking at the pictures, it wasn't pretty! So: NO PICS!!!!!!!!!

Worst I had so far was my soldering iron dropping to the floor, and catching it before it fell, on the wrong side !!! Burned the palm of my hand really bad, white skin and all.... Second worst case was tonight, trying to strip some wire with my box-cutter: huge gash in my right thumb.....

Let me know how you almost killed your self!

Paul

I'm getting ready to wire up my Voxy Brown, and had a question about the bypass/boost wiring: does the boost sound any good on it's own? I mean, should I wire it so it can be used on it's own, or only used when the entire pedal is on?

Paul

Sooooooo, the Holy Grail of delay has arrived today, three-fold! Now two of those are going in an Aquaboy DX, but I could use a nice, Hi-fidelity slab-back type delay..... Delay time between 50-120ms, so the repeats can be nice and clean. Any recommendations?

Paul

Finished this about two months ago, boxed it up, scribbled something with a paint pen to label the knobs and threw it on my board. But as I enjoyed it so much, I thought it deserved a proper finish. Took it home, took it out of the enclosure again to apply a finish and decided to rewire it, as I didn't do a really good job the first time... Hope you like it!









Pics aren't fantastic, especially the gut shot, having some really weird light here at the moment. I'll try to take some more tomorrow morning.

Paul

Been tinkering with delays (Multiplex, Neptune, ABDX is coming along nicely...) the last couple of weeks, reading up on how the circuits work etc, and came up with an idea, but I can't really tell if it's even remotely possible, or if pursuing it would be like chasing a white whale.....

The idea is this: a pedal with basically 2 different delay circuits, one optimized for short slapback stuff, and one for longer, ambient-type stuff. But here's the kicker: I'd like there to be a switch on this pedal to switch between feeding the short delay into the long one (something like the Binson or RE-201 modes on the Multiplex) and chaining the two delays after each other, for one reeeaaaallllyyyy long delay. Would this be even possible?

Now, I really don't care if this would be PT2399 or BBD based (the first is probably easier...). Nor am I looking for a ready made project. I just had a crazy idea, and wouldn't mind doing a lot of experimenting/testing (probably over the next 2 years  ), but if anyone out here says: "Been trying that, won't work, ever!" I'll just find something else to waste my time on (in a pleasurable way...)

Paul

Hey guys,

Just being a curious ba$#ter% here, but does anyone know for how long MN3005's where produced? Or when production ceased at least? I've been googling like mad, but can't find any info on this subject. Just being curious, and looking for an indication why they are so rare....

Paul

Did some stuff with clear coats before this (you'll see in future build reports) but this is my first try at using a can of spray paint on an enclosure.......



Kind of excited about the results! There is some paint build-up at the edges of the main box, but I'll get that worked out on the next try for sure! This enclosure is going to house my version of Jubal's Voxy Brown, going to be nice....

I got a question from one of you about my Zebra Fuzz, if I covered the Duct-tape with some clearcoat on that build. I didn't then, but I've got a box finished now that has a clearcoat over a Duct-tape finish and I can tell you one thing: It take a looooooong time to harden out! Will post that build report tomorrow....

Paul

This is my 1000th (?) post! And that on my birthday! I would like to give a big "Thank You" to all the people out here who've helped me on this great ride! Building my own pedals has given me a very cool outlet for all my frustrations and tonal quirks, allowed me to answer questions I would have otherwise reacted to with a blank look and gave me a whole new experience in guitar sounds! A few people stand out, but I love you all! One of the special ones goes without saying:

Brian, original Bean, all of this wouldn't be here without you, take some time to realize that! I really, really appreciate all you've done to educate us and help us along on the road to tonal bliss/nirvana/heaven!

Of course, there are a whole lot of others who've helped me along the way, I think you know who you are. Thanks so much!!

Paul

Just saw this:
http://www.surplusgizmos.com/2N404A-PNP-Germanium-Transistor_p_1352.html

Was researching this transistor because I just bought a Pepperspray board. Seems pretty Unobtainium, until I found this. Somebody in the US should buy them all (make them a good offer for the whole lot...) and redistribute among all the Madbeaners....

Paul

Hey guys, in the ABDX docs, on the very last page, Brian mentions a mod with a result resembling the 'Ghost' function of the ZPDX, anybody try this? Sounds like something I'd really like, but not shure if it's going to work.... Any info would be much appreciated!

Paul

Always wondered what a Saggin' Zebra would look like? Well, If you ask me it would look something like this:





Zebra guts:





The circuit inside is a MB Pastyface + Roadrage, as this has to play nice with my other pedals and power supply, no batteries on my board! Built to Soulbender specs, minus the trimmer, as I didn't have a 500k.... Might add that later. Trannies are a set of GT108V's I got from Chromesphere. They came with a nice little info sheet with gain, leakage and pinout, now that's what I call customer support! If you ever need a good set of germanium trannies, Chromesphere or Jakefuzz are the guys! (@Jakefuzz: haven't gotten around to using the ones I got from you, but there is some vero on the way for the layout you sent me!)

As usual, I can't tell you more about the sound of it other then that it works. I only have a crappy practice amp at home, so the real test will be next monday when I can take it to the rehearsal space where my main amp is. I added an external sag control, mainly because I could (and the pot gave me a nice way to mount the Roadrage...) This is my first PNP germanium Fuzz, and first working build with a Roadrage, so I have no idea what to expect from the sag knob. I'll keep you all posted on how I like it through a proper amp.....

Paul

Here's my entry for the March comp: Thunder Bean!!!





This actually turned out just as I thought it would.... I'm just really curious how it's going to sound into my main rig   Box was made by Rej from GrindCustoms, looks really cool if I say so myself! Originally, I wanted to submit another build for this months comp, but I really messed up the finish I planned for it, and the boxing part also had a few hickups (rocking before boxing went without a hitch...  ). So, when this box arrived in the mail, the only thing between me and entering this months comp was the wiring job from hell!!! Hope you all like this....

Paul

*EDIT: Just saw that I posted a gut shot sans IC, diodes or transistors, this will be rectified tomorrow....*

Remember the auction for one of our brothers in need? I scored me something nice, and today it finally arrived!! Why it was so late is between me and the sender, but look at this:


I've got something planned for both of these boxes that will give them a permanent place on my pedalboard, looking forward to that so much!!!

Paul

Now, before anyone starts about the rules for getting tech help, I need some pointers before I can give the required info...... Please read on!

I've built up a Porkbarrel with a load of mods. I put Brian's depth-mod on a switch, reintroduced the vibe switch and the mix pot and put 2 rate pots on a switch. It's an MN3207 version by the way. I did the two rate pot thing by attaching lugs 2 and 3 to a 3PDT switch, keeping both lugs 1 connected at all times and using the last pole of the 3PDT to switch a bi-colour LED. Everything works! Depth-mod on the switch is ok, mix pot works, but I don't like it to much, vibe switch works and I like it a lot, and even the 2 rate pots work, including the bi-colour LED! Why the hell is he posting a tech help thread then, you ask?

Noise!!!! A whole lot of incredibly huge, annoying clock noise!! So much actually, I didn't need to strum my guitar to check that all those mods were working.... 

What, and where should I measure, to get an idea of what is wrong? I specifically built up this MN3207 to test these mods, so I could use them problem free in an MN 3007 version... Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Paul

Today I've spent a lot of time, effort, elbow grease, sweat and other resources on polishing an aluminum enclosure... Started out with some really fine grid sanding paper, then some steel wire wool, then a felt thingy with some polishing compound on my Dremel (which surprisingly did not work very good....), ending up with a piece of cloth and the aforementioned polishing compound... The last combination worked best, but now my wrists hurt!! I only managed to get the lid of a 1590TRPC done, and not even to a nice, even finish...
Now I'm not aiming for a mirror-like finish, but just something which doesn't have any obvious dents or dips in it. The lid I was talking about took me over an hour and some serious pain in the wrists.. Do any of you have any tips?

Thanx in advance,

Paul

A bottle of freakin' AC/DC wine!!! I knew these guys had a vineyard, but even when I was in Aussie I never saw a bottle of the stuff... This is so cool! 





Highway to Hell Cabernet Sauvignon, it doesn't get much better then that! Damn, I love her!!

Paul