Topics

I just saw that small bear sells 12mm alpha pots for .55 cents cheaper than the 9mm ones.  Anyone that etches their own stuff think these will work for the new mini board projects?  bean?  Could add up for someone that does a lot of 1590a builds.

I'm all out of wire... at least stuff that I can fit into boards that I currently have.  I am looking for recommendations.  preferably stuff that can fit into smaller holes.  haberdasher makes some great boards but I have trouble fitting even 22g wire into.  I could probably get prebonded 22 in there though.  but i cant tin it myself and get it in there.

Is thicker wire really better in pedals?
It seems like prebonded stuff is easy to fit wherever I need it.  anyone have a good inexpensive source for it?  is small bear where its at?

also really been digging the ribbon cable people are using for pot wiring.  anyone got a good place to get it all?  Ive heard some recommendations for guitarpcb's wire... apparently its stranded but can hold its place like solid core.  does anyone feel solid core really improves a build beyond aesthetic?  i'm interested in all superstitions, mojo and practiced truths!

Looks like good prices, crazy effects, and very nice layouts with some having all board mounted pots (24mm pc mounts too!) I love the phaseur and the panneur looks like it might be cool as hell for a two amp setup.

Anyone build any of these recently?  I remember finding this site a long, long time ago, and wishing and dreaming.  sorry if this was over discussed 3 years ago, i play a lot of synth and this stuff looks awesome!

So I saw some info on one of the mini boards documents about parts selections to make these things as compact as possible.  thought i'd ask the crowd about some stuff.  it seems like getting new everything in terms of components might turn me away from building all of these... or at least some!

Are 1/8watt resistors absolutely nescessary?  putting resistors in the end up way doesnt get too tall really... I cant see how these would be taller than electroltyics?

I see how box caps would be too big... what about those panasonic ecq's?  i have a bunch of those and they are considerably shorter but maybe fatter... will they work?

Lytics- i have a bunch of tants- but I was wondering where to get the best deal (and what is the exact model) of the super squat electrolytics?  All my tayda lytics are tall as hell and definitely wont work.  where can i get some low priced squat 'lytics?

multilayer ceramics  for larger film caps- do these ceramics really sound okay enough?  I would normally only allow ceramics of any value higher than 500pf in a fuzz or dirt pedal.

Also- anyone know of any other cool enclosures.  I found this dude that has some super sick ones on etsy.  check out the link below

http://www.etsy.com/listing/88758448/bibbtronics-creepshow?ref=v1_other_1

I've had some good experience using carbon film resistors lately.  I overhauled my old silverface pro reverb with a bunch of sprague 225's, silver micas, and PRP metal film resistors.  It sounded great, but it was a bit too "detailed" "edgy" "hi-fi" and bright.  I had some nice brand name "audiophile" carbon film resistors that i had ordered along with the prp's just in case.  I put these in the slope resistor position and the plate resistor position of v2 (vibrato channel) and man they made a huge difference.  Really brought the amp back to it's old warmth, but without the noise, and with more clarity and detail than when it was filled with carbon comps.  This amp fucking rocks now- so much better than it used to be and I havent even gotten my nice tube order in yet.

I've also had some great experience with my mxr dist + build, which sounded like crap until I replaced the 1uf films with tanatulums and all the signal path resistors with carbon film.  I also used some ceramics in place of box films.  The pedal is so much warmer now it's really ridiculous.  I'm thinking this treatment might be a good idea in more of my dirty pedals like fuzz and distortion.  The zen drive sounded pretty astounding using high quality stuff, I cant imagine any better out of it really, but I might just build another one for this theory testing.

What do you guys think?  I found a site that sells "stackpole" carbon films for .10cents a piece... apparently they're upper quality.  can carbon films be made better than other carbon films?  I've generally only experienced brand quality improvements (versus construction differences) in amps and electrolytics in signal path (of course there's differences in construction there).  advertising says so... I'm a believer in the differences between comp, carbon and metal film.

Any opinions or locations of good sources... I know I've been posting a lot about component types lately.  But man the differences I've experienced are undeniable.  I dont care what electric engineers can measure versus what they cant.  I'm also wondering about quality ceramic caps for my amp's bright switch and treble cap- I think the silver mica's are too edgy right now.  the bright switch is freaking unbearable with my strat (I used to use it all the time with my les paul, and quite often with my strat).  I did measure tolerances in the amp replacement parts and the dist + before that typical argument comes to fruition.  What about multilayer ceramics versus regular ones?  How bout using higher quality electrolytics in pedal power filtering (versus tayda .01cent caps)?  tanatulums? I've experienced different results among different "dipped" varieties... without really knowing a brand... maybe just consistency?  I've used some nos sprague tanatulums to good effect in the cathode bypass of my amp.  anyone try stuff like the elna silmic, nichicons, or panasonics and all that in amps and find differences?  I do think cathode bypass caps can affect tone quite a bit- though definitely on a more subtle dynamic level.

I'm sure this has been discussed before.  But it's really a pain in the ass to dig through the BS.  and I have really loved everything I've heard, seen and read on this forum.  Definitely some amazingness going on here.

Sorry if you think all of this is bullshit, but I am basing it off of personal experience.  maybe I am a victim of my own mind over fact.
I'm definitely all about experimentation- bt would like to hear some of the pro's thoughts and feelings!

Hey there,

I've never had to do special parts sourcing much besides with amps.  I was wondering where you guys get your mojo parts from as I'm planning on doing zygote, rangemaster and tone bender builds and wanted to use some big old parts for the hell of it.  I know its pretty easy to find carbon comps and tubular poly caps.  But I cant find a store with a good source of old axial electrolytics.  Like those shiny blue ones I always see in nos builds.  Anyone know what those are or where to get em?  maybe a place to get everything I need (besides trannys... well thatd be cool if they had those too!)  I've used those old sprague 150d tanatulum caps (the metal cased axial ones) with good effect in my fender pro.  Really good effect actually- Used em in the cathode bypass positions... really adds some quickness and clarity to the attack, kinda hi-fi.  

Anyways, these are mostly dirty pedals.  So I guess component quality isnt that important.  speaking of which and tanatulums, last night I took out all the metal film caps and resistors in the signal path of my mxr dist + clone and replaced all the .001 caps and below with ceramics- above with green mylars and the 1uf's with tanatulum, carbon film for resistors in signal path- HUGE IMPROVEMENT- the pedal had a horrid fizzy, way too trebly (even for the dist +), just all around bad sound.  Nothing like my vintage dod 250.  and now it completely freakin rocks- it's even warm in its own way.  Amazing how much my worst components can make a distortion pedal sound.

Long post again... So mojo pedal parts store?  Anyone building those cool old school looking pcb's with the swirly fat psycadelic traces- thatd be cool for the tonebender

So anyone got any suggestions?  Be much appreciated!

I have histortically disliked chorus and flanger (even hated it sometimes, even the best chorusing tracks!) of course I used to hate super bright guitar tones and now I love running my blackface pro reverb on treble 10 bass 1!  So i'm changing... yeh... I am in love with my recently completed boss ce2!  I think it has some super brilliant sounds coming out of it.  But I have not been able to master that andy sumners sounds, which I have grown to love over recent history.  I did a little listening and it seems like he might be using a flanger in there, did some research and apparently its teh electric mistress.  I must say, I really do hate that over the top flanging sound where all you hear is whooshs and whirls, where it becomes more of a noise generator than an effect for an instrument.  (no offense guys).  I've heard some pretty sweet demos of subtle flanging sounds that I'm digging, but I can almost get those with chorus.

Basically, I wanted to ask for some advice on this.  should I build the current lover for the sounds i'm looking for when I already have the pork barrel?  And should I do the TZF mod?  I've read that the fx loop thing is more for over the top flanging sounds, but I've heard some slightly over the top sounds that I like much more than your standard mxr over the top flanging...Maybe its tons of resonance that I dislike the most... I'm not sure!

What do you think?  Great pedal?  should I buy the reissue ehx regular mistress, deluxe, build my own with tzf, without tzf, or just use the ce2 clone? 

Any input appreciated!  This sounds like a total tgp post, I'm sorry, but I feel like it could be very useful coming from this forums users!
Thanks!

I just finished a low rider... what a great pedal... best down octave I've ever heard so realistic it's incredible.  I did the mod listed on the build doc- the 'middle ground' version of increasing the upper octave.  where I took out c12 completely but instead of removing c10 I subbed a 1n for the 10n.

My upper octave is on it's way to sounding like a fuzz octave pedal.  It's fizzy....  but not just a little fizzy- it's straigh up distorted.  Not at all like described.  I think I have something else going on.

Things I did different than schematic...
Used some 1uf films in place of electrolytics- all i had
Then all I had was  a single 1uf tanatulum which I subbed for a 1uf lytic in c25.  I used ceramic caps for all but one of the pf values (where I used a silver mica). 

I didnt socket the transistors- but I have never had problems with burning those up... could this be a trimpot thing... also used some weird 1n34a diodes that I've never seen before...

Should I go back to stock or is this something else?  I really doubt this is what even removing c10 and c12 sounds like- totally distorted

I just finished a tonepad ce-2 clone I've been slowly working on forever.  looks to be quite similar to the madbean pork barrel.  I did the vibrato mod (which I'm actually quite digging as its my first non multifx vibrato), the effect level mod (c250k pot), and the intensity mod (used a on-off-on  switch with 10pf always in the middle- great for super subtle effect- very cool.

I am not getting a fast enough speed on this thing.  I read somewhere that someone used a 1M pot for the rate and got much faster leslie like speeds.  But that seems a little steep, like it might ruin some of the subtlety of the taper.

Anyone here know how to get some faster speeds without losing the natural slow sounds?  I post here, because I believe it was a popular board and I like this forum the best!  Also, I have a 4558 and tl072 in there right now- couldnt I sub 2 opa2134's for those?  or should I use ne5532 for 072 and opa2134 for 4558?  It sounds fantastic but I just cant help but use these burr browns I got a long time ago for free

Anyone know where to find a layout, maybe a schematic?  Anything like it out there?  Thanks!

I bought some of those 3pdt pcbs from 1776 effects.  I was just wondering what I should do about the LED and resistor on the serendipity board when using these pcbs- as they have pads for and LED and limiting resistor already?  should I just omit the serendipity LED and resistor or do I need to jumper or what?

the serendipity isnt a buffered bypass effect is it?

Is there sucha thing?  Or are these actually PNP silicons?

Currently, I am sourcing parts for my first build with all "mojo" parts.  it will look awesome for sure.  But the sound has been argued to death on the internet.  Whatever.  In my search I found a cool article by RG Keen on Geofex about CC resistors in circuits and the measurable "resistor distortion" factor.  To get the most resistor distortion he says that you should use the smallest wattage that the circuit can handle.  I began thinking... can't pedals run off 1/8watt resistors?  yeh... I'm a newb so i dont know if the zygote can.  But then I thought are there any 1/8watt carbon comps... and they were hard to find.  But i found a site selling 1/8watt allen bradly carbon comps at a pretty reasonable price!  Before my questions let me say that I believe in mojo, always have and always will.  I can hear differences between coupling caps in amps.  I hated the sound of a measured silver mica versus a ceramic in my rangemaster.  yada yada yada

So a couple questions...
Can the zygote run off 1/8 watt resistors?
People always recommend using top notch carbon comps like allen bradleys- but I started thinking that maybe a top notch brand might not have as high a voltage coef.  and therefore not induce as much resistor distortion... what about this?  The site doesnt have the specs listed for the resistors, and it seems like there's definitely been more than one type of allen bradley carbon comp resistor produced over the years.

I know there's very newb stuff in here,  and this has been smacked all over the web.  but i thought this might be of interest to fellow mojo'ers out there.  and to non believers.

What kind of resistor is recommended for pull down resistors?  Would a carbon comp make a difference in tone at the pulldown spot?  would a metal film possibly have less noise?
here's the link
http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/carbon_comp/carboncomp.htm

Thanks!

Are these all basically the same circuit with different tone stacks and boost (krank)?

I was kinda under the impression that the kokbox was like a marshall jcm or something metal and the other two were more like plexi style... i actually dont know where i got that idea now that i think about it... my delete key doesnt work right now though haha

also, is the krankosaurus's boost section basically a sho? 

As a side note, not ot *to create anymore extra topics... does anyone have a zombii GE tranny set theyd like to sell or trade?

Thanks fu---guys! gals!

I wanna put a master volume on the slam box so I can get a bit more of the effect at lower volumes... with the madbean layout Can i just wired a 50kA pot as a variable resistor in place of the 47k resistor?

I was gonna try to do the dig dug, but I've got other filter projects I'd prefer to take on first.  I know a lot of mutron clones use a vtl5C2.

Can I use the vtl5c9 in place of the 5C2?  or 5c

If not Anyone wanna trade some parts?  I got some of the dig dug parts (not the mini pots though).  lemme know!

Anyone know the general idea behind this mod.  Like keeley's modded dd3.  Put fx in the loop and they are only applied to the repeats of the delay... I guess the new DMM's have it  goin  on... but I do not think the new DMM's sound as good as the old big box ones, i know this is covered everywhere on TGP and similar places, but I just cannot take reading through those kinda forum topics anymore.

anyways, the fx loop mod-- for the dirtbag, dd3, or any other delay?

What kind of pots are used for the krankosaurus board?  are those the 16mm pc pin alpha's that tayda and futurlec have?  or are they the smaller ones that are expensive from small bear.  i assume the board is thin enough so that it can be mounted along the thickness of a box....

Man I never knew how amazing brownface fender vibrato circuits were.  they really do almost sound like a type of vibrato!!!  is that just such a magical sinewave that i'm hallucinating subtle pitch shifting in the upper harmonics from meer volume changes, or is it actually happening? 

I also heard a tube tremolo project at runoffgroove, it appears they only sell the kit or the pedal for that, as i dont see the schematic on it over there.  it sounds really sick and apparently is pretty low noise, which my pro reverb is not known for. 

what kind of vibrato (or tremolo, or maybe not haha) is that on the brownface anyway?  as in what is it called?  and how does it work?  is that the power tube bias modulation or whatever i always hear about?

So I just finished up the low rider build.  had a few problems with the board creating traces between two components, or maybe it was me revealing a trace that was already there.  anyway, I had components making contact, but the schematic showed they were supposed to make contact so that was okay.  does anyone know what i'm talking about here?  i got like a little silver trace in between two resistors in places I had to desolder components.

here's the real problem... this is my first build with PCB mounted pots.  I got the short ones from mammoth and as I began to mount them on the board- they are showed on the drilling template that they need to be mounted back over the top of the board.  i took this to mean the pots on top of the component side of the board.  this did not work well at all!  there's a big 14 pin chip with a socket right below one of the pots, and even the trim pot forced me to lean the pot forward.  so now all the pots are leaning forward and the board definitely wont fit into a 1590bb.

Can i install the pots so they're hovering over the trace side of the board?  How am I supposed to know in the future?  there's no numbering on this build pdf or anything!  I'd really appreciate some insight on this