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no no no. The reverse conductance on an LED is like 20V! A static discharge that large on the gate will still kill the MOSFET.

9.1V Zeners are 4c each at Tayda. A BS170 costs 26c and I have 100% blown them in unprotected circuits. MUCH cheaper in the long run to just get the right part http://www.taydaelectronics.com/1n4739a-1n4739-zener-diode-9-1v-1w.html

Plus it's not like Zeners aren't useful otherwise -- they're used as crude regulators in charge pump circuits, etc.

EDIT: Get some 3.3V Zeners while you're there -- one all by itself is a highly asymmetric clipping diode.

The automatic step on the Dig Dug is LFO-controlled -- always at the same rate no matter what you play.

The steps on the Sharkfin are envelope controlled - they change depending on your playing dynamics.

Isn't it true that if you add potatoes to any particular German dish, it becomes Dutch?

Hmm, 1.25cm isn't terribly high. I guess if I needed pots I could use 9mm or side-mount them.

Smallbear sells these, I guess I can ask them, too.

Watch out, dimensions in centimeters!!!! 1 cm = 10mm, 1.25 cm is just a hair under half an inch! You're probably right, best bet is to contact SB and be really sure.

Paul

Yeah, I know (it was a typo before). Most electrolytics are 11 mm tall, which gives me a pretty good idea of what I'm dealing with.

Hmm, 1.25mm isn't terribly high. I guess if I needed pots I could use 9mm or side-mount them.

Smallbear sells these, I guess I can ask them, too.

Trying to figure out if I can get one in a 1590B.

Thought I'd revive this thread with last nights dinner: Stuffed cabbage and potato rosti!

This one of those dishes that taste much better than they look....... 

Man that looks awesome. My rosti never come out like that (they end up more like potato pancakes).

What's the cabbage stuffed with?

Time to play one of my favorite games!

I've got a nice red powdercoated 1590B from John Lyons that needs a circuit. It's drilled for three pots and a toggle (or a second LED). The trick, as usual, is that I can't just put any old thing in there because there's not a ton of room. I figure I can fit a 2x1.5" circuit, or on perf 20x15 or thereabouts.

I'll try to think of something cool to send the suggester of my favorite suggestion.

Hehe awesome art. Reminded me of this ...

But I've been thinking of changing it out for a linear taper anyway.

Typical engineer/pedal builder

Lol. Sometimes I think that there's no good guitar pot taper. If you use a linear, then buffered signals require large changes in the pot rotation to sound natural; if you use an audio taper, then vintage fuzzes have an "instant cleanup." But I am starting to think that linear is the better choice overall, since all of the usable action in an audio pot is in the top half of the pot, requiring fairly ginger adjustments and a sort of "shelving" at 9-10 that can be very annoying. The Sheraton I got over the summer has linear pots and I would look down every once in a while and be surprised that I had the pot on 3 or something, which is way lower than I'd have my single coil guitars.

Your LEDs won't necessarily light, unfortunately. You could maybe use the LEDs for the soft clippers instead of one of the sets of hard clippers, but even there they won't necessarily work.

You said that your effect is motorboating even when you're in LED clipping mode? Are you certain you're not in a diode lift setting? Where is the gain set when it motorboats?

If you turn the gain all the way down, is the effect completely clean? The pedal's total output is quite high, but with the gain at 0, unity volume should be around 11:00 on the Volume control. With the gain at max, then it's perfectly possible that even the lowest setting on the volume will be louder than unity. An audio taper for the volume pot will help a little, but this really isn't the sort of pedal that's made to be run with the gain cranked and the volume at minimum. It's a boost with some extra stuff, made to push a tube amp into its own distortion.

By the way, you say "at 7 oclock" ... do you mean that if you have the volume knob at its minimum that you still have sound?

Your volume pot controlling the volume when in bypass indicates that your footswitch is wired wrong, OR you have a solder bridge in the lower left of the PCB. I did that once myself. Pictures would keep us from speculating about what's not correctly connected.

Oh, there's one variable at home I forgot to mention. The amp is plugged into a 3 prong converter.

Hot rod deluxe is a great amp. I had one and still have a blues deluxe.


Sounds like a bad pot. I hope the converter you are using isn't one of those 3 to 2 prong adapters with the ground lifted. This is really dangerous especially on a tube amp. If something goes wrong in the amp you have the potential to be electrocuted seriously if there is no ground connection!

Yeah, it's the 3-prong kind that lifts the ground. I know it's dangerous, but it's just my backup amp set up in the work space. I haven't been able to get my regular amp back out of the car trunk (and I can't move this one downstairs) since I hurt my back a few weeks ago, so I'm just using what I have available.

I'm pretty sure there's some contact cleaner around. I'm really hoping this isn't a bad pot; it was pretty expensive. But I've been thinking of changing it out for a linear taper anyway.

You're a smart guy and I can't pretend to know more than you, that being said, does it do it on the amp at home? New pot maybe or is it a symptom of something in the amp?

Yeah, I didn't notice it until I got it home and had it plugged into the hot rod deluxe. The amp at practice was solid state. But the HRD has an input cap into a tube at 0V. There shouldn't be any DC in this system.

I'll try the contact cleaner, but I'm wonder if anything else is going on.

Hmm, it occurs to me that static would qualify as DC ... It would produce noise and make static-y noises.

Oh, there's one variable at home I forgot to mention. The amp is plugged into a 3 prong converter.

The DQ Caster was making some static-y noise at practice the other night, so I went back through and checked all the shielding. I improved it a little and I don't,t really hear much static anymore, but the guitar pot is scratchy even right into the amp. Scratchy pot says DC on the pot, but I can't think of what would be producing DC.

Any suggestions, or should I get a new guitar pot in a quickness?

Well, the Greasegun makes me really happy ... and a little angry. I just spent most of last night planning a layout for Smallbear's Ursa Minor with a MOSFET boost in front ... and the grease gun is basically the same thing with improvements. [Edit: I guess it's actually a single Big Muff stage ...]