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Should I box this?

Started by Cortexturizer, May 20, 2015, 02:44:39 PM

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Cortexturizer

This is the first PCB that I have "designed", had it populated a while ago, I keep forgetting about it and getting back to it. Still can't decide if I should box this.
What this is is the Soda Meiser with clean blend (which has a LPB-1 on it's output so it can go higher than unity (which is vital for me in any blend design)) and the 3pdt assigns the Magnavibe to either clean or dirty sounds, whichever I'd like at any moment. It will go full clean and full dirty. I put the magnavibe speed as a trimpot as I've imagined I'll choose one faster speed that I like and have it there - this was the case, loving it that way. The Depth is made a pot, so if I don't want any wobbliness I'll just turn it down.

A couple of dramatic pictures that I'm known for...







As it was my first design job I made a mistake, the black jumper corrects that. I also planned on having it in 1590B, that's impossible. I left the pads for the resistors so small that I spent an eternity putting those resistors in there. Soldering the transistors was basically an SMD job. The pins are so f-in close to each other. So, yeah, a lot of things didn't go as planned.
Here's how it sounds:

[cloudset]https://soundcloud.com/kuato-design-stompboxes/sets/vibrofuzz-10-prototype-demos[/cloudset]

The first sound sample is going through the sounds and showing the blend. Somewhere around the first minute mark I'll reassign the vibrato from the dirty signal to the clean.

The second sound is how I'd see myself using this. Probably as an additional layer on top of already modulated sounds. Stick this at the end of your board, turn your CE2, reverb, harmonizer on, and just stomp on this thing and you'll have everything preserved just with another dirt layer underneath.

Possible flaws: I've made better sounding soda meisers before. I don't think my magnavibe is pronounced enough (tried every LED/LDR combo out there). The clean sound will distort some with stronger pickups. The LPB-1 does darken the sound a little, it is more noticeable during the blend, so actually I'd probably be better off here with a SHO, maybe. Also, horribly designed PCB, which, somehow, works absolutely flawlessly, but who knows how will it behave on stage (if I even get a gig sometimes soon haha)

What do you guys think?

P.S. Oh god how I love this Mustang. The 01:35 sound gets me every time.
https://kuatodesign.blogspot.com - thoughts on some pedals I made
https://soundcloud.com/kuato-design-stompboxes - sounds and jams

pryde

A great undertaking on your part, congrats! If you have identified some shortcomings then maybe hold off on boxing this one and do a revised one instead. Just food for thought

matmosphere

I say box it up, for no other reason than it's a personal landmark.

You could always swap it out for an improved design later and you might find some mor quirks you want to change once you get it on your board.

Your enclosures are alway so killer, it'd be ashamed to not see your full vision realized.

alanp

I'd say keep it as a trophy ("I did this! My FIRST board that *I* designed!"), but do a second revision, using all the things you learnt, and box v0.2 up. If you box v0.1 and it's not right, it will nibble at your mind every time you see it.
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