The Fraud Hacker

[jessenator]

Behold, The Fraught Fraud Hacker!

I absolutely loved Brian's tribute to RLM with this pedal, as well as the original etched face plate for the launch/debut. I felt like I needed to go in a different direction, even though putting any combination of caricature of Mike, Jay, Rich, or any of the other regulars would have also been wonderful.

When I think of fraud, I think of crime, and by extension fat cat businessmen > The bestest of deals can grease the palms of many a broker and businessman who wants his filthy lucre badly enough.









This was originally going to be on a bright magenta enclosure. A friend suggested gold, and I waffled a bit, before going to see that Tayda was sold out of the brightest magenta/pink enclosure powder coat, so you won out again, paulie  : P

The design is inspired by a large sign I would see on the way to work with a man in a suit, wearing a big smile, arms stretched heavenward with the bold text "BANKRUPTCY!" Such a bizarre juxtaposition, I had to riff on it. "I'M SO ELATED TO BE DOING AN CRIME!"

I half-seriously called this the Fraughthacker, because in my haste this nearly was botched. I forgot a number of components in the order it came with, and then I had ticking issues, and then I discovered my interpretation of the voltage reg datasheet was backwards, and therefore the regulator was backwards! (shout out to blackhatboojum, Govmnt_Lacky, jimilee, and Bio77 for helping me troubleshoot)

Thankfully, the MN3007 wasn't toasted, and even more thankfully Cabintech had one [1] 3207 in stock and I jumped on it. I originally was going to use the 3007 only because I had one out of a Pork Barrel I'm still trying to suss out a gain drop issue with, and the 3207 was unobtanium.

There was also a scare today when I was finishing it up… I had put green frog tape over the top to protect the UV print while I was transplanting and assembling, and then more than a few weeks went by waiting for parts, mucking it up. Then I go to peel it off, and there's a  f i l m  on the art where the tape made contact. Thankfully (more than) a bit of 90% isopropanol sorted that out.

I didn't know if the anodized gold knobs and the sparkle gold powder coat finish would clash, but I think it's just fine now it's all assembled.

Thanks for looking.

[Thewintersoldier]

glad you got it figured out, always a triumph. That is one good looking pedal, the outside looks stunning but the inside...and that wiring fucks. killed it, and I'm not just saying that because I love this circuit.

[peAk]

Love the graphics man!!!!

[blackhatboojum]

Nice!  Glad you got this one sussed out.  It turned out great.

[Bio77]

Excellent!  This came out so nice. Glad you got it sorted. 

[jessenator]

glad you got it figured out, always a triumph. That is one good looking pedal, the outside looks stunning but the inside...and that wiring fucks. killed it, and I'm not just saying that because I love this circuit.

Thanks, Chris! This pre-bonded wire, man. I can't go back now.

Love the graphics man!!!!

Thanks, Justin!

Nice!  Glad you got this one sussed out.  It turned out great.

Thanks, Clinton! Yeah, I'm glad it was just that one (minus two) thing. Bonus is now I can focus on making that Pork Barrel work properly

Excellent!  This came out so nice. Glad you got it sorted. 

Thanks, my dude, I'm glad as well. Like I say, better it was simple than a rats nest.

[Thewintersoldier]

glad you got it figured out, always a triumph. That is one good looking pedal, the outside looks stunning but the inside...and that wiring fucks. killed it, and I'm not just saying that because I love this circuit.

Thanks, Chris! This pre-bonded wire, man. I can't go back now.

Love the graphics man!!!!

Thanks, Justin!

Nice!  Glad you got this one sussed out.  It turned out great.

Thanks, Clinton! Yeah, I'm glad it was just that one (minus two) thing. Bonus is now I can focus on making that Pork Barrel work properly

Excellent!  This came out so nice. Glad you got it sorted. 

Thanks, my dude, I'm glad as well. Like I say, better it was simple than a rats nest.

Once you discover good wire it's a game changer and you never go back to sub par stuff

[Aleph Null]

The graphic design is glorious! I think the gold works great here.

[jessenator]

The graphic design is glorious! I think the gold works great here.

Thanks, dude! Yeah, I've come around on it. This friend of mine has been right more often than not 

[jwin615]

Love the build Jesse.
That's the kind of pedal you'll get questions about, in a good way.
Off topic as usual, but what prebonded wire are you using?
I ordered a bunch of the tayda solid core, but it doesn't agree with auto strippers at all and snapped my first already soldered wire off at the strip point the other night. It's just too soft.
Curious what you have found you like and if you have used autostippers with it.
The tayda stuff just stretches or pulls the wire through the insulation. There no adhesive at all
Anyway. Sorry to highjack the trade. Should have pmed I guess...
Gonna have to try my hand at a UV print one day.

[jessenator]

Love the build Jesse.
That's the kind of pedal you'll get questions about, in a good way.
Off topic as usual, but what prebonded wire are you using?
I ordered a bunch of the tayda solid core, but it doesn't agree with auto strippers at all and snapped my first already soldered wire off at the strip point the other night. It's just too soft.
Curious what you have found you like and if you have used autostippers with it.
The tayda stuff just stretches or pulls the wire through the insulation. There no adhesive at all
Anyway. Sorry to highjack the trade. Should have pmed I guess...
Gonna have to try my hand at a UV print one day.

Thanks! And no worries.

I bought some of Small Bear's bonded wire https://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/24-pre-bond-colors-50-ft-spool/

I've actually found my cheap-o auto strippers don't agree with it either, but I don't mind it, because it's so pleasant to work with. I just grab the wire with the flat of my small needle nose, and gently use my manual stripper pliers. From my limited product range experimentation, the Small Bear stuff has worked the best. The purple stuff I'd been using previously was automotive wire, which is probably best suited to that application Before that I was using reclaimed/surplus wire from RS, which was what it was. I've also used reclaimed solid-core, which did break on my far more often than I'd've liked.

The pre-bond stuff really is the best of both worlds: loads of flexibility (to a point, but it's less fragile than solid core), and stays in place. The insulation is thin—well, thinner than the automotive stuff, which is painfully thick.

[jimilee]

Absolutely stellar, and all in a 1590bb with top mounted jacks. I have taken to using the 1590bb2 enclosures.

[jwin615]

Thanks, I'll give it a go next order. Had some other prebonded stuff before but the insulation was so soft I could easily strip it with my thumbnail. Never got around to trying more. I usually use my snips or autos but snips and solid core create a weak point for sure. I carry my good multigauge pliers for work and am spoiled, avoiding the cheapo one in the home tool box.
anyway, thanks, and back on the rails...

[jessenator]

Absolutely stellar, and all in a 1590bb with top mounted jacks. I have taken to using the 1590bb2 enclosures.

Thanks, Jimi! Yeah, I'm starting to feel like the height is a bonus for some projects   my superfuzz projects... I wanted them to go into a 1590B, but with the height, it's just so much nicer to have that 1590N/125B headroom.