KingBollock

I've done a design for the Muff/Musket pedal, but I need to figure out how to make it the correct size. I made it in Paintshop Pro, and used their guides, but their idea of a millimetre and an actual millimetre are not quite the same... Even resizing by 50% has left it still too big (it'll be going on a 145mm x 125mm box). (I was just going to call it Dank & Fetid, but got carried away.... The image is a negative of a photograph I took of a sunset.) I am probably going to have to redo all the text and diagrams when I do resize it, but I have the layers saved, so it won't be too big a pain in the bum, just a bit annoying.

I bought my Peavey T-Max 500 about 15 years ago. I bought it used and what knobs it did have didn't match. Unfortunately the pots have 4mm shafts, and to buy replacement knobs from Peavey would cost about £30. You can buy adaptors for about 25p each, but then there's P&P, too. I have just put in an order for a bunch of cheap, but nice looking, knobs for my amp and some DIY pedals, so I needed to figure something out because they're for 6mm shafts. And then I had an idea... Aquarium air tubing! It has a 4mm inner diameter and 6mm outer, it is also quite grippy. I got a metre of it for £1, I suppose I could have asked for half a metre. Anyway, it works a treat, so I thought I would share.

Right, I have managed to get the board with the Big Muff and the Musket in a bigger box, and I have added a switch for changing the first diodes in the Muff (original, none and green LEDs) and the Split N Blend circuit. Really happy with the diode mod, I might add one to the Musket, too, maybe experiment a bit with asymmetrical diodes. Not quite so happy with the blender. This is the one I have used. What I think would help is a boost on the clean side, I am thinking of the LPB-1, as I have the parts already, but I am not sure where to insert it. Can anyone help?

Anyone got an ideas for how I can add a simple noise gate to a pedal? I know the Big Muff has a noise gate mod, and I assume that it will also work with the Musket. But the problem I have is that they are noisy when on together, but really quiet otherwise. I am going to experiment with that mod, to see what happens, but would be grateful for alternative ideas while I wait for parts. I also want to add this: http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.fi/2012/02/split-n-blend.html I did manage to get everything into the box I had but I physically had to force it in because of the depth of one of the toggle switches, which probably isn't ideal, so I am going to get a bigger box, which will give me plenty of room for the blend circuit.

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1406414363' post='2511382'] Seriously, playing stuff at a slow (but steady) pace is a great practice discipline. If you just blast through a tune, you are probably making mistakes that you don't even realise, and reinforcing bad habits. Play slowly with a metronome or a drum machine and your playing can only benefit. [/quote] Indeed. I believe playing at the same speed improves muscle memory more than actually learning the tune. I have come across many players whom, once asked to play something slowly, struggle to do so. It's like they have been playing it for so long that they don't have to think about it and it throws them a bit.

I've rather surprised myself this evening. I got it working! All of it, the Big Muff and the Musket, all on one board small enough to fit into a 1590BB box (even with 9 knobs, 2 toggle switches, 2 foot switches and an LED). And it sounds incredible, absolutely monstrous. I wasn't overly keen on the Musket by the time I had built it, but the way it interacts with the Ram's Head is ace, and the order switcher adds a whole other dimension. I am usually a set and forget kind of guy when it comes to effects, but this thing craves molestation, it screams "Play with me!". Once I have it in its box I may even do a video of it, which is something I never thought I'd catch myself doing. There probably won't be any gut shots because the wiring is shamefully messy, and I don't want to risk interfering too much just to make it tidy, I am just hoping I never have to look inside it again.

[quote name='DolganoFF' timestamp='1406401277' post='2511260'] Maybe sand the LED a little with fine sandpaper and make it matte? This is not reversible though, I guess... [/quote] Excellent idea. I think I might even go as far as to sand it flat and flush to its mount. Edit: The sandpaper worked a treat. I'm not going to sand it flat because too much protrudes from the bezel, but it looks a lot better now. Might have to try to dial out a bit more of the red, it looks pretty good as it is, though, so I will only do it if I get really bored.

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1406330382' post='2510783'] Using a single resistor won't work correctly (I have a feeling I may have suggested it earlier but I hadn't thoguht it through). As you go from one to two lit elements, you're doubling the current through the resistor while putting two LEDs in parallel, thus halving their resistance, and it's far too late for me to work out exactly what'll happen but essentially you'll be reducing the voltage across the LEDs. So if the red LED has a lower threshold than the blue LED and the voltage drops to just below the threshold voltage, you'll just see the red. So bridge the single resistor and put the same value resistor between each switch and the respective LED cathode. [/quote] Thank you! I did some experimenting and found a combination of resistors that allows both red and green to glow simultaneously. I need to find a way to diffuse the colour now, with the clear LED the colours don't blend as well as I would have liked and they just look like a red and blue next to each other, rather than the hoped for purple.

[quote name='DolganoFF' timestamp='1406320598' post='2510669'] You still have three wires coming to "color" pins, just put three resistors there. [/quote] Sorry for being so dim last night (no pun intended...). It really was one of those, all too common for me, moments when I can't see what is right in front of me.

Well, I figured out what was wrong with my Big Muff after changing and moving it... The changes were to make it fit a smaller board, knocking a column off each end, so I was having to move some stuff, and I forgot to move one of the cuts. I spent last night trying to get it to work with the 9v wire in the wrong place, and because I didn't move the cut there is nowhere to put that wire, so I am going to have to tack it onto the back. The worst thing it that there was room to move the cut into, leaving the perfect spot for the 9v wire. Oh well, at least it works now. Now to install an order switcher and box it up.

[quote name='Fisheth' timestamp='1406333475' post='2510796'] Off the top of my head... Helloween: Keeper Of The Seven Keys 1+2 Blind Guardian- Nightfall in Middle Earth Iron Maiden- Powerslave/Brave New World Sabaton- The Art Of War Stryper- To Hell With The Devil. Sure I have loads more though [/quote] Oi! [i]I'm[/i] the Sabaton fan around here! Although, I prefer Primo Victoria, personally. Panzer Battalion is the second best song (after Nightwish's Wishmaster) to do, what my old mate and me used to call, War-Horsing to.

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1406330382' post='2510783'] Using a single resistor won't work correctly (I have a feeling I may have suggested it earlier but I hadn't thoguht it through). As you go from one to two lit elements, you're doubling the current through the resistor while putting two LEDs in parallel, thus halving their resistance, and it's far too late for me to work out exactly what'll happen but essentially you'll be reducing the voltage across the LEDs. So if the red LED has a lower threshold than the blue LED and the voltage drops to just below the threshold voltage, you'll just see the red. So bridge the single resistor and put the same value resistor between each switch and the respective LED cathode. [/quote] Thanks, that sounds promising, I shall do some experimenting tomorrow. I don't even know why I am worrying about this right now, it's supposed to be for my double Muff pedal and I can't even get the standard Muff side to work right now. I had it working and sounding fantastic, but it was on a board that was too big. So I made some small, easy changes and moved it and now it won't work. Bum nuggets! I got the Musket to work but I actually prefer the sound I was getting out of the Ram's Head with some minor alterations. This is what happens when I try to do stuff when my brain is trying to headbut itself to death on the inside of my skull. Perhaps I'll use my soldering iron for something useful and lobotomise myself with it?

[quote name='DolganoFF' timestamp='1406320598' post='2510669'] You still have three wires coming to "color" pins, just put three resistors there. [/quote] Yeah, I'm not sure why I thought the switch thing made a difference. The colour pins are connected to the negative side, though, it's a bit late for resistors then. Are you thinking of a common cathode? Or am I doing that stupid thing I do when I am saying something very wrong but can't, for the life of me, see it? Admittedly my head is rather addled of late.

[quote name='DolganoFF' timestamp='1406319900' post='2510653'] Why couldn't you? [/quote] Sorry, I should have said that all the switching is on the negative side.

[quote name='DolganoFF' timestamp='1406319681' post='2510650'] Common anode doesn't mean you cannot have separate resistors! [/quote] Eh?

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1406319256' post='2510644'] OK, hopefullly someone else has had more experience with them. [/quote] I feel like I have just started college again, I seem to have forgotten more than I ever bloomin' knew. Mind you, blue LEDs were only invented while I was in college. Lots of people got very excited about it.

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1406315765' post='2510612'] Could you tweak the values of the current limiting resistors to tame the relative brightness ? I'm guessing here as I've never used an RGB LED. [/quote] It's not the brightness. Turning on the red actually, physically turns the others off, even though the blue and green can be on together. And it's a common anode, so there is only one resistor.

I've run into another problem with my LED... I have an RGB LED, the plan was to have it glow red for one effect, blue for the other, then when both effects are on it would glow both colours, hopefully making it look purple. Yeah... Not so much... The problem is that when the red part is on it completely takes over, I don't mean it outshines the other colours, the other colours won't glow. It will do the green and the blue at the same time, but if you have either the blue or the green glowing and you kick in the red, the other colour will shut off and you just get the red. The green and blue at the same times looks rubbish. Is this normal? I think this pedal might be cursed.

There's the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band_from_TV"]Band From TV[/url]. Loads of actors in there, I don't recognise most of their names, but I do their faces. They're good fun. Jesse Spencer (Neighbours and House) is ace. http://youtu.be/_Mq2ruSKli0

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1406115480' post='2508430'] Not going for the logic-powered three-colour system then? [/quote] Probably not. I am taking rather a long time getting this done, I am going through some personal crap that is sapping my concentration and will somewhat. I think that if I found a schematic, and it was small enough, I might. The way I am putting the two effects onto the same veroboard leaves me with a section of 5 strips by 17 holes, because that's how much smaller the Muff is than the Musket as I have redesigned it, that I could use for something. I'm just not up to designing it myself right now. I haven't even tested my theory that having the red and blue on together will actually make it look purple in my simplified version. I know red and blue do make purple but will it just look like red and blue sitting beside each other in the LED? I'll figure something out, eventually.

Love my Bass V-Amp Pro. Rather fond of my little Xenyx 802, too. I've had my eye on a couple of their mics, in case I take up recording properly, as well.

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1406027163' post='2507569'] Instead of a signal generator to create you test tones, could you record a series of notes or tones on phone/walkman/small recording device and use that as a test signal ? Just a thought. You'd still need some kind of probe to inject them into the circuit though. As for the amp - if you're tinking of putting bass through it then a amp with a small speaker it might struggle with the bass. Sorry, these are just musings really.... There are quite a few audio amp chips you could use to make a simple, low volatage amp - maybe a LM386 or a TDA300 ? [/quote] I did actually add in my own notes the idea of adding a jack socket for an MP3 player for that purpose, but forgot to mention it here. But I really like the idea of having most of it all in one box, I was going to include a speaker inside the box. I would prefer to build a signal generator because this is just as much about the fun of building the project as it is how useful it will be afterwards. As it will just be used to follow a signal and determine where the signal is effected in the circuit, I'm not bothered about it being able to handle bass, I just need it to be clean so I can tell when the effect is working. If the signal is getting through and the effect is doing what it's supposed to through this test box, then I can do final testing with whatever instrument and amp it is intended for. I only have an LM741, but it's not a problem, once if know what I need I will add it to my next Bitsbox order.

Yup, I am back again and asking for more advice... I have been, slowly, going through this thread properly. I saw the stuff about making an audio probe. So I got thinking about building a small, maybe 1w, amp and signal generator, all in one box that can sit on my work bench. I would use banana plug sockets, including the required capacitor for the probe, that way I can just use some of my multimeter test leads, and a 1/4" output jack from the signal generator. I need to find designs for a simple amp and a signal generator. I have seen the Ruby and Cricket amps but I want something clean, no distortion. Is there a way to give those masses of headroom before they clip? Not sure how helpful being able to create different signal waves from the generator would be, but it would be good to have it create a range of signal to include the lowest notes of a bass and highest of a guitar. This would mean I won't have to learn to play bass with my toes, or make a compliant friend to strum for me, when mucking about with the probe. I will be using veroboard and don't want to spend money on a complete kit. Basically, if I need to buy bits that I don't have, I have to be able to get them from Bitsbox, so it would be helpful if there weren't any obscure components. When it is done I will post results if anyone is interested in doing one for themselves.

Well, I have built the Musket side using the new layout and it worked first time. Well, sort of. I blew an LED because I forgot to put a resistor in front of it, luckily it had used a cheapo one, just in case, rather than the expensive RGB one I have bought for the job. And after that I found that the pedal went silent when I turned it on, before realising that I had forgotten to put the transistors in their sockets... BUT, other than that it worked first time... Not had a chance to try it at any real volume, it being 5am, but I like it so far. Wishing I had bought all new components for the Big Muff side, now. Don't want to have to take the other, nicely working, one apart. I've probably got enough stuff to do it, but my resistors are all carbon film, rather than metal film. Need to stock up properly on metal film ones. When buying for the Musket I ordered 10 or 20 of each resistor, depending on how many the kit needed, so I would have plenty left over. Bought twice as many transistors as I needed, but I had plenty of capacitors and diodes. It's nice watching my component draws filling up.

[quote name='jakenewmanbass' timestamp='1405715029' post='2504731'] back to square one... a difference of opinion is not shooting down, is it? I think part of the problem here is the medium, if this were a face to face conversation our intentions would be more explicit, I mean no one any harm, I'm just expressing a view, but because it's in text things get lost.... bit like tab (I'm sorry, I just could not help myself) [/quote] As you alluded to earlier, I can only talk about me and my experience, but I am fairly sure I am not the only one with a similar position. The trouble with the way what you have said has come across is that it looks like you're telling people that, if they use tab and not score, then they can't be any good. And you may well be right in that I might not be any good for a band or orchestra that uses score, but we're talking about different worlds. I would be far more likely to be in a Death metal band than an orchestra, music which is often complex and might be difficult to pick out entirely by ear, and I can't count on finding score for it. Whether it was intentional or not, you came across as arrogant, like you were saying that if you don't read score than you'll never be able to play in the musical arena that I do, and my arena is the only real one. No one ever starts a thread slagging off score and/or it's users.