KingBollock

It turns out that I will have to put in another order with Bitsbox (bloomin' love that place!) after all, but I can't for a couple of weeks, leaving me with far too much thinking time... So I have had an idea for the LED indicator for my double muff box. There is probably a really obvious solution to it but I have started another new medication recently that has left my brain even woolier than usual so I can't think straight. Which is rather frustrating. There will be a standardish Big Muff on one side and a Musket on the other, each with their own footswitch. What I want to do is use a single RGB LED that will glow green when the Muff is on, red when the Musket is on and blue when both are on together. Anyone got any ideas? Something like this but with the third LED option. I am wondering if a relay of some sort might be called for. I have only ever used relays once before and that was many, many years ago. Edit: Looks like it I is actually as complicated as I was imagining. I have been Googling all day and asking for help has been less than fruitful. I might end up just using the red and blue parts (can't find a blue and red LED with 3 legs) so it is red on one switch, blue on the other, but when both are on it turns purple.

Gonna have to recommend the might Oaf, as I did on one of the other of these threads... http://oafmusic.bandcamp.com

Anyone remember that Rock School British TV program he did? He came across as a right tosser, as though him being there was the biggest thing in those kids' lives and that he regretted agreeing to do it. And he seemed to constantly complain about the equipment and about how sh*t the kids were. Without going through prison and sex offender lists, you'd struggle to find a more inappropriate music teacher for kids. All talk and no trousers. Literally in the case of his sex tape, which is the only sex tape I have ever watched. I only had a look because of how embarrassing I'd heard it was. It was excruciatingly awkward. I've seen Lizards go at it with more passion.

As has been said (I won't comment on some of the other stuff that has been said...) rest it, BUT don't keep it immobile. I had problems with my thumb for a few weeks and decided to put a splint on it for as much time as I could, to try not to make it any worse. Eventually I spoke to a nurse who suggested that I keep it moving and it actually started to get better after a few days. The problem was with the knuckle of my thumb. I have had problems with the base joint of my thumb since I was a kid due to various mishaps. A couple of times every year it starts to play up and becomes very painful for a few weeks. I finally got around to buying a spica for it this year, but keeping the base immobile (which did help that bit) meant that I compensated for the lack of movement with the knuckle and ended up damaging it (if I keep it immobile for more than a couple of minutes I have to snap it to make it bend again, which hurts quite a lot). So be aware of how you try to compensate for the pain in that finger, so you don't damage other things.

I decided to muck about with R2 to try to tame it a bit, it turned out that I had made a rather rookie mistake and put a 3.3k resistor where there should have been a 33k. So I went looking for the resistor I had obviously swapped it with. It was R4. Swapped 'em 'round and it sounded crap. After some experimenting I found I preferred R4 at 8.2k. This tames it while still allowing some volume boost, though not nearly as much, but that's fine by me. So, I have got it sounding great. Bollocks! Now what mods am I going to do to it? I've bought a huge box to put this thing in, imagining it festooned with knobs and switches and stuff. It could go in a box half the size, but where's the fun in that?? Edit: I think I'd like to add separate bass, middle and treble knobs. Also a clean blend. The only clean blend circuit I have been able to find has a Jfet that I don't have. Anyone know of any other ways to add a clean blend? Edit#2: I have spent all day trying to think of how to mod it, but I like the way it sounds as it is, so I might just not bother. I am now considering building a Musket and housing them in the same box (because the only box I have is big enough for both and I have everything I need for the Musket without having to put another order in) for the Fuzz Box To Rule The All Mwahahaha...

Finally got around to putting together the board for a fairly stock Big Muff. It was supposed to be based on the '73 Ram's Head, but it's a pretty loose interpretation. It's an absolute monster! I don't know why I was so worried about it not being the Bass specific one, this thing has more balls than a marble world championship! The only thing is that it doesn't like an active Bass, need to figure out how to lower the input slightly, and it does only have to be slight. Going to have a play with some mods before I box it up. I have been looking at the Musket, too. Oh, and an added bonus, it worked almost first time... Should, have labelled the input and outputs properly, but that was me being a bit dim rather than a dodgy circuit.

I can't read music. I did try some simple stuff when I took up the penny whistle but I could never get it to stick. I use tab sometimes to get me started and fill in blanks, mainly because I struggle to learn by ear alone. The thing is with tab is that there is nothing to learn, it is just there and very obvious. It is like someone pointing at the fretboard telling you what notes to hit. I think it does require some musicality, though, because the music isn't in the information given, that part you have to work out for yourself. But to be fair to something someone said earlier, I don't call myself a musician.

So someone that reads music, which gives instruction right down to the last detail, is a musician, but someone that reads tab, which requires listening to the music and working out how it works, isn't? What about someone that uses tab to learn other peoples' music, but also writes their own music?

Uncouth savage that I am, I am perfectly fine using tab along with my ears to learn songs, thankyouverymuch.

Sounds fishy to me. I am so so sorry, I couldn't help it!

Is this the wrong place to ask for advice with stupid questions? Is it more of a finished pedal thread than a building one? Would I be better starting a new thread? I hate starting new threads when there are others that I can shoehorn my questions into, but sometimes I inappropriately end up using a crowbar.

This is getting really frustrating. I gather that just about all versions of the Big Muff Pi are basically the same, with just some capacitor and resistor values changed. I have found tons of schematics but I cannot, for the life of me, find one for the Bass Big Muff, I have been looking for weeks. As it is I will have to do a lot of experimenting, but it would be nice to have a bit of a clue as to where to start for the Bass version values. The specific version I would like to copy is this: Can anyone help?

Same thing happened to me when I was 17. I mentioned to the boss's son that I played bass and he said that he had one that he never played and offered it to me for a tenner. When he brought it in and I tried it he was surprised that I really did play and told me I could have it for nothing. It was only a Satellite bass but it played and sounded nice. When I used to fish a lot I would often end up helping out beginners, teaching them how to plumb the depth and unhook fish and stuff, simple things that people don't know to think of before they set out for their first time. I would usually end up giving them plum-bobs and disgorgers and stuff. Things that only cost pennies, but meant that they didn't have to pack up early just because they didn't have the right equipment. I don't think it really matters much what something costs, often it really is the thought behind it.

Just done an order switcher. Turns out you [i]can[/i] get four jack sockets and a DC socket all along a 111mm edge after all. I measured everything with precise digital callipers and plotted it all out on graph paper, there was no way they were all physically going to fit... Then I looked at a jig I had made for holding stuff while I was working on it and realised that I had already done it. So I decided to ignore the numbers and get on with it. Bloomin' tight squeeze in there and I had to make sure I put everything in in the right order, but it's in and done. Glad I don't have to waste a bigger box for it, especially as the only bigger box I have is destined to be filled with Muffage.

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1404620314' post='2494181'] Nice one Yeah I still hand-drill my boxes, seems more effective than the power-drill I tried! Si [/quote] Thanks. I have a power drill that I used in a contraption that turns it into a pillar drill. It is handy because it has a speed stop, so I can go nice and slow if needed. But, even though the posts on the stepped drill bits are hexagonal, which I would have thought would make them easier to grasp, the drill doesn't like them and keeps letting go, and I can't work out why.

Well, I've boxed up my first pedal. It's only a footswitch for my amp and I haven't painted it yet, but I was quite nervous about mucking it up, so I am pleased it turned out OK. There's an EQ On'Off, Amp Channel (Tube/Solid State) and an FX Loop On/Off switch. Dead simple, but it was the boxing up that I was worrying about, this has got me past that. Turns out that even my dremel and my cordless drill-driver is enough to get through these boxes, which is handy. The socket on the side is a D-Sub type, which are more secure than using DIN plugs because of being able to screw them in place once I have added the threaded jack posts. It is the same kind of plug that computer VGA monitors use. The amp end of the lead for it has a 7 pin DIN ( which was a massive pain in the bum to fit, reason enough on its own to use D-Subs at the other end). When I have built all the pedals that I am planning on making, I will make a pedal board. This will include a dedicated send and receive box, which will have: In/Out jack sockets. A 25 way D-Sub for receiving DC power from a supply built into the back of my rack, and will connect to phono plugs to distribute the power on the board. It will also contain the voltage regulator and filtering end of each DC output. This way I can send a higher voltage from the rack end and not have to worry about voltage drop in the connecting cable, or any interference it might pick up along the way (though it will be shielded, too). The main reason for doing it this way is so that I won't have AC power running alongside the audio leads in the connecting snake. Also, because I will be using individual transformers for each supply to minimise hum (Though I might use transformers with two secondaries, halving the amount of transformers I need), the unit will be quite large and heavy. Two 9 way sockets for the amp pedal, one to take the lead from the amp and another to go to the pedal. I will then make a snake, which I can leave permanently attached at the rack end, making it a quick job to uncoil it and attach the four plugs to the pedal board. Some of it might seem a bit overboard or pointless, but most of the fun, for me, is in designing and building. If I didn't enjoy that part then I might consider it more hassle than it is worth and not bother. I am not even in a band, so it might never even leave the house.

Gonna require the pedal and put it in a box tomorrow. However, I have been struggling to get my measurements right and it has knocked my confidence a bit. Turns out that even the bigger boxes I have won't take four jack sockets and a DC socket on one edge, especially of I plan on using pancake plugs, which I do. I could do with some advice as to drilling boxes. I have stepped drill bits that go to the size I need and a drill powerful enough. I have covered the box in masking tape to make sure I get all my marks correct. But I am worried I will miss something obvious and cock it up, and these things ain't cheap. So all advice would be welcome, layouts and techniques, that sort of stuff, even if it seems obvious. For this a pedal I am trying to get 6 jack sockets and a DC socket, 1 footswitch and 2 LEDs, in a box 120x95x32mm. I think it is going to have to be the DC socket and the main in and out jacks on a short end with 2 jacks on each long side. This seems to leave plenty of room but all that space feels wasteful.

The utterly bonkers Oaf! NSFW! http://youtu.be/fwkOmXsmNbc Dom Lawson is a proper lovely bloke.

I've never had to solder a 4PDT switch before, bloomin' fiddly, ain't they? Perhaps not the wisest choice to use 2mm thick wire... The stuff that I got from Doctor Tweek is really thin, is it really ok to use that stuff? The only other stuff I've got, that isn't either too thick or really thin, is all blue, which could get confusing. I haven't actually boxed it up yet, I am going to wait until a box I have ordered gets here before I decide what to put it in. Because there are no knobs, it's just an order switcher, it seems a waste to put it in a big box. Because I have no experience wiring pedals I ran into the problem where I didn't know how long to cut the wires, but doing them in situ seems like it'll be even more fiddly and I seem to have developed some kind of palsy (I'm not even kidding, I rather suspect it's all the meds I am on. My hands aren't just shaky, it's more like a constant twitch or tick, rather worrying really). But still, something I did actually worked, which is nice. After this I will be doing a loop pedal and a switch pedal for my amp. Then a Big Muff. The stuff for the Muff is on it's way, I am doing it on vero board. Will be on the look out for lots of mods for it, too.

Nice. Congratulations BassChat! Do you have numbers on how many of them are active? How many unique members visit each day, week or month? How many sign up each day? Enquiring minds want to know!

I wonder if the insecurity of being "only" the Bass player is the reason we tend to take on other tasks, such as being the general handy man and carrying spares of stuff for the whole band (I even used to make sure I carried fuses rated for other band members' amps)? Or are we just inherently sensible? The Bass player is important but there is little glamour in it, but it is a job that needs doing. I suspect we naturally gravitate to jobs in things like IT as opposed to doctors or firemen for the same reason. I am probably talking bollocks.

[quote name='BruceBass3901' timestamp='1404211729' post='2490264'] I ordered the jack plugs in Sunday Morning and they arrived on Tuesday so can't fault delivery time! This is my first purchase from them but my father has used them for a couple of years for odd bits here and there (probably about 50 orders over the last 2 years) and I think they have only 'messed up' once when they sent the wrong size of something and were happy to exchange it [/quote] Good to know, I put my first order in (one of many if it goes right, it's like a bloomin' candy store!) about two minutes before you posted.

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1404122786' post='2489400'] I've only made one small order with Bitsbox, seems fine, nothing untoward, nothing exciting. On another note, here's a cheeky 1590a FX Loop pedal I made this weekend for my main board, it's my 'get out of jail free card' to I can switch back to my amp if something on my board goes wrong. Again, just more covering eventualities rather than solving a problem . Its a Red Sparkle enclosure, shame it doesn't really show up in a photo, Orange LED. [/quote] Cool, thanks. I shall know what I need to order once I have been to Maplins to get some cut cable. I accidentally ordered a metal box that size, I thought I was ordering something bigger but I can be remarkably stupid sometimes. My plan had been to put an order switcher in it, but it's not big enough. My plan for another box that I bought (which was the size I was expecting but so much bigger than I need I would feel guilty using it for that, so I will keep it for another project...) was a double loop pedal. I only really need one loop pedal at the moment and it looks like that box would do the job if I did only build it with one loop. But I have been thinking of using it as an A/B box to board/tuner, which would act as a kill switch and allow for silent tuning. Still tossing ideas around in my head. I had a large component order come in yesterday, so I am still going through that, and I have more stuff on its way. I shall wait to see what I have all together before I decide for sure, I think.

I've got the 12" of that song. I have the poster that came with it on my music room wall. I should perhaps mention that it's the W.A.S.P. version... Please don't throw things at me!