bobbass4k

No one did it better than Melvins in their Big Business phase - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpgZ5MUnkkE

Couldn't get the time together this month unfortunately, bad form I know, but too many half finished ideas and not enough time... Great crop though, not all what I expected but all the better for it.

Evil tinkering - finally getting round to doing the XP-All mod to my old Digitech XP-100 - https://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/newsarchive/XPALL.html Annoyingly I bought all the stuff years ago when I worked at a PCB assembler and had access to an EPROM burner - but didn't have the foresight to burn the chip while I had access so I'm hoping to find some kind soul who has one knocking about in the loft. Backup plan is to use my spare raspberry pi, which can apparently do it from the GPIO.

I've seen people do DIY paste stencils with vinyl cutters etc. - but I think very quickly you hit a point of diminsihing returns with SMT in DIY - but it might be something we have to contend with as the big manufacturers are gradually pivtoing away from through-hole packages for a lot of ICs/Transistors. As an aside - does anyone happen to have an EPROM burner and the burning (see what I did there) desire to be super helpful?

A man can dream.

What you want is a super hard-on with a standard volume control instead of just bias, enter the EQD black eye - https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=116920.0 Or the LPB, I think fuzzdog does a kit for that, basically you're looking for any boost with a standard grounding volume output control.

I've had a eureka moment, I was trying to do lots of creepy intervals and dissonant chord shapes on guitar but found it difficult to get going - ended up in a frankenstein tuning that just sings foreboding evil (F# F# B F# G# E low to high)

The input side of C1 should be grounded when it's in bypass, as the bypass switch wiring that fuzzdog uses grounds the circuit input in bypass (to prevent noise bleed). But it shouldn't be grounded when the effect is engaged - if it's reading ground in both switch positions then you likely have a problem with your switch wiring.

Hmm, I didn't get that far in the build doc, but it's a mistake. The 386 is a very low wattage power amplifier, even if you did patch the pinout it's never going to replace an op-amp, it might pass sound but it would not sound great. Yank it out, put a tl071 in there and email JMK to get that changed.

Ahh, got it, the board is laid out for a CA3130/TL071, you';ve used a 386 which is NOT a drop in replacement, different pinouts and different functions. You'll need to get a single op-amp. TL071, CA3130 etc. - Slightly more awake now and realized it's a BBOD clone - you might struggle to get a CA3130 (long obsolete and a lot of fakes about due to the demand), a TL071 will do the job.

It might be hiding but looks like you're one connection short, is the circuit output connected at the top right?

I figured It'd be an interesting change of pace, something a little dark and sinister. A little context - I took this while walking home in a state of mild inebriation at about 2am, and had absolutely no recollection of taking it until I was going through my pictures a couple of months later, whereupon it scared the bejesus out of me and I moved it to the "album covers?" folder.

It's with Señor Skol now

You don't have to tell me twice, I did the first one of these whenever it was, 7 years ago now? This is the achievement of a long sublimated dream...

Trawling through the "album covers?" folder on my phone, can't decide between three. I know there's only 10 or 12 of us but there's SO MUCH PRESSURE. Ahem.

I know BC is adults only but I really don't think that's the most appropria... Oh, those picture folders. No problem.

I'm not going to count my chickens just yet. My brain isn't really geared up to process the prospect of victory.

Haven't had chance to listen to all the rest properly yet - on the list for today

Yeah it's a DPDT, the middle lugs may look connected but they aren't. You can just transpose the wiring to the 3PDT and just use 2 of the poles. Ideally you need to check what kind of switch it is first, I assume its controlling a buffered bypass, so it might be momentary rather than latching. Unlikely for a DPDT but not impossible. Best way to check is with a multimeter if you have one.

I live my life by a simple rule - if less is more then think how much more more will be

I've leaned hard into the "approaching strom/dark foreboding clouds" thing and gone in a cliche-y, melodramatic, 100s of guitars instrumental post-rock that was a lot of fun to lean into. It still does wonky time stuff because honestly I don't know how not to... Mix is not good, I still haven't figured out exactly what soundcloud does to tracks but they always sound worse.

I should probably temper expectations and say its actually 7/8 guitars over 8/8 drums, and only in a couple of sections. Also one of the chord sequences is shamelessly plagiarised from a loving homage to cardiacs.

The short answer is no. It could very well be fine, but without checking the components inside, there's no way to know. It could be that the voltage gets regulated down to 12V, in which case it would be fine, but it could also just run on 15V, and if they've used any 16V capacitors, then you're in boom territory... Unfortunately there's no way to know without checking.

I can take a looksee if you want to drop it in the post - the original vactrols are pretty rare these days and sell for stupid money (£10+ for what is a 50p part) but you can get new versions that are exactly the same for a few quid - there's very little mojo in a vactrol and that looks like a new one anyway. Drop me a PM if you fancy it - I may do it for free just so I can clean that LED bezel - the urge to take a cotton wool bud to it is overpowering...

My ridiculous post-rock monstrosity is taking shape. Can't remember how long it's been for me on one of these but it's always a fun way to force me into finishing something.and confusing you all with 7/8 guitars over 5/4 drums...