Al Heeley

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='574618' date='Aug 19 2009, 07:34 PM']I'm not sure whether the cool orange-drop cap improves the tone at all...[/quote] It's an emotive debate I think there's a lot of daft mojo associated with spragues, orange drops, bumble bee vintage old stock resistors at $45 a go, there's more than a toouch of Placebo hearing going on if you can tell an improvement in tone quality. Maybe the rate of change of tone is smoothed using higher quality components but can different types of caps really be picked up in a bass guitars frequencies? Not by my ears. The basic good quality pots though is a no-brainer - a scratchy pot irritates the hell out of me. What bugs me is the price difference between cheap and decent pots comapred to selling price of a reasonable guitar is so minimal that I wish they just used better quality pots from the outset and charged a tiny premium to cover it.

Good enough for me :0 - ordered. thanks!

mask it and paint carefully, removing the fingerboard is a huge nasty job which may end up damaging the neck if you don't get it done properly.

Be interested to hear how you got on with this as I've just come across the same item on my search for a cost-effective EQ stompbox. I see Artec also have some cheap units - any good?

Been too preoccupied with electronics for the last 2 months to nitice this thread : ( Must say thats one gorgeous bass - you must be well pleased with the outcome. I love the understated classy finish, not too flash. When you going to lend it to me?

I think a second hand Zoom B2 and a few hours playing around with various effects is a great way to get involved. Some time spent on Youtube and Electroharmonix and Boss website listening to the various clips of pro musicians demo-ing the various pedals should also give you a good idea of what is possible, then you are going to want to start spending.

Thats a really useful article, thx for the link. True- using normal office paper the whole thing gets stuck to the pcb and needs careful wet rubbing with fingers to remove - printing onto magazine paper should stop the toner soaking into the paper so much (more like the blue p'n'p sheets you can buy). The toner rubs off easily enough with a soft rag and white spirit or nail varnish remover once etching is complete. Keeping the FeCl3 solution hot helps reduce etch time from 1 -2 hrs to 15 - 20 mins which can help preserve integrity of any any etch-resist pen touch ups you need to have done.

Well that seems to have worked out ok. Iron set a little hotter than Wool and pressed for about 7 mins. Initially I set it just lower than wool and left it for 3 mins - which would have been enough for the blue p'n'p, but I had nothing transferred. A little hotter and warmer seemed to do the trick. A fair bit of retouching with the etch-resist pen cos I had no faith in the print density, but it seemed to etch ok after the remains of the stuck paper had been carefully wet-rubbed off with fingers. A couple of the less dense tracks were tested for continuity but they are sound so Mr Ritch has a PCB to go.

[quote name='ritch' post='571102' date='Aug 16 2009, 09:52 PM']Hi Al, That would be awesome if you could give it a go. The layout is in a PDF in the original post - let me know if that's too tricky to do by hand or anything. I have emailed GGG, but had no reply yet - so it may be that they say it will be back in stock within a couple of weeks, in which case there's no point you going to all the trouble. Cheers[/quote] I'd say thats a little too tricky by hand etch-resist pen but I'm keen to try the normal paper/laser print route [quote name='steve' post='570928' date='Aug 16 2009, 06:50 PM']Can you let me know if this is successful pls Al?[/quote] No prob, will do Be interested for my own projects to see if I can get the iron temperature just right to let laser-printed paper work properly.

I can give it a go with normal laser-print paper and an iron from the link in the pdf doc, let me know if you are interested.

[quote name='bobbass4k' post='570820' date='Aug 16 2009, 05:06 PM']al (username al heeley) can etch a custom one for you if you've got a PCB layout, drop him a PM i'm sure he'll help you out[/quote] Be happy to etch one for you only I jammed up the office laser printer with my last lot of press'n'peel transfer paper so I'm having to resort to pretty simple small circuits now and hand etch-resist pen, which is not precise enough for complex circuits. As a rule, non-IC circuits, couple of transistors, etc. like boosts and basic fuzz circuits are fine but anything more complex than that and I would be struggling.

email sent but bounced back as it said address was invalid?? [edit] Resent!

Are you doing away with the pickup selector switches or coil cuts (24, top right?)? If so then pickups straight to the dual-stack blend is correct with live going to the respective centre lugs. On your inset diagram, top left and bottom right would go to ground, then top right and bottom left would go together to the vol part of the concentric pot, then the vol out would feed into the tone part of the concentric pot, with the tone cap as normal shorting to earth (on the back of the pot). Not clear what you plan to do with the rest of the wiring eg: the active pre-amp bit or parts 24 & 12 ?

[quote name='SS73' post='561053' date='Aug 5 2009, 12:04 PM']Funny really that Fender have been happy with the tuners for all these years.[/quote] theres probabk=ly a bit of scratching around to try and find some decent USP's here, something to really differentiate it more to justify the extra $$'s

very nice looking website too.

[quote name='Silent Fly' post='559373' date='Aug 3 2009, 04:28 PM']I agree, Jack Orman's Mosfet Booster is an excellent booster. I used to make a booster based on Jack Orman's circuit as well. It is very close to the circuit used by the Catalinbread booster (I can't remember which one). I don't make them anymore but only because I make another product that covers the same requirements and has better specs.[/quote] Is that your Blue Dragon Booster? Your pedals look gorgeous btw, didn't know you had a range of fx like this. Great stuff!

You don't have to part with much money to get a good, clean linear booster, its not like an echo or a flanger, a simple well designed circuit will do all you need for no more than 25 - 35£

I put together a linear boost pedal for my guitarist colleague, from jack orman's DIY stompbox site, its a good clean boost with no real distortion, offering up to about 20dB, works well for guitar or bass. Pretty simple circuit, doesn't cost much: [url="http://www.muzique.com/schem/mosfet.htm"]http://www.muzique.com/schem/mosfet.htm[/url] [i]"NOTE: The frequency response of the AMZ Mosfet Booster is flat and extends down low enough for both bass and guitar use. There is no need to mod the design to add more bass; it will not make any audible change."[/i] If you want me to put one together for you, drop me a pm and I can cost it out. Its a good simple effective pedal. It's true-bypass. It;s very transparent. It's very low on battery drain. Circuit layout here: [url="http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1517&g2_serialNumber=3"]http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php..._serialNumber=3[/url]

Oh, I thought i just said that.

The out is taken from the centre (unused) lug of the vol pot. [url="http://gaussmarkov.net/layouts/bblender/bblender-schem.png"]http://gaussmarkov.net/layouts/bblender/bblender-schem.png[/url] - see V8 in the schematic The DC adapter jack socket has 2 common terminals that can be identified with a multimeter. Usually the insertion of the plug breaks the circuit between the 2 common lugs (thats for over-ride with a battery when the mains is not attached). the third lug is the other polarity. You can check if they are the right way round with your multimeter again with a mains adapter plugged in and attached. if the tip is wrong polarity you then need to reverse your wirings accordingly.

Want me to build you one of these?

The only thing I can suggest is ask around this forum: [url="http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php#2"]http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php#2[/url]

No, its only really cool if it is really tatty.

superb job - you must be delighted!

Marvellous stuff - good on them for exploiting a lucrative area in the marketplace. No-one being forced to buy oine of these, it just adds fuel to that saying about a fool and his money..... THey look quite cool actually, I may have a go at doing some relic paintwork on my next DIY stompy