Johnny Wishbone

This. It's happened to us more than once.

Thought I'd share this experience in case someone else has the same problem - it might save you some hassle/cash. A while back my MXR M87 died. The level meter was still functioning but there was absolutely no sound coming from the pedal output. I did all the usual quick fixes (contact cleaner on jacks, replaced footswitch etc) but to no avail. After a bit of digging I discovered that the output op-amp in this pedal (TLC2262 in case you were wondering) has a maximum voltage of 16V. Obviously this would normally be OK in a pedal that runs at 9V, except that MXRs "Constant Headroom Technology" feature is essentially a charge pump circuit that doubles the pedal's internal voltage to 18V. It shouldn't take a genius to work out what therefore ensues if, like me, you're unlucky. I replaced the TLC2262 with an AD822 (which has a supply voltage of 18V) and my pedal now lives and breathes again. I believe MXR will fix pedals under warranty for a flat fee of £75, whereas replacing the blown chip cost me less than a tenner and a few minutes fiddling with a soldering iron (the TLC2262 and AD822 chips are both surface mount - soldering these can be tricky unless you're experienced in doing so). It appears that mine is not an isolated issue as a quick Google uncovers many such failures, so I figured I'd pass this info on in case any other BC members' M87s suffer the same fate. Please use or disregard this information as you see fit!

Built this a few weeks ago but couldn’t get it to work properly. Spent ages fiddling around but nothing, so put it to one side. Picked it up today and within about 10 seconds realised I’d soldered a resistor in the wrong place! LastGasp Rattle Crow clone done (finally)!

Thanks for getting back to me, Phil. I did follow the original thread but will certainly give it a re-read. I obviously envisaged that cab being a lot bigger than it really is, but if it really is still a one-hand lift then I’m certainly interested. Especially given you can still get two cabs from one sheet of ply. The reason for not placing the speaker dead centre did make a lot of sense as soon as you said it, so I’ll certainly avoid doing that. Thanks for confirming. I realise placing the two cabs “horizontally” would make the stack lower and therefore more difficult to hear. The fact that I can barely hear my backline at a lot of gigs anyway made this less of a consideration (my band has three guitars and a very loud drummer!) than how it looks on stage (I know, I know). Maybe the added bass from the larger cab would help with this as well? I do play a variety of venues, from small pubs where we’re shoehorned in up to 2-300 capacity clubs and even some outdoor festivals, so I guess finding a cab that suits all those situations might be tricky. I definitely play more of the smaller, tightly packed gigs however, so am somewhat wary of having too much bass booming out. This is perhaps why I was more drawn to this smaller cab, although it might just be because I’ve seen you make it so it’s easier to visualise! Certainly plenty to think about. Thanks again Phil, I appreciate your input.

@Phil Starr I’m going to be building a pair of these in the next few weeks and have a question or two. Aesthetically, as I use a full-size amp head rather than a newer mini head, I’m not fan of having the head overhanging the cabs at the sides. The obvious solution would be to have the cabs stacked “horizontally” (long-side down, as it were) rather than stood vertically as you have in the video. Am I ok doing so? Further to that (and again this is more an aesthetic choice) I note that you said the positioning of the driver and ports in the baffle is unimportant - would I therefore not compromise the design if decide to place the driver centrally on the baffle and have the two ports in diagonally opposite corners (assuming that layout is actually possible within the available baffle area)? Cheers 😬

Fantastic stuff, Phil. Thanks for sharing. I do love my Orange OBC410 but I definitely don’t enjoy lifting it (neither do any of my band mates!) so I’d love to give a pair of these a try. I’d best get myself down to Wickes!

I play in exactly the same tuning and have found nothing better, tension-wise, than these: http://daddario.com/DADMobileProductDetail.Page?ActiveID=3769&productid=380&sid=6d377a95-4f38-4919-bfdd-24f23f14b875 I just wish they did them in steels. The Dunlop DBS60120s are also very good. I’m considering switching back to them because, as good as the D’addarios are in terms of tension, I just much prefer the sound of steels. If you want “growl”, you probably will, too! I haven’t tried the DR ones as they’re a bit pricey for me, but if they’re anything like their other strings they’ll be excellent. Both the D’addarios and the Dunlops can be had for about £20 a set.

As soon as you light even one LED, your signal is being compressed (I think - it’s been a while since I read the M87 manual as my pedal broke recently). If you turn the input up, you are more likely to hit threshold at which the compressor kicks in. Lower the input and you won’t hit the threshold (or will hit it less).

I adjust the input control so that I’m lighting most of the green LEDs with normal playing and hit the yellow (maybe even creep into the red) once or twice in a set when I really wallop the strings. Once that’s set, adjust the output so that your volume is roughly the same whether the pedal is on or off. Essentially the output is used to regain any volume “lost” by the compression. That’s how I understand it anyway. YMMV, of course. If you want less compression for a given ratio, just adjust the input control so that you’re lighting fewer LEDs.

tbf that clip probably isn't a fair representation of his normal playing style. It's just the one I could find with the most bit-crusher usage in it! He does use it in a lot of the "ambient" tracks he used to soundtrack his vlogs, but I'm struggling to find a decent example (probably because people keep making me do some work!). Crushers are not for everyone, that's for sure, but they're far from a one-trick pony.

Search YouTube for Janek Gwizdala (who I believe was in the above band "Nerve" at some point?). I'm not a fan of his music as such but he's clearly a very accomplished player and a big user of the aforementioned Bugbrand unit and the Iron Ether Frantabit, usually in conjunction with one of his large collection of Boss OC-2s (amongst other things).

Thank you! That was really bothering me!

Not sure if this helps but I have one of my basses tuned to Bb Eb G# C# (essentially BEAD down a half-step) and my lowest string is a .135. As Bb and A# are the same note, I would suggest a .140 would be more than heavy enough. I can't speak for the other strings though as I have no experience of the tuning you are aiming for.

The presumption of this issue did deter me from getting a smartphone for ages, but then I tried one and have never had any problems. Or does this mean I'm just not playing enough?

Just remembered this belter!

The verse to this track probably had more influence on me as a bassist than anything else. Why play 10 notes when one will do?

Not cheap, but I did come across these guys recently: https://www.3monkeyssolderless.com/collections/solderless/products/dc-solderless-pedalboard-kit

Yeah so did I! I do use those strings on a four string tuned BEAD (I hate 5-strings but we have some songs in B) but I can’t imagine tuning them to standard pitch. I do use a 120 4th string on my “normal” basses but that’s tuned to drop C#.

Yup, that’s the one I’ve built. V2 i think.

Absolute agree. I switched to these a good year or so ago and they are perfect for my band’s tunings (drop C/drop C#). I really wish they did the same set in steels though, and I don’t really understand why they don’t!

Haha sorry mate. Just my opinion of course. I'm sure someone will be along shortly to tell you they're a waste of time and money!

IMO everyone should have one. It's one of those things you don't realise you need until you have it. I built my own (fdeck HPF-Pre clone from this layout) and was absolutely amazed how much amp power I had been wasting. I immediately had to turn my amp down around 25% as it was no longer trying to reproduce a load of inaudible sub-frequencies and therefore was working much more efficiently. It seemed to make my bass sit in the band mix a lot better, and dramatically improved the string-to-string balance of my bass (prior to the HPF I suffered from a boomy E string and struggled to get the EQ to compensate well enough). I suspect my speaker cabs are a lot happier as well. As always, YMMV, but I'd highly recommend one. They can seem "expensive" (obviously mine wasn't as I built it) but once you compare it to the cost of speaker recones/replacements etc caused by driving them with inaudible subsonics, I'd say they're worth every penny.

Yup, same for me. Quite a heavy-duty hole punch though, as cheap ones will bend!