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EH is building a bass distortion pedal


EdwardHimself
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That's right. Believe it or not, i'm actually going to build a bass distortion pedal. The wiring is based on that very sexy of bass pedals, the green russian big muff but the "bass" bit is that it has a dry output which will be on the ring of the output jack because i wanted to save space on the small box so i can use a stereo jack with a "y" splitter function and have both. I'm waiting on a shipment of electronics but when they get here i'll be able to sort all this shizzle out but here it is now:



The pots, they were £4.20 for 3 so they must be good!



The top, with no pot holes yet because i want to get the knobs and see how they'll be first.



the input and output jacks which are both stereo as the input is needed to sort the battery out and that.



Inside the box. Yes, that is a stripboard! Actually, i might be able to get one of my friends to make us up a PCB which would be useful but i did a little plan of how i was going to wire it to the stripboard based on this thing: \/



The schematic. I added the bottom wire with the direct output, i hope it's not stupid. I also did a switch and LED layout for the 3pdt switch which was £6.80(!) on the wiring plan which i'll post pics of if i end up using the stripboard.

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[quote name='umph' post='655372' date='Nov 15 2009, 07:50 PM']you'll need to buffer your clean blend or your going to create a feedback loop.

also i'd recomend adding a switch to switch out the first set of diodes.[/quote]

See, i thought it would be stupid. Okay well i'm imagining sticking a simple gain stage like the back half of this muff.

[attachment=36426:muff.gif]

Good idea? Also interesting idea about the switch, what's the idea behind that then? Seems pretty simple, i might try it out. Thanks for your help mate :)

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so you can switch between jumbo tone bender and muff, tonebenders tend to keep the low end better than muffs and have a clearer distortion.

i'd recomend a simple buffer with a opamp such as [url="http://www.muzique.com/lab/buffers.htm"]http://www.muzique.com/lab/buffers.htm[/url] i'd recomend the first of the opamp ones - super clean etc and just add a blend knob (wire the output of the muff and the output of the buffer to the two outside lugs of a pot and take the output of the circuit from the middle)

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[quote name='umph' post='655559' date='Nov 15 2009, 11:13 PM']so you can switch between jumbo tone bender and muff, tonebenders tend to keep the low end better than muffs and have a clearer distortion.

i'd recomend a simple buffer with a opamp such as [url="http://www.muzique.com/lab/buffers.htm"]http://www.muzique.com/lab/buffers.htm[/url] i'd recomend the first of the opamp ones - super clean etc and just add a blend knob (wire the output of the muff and the output of the buffer to the two outside lugs of a pot and take the output of the circuit from the middle)[/quote]



this one? Yeah that looks pretty simple. A blend knob might not be such a bad idea. In fact i was thinking i might build a seperate unit with a blend pot integrated into it. It's just that it's not a huge box and i might not have a massive amount of space.

I thought that might be something to do with it. Is it a bit like the modern bass big muff switch then or completely different?

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[quote name='Protium' post='656515' date='Nov 16 2009, 10:37 PM']Make a mock up enclosure out of card before you drill the metal one - make sure everything fits :)[/quote]

That would have been a good idea if i'd done that in the first place actually. Might try that out next time, if i can find a big enough piece of card.
Well i can't do anything until i get this shipment from the GER. It should be good once i do. I couldn't believe how cheap the LEDs are on there compared to the rip off merchants who call themselves "maplin electronics". Also i can't buy any parts for the opamp curcit because i'm in the middle of switching bank accounts thanks to those rip-off merchants who call themselves "H-BOS". Can't wait till the high court "test super case" is finished that's for sure.

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Right well my electronics stuff finally got here after a while, complete with very organised german packaging. Think of this next time Angela Merckl complains about our environment policy:

[attachment=36620:P1010510.JPG]

This one is just for fun lol.
[attachment=36619:P1010509.JPG]

After using the knobs, i've got plenty of space for 4 of them and the extra switch as well. That's good. I might get on with starting the wiring today once i've got everything sorted positionally. I've also got a new bank account so i should be able to order the stuff once i get a debit card and hopefully once my paypal balance is resolved.

Edited by EdwardHimself
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I thought i'd post a couple more pics while i get on with wiring the stripboard.



I decided to make a new footswitch for my guitar amp because the old one sucked. It was just a case of sticking the existing wiring into a new case and adding some new smaller LEDs.



I think the new blue led looks really nice compared to the old lead LED which didn't work.



A mock-up of what it'll pretty much look like when i'm done but without the blend knob which i'm going to order when i finally can get some money in.





I think it looks quite nice. That's just my opinion though.

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[quote name='velvetkevorkian' post='661089' date='Nov 21 2009, 03:28 PM']I concur. Looks very cool.
I like the idea of parallel outputs on a stereo jack too.[/quote]

Thanks. I dunno what i should do really, 2 outputs or a blend knob? Well the thing is that i thought i bought all the parts to sort out a buffer amplfier to sort it all out but i realised that i forgot about this little bit here. D'oh.



oh well i suppose i'll have to order this bit as well as the 4th knob from banzai again. After i've sorted it though it's pretty much done and i seriously hope it doesn't go wrong but i imagne there will be some sort of problem.

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[quote name='velvetkevorkian' post='662398' date='Nov 23 2009, 09:31 AM']For me personally it would be two outputs, but I like the whole parallel signal chain idea. Bear in mind you would have to have a way of combining them both back together or an extra channel to use. I guess it depends on how (or if!) you plan on using it.[/quote]

for that i was thinking i could literally just put a blend pot in a box with 2 inputs and an output. The idea is that it gives you more options. Of course, a blend knob would be more consumer friendly. I suppose i could try doing both and see how it works out?

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aye or wire it up so you can do both! Use a switching jack and have the output of the buffer go onto the tip and have the switch go to the blend knob. so when you don't have a cable plugged into the parallel output you'll have a clean blend on the pedal and when you do you'll have a parallel buffered send!

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[quote name='umph' post='662511' date='Nov 23 2009, 11:26 AM']aye or wire it up so you can do both! Use a switching jack and have the output of the buffer go onto the tip and have the switch go to the blend knob. so when you don't have a cable plugged into the parallel output you'll have a clean blend on the pedal and when you do you'll have a parallel buffered send![/quote]

that is a good idea, but it would involve 3 jacks though which i really don't have any space for unforturnately.

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[quote name='umph' post='662968' date='Nov 23 2009, 05:59 PM']no sound at all? debugging time don't put yourself down! check your wiring then check it again.[/quote]

Nah, no sound at all. Actually i get a tiny bit of sound when it's plugged into a DC adaptor so i suppose there is something wrong with the way i did the battery for a start. The thing is that i think the idea of doing a stripboard is flawed to begin with. I'm considering that i should just get a bead per hole board and that way it'll be a lot easier to have a visual reference with the schematic when i wire it because if there is something wrong with the wiring on the stripboard i seriously wouldn't know where to start.

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