DIY Effects

[Si600]

Extremely random thing, not an effect, but definitely DIY.

 

This thing exists because it can, not necessarily because it should.

 

I'm the kind of weirdo who wants all my outputs from my pedal board to be nice and neat in the same place. I also want a clock on my board. So....

 

 

 

[MartinB]

Nice! I made myself a similar board clock a few years back. I've been thinking about making a box to sit next to my HX Stomp to hold two auxillary switches, plus an input for an optional expression pedal - I might migrate the clock unit to it, since it's going to have some spare space between the switches.

 

[BabyBlueSound]

Why do you need a clock on the board? 😁 I mean I love the idea but curiously wondering if there is any specific requirement this serves.

[LukeFRC]

16 minutes ago, BabyBlueSound said:

Why do you need a clock on the board? 😁 I mean I love the idea but curiously wondering if there is any specific requirement this serves.

it's for the folk who haven't found this thread 

 

[Si600]

3 hours ago, BabyBlueSound said:

Why do you need a clock on the board? 😁 I mean I love the idea but curiously wondering if there is any specific requirement this serves.

 

I find it convenient.  I don't wear a watch, we have no wall clock in our rehearsal space and if there is one it's not always on the most convenient wall, and it's easier to look at rather than finding whichever pocket I've put my phone in.

 

So, need?  Probably not. Want? Definitely. Why? Because I can

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Si600

[MartinB]

When a band plays over their allotted time, sometimes the sound person will shut them off - but sometimes they won't, and every band after them has to cut their sets short. Either way, there's no excuse for it. I can't control other bands, but I can make damn sure that my band are not being arseholes. Be the change you want to see in the world! 😁

I use mine as a timer - it resets to 00:00 whenever it's switched on, so it always shows how many minutes have elapsed since then.

Edited 17 hours ago by MartinB

[Goliath_FX]

On 05/04/2025 at 07:11, BabyBlueSound said:

I am trying to build a 3band RAT, and I messed up my 2nd build as well, even though I managed to get it work on a breadboard. 

 

I am using an audio scope to find where the PCB starts to differ from the breadboard.

 

I found that leg 7 of the OP07 reacts to distortion in a weird way (clean when down, SUDDENLY overdistorts at a certain point, despite the linear A100k pot).

 

However leg 7 is the V+ leg of the IC, not for the audio signal. Do I likely have a problem with the power section of the circuit? As I'm extremely surprised I found the overdistortion issue on this specific leg...

 

It's not an output and is not directly connected to the DIST

 

 

 

So VA is just a 9V supply, the reason its acting on the distortion of the circuit is because its powering up the IC chip. There will be something else at fault. 

 

Have you just taken fuzzdogs circuit and put it on your own PCB? or are you using the fuzzdog pcb? Most RAT pedals, most but not all, have that same issue with the Distortion pot going from nothing to full gain within a short amount. Installing a Ruetz mod can help it. Using a C100 can also help. 

[BabyBlueSound]

47 minutes ago, Goliath_FX said:

 

So VA is just a 9V supply, the reason its acting on the distortion of the circuit is because its powering up the IC chip. There will be something else at fault. 

 

Have you just taken fuzzdogs circuit and put it on your own PCB? or are you using the fuzzdog pcb? Most RAT pedals, most but not all, have that same issue with the Distortion pot going from nothing to full gain within a short amount. Installing a Ruetz mod can help it. Using a C100 can also help. 

 

This PCB has a Ruetz that's handled by a trimpot, I think I tried that already, but will give it another go.

 

I used Fuzzdog's own PCB.

 

And I thought the same about the IC and VA, but the breadboard version does not do this crazy distortion on leg 7, neither does my other (non-operational) Fuzzdog PCB attempt. It's only this latest version that very angrily distorts on that specific leg. And the same A100K pot works completely fine on the breadboard, no short operational range there.

 

Now my mum is visiting so have limited time, but I'll measure some more voltages, probe some audio at various points, and will try to play more with the Ruetz trim.

 

Also, I still haven't fully tested the first attempt, which failed somewhere else.

 

If all else fails, I got 2 more PCBs I can give a try...

[LukeFRC]

15 minutes ago, BabyBlueSound said:

 

This PCB has a Ruetz that's handled by a trimpot, I think I tried that already, but will give it another go.

 

I used Fuzzdog's own PCB.

 

And I thought the same about the IC and VA, but the breadboard version does not do this crazy distortion on leg 7, neither does my other (non-operational) Fuzzdog PCB attempt. It's only this latest version that very angrily distorts on that specific leg. And the same A100K pot works completely fine on the breadboard, no short operational range there.

 

Now my mum is visiting so have limited time, but I'll measure some more voltages, probe some audio at various points, and will try to play more with the Ruetz trim.

 

Also, I still haven't fully tested the first attempt, which failed somewhere else.

 

If all else fails, I got 2 more PCBs I can give a try...

Post some good photos - one of us might be able to see something 

[Goliath_FX]

6 hours ago, BabyBlueSound said:

 

This PCB has a Ruetz that's handled by a trimpot, I think I tried that already, but will give it another go.

 

I used Fuzzdog's own PCB.

 

And I thought the same about the IC and VA, but the breadboard version does not do this crazy distortion on leg 7, neither does my other (non-operational) Fuzzdog PCB attempt. It's only this latest version that very angrily distorts on that specific leg. And the same A100K pot works completely fine on the breadboard, no short operational range there.

 

Now my mum is visiting so have limited time, but I'll measure some more voltages, probe some audio at various points, and will try to play more with the Ruetz trim.

 

Also, I still haven't fully tested the first attempt, which failed somewhere else.

 

If all else fails, I got 2 more PCBs I can give a try...

 

You should not have any audio at all on pin 7. If you have then there is a big problem. Photos of the pcb your working on would help more than voltages

[BabyBlueSound]

1 hour ago, Goliath_FX said:

 

You should not have any audio at all on pin 7. If you have then there is a big problem. Photos of the pcb your working on would help more than voltages

Again, I'm equally confused by this, but the properly working breadboard version of this same circuit (which I have linked a couple comments ago) also has audio on pin 7. 

 

I get that pin 7 should be only connected to the power rail...

 

To clarify, I also swapped the OP07 between the breadboard and the PCB one to make sure it's not an IC issue, and there were no changes. Breaboard continued to work, PCB continued to weirdly distort.

Edited 1 hour ago by BabyBlueSound

[BabyBlueSound]

Alright I have probed again and there is no audio coming from pin 7 on the breadboard. 🤯 Must have made a mistake in my notes the last time. Audio is only coming from the pin 6 output as expected.

 

I'll review the PCB again and compare the 2.