DIY Effects

[Al Heeley]

Had some problems with my home-etched pcb version, so I reverted to another veroboard build based on the bass-tweaked schematic from Bobbass4k, got it working last night no prob (except my Ge tranny alignment was out by 180º!)
It's a bit of a beast - does all the wild oscillating Muse squealy stuff, definitely bass-heavy (just been playing guitar thru it so far ) but as a relatively simple build its a great project. badgerific - your circuit lacks the diode and cap - presumably for mains adapter, is this just battery-only design? The rest looks pretty similar, though people have to be careful about snipping the traces underneath R2, R3 and R5 resistors, they are not very clear from the diagram.

[Finbar]

I'm at the stage of assembly for my OC-2 rehouse/refinish project. Very little has been done in the way of modifying things. Used a DS-1 enclosure, and had to enlarge the power supply hole for the older Boss power supply, as well as drill the LED hole out to make way for the larger LED I'm going to be using. Some new chrome knobs are going on in place of the standard Boss ones. The case has been stripped and now it's gloss white instead. Happy with it.

But I digress as none of that is really DIY pedal stuff. The only thing to do before assembling is the lettering on the enclosure. I mentioned it a page or two back, but I've now had an experiment with some waterslide decals and lacquering back over the top, and I'm not convinced by them. The finish of the actual letters is okay - nice and clear and flat. But the line where the decal has been cut out looks horrid to my eyes. It's a minor thing, but when everything else about the pedal is spot on as far as I can see, that isn't acceptable I looked into vinyl lettering, but I think the letters I'm using are too small to be done that way. Hand painted letters won't look good, and screen printing is prohibitively expensive for a one off.

So any more ideas? No matter how oddball! Just want something professional looking.

[badgerific]

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='881793' date='Jun 30 2010, 12:04 PM']Had some problems with my home-etched pcb version, so I reverted to another veroboard build based on the bass-tweaked schematic from Bobbass4k, got it working last night no prob (except my Ge tranny alignment was out by 180º!)
It's a bit of a beast - does all the wild oscillating Muse squealy stuff, definitely bass-heavy (just been playing guitar thru it so far ) but as a relatively simple build its a great project. badgerific - your circuit lacks the diode and cap - presumably for mains adapter, is this just battery-only design? The rest looks pretty similar, though people have to be careful about snipping the traces underneath R2, R3 and R5 resistors, they are not very clear from the diagram.[/quote]

I didn't think I'd need the extra cap and diode. I was also using this diagram for a help with the off board stuff and it doesn't have a diode or extra cap.



I've made sure I clipped the track under the resistors, it should be made a bit clearer though.

[Al Heeley]

[quote name='Finbar' post='882409' date='Jun 30 2010, 08:51 PM']So any more ideas? No matter how oddball! Just want something professional looking.[/quote]
Have a go with inkjet transparency sheets, printed in reverse. I do all my box graphics like this now. Instead of cutting out round the letters you need to cut out an area to cover the entire pedal surface, so all the graphics needed go onto one sheet.
When the ink is totally dry laminate it ink side down onto teh metal case using araldite.

[gnasher1993]

[quote name='Finbar' post='882409' date='Jun 30 2010, 08:51 PM']I'm at the stage of assembly for my OC-2 rehouse/refinish project. Very little has been done in the way of modifying things. Used a DS-1 enclosure, and had to enlarge the power supply hole for the older Boss power supply, as well as drill the LED hole out to make way for the larger LED I'm going to be using. Some new chrome knobs are going on in place of the standard Boss ones. The case has been stripped and now it's gloss white instead. Happy with it.[/quote]

Pics or it's a DS-1.

[escholl]

[quote name='badgerific' post='882548' date='Jun 30 2010, 10:47 PM']I didn't think I'd need the extra cap and diode. I was also using this diagram for a help with the off board stuff and it doesn't have a diode or extra cap.[/quote]
If it it what I'm thinking of, it's just a diode wired across the input DC, as a form of reverse voltage protection. An input cap is sometime wired across the DC as well, in case the incoming supply is not very smooth, but to be honest I doubt you'd need that really. But reverse voltage protection is always a good idea.

[Al Heeley]

I must say that the bobbass4k mod circuit was absolutely amazing when tried at last nights practice with my stingray, gotta back right off the vol but huge dirty fuzz and a lot of interesting resonant frequencies and oscillations going on, its a great fun pedal this! Guitarist wants one now. You have to be quite careful with the settings of the 5 knobs as you get a huge range of evil racket as well as some full on hi gain fuzz out of this thing. More raucous than a woolly mammoth, and less controllable.
I was thinking it might just need a wet/dry blend control but why try to tame a rampant rhino? It's not designed to be a house pet.

Edited July 1, 2010 by Al Heeley

[badgerific]

[quote name='escholl' post='882600' date='Jul 1 2010, 12:01 AM']If it it what I'm thinking of, it's just a diode wired across the input DC, as a form of reverse voltage protection. An input cap is sometime wired across the DC as well, in case the incoming supply is not very smooth, but to be honest I doubt you'd need that really. But reverse voltage protection is always a good idea.[/quote]

I figured that was what it's for. Surely the LED should do the same job as it's wired input dc to led then to the board.

[escholl]

[quote name='badgerific' post='883407' date='Jul 1 2010, 08:56 PM']I figured that was what it's for. Surely the LED should do the same job as it's wired input dc to led then to the board.[/quote]

Not really, as the power for the board doesn't go through the LED on it's way to powering the board. Also, the LED is oriented to conduct normally when the input DC is correct. The protection diode is placed with the cathode connected to normal +V, not ground, and in parallel with the rest of the circuit -- this way if a reverse DC voltage is connected to the input, the diode will clamp the voltage down to about 0.6 volts, essentially shorting the power supply but protecting the board. The theory is that you will notice pretty quickly, and unplug the power supply if this happens. The power supply would be fine by the way, provided you don't take ages to notice it's not working.

[badgerific]

[quote name='escholl' post='883421' date='Jul 1 2010, 09:14 PM']Not really, as the power for the board doesn't go through the LED on it's way to powering the board. Also, the LED is oriented to conduct normally when the input DC is correct. The protection diode is placed with the cathode connected to normal +V, not ground, and in parallel with the rest of the circuit -- this way if a reverse DC voltage is connected to the input, the diode will clamp the voltage down to about 0.6 volts, essentially shorting the power supply but protecting the board. The theory is that you will notice pretty quickly, and unplug the power supply if this happens. The power supply would be fine by the way, provided you don't take ages to notice it's not working.[/quote]

The way I have it wired the power goes through the led and then to the switch like in this diagram:


So I thought the LED should sort out that problem for me, I'm really confused at why it wouldn't.

[escholl]

[quote name='badgerific' post='883434' date='Jul 1 2010, 09:30 PM']The way I have it wired the power goes through the led and then to the switch like in this diagram:


So I thought the LED should sort out that problem for me, I'm really confused at why it wouldn't.[/quote]

The switch turns off power to the LED, not the board itself. The LED had no effect on the board itself, or at least it's not supposed to. The board power is always on, regardless of what the LED does.

Hence, the LED is no protection again any reverse voltage.

[bobbass4k]

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='882836' date='Jul 1 2010, 11:37 AM']I must say that the bobbass4k mod circuit was absolutely amazing when tried at last nights practice with my stingray, gotta back right off the vol but huge dirty fuzz and a lot of interesting resonant frequencies and oscillations going on, its a great fun pedal this! Guitarist wants one now. You have to be quite careful with the settings of the 5 knobs as you get a huge range of evil racket as well as some full on hi gain fuzz out of this thing. More raucous than a woolly mammoth, and less controllable.
I was thinking it might just need a wet/dry blend control but why try to tame a rampant rhino? It's not designed to be a house pet.[/quote]

Good to know the layout works (save the cockup I made with the LED). I haven't got round to building mine yet, I've had quite a lot to do now I'm back home (I believe the technical term is a s***load). Once I've boarded out the loft (seriously), I'll get to building it.

[Finbar]

[quote name='gnasher1993' post='882574' date='Jun 30 2010, 11:16 PM']Pics or it's a DS-1.

[/quote]
Uh.. Okay?

No natural light, blurry shot of the 'hole enlarging'


more accurate shot with bits in position, and paper placeholders for the writing.

Edited July 1, 2010 by Finbar

[badgerific]

[quote name='escholl' post='883483' date='Jul 1 2010, 10:10 PM']The switch turns off power to the LED, not the board itself. The LED had no effect on the board itself, or at least it's not supposed to. The board power is always on, regardless of what the LED does.

Hence, the LED is no protection again any reverse voltage.[/quote]

Ahh right, I thought it grounded all the power when the pedal is not engaged. Next time I do a build on stripboard I will make sure I add some reverse voltage protection. Cheers for explaining that

Finished my fuzz factory build, does all the crazy squealing business only problem is the volume pot does nothing, which is quite important because this thing is LOUD, I've never encountered a problem like this so any tips on solving it?

[Al Heeley]

the off-board wiring looks right, I'd guess you have a poor solder joint somewhere or a short on a track to short the vol pot resistance out, thus no volume control.

[badgerific]

Just had a look on the board and realised one of my caps was in the wrong place. Moved it down and now it works correctly.

[Al Heeley]

excellent!
Got to build another one for my guitarist now, he loves it

[escholl]

[quote name='badgerific' post='884038' date='Jul 2 2010, 03:06 PM']Next time I do a build on stripboard I will make sure I add some reverse voltage protection. Cheers for explaining that [/quote]
No worries, it's super simple to do too -- next build, just pop one on the DC input jack like I have below. Sorted!

[badgerific]

[quote name='escholl' post='884168' date='Jul 2 2010, 05:31 PM']No worries, it's super simple to do too -- next build, just pop one on the DC input jack like I have below. Sorted![/quote]


So thats cathode (stripe end) on the lug which goes to the board and the anode to the ground lug?


Silly post man, didn't come till late today so I have to bike some miles to pick up my stuff to build a valvecaster (from beavis audio) tomorrow, looking forward to building it though. Anyone tried this circuit?

The fuzz factory I built last week is for sale in the effects selling forum if anyone is interested.

[escholl]

[quote name='badgerific' post='890768' date='Jul 9 2010, 08:24 PM']So thats cathode (stripe end) on the lug which goes to the board and the anode to the ground lug?[/quote]

Exactly

[badgerific]

Thanks

Drilled and painted my case yesterday, should have it finished today so I'll post some pics.

Edit:

Finished, doesn't work correctly because there's a volume drop. Heres the schematic I used any one have any idea's whats wrong?




Here's some pics of it:

Edited July 11, 2010 by badgerific

[escholl]

Do you have pics of your wiring, that way if you made an error in relation to the stripboard layout you posted, maybe one of us might spot it? Always helps to have an extra set of eyes look at stuff

[umph]

ahh just double checked layout is fine, try running it on 12v if thats still not great i'll give you a few recomendations to improve the circuit, grid bias is a bit lame.

Edited July 11, 2010 by umph

[badgerific]

[quote name='umph' post='892380' date='Jul 11 2010, 10:58 PM']ahh just double checked layout is fine, try running it on 12v if thats still not great i'll give you a few recomendations to improve the circuit, grid bias is a bit lame.[/quote]

Yeah I just read that it'd run better at 12V on the diystompboxes forum so I'm going to try it over a friends house with his power supply and if it's still not working I'll post some shots of the wiring.


EDIT:

Ran it on 12V and works how it's supposed to, lovely. Not a great volume boost but warms the sound up a bit and adds a bit of OD. I think my next build is gonna be a BYOC fuzz face.


EDIT 2:

Bought myself a BYOC orange distortion kit, looks fun with all the extra mods.

Edited July 14, 2010 by badgerific

[fatgoogle]

Just wondering what you use to make the breaks on pcb boards. Well im presuming the red dots on the layouts are breaks.