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DIY Effects


JackLondon

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Ah, cheers Al. I'm new to electronics of this nature, though I used to install lighting systems & car media/security systems.

If I put the 2 superbrights in series, would I get away with no resistor?
My initial concern was that on Maplin's website, the specs say they're 2.5v (reverse max 5v, whatever that means).
The pedal's on a 9v PSU, so battery life isn't an issue. :)

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if they are 2.5V, then you need to lose 4v from the 9V battery, (9-(2 x 2.5))
The LED's will be fine at 20 to 30mA current, so my ready reckoner says 180 Ohm resistor is needed.
If you have 3 in series then you only need to drop 1.5V, which a 60 ohm resistor will do.
Don't risk blowing your LEDs by skimping on the resistor unless you are sure they can take it.
http://www.quickar.com/bestledcalc.php?session=

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I have a Roland AC 60 acoustic guitar amp, which can use up to 4 footswitches to turn various functions on and off. The manual shows it with one Boss FS-5L and three Boss FS-5U pedals, each one costing at least £25 quid, plus two PCS-31 cables at another £25 quid each so we are up to £150 quid just to turn a few effects on and off!

I don't think that's a great deal, so it seems to me that it would be fairly straightforward to buy 3 momentary normally on SPST switches, one DPST switch, an LED and a resistor for the latched one, and stick the bits into a dead Behringer footswitch which is currently cluttering up the spares cupboard. A couple of lengths of dual core cable and a couple of stereo 6mm jacks and Robert is your relative.

Surely it can't be this simple - what have I missed?

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[quote name='Al Heeley' timestamp='1330276722' post='1555025']
no it should be this simple as long as you're ok at soldering - all these footswitches just take mono jacks don't they?
[/quote]

The switches do, the input sockets on the amp are stereo jack. I've ordered the stuff from bitsbox, fingers crossed - thanks for the encouragement! Soldering is functional but I'm not called 'blobby nobby' for nothing!

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is a small clone chorus pedal build using the schematics from Tonepad dot com - a clone of the classic analog Electroharmonix Chorus with a couple of mods thrown in.

1) PCB etched and drilled after UV-exposure & development. I start by soldering the IC holders then work my way through the resistors.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6823528762/][/url]

2) All resistors in place plus mini trim pot for fine tuning the chorus sweep
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6823529182/][/url]

3) Next I move on to the capacitors, small ceramic caps first followed by the larger electrolytic ones
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6823529570/][/url]

4) Once the components are all soldered in place I fit the IC's and transistors then move to the board wiring. A couple of mods from the original circuit seen here -
a) Orange lead on left takes current from leg 1 of the op amp chip, feeding to a rate indicator LED, so rather than just an off/on indicator LED, this pulses in time with the settings of the rate control to give a visual indication of chorus speed setting.
B) blue/white striped wires on right taken from the pcb to replace the stock 150pF cap; this determines the overall delay depth.
The wires will go off to a mini toggle switch allowing choice between 100pF and approx 350pF cap to choose a light or deep voicing for the chorus. The 3-legged LED top right is a bicolour yellow/red which will be soldered to the voice switch to indicate the setting.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6823530108/][/url]

5) Enclosure innards, drilled and fitted with 3PDT footswitch, jack plugs, rate and speed pots, LED indicators plus voicing switch.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6969653993/][/url]

6) Here's the outer - graphics printed onto self-adhesive clear inkjet film (eg: www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk) makes a good job with the polished aluminium box showing through. The rate indicator LEDs are a couple of red surface mount LED's set into the eye sockets of the skull graphics.
Once positioned, the box is given 4 or 5 light coats of clear acrylic laquer (spray can) to seal the surface and protect the print.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6823531068/][/url]
Next step is to wire the board into the enclosure after a quick test run to ensure the circuit is all functional.

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Here's the finished unit with bicolour LED's lighting the base plate - red or yellow depending on the voice depth setting switch. Red LED's int he skull eye sockets pulse according to the rate set. Sounds pretty good too :)

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6852106550/][/url]

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[quote name='Al Heeley' timestamp='1332198695' post='1584850']
Here's the finished unit with bicolour LED's lighting the base plate - red or yellow depending on the voice depth setting switch. Red LED's int he skull eye sockets pulse according to the rate set. Sounds pretty good too :)

[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6852106550/"][/url]
[/quote]

That is seriously cool - you should be well pleased! Are you taking orders yet? B) ;)

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cool pedal Al! I made that one, though I don't know how to make the boards so I bought one from tone pad, came all the way from san salvador!
I've not been on this thread for years- but 50% chance I'm going to make something new- thinking if I don't buy an ACGpreamp for my warwick I may make my own state variable filter for a outboard box.
Or maybe a transistor ladder filter.... anyone else done anything similar?

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