DIY Effects

[umph]

[quote name='Al Heeley' timestamp='1335181566' post='1626736']
I spent 2 hours trying to debug a tubescreamer once when I realised I hadn't actually put the op amp chip in the socket.
How I laughed.
Not.
[/quote]

been there done that. Best one is not plugging in a power supply

[umcoo]

Well that was easy....a quick dab of the iron on a cold joint at the dc jack and it springs into life...just an FYI, the GGG tuned muff sounds amazing!

Thanks for the help folks

[Al Heeley]

Excellent! Wheres the pics?

[umcoo]

Ahh dag nabbit! I knew I forgot something!

Tonight!

[umcoo]

Ok here goes. To be honest, I'm not 100% happy with the wiring and how neat it is...it's better than my previous attempts, but still!

I first built this pedal to Green Muff specs in 2007 and then sold it, it's made the rounds on Basschat and I finally got it back again in December last year. Fancied a change so got a new PCB and components and the rest is history.

Enjoy

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/2012-04-24161422.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/2012-04-24161403.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/2012-04-24161600.jpg[/IMG]

[Al Heeley]

nice - wish all my wiring was that neat!

[umcoo]

haha thanks

[mancunianfox]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=4]So I finally got back into pedal building after a long delay after my guitars and previous builds (bar-one) were destroyed. Got the itch to build a Gristleizer but thought it would be a good idea to get some practice in first.

Did the Moosapotamus Paralooper as I have had a failed attempt at a blender in the past using a vero layout I found. Experimented with drip swirling on the enclosure but wasn’t very pleased with the results. Might need some more practice at that. Actual build was fine although I accidently wired one of the electrolytic caps with the wrong polarity. Once I debugged that it worked like a charm and it is a really handy circuit to have as a bass player.

Image of enclosure: [url="http://postimage.org/image/7h5e5sjsn/"]http://postimage.org/image/7h5e5sjsn/[/url][/size][/font]
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=4]Vero Layout: [/size][/font][url="http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/bcreekmur/paralooper.jpg.html"]http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/bcreekmur/paralooper.jpg.html[/url]
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=4]Moosapotamus article: [/size][/font][url="http://moosapotamus.net/THINGS/paraloop.htm"]http://moosapotamus.net/THINGS/paraloop.htm[/url]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=4]Just waiting for my next musikding order to arrive for my Soda Meiser build [/size][/font]

Edited April 27, 2012 by mancunianfox

[Al Heeley]

Here's a delay pedal project at the request of a talented bass pal, Mikey from the forum. This is Sonic Kitchen's Time Machine.
PCB from tonepad.com, circuit modified with send-return loop and an op-amp buffer.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/7121480761/][/url]

Only the delay signal gets routed thru the send-return loop so you can apply quite a subtle effect or a deeply shocking one to the repeats while still getting the clean dry signal pushing through first.
Here the completed circuit routed through the buffer is bveing readied for testing before boxing up.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/7121481835/][/url]

Here's the finished pedal guts shot, this is about as close as I can get to neat and tidy
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6975402260/][/url]

Enclosure graphics, finished pedal
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/7121483251/][/url]

Found a sexy little indicator LED to install from ebay which is pre-wired to pulse though blue/gree/purple/orange and guaranteed to partially blind direct eye contact in a dark pub gig.

[mancunianfox]

[quote name='Al Heeley' timestamp='1335626932' post='1633939']
Here's a delay pedal project at the request of a talented bass pal, Mikey from the forum. This is Sonic Kitchen's Time Machine.
PCB from tonepad.com, circuit modified with send-return loop and an op-amp buffer.

Found a sexy little indicator LED to install from ebay which is pre-wired to pulse though blue/gree/purple/orange and guaranteed to partially blind direct eye contact in a dark pub gig.
[/quote]

That looks absolutely amazing! What do you use for your labels? Your pedals are always finished incredibly well.

Finished the Devi Ever Soda Meiser earlier today. The noise switch is a bit mental and not particularly useful for bass. Makes a drum machine sound totally nuts though. The fuzz is nice with bass at lower intensities but at higher gains it is a big like an ampeg scrambler and sounds better on a guitar or synth. Blending some low signal or using my Dark Boost to recoup low end helps a huge amount with this circuit.

[Al Heeley]

Thx v much Graphics inkjet printed onto clear adhesive film, then sealed with a few coats of clear acrylic spray.
http://www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk/.-Adhesive-Papers_075.htm

[mancunianfox]

[quote name='Al Heeley' timestamp='1335656380' post='1634393']
Thx v much Graphics inkjet printed onto clear adhesive film, then sealed with a few coats of clear acrylic spray.
[url="http://www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk/.-Adhesive-Papers_075.htm"]http://www.craftycom...-Papers_075.htm[/url]
[/quote]

Cool, I'll try and find some photo shop templates and give that a go!

[Protium]

New fuzz pedal finally completed today. Bit of an experiment with a different type of case wrapped in black vinyl and battery box.

[IMG]http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j89/rh15951/SECF/6d70fd3a.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j89/rh15951/SECF/3085afaa.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j89/rh15951/SECF/f444c838.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j89/rh15951/SECF/9fa1aa49.jpg[/IMG]

[paul_5]

[quote name='umph' timestamp='1335190246' post='1626916']
been there done that. Best one is not plugging in a power supply
[/quote]

Did that last night - trying to measure voltages in a transistor and everything read 'ZERO' - I'd forgotten to connect the battery.

Again, much hilarity ensued...

[Al Heeley]

Another bass boost/preamp/overdrive jobby, small format, phat switch, never going back to my Boss ODB-3 now.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/7140226049/][/url]

[xgsjx]

If I could afford it & you could make moog clones, I'd have a board full of your pedals!

[ahpook]

here's my heavily modded turbo rat in its, um....'distressed' finish.



the stock turbo rat was modded by our very own silent fly to improve the bass response, and then i played wth it a bit more, first replacing the stock LEDs with Si diodes ([i]very[/i] heavy distortion) and now with a mosfet transistor (gate and drain connected together) and and an LED.

the finish is courtesy of black hammerite spray paint, a blowtorch and some old exhaust tape i had lying around.

how does it sound ? still pretty darn heavy, but a lot more in the way of useful sounds before it gets to full-on meltdown. i spent some time with various clipping components until i found the best two i had, and i'm glad i took the time to do so.

Edited May 6, 2012 by ahpook

[xgsjx]

Bit of perspex arrived today.

It's 3mm too small!

I think my bling project has a jinx on it. Silly me went & measured the top of the box in a hurry, not realising it's a frikkin tapered lump of plastic!
I might end up sticking those superbrights elsewhere.

[Al Heeley]

Here's another Mammoth fuzz, more pedalboard-friendly, DC only unit

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/7165473964/][/url]

[Al Heeley]

Small clone chorus build in the smaller enclosure, tight fit to get all this in. Same mods as before - 2-depth voice switch and the heartbeat LED rate mod.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/7170011996/][/url]

[bigash]

[i][size=5]Hi, i'm about to attempt my first home built effects pedals. I have bought a Tube screamer and Red[/size][/i]
[i][size=5]ranger PCBs from Tonepad, and have been buying the components from Small Bear but have run into some problems with Capacitor values. The diagrams from Tonepad show capacitors in uF [ Microfarad ] and pF [ Picofarad ]. However the values on Small Bear are nearly all in mF [ Milifarad ]. I converted these all to mF, larger values were ok to find but the smaller ones eg 0.047uF converted to 0.000047. The smallest value in mF available was 0.001mF. The pF values are even worse 51pF is 0.000000051mF. Where am i going wrong? [/size][/i]
[i][size=5] Also one of the capacitors is non-polorised, which i could not find. Would a polorised work the same. What does Tant mean in regards to capacitors. What will be the best size of enclosures to use with these pedals. And finally what is the difference between symetrical and asymetrical clipping diodes. I am sure there is a simple answer to most of these problems but i am stumped if i can find them. cheers in advance[/size][/i]
[i][size=5] Ash. [/size][/i]

[dincz]

Small Bear are being a bit sloppy with their notation. Where they've written mF they mean microfarad (µF). Millifarad is not normally used for capacitors.

Non-polarised types include ceramic, polyester etc. The common polarised types are electrolytic and tantalum (tant).

Symmetrical clipping - both the positive and negative sides of the signal are clipped equally. The diodes are the same but the way they're connected determines whether the clipping is symmetrical or asymmetrical.

[Al Heeley]

tantalum caps can be quite sensitive, try not to overheat them when soldering. They are a way of getting a polarised cap in a very small package, be careful to make sure you have it the right way round, its not always easy to see but there should be a tiny + marked on it next to one of the legs.

If it asks for a non-polarised cap you should not replace with a polarised one as these only allow current to flow in one direction whereas non-polarised allows current to charge and discharge in both directions - important for use as a guitar signal filter.
Useful site> http://www.beavisaudio.com/techpages/Caps/

Asymmetrical clipping means 2 different diode types used, one on the positive phase of the signal and a different one on the negative phase, or you could have one dieode to clip the + and 2 diodes in series to clip the -, so the clipping is not symmetrical. Its useful to experiment with different configs and find the distortion sound that you prefer. You can also add a tiny cap to the diode pair to give a softer, smoother distortion, or use LED's instead of silicon diodes to give a looser open sound which is a bit more raw.
http://www.cubisteffects.com/2010/01/mod-it-yourself-part-2-diode-clipping/

[paul_5]

[quote name='Al Heeley' timestamp='1336810099' post='1651284']
Its useful to experiment with different configs and find the distortion sound that you prefer. You can also add a tiny cap to the diode pair to give a softer, smoother distortion, or use LED's instead of silicon diodes to give a looser open sound which is a bit more raw.
[url="http://www.cubisteffects.com/2010/01/mod-it-yourself-part-2-diode-clipping/"]http://www.cubisteff...diode-clipping/[/url]
[/quote]

Or if you can find them Germanium diodes give a lovely soft, warm clipping.

[bigash]

[b]Thanks, i think i understand. Stuff should be here in a couple of weeks, can't wait to get started. [/b]
[b]Anybody know what size enclosure would be best for the Tube screamer and the Red ranger.[/b]

[b]Cheers Ash.[/b]