DIY Effects

[bobbass4k]

Latest project - 8 band EQ with adjustable bandwidth/centre frequency on each band. I've always wanted to do something with an octagonal enclosure, and when I decided to do an 8-band EQ, well, it was just so obvious. No stomp as it's intended to be a desk bound recording aid (nor would it fit with the pattern i was going for anyway) -



And because I love making the OCD crowd perspire -





Very much in keeping with my usual "sausage casing full of weasels" aesthetic. I [i]can [/i]wire neatly, but I have other things to do, and it's pedal wiring, not an art exhibit.

Edited September 24, 2016 by bobbass4k

[bartelby]

I like that!!!

[ColinB]

How d'you remember what knob does what?

[bobbass4k]

Inside circle is boost/cut, outer circle is q factor/centre frequency. The inner knobs follow resistor colour bands (couldn't get any brown though so I had to settle for dark red for 1), though because I preferred the way it looked, the outer circle is reversed... The sweepable centre frequency meant marking the frequencies each band covered would have been super complicated, I've calibrated the bands to cover a fairly comprehensive range, so really it shouldn't matter, red is low, grey high, everything beyond that is down to the ears.

[Guest FretNoMore]

Halfway through assembling a Musikding/Parasit Studio kit, Into The Unknown. It will be a fun task for tomorrow to line up 8 pots, three switches and two diodes ...

[Passinwind]

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1474624838' post='3139303']
Agreed it's a good skill to have as a DIYer, and if I was better set up at home I would tackle it no problem. I just don't see the point of risking it myself when I have the correct equipment at work is all.

I think with the loss of a lot of FETs, etc. as through hole devices it's likely that there will be a lot more SMD required for DIYers in the near future.
[/quote]

Yep. A lot of modern opamps are not available any other way these days too. I've been using little adapter boards to allow retrofitting in old through hole designs, but at some point for new builds it seems better just to go all-in with SMDs.

Edited September 24, 2016 by Passinwind

[KingBollock]

[quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1474738085' post='3140168']
Inside circle is boost/cut, outer circle is q factor/centre frequency. The inner knobs follow resistor colour bands (couldn't get any brown though so I had to settle for dark red for 1), though because I preferred the way it looked, the outer circle is reversed... The sweepable centre frequency meant marking the frequencies each band covered would have been super complicated, I've calibrated the bands to cover a fairly comprehensive range, so really it shouldn't matter, red is low, grey high, everything beyond that is down to the ears.
[/quote]
That is utterly genius!

[Bigwan]

[quote name='FretNoMore' timestamp='1474738794' post='3140176']
Halfway through assembling a Musikding/Parasit Studio kit, Into The Unknown. It will be a fun task for tomorrow to line up 8 pots, three switches and two diodes ...




[/quote]

Let the enclosure do the hard work for you. Mount all the pots and switches to the enclosure as straight as you can, then offer the pcb up to them, then solder. Worth a try!

[Guest FretNoMore]

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1474747363' post='3140261']

Let the enclosure do the hard work for you. Mount all the pots and switches to the enclosure as straight as you can, then offer the pcb up to them, then solder. Worth a try!
[/quote]
Thanks - that is probably the only way of doing it.

[Guest FretNoMore]

Finished the Into The Unknown, moment of panic when nothing worked at first but luckily found two bad solder points. This is a quite mental pedal ...

[Bigwan]

[quote name='FretNoMore' timestamp='1474833927' post='3140952']
Finished the Into The Unknown, moment of panic when nothing worked at first but luckily found two bad solder points. This is a quite mental pedal ...




[/quote]

Did you mount the pots first? Did it help?

[Guest FretNoMore]

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1474870425' post='3141083']


Did you mount the pots first? Did it help?
[/quote]

Yes, what I did was
- Mount pots in enclosure, straighten legs and align pots as good as possible
- Put a piece of cardboard with double-sided tape across the pot backs
(Holds pots in position and at a distance from the circuit board)
- Turn over and drop the pot assembly out of the enclosure
- Mate it with the circuit board, making small leg adjustments where necessary
- Put board plus pots back in enclosure
- Tighten nuts lightly
- Solder legs

Edited September 26, 2016 by FretNoMore

[kodiakblair]

Has anybody built the Growling Krizzly from musikding ?

[url="http://www.musikding.de/Growling-Krizzly-Deluxe-kit?lang=eng"]http://www.musikding...xe-kit?lang=eng[/url]

I've got a feeling it would be beyond me but that's never stopped me,course I could see sense and get somebody to build it

Edited September 26, 2016 by kodiakblair

[Bigwan]

[quote name='FretNoMore' timestamp='1474915273' post='3141516']
Yes, what I did was
- Mount pots in enclosure, straighten legs and align pots as good as possible
- Put a piece of cardboard with double-sided tape across the pot backs
(Holds pots in position and at a distance from the circuit board)
- Turn over and drop the pot assembly out of the enclosure
- Mate it with the circuit board, making small leg adjustments where necessary
- Put board plus pots back in enclosure
- Tighten nuts lightly
- Solder legs
[/quote]

Good work!

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1474926147' post='3141619']
Has anybody built the Growling Krizzly from musikding ?

[url="http://www.musikding.de/Growling-Krizzly-Deluxe-kit?lang=eng"]http://www.musikding...xe-kit?lang=eng[/url]

I've got a feeling it would be beyond me but that's never stopped me,course I could see sense and get somebody to build it
[/quote]

Haven't seen any built, but they must sell some of them as they were recently out of stock. Looks moderately complicated that one. The electronics wouldn't be the problem for me. Drilling and finishing the enclosure is where I get bored...

[kodiakblair]

Cheers Bigwan

There's a huge thread on bassic.ch about the GK but my German is lousy and Google translate doesn't help much.
I'll put it on my list for end of the year.

[pete.young]

Musikding looks interesting. Anyone tried the U Boat for bass, or know of a decent Octave kit that doesn't fuzz?

[Bigwan]

Guma drive and antique kits ordered!

[Johnny Wishbone]

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1475010278' post='3142358']
Guma drive and antique kits ordered!
[/quote]
I'm seriously considering the Guma Drive but I am very concerned about the SMD soldering! Might ask him to solder them on for me before shipping.

Did some SMD LEDs in my Xbox controller ages ago but it was an absolute ballache. I have a lot more soldering experience these days but it's still really putting me off ordering the kit!

[Bigwan]

Eventually made a start on my Guma Antique. PCB went together really quickly. Fully populated (minus pots, jacks, psu, led as not sure what way i'll do them yet) in less than an hour, SMD included. I'll do the Drive before the end of the week then get on to the enclosure. Not looking forward to that bit!

Edited November 2, 2016 by Bigwan

[Johnny Wishbone]

Got the Guma Drive as a birthday gift a few weeks back. Not tackled it yet as I've got a few others to finish off first.

As per above, I'm not looking forward to the enclosure! That said, the drilling template does look pretty good.

Edited November 2, 2016 by Johnny Wishbone

[Bigwan]

For a change the drilling isn't the only bit I'm dreading! I've decided I'm going to have a go at housing both the Antique and Drive pedals in the one[i][u][b] etched[/b][/u][/i] enclosure. Never etched anything before...

[Sibob]

My Antique enclosure is all etched and painted, very happy with it.
SMDs are done, populated all the resistors in the board ready for soldering, just need to find some time (when baby is not around....fumes) to solder it all.

Si

[Passinwind]

My latest folly: a DIY "Filter EQ" onboard preamp, with a matching stompbox version to facilitate trying out various mods I have in mind.





The format includes conventional Bass and Mid controls, then a swept frequency low pass filter with resonance control. The sweep range for the one in my Travis Bean is likely to be ~2.4K-8.8KHz, but will be fairly easy to tailor to other ranges as desired. Once I get things sorted out I hope to make this an open source project giveaway, with the circuit board layout shared via a board fabricator's website, so anyone who cares to give it a try can just buy a short run of 3 boards and roll their own. I'll post a link to all the details if this comes to pass, assuming this is within BC's rules. I have a board revision ready to go and should be ordering the next set in the next few days.

Here are the basic modeled frequency response sweeps for five different resonance settings and six frequencies covering the full range of my initial test build. I have confirmed good correlation between the model and actual measurements and so far everything looks and sounds pretty decent.

Edited November 5, 2016 by Passinwind

[Chienmortbb]

Nice Charlie. I think you are OK with Basschat's rules as you are not making any money from it.

Edited November 10, 2016 by Chienmortbb

[Johnny Wishbone]

I'm wanting to add a clean boost to my board (both my Warwick basses have extremely low output compared to my Fenders/Spector so I want switch a booster in when using them). Any recommendations? Just a one-pot job that'll fit into a 1590A if possible?

I did do an EHX LPB-1 clone a while back but seem to remember that flips the phase. The ZVex SHO looks simple enough but I understand there's an audible crackle from it? Tried building the Catalinbread Poblano Picoso twice but got a ridiculous amount of hiss when the effect is on. Is there anything else you guys could recommend?