DIY Effects

[Sibob]

Hi all,

I'm just putting a JMK PCB together, hopefully just needing parts from my bits box.

Question, does the orientation of LEDs as clipping diodes matter? There are not +/- indications on the PCB for D1 & D2 in the same way you see with electrolytic caps or other diodes:

 

But I'm not good enough with schems to know:

 

I have actually soldered them now based on the following advice: https://forum.pedalpcb.com/threads/led-polarity.5/

ie Anode to circle pad......although clearly this is a different PCB, and so that may not be correct in this particular case.

Thoughts?
Many thanks

Si

Edited April 6, 2020 by Sibob

[Higgie]

It’s still a Diode so i’m guessing polarity matters. From what I understand, the line after the triangle indicates the negative on an LED. The fact they are pointing different directions also indicates they have a specific orientation.

[Woodinblack]

56 minutes ago, Sibob said:

Hi all,

I'm just putting a JMK PCB together, hopefully just needing parts from my bits box.

Question, does the orientation of LEDs as clipping diodes matter? There are not +/- indications on the PCB for D1 & D2 in the same way you see with electrolytic caps or other diodes:

 

But I'm not good enough with schems to know:

 

 

I have actually soldered them now based on the following advice: https://forum.pedalpcb.com/threads/led-polarity.5/

ie Anode to circle pad......although clearly this is a different PCB, and so that may not be correct in this particular case.

Thoughts?
Many thanks

Si

In this config, and only this config, it doesn't matter which way round they are, as long as they are the opposite way round from each other, ie, one has to point one way, and the other one the other way, but it makes no difference which one.

If it is D1 and D2, the square on the track is indicating polarity. Again, doesn't matter which but from the convention I can see with the other diode sneaking into the bottom with '3' on it, and for neatness, which is always worth striving for, I would put the cathode (the stripe) in line with the square pad

 

[Sibob]

19 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

In this config, and only this config, it doesn't matter which way round they are, as long as they are the opposite way round from each other, ie, one has to point one way, and the other one the other way, but it makes no difference which one.

If it is D1 and D2, the square on the track is indicating polarity. Again, doesn't matter which but from the convention I can see with the other diode sneaking into the bottom with '3' on it, and for neatness, which is always worth striving for, I would put the cathode (the stripe) in line with the square pad

 

Thanks very much, and your advice is seemingly in-line with the article I posted to, suggesting the anode to the square pad, which would mean their orientation to each other is opposite (based on the PCB layout).

Cheers

Si

[Stub Mandrel]

3 hours ago, Sibob said:

Hi all,

I'm just putting a JMK PCB together, hopefully just needing parts from my bits box.

Question, does the orientation of LEDs as clipping diodes matter? There are not +/- indications on the PCB for D1 & D2 in the same way you see with electrolytic caps or other diodes:

 

But I'm not good enough with schems to know:

 

I have actually soldered them now based on the following advice: https://forum.pedalpcb.com/threads/led-polarity.5/

ie Anode to circle pad......although clearly this is a different PCB, and so that may not be correct in this particular case.

Thoughts?
Many thanks

Si

The two LEDs are wired  'anti-parallel' so it doesn't really matter as long as the anode of each one is connected to the cathode of the other.

[bobbass4k]

Traditionally square pads on diodes are for the cathode (-) leg, including leds; a lot of old PCBs don't have any silkscreen markings for diodes, just square pads.

Bear in mind that square pads on electrolytics are for the anode (+) leg. Don't ask me why the potentially explosive inconsistency, I've learned there are no satisfying answers to these questions. But yeah, in this case it doesn't matter as long as they're opposite. 

Edited April 6, 2020 by bobbass4k

[Groove Harder]

Hi folks,

I'm new to this DIY pedal malarky, I'm finding it quite theraputic 😀

I'm putting together a Fuzz Face clone from a kit build and I was a bit overzealous while desoldering a pot and lifted a pad.

Can i solder on a jumper wire from somwhere or is this PCB toast? 🤣

Cheers

[Stub Mandrel]

40 minutes ago, Groove Harder said:

Hi folks,

I'm new to this DIY pedal malarky, I'm finding it quite theraputic 😀

I'm putting together a Fuzz Face clone from a kit build and I was a bit overzealous while desoldering a pot and lifted a pad.

Can i solder on a jumper wire from somwhere or is this PCB toast? 🤣

Cheers

Shouldn't make a difference as the connection is only to the pad on the underside which hasn't lifted.

[Groove Harder]

Cheers dude! 

 

[Woodinblack]

On 06/04/2020 at 12:03, Woodinblack said:

Ooh thanks for that. Don't have room for that, but I could certainly fit one of the baby ones in:

https://schalltechnik04.de/en/instructions/mini-hp-vong

 

So I ordered that the next day - thought it would be a good thing to while away some time, it came today, so after dinner I went and had a look at it. Turned out it didn't while away much time!

Stuck it together

And tested it out, all working, so its next place is the bottom of my pedalboard!

Hmm.. could have smoothed the label better. Still, it will be under the board, noone will ever see it!

Those kits are pretty good. Everything goes together as it should, £30 well spent

Edited April 11, 2020 by Woodinblack

[itu]

On 11/04/2020 at 21:52, Woodinblack said:

Those kits are pretty good. Everything goes together as it should, £30 well spent

Actually, I bought three different units from Julian. Very well documented. These have been really easy to assemble, the mini-Vong was done yesterday (without instructions) in just under two hours. I started Vong after the mini version and I completed it just an hour ago. No prints, yet. Omnilooper is still waiting there on the table.

Try one, if a HPF is in need. Or anything else from him. Good stuff!

[Beer of the Bass]

Ah, the mini-Vong must be new since I last looked at the site. I find the full sized version really useful, particularly with my double bass.

[bloke_zero]

Yeah - the Vong!  It really helps with recording. The last time I got into the studio my signal chain was Vong, Guma Drive and pumpernickel into Ampeg pre - so mainly schalltechnik04. The keyboard player and engineer went out of their way to comment on the tone being good. I really like that there is blend on both the compressor and the drive - makes life a lot less A or B!  I'm sad now I didn't opt for his bass preamp too - maybe that would be a good project right now: https://www.musikding.de/Growling-Krizzly-Deluxe-kit

[Woodinblack]

Anyone know of any kits for dual channel preamps, 2 in, 2 out with a summed mono, volume/bass/treble for both sides?

I know, its an easy circuit but those kits are so easy to assemble it is just like buying a new one, but I don't see any new ones other than at crazy prices.

[Rich]

5 hours ago, bloke_zero said:

Vong, Guma Drive and pumpernickel

They did the conveyancing on my last house purchase.

[Rich]

OK, well partial success anyway. Fuzzdog's Mammoth clone bit works very well -- I've added an input level control which means that it doesn't freak out if an active bass is plugged into it. You'll notice the hole where there is supposed to be a Blend control... this is the bit that needs tweaking, at the moment they're not playing nicely together and I need to establish why. Until I've got that sorted, it's still working fine as a plain Mammoth/Mastodon clone.
I'm dead chuffed with the way the artwork came out. I put the pic together in MS Word and then printed it onto an A4 sheet of clear LaserJet label stuff. I'm sure it wouldn't stand up to years of relentless gigging, but it's fine for my purposes.

[pete.young]

@Richthe artwork looks excellent. I have a Fuzzdog EchoBlue Delay which arrived a couple of days ago. I was casting round the garage for a rattlecan of blue paint, but might give this idea a go instead.

[Higgie]

Time to dust off the old soldering iron! Got a load of pcbs left over from 2010/11 that I never finished because my iron broke. With all the time on our hands now I’ve decided to get back into it full pelt. I’ve ordered all the components for:

3x Klon Centaur

2x Woolly Mammoth

1x Fuzz Factory

2x DAM Sonic Titan

1x Catalinbread SFT

1x Fulltone OCD

1x Analogman King of Tone

I’ve always wanted to have a proper go after building a couple kits 10 years ago. So i’m going to be doing it all from scratch (besides etching the boards), ie, waterslide graphics, drilling the enclosures etc.

Will post updates as I go.

[bloke_zero]

Nice

22 hours ago, Higgie said:

1x Fulltone OCD

I admire your undertaking! I really like the ocd - I liked the bass mod described here: https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Disorder_Drive/p847124_9537006.aspx

 

[Rich]

Next project has arrived -- Musikding's 'Classic Bass Preamp'. In other words, a clone of the Stingray preamp. I'm going to mod it a bit to tame that massive bass boost and probably the treble too.

[Cathode_Follower]

Just finished my first kit build! Build You Own Clone dual-band compressor. Highly recommend it, really quiet operation and so many applications with the sweep function!

Starting work in the next few days on a Bug Crusher veroboard build. Trying to do the whole thing on as much of a budget as possible for fun. Have had to order a few NP electrolytics and an enclosure but managed to source all other bits from random dead kit and my collections of old parts.

[Higgie]

On 24/04/2020 at 09:42, bloke_zero said:

Nice

I admire your undertaking! I really like the ocd - I liked the bass mod described here: https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Disorder_Drive/p847124_9537006.aspx

 

Thanks for the advice - I’ll definitely try it out!

[bloke_zero]

22 hours ago, Cathode_Follower said:

Build You Own Clone dual-band compressor

How are we feeling about the byoc kits? I’ve never built one - I really like the idea of that one!
And what is a good UK source? I found http://www.vibe-o-tronic.co.uk/products.php?brand=1&type=1

[Cathode_Follower]

@bloke_zero Bought mine from pedalsandparts.com based in the Netherlands. Postage was very reasonable and arrived in about 4 days. Kit price not the cheapest (from my limited kit experience) but still the cheapest (if not the only) option I could find for this type of compressor, kit or built. Instructions were easy to follow although there were a couple of things that might have caught out a novice (I'm new to pedal kits but have done enough assembly and tinkering in my time)

The biggest downside was that the components all came in one bag.. Sorting out the (tiny!) 40+ resistors took bloody ages!!

All in all very happy with the results though. Great kit but perhaps not suitable for beginners

(edit) - Link to the instruction PDF if anyone interested http://www.byocelectronics.com/pmbcinstructions.pdf

Edited April 28, 2020 by Cathode_Follower

[bloke_zero]

@Cathode_Follower - great - thanks. I’ll give it a go!