SteveF's Pedal Building Journey

Philtre

@Adam_MD Have you tried Tayda transistors and ICs? So far they seem to be OK.

SteveF

Must try optical at some point.  Are the 3pdts from Tayda no good then?  I have a few coming in my order to try.

Adam_MD

Philtre said:

@Adam_MD Have you tried Tayda transistors and ICs? So far they seem to be OK.

Yes I have them in all of my earlier builds but buying them in bulk from UK sellers works out almost as much inexpensive as tayda and I can guarantee they’ll fall within spec so no longer use them.  

I definitely wouldnt order any discontinued obsolete parts from tayda though those I tend to buy from retailers i know I can trust so I know it’s within spec.  

These days I only use tayda for pots, knobs and sockets.  I did order some enclosures last time but haven’t used them yet I’ll let you know what I think about those when I’ve used one.  

Philtre

@Adam_MD Tayda have a comprehensive selection of 16mm pots, and Bitsbox stock some (although you have to be careful whether you get a 15mm or 17mm shaft) but do you know any UK suppliers that stock this type?

Adam_MD

Unfortunately not.  I only order one type of pot from Tayda Alpha 16mm right angled PCB mount with a 15mm tall and 6mm wide shaft

https://www.taydaelectronics.com/potentiometer-variable-resistors/rotary-potentiometer/logarithmic/10k-ohm-logarithmic-taper-potentiometer-round-shaft-pc-mount.html

If I need to use them for a vero build I just cut the excess leg off where it bends at 90 degrees.

I only order from Bitsbox if I need a few pots quickly otherwise Tayda are much cheaper than anywhere else and with pots having +-20% tolerance I don't think anyone elses Alphas are going to be any better quality.  I tend to plan 10 -15 builds in advance so don't have to put many orders in and just wait for their 15% discount codes to drop.

Philtre

Yep, thought so. I use the standard solder lug type and have built up a stock of 15mm shaft (good for MXR type knobs) and 17mm shaft (good for 1510 Davies knobs). But it's strange that you can't get these in the UK.

Kalimna

Damn good job! I had a go at build a Timmy, and ended up re-wiring the pots, which improved the sweep considerably. Of the 15 or so pedals Ive built now, they are all still in their plain aluminium enclosure - with the exception of some 5 yr old's squiggles on one. I get too impatient to spend time on the enclosure - building up the vero and laying out the enclosure is my addiction!

For your next pedal, may I humbly suggest a Catalinbread Naga Viper and CB30 (both layouts found over at tagboardeffects_ into a 1590BB enclosure with a footswitch for each? Sounds immense (booster into overdrive), and a great way to plan internals

Good stuff

Adam

SteveF

I'll check them out I still have a SHO and Eternity burst to finish off though. Unfortunately it's been hectic at work and I've been cream crackered in the evenings so haven't done anything with them all week

Kalimna

I know how you feel there - I have a Friedman Dirty Shirley vero waiting to be populated and popped into an enclosure currently housing a Dr Boogie that I was never happy with. It's been sitting on my bench for the last two weeks, even though the hard work has been done, enclosure-wise. Knackered in the evenin, and early mornings to work....

Adam

SteveF

Minor update:  Managed to get the SHO clone wired up into the enclosure today and finished.   

SteveF

Forgot to take a gut shot though  

Philtre

SteveF said:

Forgot to take a gut shot though  

Aw, come on. Open her up...

SteveF

SteveF

Not as neat. For some reason I felt all fingers and thumbs today. It works great though so no worries. There’s not a lot to take up space so no worries. 

Philtre

Neat enough! :-)

SteveF

Yep - it will do for this one.

Kalimna

Excellent work on the enclosures - looking very well finished. But may I suggest (and apologies if someone else has beaten me to it) a spellchecker?
How about some sound demo's? The thing that has bothered me about the pedals Ive built from TagboardEffects is whether they sound as they should, and especially those that are a little noisy....

Adam 

Adam_MD

Kalimna said:

How about some sound demo's? The thing that has bothered me about the pedals Ive built from TagboardEffects is whether they sound as they should, and especially those that are a little noisy....

The layouts on tagboard effects are spot on imo it’s your component choice and build quality which will make the difference for sound quality/noise etc in my experience.

Kalimna

Adam_MD said:

Kalimna said:

How about some sound demo's? The thing that has bothered me about the pedals Ive built from TagboardEffects is whether they sound as they should, and especially those that are a little noisy....

The layouts on tagboard effects are spot on imo it’s your component choice and build quality which will make the difference for sound quality/noise etc in my experience.

Absolutely, I have no issue whatsoever with the layouts - more whether the way I put them together and whether they sound as they should.
It is difficult to know if the pedal is 'correct' if you have no frame of reference for that sound. For instance, I've just completed a Jersey Girl Fulltender which mostly sounds great, but has something of a background noise to some of the settings - now is that how it is supposed to sound? If not, is it the choice of op-amp (tried many different types with similar effect)? The electrolytics (admittedly bought as a cheap selection-box affair from eBay)? The diodes? The soldering (pretty sure that is OK)? The lead dress in the enclosure?
I've also built a Way Huge Pork Loin, Saffron Squeeze, Green Rhino and Red Llama which sound great, but the Purple Platypus just won't work. And I wonder why that is, despite building 3 fresh vero's.

Cheers,
Adam

SteveF

Kalimna said:

Excellent work on the enclosures - looking very well finished. But may I suggest (and apologies if someone else has beaten me to it) a spellchecker?
How about some sound demo's? The thing that has bothered me about the pedals Ive built from TagboardEffects is whether they sound as they should, and especially those that are a little noisy....

Adam 

Haha!  Neither I, nor anyone else, had picked that up yet! (Or if they had, they didn't say so!) Whoops!  I shall have to be more careful in future.   

WTF is an OUPUT anyway!?!? 

In terms of sound, I quite fancy building something I have a 'real' version of at some point so I can A/B them.   e.g. I know my Timmy sounds great, but I haven't tried it alongside an actual Timmy.  In some respects it doesn't matter as long as it's a great sounding overdrive, but at the same time I know where you're coming from. 

I will try and get some sound demos up at some point.  I'm not the best player, but I reckon I can string something together.  I might use some of the Making Music challenges to use them and kill two birds with one stone.