Post-Lockdown pedal building

roberty

Is it me or does this switch look like it's not soldered in properly? I cement the entire hole with solder when I do mine

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265832562220

english_bob

roberty said:

Is it me or does this switch look like it's not soldered in properly? I cement the entire hole with solder when I do mine

That's what I do too, but not through any sort of expertise. I figure the stronger the bond between the switch and the PCB the less chance there is that it won't make contact. Easy enough to do yourself later I guess...

roberty

english_bob said:

roberty said:

Is it me or does this switch look like it's not soldered in properly? I cement the entire hole with solder when I do mine

That's what I do too, but not through any sort of expertise. I figure the stronger the bond between the switch and the PCB the less chance there is that it won't make contact. Easy enough to do yourself later I guess...

I'm genuinely curious. Maybe I'm overdoing it, but filling it in completely would seem more solid to me

Looks like we're double posting each other today :-) 

markblack

@roberty @english_bob thanks for that - I have a go at that and see if there's any joy. I know it's going to be 100% my lack of ability but you live and learn

roberty

markblack said:

@roberty @english_bob thanks for that - I have a go at that and see if there's any joy. I know it's going to be 100% my lack of ability but you live and learn

It does look like the transistors are in backwards unfortunately

https://www.jedspeds.co.uk/product-page/axis-fuzz-roger-mayer

They are sensitive to heat, and having 3 legs are tricky to desolder and remove. If you can get them out with the legs intact you still run the risk of frying them in the process

If it's any consolation I fried a couple of semi-precious Russian germanium transistors a couple of years ago. I have a mini-graveyard of borked PCBs beyond resuscitation

roberty

Sorry @markblack that was a bit fatalistic

I would snip the transistor off its legs and desolder the legs from the PCB one by one. Anything more than that and you risk damaging the tracks on the PCB

The transistors are common modern ones, you need a 3906 and a 3904, about 20p each:

https://www.bitsbox.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=140_151_153&products_id=1069

https://www.bitsbox.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=140_151_152&products_id=1068

Bitsbox are good for small orders because the lowest shipping tier is £1.90

euan

Always try and socket your transistors. For this very reason. 

Side note something that just popped into my head that isn’t related, don’t get your TL071s mixed up with your 72s otherwise you’ll end up troubleshooting something that isn’t broken 

english_bob

Good spot @roberty - that'll definitely stop it working the way it's supposed to.

@markblack - it's tricky to get transistors out of a PCB without damaging them but it's not impossible.

It looks like the transistors are one 2N3904 and one 2N3906- if you need to replace them I've generally found that it's most economical to buy from eBay- you'll probably need to buy more than one of each, but it'll cost less than placing a tiny order with any of the big electronics suppliers (who are geared to fulfilling big orders) because you'll pay much less in postage. 
https://www.bitsbox.co.uk/ are good for small orders too.

Worst case scenario, you can just order the whole lot again from Jeds Peds, just go for the "PCB and components" option and re-use the box.


@roberty - double posted again!

roberty

euan said:

Always try and socket your transistors. For this very reason. 

Sometimes the sockets are more valuable than the transistors. For unobtanium transistors I solder them in directly but leave a lot of leg so they can be repurposed. I'm not really a fan of sockets but that's probably just my bias (no pun intended), I've had a couple go bad on me. I do socket ICs though

Cookiemonster

If you use a solder sucker the engineer one is good. It's not to bad removing parts. I have very few times now where I burn a pad. 

Cookiemonster

For transistors and parts I use bitsbox. They are sent very quickly 

english_bob

euan said:

Always try and socket your transistors. For this very reason. 

Side note something that just popped into my head that isn’t related, don’t get your TL071s mixed up with your 72s otherwise you’ll end up troubleshooting something that isn’t broken 

The absolute number one tip for building pedals has to be to go slow, keep everything ordered while you're building and double check everything before you solder anything. Pretty much every mistake I've ever made building pedal kits has been because I was rushing and not paying enough attention. Sometimes they're easy to rectify, sometimes not, so it's better not to fuck up in the first place.

That said, I'm not a fan of Jed's Peds' instructions- they have a habit of hiding important details (component orientation, trimpot settings etc) in amongst stuff you don't necessarily want to read, like explanations of how components work, so it's easy to miss something that might turn out to be important. (credit where it's due- some DIY suppliers' build guides are woefully lacking in essential details, and Jed's are emphatically not in that category).

Build Your Own Clone are the best at guiding an absolute beginner through the process of assembling a pedal from a kit, and a lot of what's helpful in their step-by-step guides is applicable to any pedal kit you buy, regardless of where you get it from. It's the height of nerdiness, but I'd say that reading one or two of their instruction sheets might be a good introduction to pedal building even if you never buy one of their kits.

https://buildyourownclone.com/

markblack

@roberty i flipped the transistors - had to snip them i the end and hey presto it's fuzzy! the soldering ain't pretty but I'll put that down to a lesson.

Thanks to everyone else who chipped in - super helpful as always.

Cheers

Mark

roberty

@markblack great stuff Mark. Not easy to flip a transitor! It's a great circuit, enjoy

roberty

Hakko sponges on Amazon! My one's knackered

Hakko Soldering Iron Cleaning Sponge A1559 , Grey https://amzn.eu/d/6t78Xfw

I think I'm going to order a Belton Brick reverb from Fuzz Dog, the one with the tone control. I'm hitting a dirty amp and I think it'll work well in that context. I have a True Spring which is literally perfect as a spring emulation, but it's maybe a little too complex for my needs

roberty

Did a few light bits and bobs today after a fairly heavy night

i was right about the Belton Brick, it does sound good into a crunchy amp. I got the long spring tank, think I would opt for medium if I could choose again. It's lo fi and trashy, reminds me of BBC Radiophonic Workshop. A friend is drawing some graphics for the decal

The MZF-1 is interesting. It sounds a bit lacking on its own but pushing a dirty Marshall style amp it is glorious. I think it'll work well on bass so I look forward to giving that a try. I've got some graphics ready for the decal

Cookiemonster

roberty said:

Did a few light bits and bobs today after a fairly heavy night

i was right about the Belton Brick, it does sound good into a crunchy amp. I got the long spring tank, think I would opt for medium if I could choose again. It's lo fi and trashy, reminds me of BBC Radiophonic Workshop. A friend is drawing some graphics for the decal

The MZF-1 is interesting. It sounds a bit lacking on its own but pushing a dirty Marshall style amp it is glorious. I think it'll work well on bass so I look forward to giving that a try. I've got some graphics ready for the decal

Very inspiring. 

I made a moonn electronics one that is very strange. And just finished a delay for someone on a band locally 

Keefy

roberty said:

Did a few light bits and bobs today after a fairly heavy night

i was right about the Belton Brick, it does sound good into a crunchy amp. I got the long spring tank, think I would opt for medium if I could choose again. It's lo fi and trashy, reminds me of BBC Radiophonic Workshop. A friend is drawing some graphics for the decal

The MZF-1 is interesting. It sounds a bit lacking on its own but pushing a dirty Marshall style amp it is glorious. I think it'll work well on bass so I look forward to giving that a try. I've got some graphics ready for the decal

The Belton Brick module is based around three PT2399 digital delay chips. Quite a few 'spring delay' pedals use the same approach, from the budget (Mosky Spring Reverb) to the boutiquey (J Rockett Boing). I have the former and it works surprisingly well, with the advantage that the dry signal remains analog.

roberty

Got any pictures @Cookiemonster or links?

@Keefy I really like the brick delay. Trashy and lo-fi. Thinking about it real spring reverb is considered trashy and lo-fi in the production world. Rudy van Gelder's treatment of Miles Davis' trumpet is probably the most well known example outside of guitar

I put the Fulltone Mas Malo PCB together this afternoon. It has a squelchiness in the treble that reminds me of the Boss FZ-1w. The EQ stage is very well considered. I'll probably give it a go with my band

I think I'm getting the fuzz bug back again. Maybe I'll get a breadboard and conduct my own fuzzy experiments

Cookiemonster

roberty said:

Got any pictures @Cookiemonster or links?

@Keefy I really like the brick delay. Trashy and lo-fi. Thinking about it real spring reverb is considered trashy and lo-fi in the production world. Rudy van Gelder's treatment of Miles Davis' trumpet is probably the most well known example outside of guitar

I put the Fulltone Mas Malo PCB together this afternoon. It has a squelchiness in the treble that reminds me of the Boss FZ-1w. The EQ stage is very well considered. I'll probably give it a go with my band

I think I'm getting the fuzz bug back again. Maybe I'll get a breadboard and conduct my own fuzzy experiments

The Eye of Horus was used as a sign of prosperity and protection. I used an ink stamp for this design. I was trying to get it broken up like an old EHX pedal, not sure I succeeded. But it is a great pedal and a clone of the Barbershop from Fairfield Circuitry. I altered it a little and gave it more gain. The Sag Control does wonders to the tone. It's probably my favorite drive pedal. The Jfets are 201 SMD and it really is touch sensitive.