Post-Lockdown pedal building

roberty

Sod it I fixed it. Better

roberty

roberty said:

Musikding posted a drilled enclosure to me by mistake. It's roomy so I might do something a hand wired/vero in this. Not worth posting back really

I know what I want to do with this now. It will be my Rat Factory

The way I envisage it is there will be five toggle switches. One to toggle between two modes and two switches per mode for top and bottom selection of clipping diodes

Switch 1 will select between YDR and Turbo modes

Then the two pairs of switches for each mode will be ON-OFF-ON, allowing for a variety of symmetrical and asymmetrical clipping options

Not sure about Reuts/mids. Maybe I'll put a trimmer in and set it to stock to start with

The mode switch could also be ON-OFF-ON but that would mean a feature duplication for clean mode. I think I'll just keep it simple. It'll be pretty mad as it is

I made a Rat ages ago with a wildly asymmetrical clipping mode that sounded really broken and cool. A good effect but not something you'd want a whole pedal for

Thinking about this it might be fun to have two mini pots for Reutz, one per mode. It would be nice to indicate where stock position is on the enclosure graphics

stickyfiddle

I built a thing! First one in bloody ages from me. Engineer's Thumb OTA compressor, which I'm pretty sure I bought in the great 2020 lockdown spree but never built. I got it done while watching the Wrecking Crew doc from the other thread and only had an issue because I put the LED in the wrong way around - not bad for such a long time since my last kit. 

I'm thinking this should help me get a much simpler bass rig. Probably an EP Booster and MXR Microamp either side of it and call it done

Cookiemonster

stickyfiddle said:

I built a thing! First one in bloody ages from me. Engineer's Thumb OTA compressor, which I'm pretty sure I bought in the great 2020 lockdown spree but never built. I got it done while watching the Wrecking Crew doc from the other thread and only had an issue because I put the LED in the wrong way around - not bad for such a long time since my last kit. 

I'm thinking this should help me get a much simpler bass rig. Probably an EP Booster and MXR Microamp either side of it and call it done

Very nice, I would like to build a noise gate and a compressor 

roberty

@Cookiemonster Fuzz Dog has just listed an noise gate but it has no side chain input

https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/product/gate

I did the PedalPCB Muzzle, very good but a pain in the arse to box up. I think the dynamics processor chip it uses is discontinued and expensive now

The Stone Deaf Noise Reaper is good value. Didn't notice any difference between that and the Zuul or decimator

People shit on the Boss one but apparently it's good in sidechain mode. IMO a well designed one knob noise gate is preferable tho

roberty

Compressor looks good @stickyfiddle you'll be glad you labeled up the knobs in two week's time when you've forgotten what's inside lol

stickyfiddle

roberty said:

Compressor looks good @stickyfiddle you'll be glad you labeled up the knobs in two week's time when you've forgotten what's inside lol

Lol 100% agree. This is also the first time I’ve used the gold sharpie I bought in 2020  

And yeah there’s no way I’m remembering 5 controls!! I actually even labelled the Ratio knob wrong while doing it. Then black sharpie over that, then gold with the right labelling… 

roberty

stickyfiddle said:

roberty said:

Compressor looks good @stickyfiddle you'll be glad you labeled up the knobs in two week's time when you've forgotten what's inside lol

Lol 100% agree. This is also the first time I’ve used the gold sharpie I bought in 2020  

And yeah there’s no way I’m remembering 5 controls!! I actually even labelled the Ratio knob wrong while doing it. Then black sharpie over that, then gold with the right labelling… 

I've been using pink dot stickers to mark my settings in rehearsals. One less thing to think about. Completely brain-free operation. The poor bugger's had a hard time

stickyfiddle

That's a good system - nothing wrong with simple if it works. Just yesterday I was thinking about some arrows on my stereo pedals to tell me which sockets to use for mono...

roberty

20% off here with code Halloween20 

https://pcbguitarmania.com/product-category/smd/

Going to order some pre soldered SMD PCBs I think

They have a noise gate @Cookiemonster https://pcbguitarmania.com/product/noise-terminator/

stickyfiddle

One thing I didn't mention on the comp was the 10M resistor on the bright switch was absent, so I cludged a couple of 1Ms together. It's not quite right so I'm sure the switch isn't as effective as it could be seems to work at least a little bit. 

Will be trying with my bass "rig" later on today but a quick noodle suggests it works very nicely.

Yorkie

Thanks to wife taking care of the kids, I've been able to finish off a number of builds I had pending:



And also managed to change the pickups on my SG to an AlNiCo II set. Over the moon. Hadn't had this kind of time for weeks, months maybe. 

roberty

Very productive @Yorkie ;

Cookiemonster

roberty said:

20% off here with code Halloween20 

https://pcbguitarmania.com/product-category/smd/

Going to order some pre soldered SMD PCBs I think

They have a noise gate @Cookiemonster https://pcbguitarmania.com/product/noise-terminator/

I missed this will check it out

roberty

Still waiting for my LED bezels to arrive so I can finish the Mexicola/Mas Malo. Bit annoying!

roberty

roberty said:

Still waiting for my LED bezels to arrive so I can finish the Mexicola/Mas Malo. Bit annoying!

Still waiting. They must be lost. eBay admin yay

I'm chatting to a guy in the US who has made some PCBs of a tone bender with a HM-2 tone stack. He has some other PCBs as well. $10 for a PCB. Anyone here interested? I'll grab the details of the others. The heavy bender on paper is awesome I'd love to hear it

Yorkie

roberty said:

roberty said:

Still waiting for my LED bezels to arrive so I can finish the Mexicola/Mas Malo. Bit annoying!

Still waiting. They must be lost. eBay admin yay

I'm chatting to a guy in the US who has made some PCBs of a tone bender with a HM-2 tone stack. He has some other PCBs as well. $10 for a PCB. Anyone here interested? I'll grab the details of the others. The heavy bender on paper is awesome I'd love to hear it

Ah, shame. I don’t know if they will be what you are after but bitsbox have got led bezels. I’ve used them and they were alright. Here: https://www.bitsboxuk.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=172_239

euan

Its not a pedal yet, but slowly prototyping a drive pedal based on a favoured 70s practice amp. Gonna have some fun playing with the output stage of this circuit to make it closer still to the unusual output stage of this amp.

bohemianbuoy

Anyone got any recommendations for a Bass compressor build that isn't an Orange Squeezer? Preferably Vero. There doesn't seem to be many layouts around, so wondering if anyone has built one and has a recommendation? I've promised my bass player a compressor and would like something a bit more challenging/interesting than the orange squeezer.

roberty

bohemianbuoy said:

Anyone got any recommendations for a Bass compressor build that isn't an Orange Squeezer? Preferably Vero. There doesn't seem to be many layouts around, so wondering if anyone has built one and has a recommendation? I've promised my bass player a compressor and would like something a bit more challenging/interesting than the orange squeezer.

Ross? http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2016/01/5-knob-compressor.html?m=1