Contemplating a Zendrive-alike as 1st pedal project build - advise?

Megii

GuyBoden said:

stickyfiddle said:

Re board mounted pots, they're not necessary, but do make for a fantastically neat and quick build, provided you get the kit with pre-drilled enclosure!

Compare this Fuzz Face with this "birds nest" Fuzz Factory (both pedalparts kits)

Nice, very neat with the board mounted pots. If I'm reusing the enclosure for other experimental projects, I like to put the pots onto the enclosure case. Otherwise I don't think it matters, happy building.

Cheers Guy!

stickyfiddle

Yeah, in the 2nd pic the PCB is just floating on the wires. There are about 20 connections, so it's fairly solid- it's not even fully wired up in that pic, just enough for testing.

You can get little sticky plastic board stays on some builds (BYOC use these if I recall), which should be better for reliability in theory, but they're not strictly necessary. I wouldn't want to sell them commercially like this but it's fine for my own use.

Equally, I have a tremolo kit I still haven't built that uses a toggle switch for the board mounting. The Les Lius clone from pp uses the same method.

ChrisMusic

Good pics, and point well made @stickyfiddle.  Nice pedals.

It is still not difficult hand wiring if you have a methodical mindset, which I grant not every one does.  PCB mounted controls are OK in a properly drilled enclosure, but any operational stress goes into the joints and board.  As you can see from the reliability reports of board mounted jacks causing problems in commercially made amps on this very forum, it is not a panacea.  Jacks are probably the worse culprit though.  One other tip, it is immeasurably easier for both the build and any subsequent trouble shooting, especially if it is a complex one, to use a range of different coloured wires, and logically coded makes it more consistent across builds too.

But it should be fine as long as care is taken with the build, and as with anything, look after your gear and it will look after you.

All IMHO obviously.

Megii

Cheers @stickyfiddle and @ChrisMusic - I keep handing out wisdoms, but am amazed and chuffed by all the great help and encouragement from this thread - really do feel it will give me some advantage when the pedal build gets going, and I will probably need it.

stickyfiddle

Wisdom! I'm wary of board mounted footswitches (for hassle of changing them) and jacks (for stress on joints) but pots are ok I think. The only reason I didn't go for the board-mount option on the Factory build was it doesn't fit a battery in the standard MXR-sized enclosure

frankus

Just rummaging around for pics of my recent builds:



Zero Point Micro Delay and handpainted enclosure - I use Hammerite primer, acrylic paints and then many coats of plastikote clear.

Except this one which is MOP like the Zenduku (actually my Pedalparts Zendrive)



I've got a bit of a Thing for PCBs from guys on the Madbeans forum at the moment - this is a compressor a bit like a Lovesqueeze..



Should be able to post pictures of a Klon and SHO in 1590a enclosures soon

One of my problems is  drilling in the right places - I'll rehouse the Zendrive one day get all four lined up

frankus

Oh and here's the Little GEM amp - not a Ruby

Megii

Cool stuff @frankus - of course there is the fun of painting the enclosure to look forward to also, a nice place to add some individuality and get away from that commercial "same as everyone else's" thing. The Zero Point MD looks a bit Van Gogh somehow.

frankus

Thanks, it's meant to be Starry Night - that's only coat #2 - I try and get it all wrapped up in three coats of acryllics

If you get the bug take a look at:

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/
http://revolutiondeux.blogspot.co.uk/

Vero designs can be a great way to knock up something quickly - to see if you like it - once you get a parts bin

Megii

frankus said:

Thanks, it's meant to be Starry Night - that's only coat #2 - I try and get it all wrapped up in three coats of acryllics

If you get the bug take a look at:

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/
http://revolutiondeux.blogspot.co.uk/

Vero designs can be a great way to knock up something quickly - to see if you like it - once you get a parts bin

Cheers for the links, though I must say that fuzz demo at the top of the first one is my idea of guitar tone hell...  Will have to try vero at some point - there is a scheme for a Wampler Ecstacy clone I saw somewhere, which I could certainly go for. Totally getting the starry night finish there - ambitious for sure, but I like it, and there won't be many other pedals out there looking like that.