1590A.. seriously?

[Heath]

2 attempts so far.  A Dan Armstrong Green Ringer and a Rangemaster.  Both worked prior to my attempts to stuff them into this Keebler Elf-sized enclosure.  I even tried using the low profile jacks and the teeny-tiny DC jack from SmallBear and I'm still feeling like a caveman trying to make fire.

No idea how you guys manage it.   Javi, you're an madman!

That's 1 ruined enclosure, 1 probably ruined enclosure, and three more waiting for me to mangle them :D

Oh, another thing, drilling those little enclosures is a PITA!  With the others, I have something to hold onto.  With the 1590As, as soon as my drill hits a burr, it yanks the enclosure right out of my hand and flings it in a random direction (or whacks my fingers/knuckles, or, if I'm determined to hold it with a death grip, I get the sweet sweet feeling of a drill bit against my fingers).  

I think in the future I'll be sticking to 1590B and up.

[Geiri]

Just made this mini AMZ Mini Booster in a 1590a with Glow-In-The-Dark paint. The toughest one I've made is an overdrive with two pots. That was a tight fit!

[Madferret]

Please dude for the sake of your fingers get a couple of G clamps. Not only will you stop any drill on finger action but my enclosures definitely got more tidy after using them.

[Madferret]

Where did you get the glow in the dark paint Geiri? It looks super cool.

[Geiri]

Madferret wrote

Where did you get the glow in the dark paint Geiri? It looks super cool.

It is quite cool! Just search eBay for glow in the dark paint. Beware as some of them are UV paint so they don't really glow in the dark on their own. The one I got actually glows after light has been shining in it.

You can get it in various colours. The thing is though that you must have a white base because otherwise it won't look good. It not completely transparent. You also need to paint a trillion layers before its any good!

I might try another colour just for fun.

[Heath]

heh, yeah, I suppose I should.. but the "Oh, SHIT!" marks on the enclosures are sort of my thing. :D

"Is that paint chip?"
"Yeah.  I think that happened when it hit my cat in the head."
"Is that why he only has one fang?"
"No, but it's why he walks backwards at times.. and kind of sideways."

[Vince]

I recently made a few 'baby' ones just out of curiosity. I don't like them at all. They just feel weak. I'll be sticking to standards after I've wasted the enclosures I have :)

[JaviCAP]

Nah, 1590A is THE standard :P.

Well, the only problem I get with these enclosures is the jacks placement. Once you manage to get them so close that once the jacks are inserted they're about 2-3 mm apart from each, other,  the problem dissapears and you have "plenty"  of room to fit the pots and pcb's.

You can get inside 2 x16 mm pots,  4 x 9mm, or 2x 9mm and a 1x16mm one with no problem. Vero can "easily" be of  10x16 holes, and if you  try it, and depending of the components (electrolithics are the worst enemy in a 1590A) even of 20x14.

Whenever I get two low profile jacks, I'll build a Fuzz Factory, It's doable with a extremely careful measurement, low profile jacks and a external dc jack (http://www.taydaelectronics.com/hardware/dc-power/dc-power-jack-2-1mm-enclosed-frame-with-switch-external.html) just waiting to get these jacks from some  place where the shippin' costs are not of $9 for two jacks (Smallbear).

First one I built was a real pain in the ass, but after the second it became an easy job, if you know the limits.

For drilling I just use my low speed drill, and hold the enclosure with my gloved (security gloves) hand. Never try to drill'em quick or the enclosure will fly across the room :P

BR

[IvIark]

Yeah I built a Super Hard On in one and that was bad enough, some people must be insane to put themselves through the frustration of some of the builds I've seen.  I saw a pic by Madbean where he'd crammed a 4 pot delay pedal into one.  Clearly insane.  I would flip and throw it through a window well before I finished.  

Shame as well because I bought quite a few 1590A's.  Doh!  But I do think they'll be quite useful for non-stomp builds like a toggle switchable buffer and some utility builds.

[jtn191]

I've built a vero meathead, vico vibe trem, and fat pants (ep boost) in a 1590a. The key is planning/measuring and wiring

[jtn191]

and regarding enclosures, I've had that happen to me a few times. Wear gloves for protection...wouldn't want it to knock your hand into the bit

[JaviCAP]

By the way,

If anyone knows where to get these jacks:

http://www.smallbearelec.com/servlet/Detail?no=576

without getting a s&h postage of 9 dollars, please let me know. Love Smallbear, bur s&h is crazy when you just need a few samll components.

BR

[IvIark]

Have you ever considered using 1/8" sockets for builds for yourself?  I can understand why people use 1/4" jacks and sockets on guitars and amps because they are big, robust, easy to use on a dark stage etc, and it makes them an obvious choice.  But there is no signal that can be passed by a 1/4" plug that couldn't equally be passed by a 1/8" and that reduction in size would be a real God-send in some builds, particularly when using 1590A.

You could still use 1/4" leads from your guitar and to the amp, you could have a buffer first in the chain with a 1/4" input and a 1/8" output to the first pedal.  And with a pedal board (or rack in my case) the pedals are rarely moved so it shouldn't cause any undue stresses on the cables or connectors.

Just thinking out loud really but I think I may do this in builds for my own use.

[JaviCAP]

Yes, is an idea I've considered for my own pedals, but imposible for the ones built to be sold.

What people love when buyin' an effect in a 1590A is to get in a very small enclosure the same specifications than in a 1590B or even BB, so very few would buy a 1590A with 3.5mm jacks, and so I have to try to get the small effects as verbatim as posible to their big brothers.

Pity is that for "extreme" builds as the Fuzz Factory it all depends on the jacks, and the only source I've found for these low profile ones, is Smallbear and their crazy $9.5 shippin' charges :P

BR

[Ross]

The only thing I've built in a 1590A was a Cornish Buffer. It wasn't TOO bad, but you have to remember that the Cornish buffer has no 3PDT or pots, making my job a lot easier. I don't know how some people do it. I've got Madbean's 1590A Gainster (the Egghead) that I was planning to slap into a 1590A, but now I'm not so sure. Sounds pretty good with an OPA2132.

[Kinski]

Madbean has a nice tutorial on 1590A pedal building which was a huge game changer for me.

Check it out here:

http://madbeanpedals.com/downloads/BabyBoardGuide.pdf

I especially love his trick of using vero on the 9mm pot lugs. And the drill layouts below are quite helpful.

[alex.s]

I guess some people like the challenge, others love tiny pedalboards. Me, I'm not bothered with either and have never been that bothered with 1590As. I guess I'll give them a go at some point more for fun than anything, but I simply don't see the size difference as a reason to go for a smaller enclosure that costs slightly more, could end up flicking around if (ab)used live and would probably do my head in to drill and populate...!

[dexxyy]

Been toying with the idea of a few 1590a pedals for a while now so ordered a couple with my last tayda order. Spent all night trying to squeeze a cot 50 in to one, I had so much fun I know exactly what's going in the other one........... Fag ash, one 1590a ashtray coming right up. All that shit to save a little pedalboard space???  As the old adage goes.....fuck that for a game of soldiers.

[mrclean77]

JMO:

They're OK(ish) for booster and maybe simpler OD's, but anything past that is masochistic. I did a Mammoth in one for myself and decided after I'd only charge around $500 if someone wanted me to do it again, hahaha. The board is small enough, but I used 4-16mm pots and it is unreliable, at best, just due to everything shorting against everything else.

I have a couple of smd muff pcb's and an smd DBD pcb that are all 1590A-sized/intended. When I decide I am hating myself enough...I will bother to source parts and get started.

[Lee]

I have built more than 12 boxes using 1590A, including overdrive, booster, buffer, compressor, fuzz, distortion, tremolo and mixer. No doubt, it is quite time consuming and suffering to put the board and knobs and jacks into such a tiny box. But the moment they were "born", you'll embrace them just like they're your own children.