7 MILLION PAGE VIEWS!!!

[Geezer]

The blog is quickly approaching 7,000,000 pages views.....will definitely be there when most of you read this.

Congratulations to Mark, and THANKS for creating such a great place to hang out!

Geezer

[IvIark]

Thanks for that buddy.  We're getting somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 page views a day now which is fantastic.  Sometimes more when something popular is published.

And it wouldn't be the same without all you guys on here so thanks to you all

[rocket88]

i concur. congrats mark. i know i wouldn't have gotten into building pedals, at least like i have, and learned as much if i didn't find the main site, and if it weren't for all the awesome people here. you really created one hell of a community. i mean unless i'm wrong it seems like there's even a lot of guys that have even started companies, and they even hang around and help out. i'm just glad to be a part of it, and be able to give back after all that i've gotten. i raise my beer to you sir.

[IvIark]

Yes a few people have started companies, although most quickly moved on from vero onto PCBs.  Can't blame them for that one

It's really rewarding for me to see things like that, especially when they have become good at it and successful like Asgeir, Vince, Jimmie, Aaron and others.

One thing I will say as well without any shadow of a doubt.  The quality of builds from those people is probably as good as it gets commercially.  When you look at some of the utter shit that has been called "boutique" in the past like the Tanabe Zenkudo which looks like it was soldered by my dog and he should be totally ashamed of, it's nice to see people taking pride in it and offering extremely well built pedals that will last.  It's also nice that not one of them have released "the next greatest thing" and claimed it as their own design with 3 years R&D like so many other builders.

[rocket88]

very true. all i know is people have been asking me to build stuff for them, but i'm not sure i'm ready to sell anything, i think i still have to get better at a few things before i move in that direction, but one things for sure. i know it's much more labor intensive, but i really love building on vero. i feel like if i were to sell anything it would be in small quantities, and for me it shows the pride, effort, time, and love that goes into each build. i mean if brad from creepyfingers can do his builds on tagboard, why not vero?

i can tell you that from building pedals my soldering has gotten drastically better, my understanding of electronics have gotten drastically better, and i actually think my playing has gotten better since i know how certain effect change the sound and i can get what i hear in my head out of the amp.

plus, i think all of us here all have the same view on that whole "The next greatest pedal".........."been in development for X years" crap. i just have my own spin on some pedals that i love. and i can tell you if it hasn't been for everyone here i wouldn't even be contemplating venturing into the realm of selling, let alone even building 100+ pedals that i have built already.

as a side note, i can tell you that Asgeir's pcbs are beyond stunning. they are a work of art without, even hearing a note come out of them.

[Frank_NH]

Yes, thanks IvIark for helping me dive right into this hobby last year!  My interest actually started with my Dad, who was a Ham Radio guy and a DIY electronics hobbyist.  He built tons of projects like power supplies, ham radio gear, antennas, etc.  We together built a tube amp (15W, EL84 like an AC-15) and he also built a PCB for me for the Stage Center reverb.  After he passed away, I inherited a big box full of electronics parts and intended to do something with them someday.  So when I saw the opportunity to build a fuzz pedal with DIY parts, I began the journey.  Little did I know that I would begin searching out germanium transistors, box capacitors, and Russian diodes!  And along the way I significantly upgraded my building tools and got a proper multimeter. soldering station, etc.  The solder I'm using is from my Dad's old stock and so that gives my builds a little mojo .

So here is my work area today (man, I really need to clean it up!).  I have the veroboard building process down now such that I can complete a modestly complex circuit in a couple of hours, and be rocking on it with my test rig shortly thereafter (assuming there are no faults...heh!).  

And did I mention I have fresh orders coming from Small Bear and Mammoth?  Boy, I really have the DIY bug don't I!   Cheers from sunny New Hampshire, USA.

[Chris60601]

Well said rockett - I think that's many folks sediments, I know it certainly is mine.
I know so few of you over the past 3 months or so, but the little I have have communicated with, class act folks.

Well done Mark and thank you.

[Chris60601]

I am envious of all you that have workstations - I use the dinning room table and have to unbox, then box everything up. *Sigh* If I can ever get the kids crap out of the garage, I too will be able to show off my little world away from reality. Until then, there will always be a mix of crumbs and wire stripping on the floor under the table ... And it (satisfyingly) drives the Mrs. silly

[rocket88]

i'd post my workspace, but at the moment i'm preparing to move since i just bought my first house (note, i'm a whopping 29), so at the moment i'm stuck at my parents house in the mean time, and have everything stashed in my office/living room/dinning room/studio/bedroom, so it's not that impressive with all the boxes stacked, storage cabinat with draws on the floor, box filled with painted enclosures, unpainted enclosures hiding under my dresser and bed. it's a real mess, but you got to do what you got to do in order to build. . my girlfriend doesn't even ask questions anymore, she just hands me a box or package and saws "i don't want to know." what makes it really funny is that the stuff from russia, china, and our good buddy in bulgaria has to be signed for. I got a package that was 3 kilos (6.6lbs) worth of Ge transistors one day and she hands it to me, i squealed with delight like a child on christmas morning, and her response was something to the extent of "that's too heavy to be parts, what the hell did you order from russia, and when is the US government going to be knocking down our door to get what's in there?" i just laughed

i just tell her, honey i don't spend half on the parts that come in compared to what she does on her shoes, and clothes. little does seh realize that if you add everything up that i have in stock, it's probably a lot more. but she doesn't need to know that, and she told me that with all the time i spend building pedals, guitars & basses, cars, playing music, etc. i can't cheat so it's insurance for her. woman....lol

eh fuck it, i'll take a pic in the tomorrow when it's light out and i get home from work.

btw, chris i hear you on the warm welcome. honestly this is one of the best communities i'm a part of, and we even bs about nonsense, and no one is ever too serious. i think heath is the joker of the group. i usually fall out of chair laughing when i read most of his posts.

[dbat69]

rocket88 wrote

we even bs about nonsense, and no one is ever too serious.

Puhhh, man that Ge Deathstar is ... deadly serious

You've even got a good stash to add to it

rocket88 wrote

I got a package that was 3 kilos (6.6lbs) worth of Ge transistors

But Zach erm Johns,  you are quit right about Heath, he often cracks me up.
This is a fun place, and it got me into diy electronics.  There is always lots of good advice and assistance from a great crowd.  Long may it continue

[Heath]

It's mostly to cover for my lack of anything useful to add

In all seriousness, however, I'd like to second Zachs (and others) comments on what a great community this is.  

My friends tend to joke about my solution to everything: "Hell, I bet I could make one of those myself."  One day a few years back I was thinking it could not possibly be too difficult to make a guitar pedal.  At that point I owned all of 2 pedals and the sum total of my "electronics" experience was soldering a tone cap on a guitar pot.  

I found Joe Gore's "tonefiend" forums where he had some extremely simple, but great sounding, pedal projects on perf board.  I built his distortion pedal, the Bulk Fuzz (based on the Bazz Fuss), and his clean boost + buffer.  All three great circuits, all on perf board.  I had officially been bitten by the bug but had no where else to go.  

Somehow I managed to find this site (I think I was searching for DIY tremolo) and Vero + plus the helpful people here + the fantastic layouts has turned me into a full fledged pedal building junkie.  It has ranged at times anywhere from a "fun hobby" to "stress therapy" for me.  

I'm really grateful for this resource and all of the selfless hard work that has been put into it.

[Heath]

dbat69 wrote

Puhhh, man that Ge Deathstar is ... deadly serious

Reposted for the benefit of those who missed it :

(from this thread)

Darth Vader straps on his Gibson (Dark Side, bitches!)
Flying V, because that's totally what DV would play,
probably a Michael Schenker Signature model.

"(KISHHHKOSSHHH)Clean Signal..."

*Strrrummm...*

"(KSHHHHKUSSHHHH)Target Alderaan... (SHHUSHHWUSHHH)
and bring me my totally not a FuzzFace ripoff which I shall
call the Planet Buster."

"But, Lord Vader.. isn't it the same circuit with a tweak to
the*CHOKEGASPGURGLE*"

"(KISHHHKOSSHHH) 5 years of careful research (KSHHHH)
and Unicorn pubes-"

"Alderaan targeted, my Lord*CHOKEGASPGURGLE*"

"(SHHUSHHWUSHHH) NEVER WHEN I'M MONOLOGUE-ING!"

"Private Jones assuming targeting command, my Lord."

"(KSHHHHKUSSHHHH) Private?"

"Yes, you've killed everyone else."

"(KSHHHHKUSSHHHH) Very well.  Prepare to fire on my
Power Chord."

"Yes, my Lord.  Fuzz at 12 o'clock, Volume set to 11-"

"(KISHHHKOSSHHH) Fuzz and Volume to Max."

"But, my Lord, the clipping-" <Vader makes chocking
motion> "yes, my Lord, controls maxed!!"

"(SHHUSHHWUSHHH) Behold the power of the Dark Side,
Vintage Germanium Transistors, ridiculously expensive
vintage-grime coated mojo capacitors, (KISHHHKOSSHHH)
and wishful-thinking!!!"

*STOMP* *CHA-CHUNK*

*fizzle!!!!*



<Meanwhile, 1500 lightyears away>

"Whoa..."

"What's wrong, Ben, are you okay?"

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if some vintage
Ge transistors cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
I fear something terrible has happened."



<...and back at the Ge Deathstar>

"(KISHHHKOSSHHH) Fuck me!  Who plugged this into a negative
ground power supply?!"

"Admiral Britishguy, sir."

<Vader makes choking motions>

"You already choked him, my Lord.  He's dead."

"(SHHUSHHWUSHHH) Dammit!!  Admiral Jones, see if that
Russian guy on Ebay has anymore 2N404As."

"yes, my Lord."

"(KISHHHKOSSHHH) get 2 pair if he has them."

"Yes, my Lord."

"(KSHHHHKUSSHHHH) and bring me my Klone Centaur"

"You mean your Klon Centaur?"

"(SHHUSHHWUSHHH) Hell no, I can't afford one of those."

"Right away, my Lord."

[rocket88]

dbat69 wrote

rocket88 wrote

we even bs about nonsense, and no one is ever too serious.

Puhhh, man that Ge Deathstar is ... deadly serious

You've even got a good stash to add to it

rocket88 wrote

I got a package that was 3 kilos (6.6lbs) worth of Ge transistors

But Zach erm Johns,  you are quit right about Heath, he often cracks me up.
This is a fun place, and it got me into diy electronics.  There is always lots of good advice and assistance from a great crowd.  Long may it continue

Wow bro, I've been involved since the beginning of the deathstar build. My job was the control console. , and I've been keeping an eye out for those pesky Silicon rebel alliance and those damn jedi's. The build is so serious I've been under surveillance for all the parts coming to me with non-English writing on them.

But seriously, once I bought my DCA55 I started getting some Ge's 50 at a time to try out and was bitten. Then I started to see the prices start to go up so I just started ordering them 100 or more at a time tom save on shipping, and making sure I have enough so I don't run out, I mean I think it was Heath or iggy that blame me for the disappearance of the MP38a.

I should never have mentioned that my name shows up as johns, I'm never going to hear the end of this.  I swear I'm afraid of how busted my balls are going to be by the time this is done, I just hope I'll be able to walk straight.

And Heath I just got yelled at by another teacher cause I was laughing so hard and loud at the passage you posted from before. I might have to stop visiting the site while I'm on my prep period at work.

[fenderguy79]

I also love frequenting this site.  In the past I checked Geofex, but never really built much.

It the past few months I've built:
Morning Glory, Superbolt, Mayflower, Iron Bell, Monarch, Octavia, Klon, Andteron Tone Control, RC Booster, EM Drive, Paramount, Kalamazoo, and probably 10 more that I either gave up on or can't remember. haha

I've always had a dream in the back of my mind to build pedals for a living, and though I'm not sure it'll go that way, I love the hobby.  Having gone to school 14 years ago for electronics is also really helping out.  

Thanks again for this site!

[Heath]

Heh, luckily I got enough of those MP38a germs to last me a while.  I'm such a cheap bastard, if it starts with OC or AC I don't even bother anymore.  Finding decent germanium diodes is much more frustrating to me.  There's just no way I'm paying more than about $1 for a diode, period.  

[dbat69]

The Russian diodes are still quite cheap and available in quantity.

I've nearly finished a Lotus Snowjob which I will use to test some different ones - I must get it finished and zap some Germaniums to find out how they sound.  Once I'm done I'll post the info (maybe after I've stocked up on my favourites  )

[Heath]

dbat69 wrote

The Russian diodes are still quite cheap and available in quantity.

Cool, maybe you could advise me on what I should bother getting.  Seems every time I think I know something, it turns out I don't

I just recently bought a handful of OA91A Panasonic Germanium diodes.  I have a few 1n277s, a fair amount of 1n270s, a bunch of 1n60s, some bunk-ass-fake 1n60s, and a bag of suspect 1n34As.  

While I'm pretty familiar with Russian germs transistors, I'm pretty ignorant about Russian germ diodes.

[Beaker]

Here you go Heath - I got some of these from this guy. They work and sound great. 12 cents or 7p each if you buy 200.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/D9K-Russian-Military-Germanium-Diode-Genuine-NOS-200-/251605291153?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a94d81091

I think any of the D9 series will work Ok for our purposes, so I'd grab any that are cheap. The D9E are now silly money because of people wanting them for Klons, but B, D, L and others are really cheap.

[rocket88]

Heath man, check out the thread about russian diodes if you haven't ready. Both iggy and I posted a link that has some description of the sound of different diodes by midwayfair. I used it to determine what ones to stock up on. I would grab D9E's while you can, as they are considered to sound exactly like the magical klon diodes and have jumped in price a lot. A month or two ago I grabbed 200 for $15, now I grabbed 100 for $25, so I figure they're only going up cause they're now associated with the klon.

I hear you on the oc and ac transistor. I missed the boat on the ac's, but have stocked up on Russians and have some more coming in that I needed some more and no it's not another 3kilos (6.6lbs) it's much less. I actually saw a guy in the US selling some oc transistors for $40 each. I nearly shit myself.

Dbat, I built a snowjob cause it's a good sounding pedal, I modded it for more low end, but it has become my go to test subject for clipping diodes. I think it's something every one of use could use. To be honest my fuzzface & rangemaster has become my got to test subject for Ge transistors. You know what it should sound like so you can easily tell how the changed parts chance the sound of the pedal.

[dbat69]

Thanks for the heads up Zach - I will kick my ass to get this finished and test away - see if I can add to what midwayfair has done.