Show your pedal guts!

[Travis]

Thanks dbat! It's a great distortion. It sounds thick, tight, and powerful. The lower gain settings aren't as "transparent" as the Red Snapper that I just built, but it has a great character and the heavier sounds will smoke a lot of other pedals.. Like most DAM circuits it's got a little something extra going on in the mids giving it that gooey but tight sound. It sounds fat for sure, especially the more you crank up that volume control

I can't say for sure that everyone will love it but it's worth a try

[Chris60601]

Here's my ToneBender MKII. I opted to go with a PCB for this one.

[Travis]

Awesome build Chris! Are those 2N404? Kinda looks like Kermit the Frog huh?


I built this yesterday. It's a Crunch Box V2 and as everyone has already said it's a great sounding circuit

[Chris60601]

Yes they are! To be honest - I really don't care for the sound of this build. I dunno if it's due to the trannies or just the overall type of sound. I typically stay away from these types (fuzz face, big muff etc.) but I wanted to just give it a try.

Anyways - thank you for the kind words Travis. And yet again, you have produced a sweet looking build.
Outstanding! I'm already a fan of your build

[Travis]

Yeah I have a few hundred of those TI 2N404. Great in a Fuzz Face, haven't gotten good results in the MKII. What other germs do you have? MP20A has worked pretty well for me

[rocket88]

Man. Nice work Chris and Travis. Got to agree with Travis about the 2N404's in tonebender circuits. I've never been able to get the to sound right in those circuits, but rock in fuzzfaces. I've had much better luck with various Russians though.

Well, after spending some time auditioning clipping diodes it's finally finished. Just like Travis I've also added 2 additional clipping options. I just have to eventually remove the sockets and solder in all the diodes. But Ezekiel 25:17 #1 is done. Check it out

[Travis]

That looks awesome! How did you do the finish? It's a kick ass pedal huh?

I just finished up this 1590A Meathead. I made it earlier in the week but accidentally wired the in and out jacks backwards. Today I fixed it and found the tranny set that will stay.. ME4003 and 2N1302. This is the best meathead I've made. Never thought of doing a Si/Ge hybrid with the meathead but it paid off to try. Tons of gain/sustain but with plenty of bite and clarity courtesy of the small in and out caps. This quick build became a keeper!

[rocket88]

i defintely dig it. what did you use for the stock clipping diodes? i went through literally every diode i had, and i'm pretty happy with the results, but curious what you used, cause i see one of our additional diodes are the same. definitely better then in the demo videos, it goes from everything from smooth distortion to all out balls to the wall nasty distortion.

the enclosure is etched. what you see as black was etched into the enclosure, painted black, sanded down so that only the etched part will be black, then painted clear red, and a few layers of clear glass. each coat of paint was baked for 30min to speed up drying time. i did the design in photshop, and printed on press n' peel blue. it's expensive, but works pretty well. this one was more of a bitch then my last etched enclosure. i don't know why but, i just couldn't get it everything to stick right, and took 3 tires.

i'm pretty satisfied with the outcome. i think i got the right vibe, and i really dig it.

i'm working on the designs for 3 others, but i'm not happy with them yet. so it's going to be a while

[Ed Nice]

Here's my latest build. A lIttle Angel Chorus.

It's a bit of a landmark for me because it's the first one where I have put the solder side to the back of the pots. It's qute neat [for me so far] but I'm still not potty trained. I mean I'm still wetting the bed. No, I mean I'm still putting it all together outside the box before assembly :)

I'm quite pleased with how it looks and sounds, although I did mess up the measurement of the switches, which are a little too close to the screw bosses but if anyone askes, I did that on purpose, as I was being creative with the switch throw angle...



 

[rocket88]

Great job man. Btw, there's nothing wrong with soldering the pots up outside the box, that's how I do it. Then I do al the finishing, ie attaching the jacks, wiring the switch, grounds and power inside. Once you get a method that works for you go for it. I personally find wiring inside the box to be a pain, as my sausage fingers have trouble doing what I want in such a confined space. Keep up the good work.

[Travis]

I used a 1N34A and two of the Shottky 1N34A for the asym Ge setting, some Russian Ge for the extra Ge setting, a Si diode from Philips that's like a 1N4148, some red LEDs, and BAT41

Thanks that's pretty much how I guessed you would do it. Looks badass!

[Ed Nice]

Thanks Rocket. I've got sausage fingers too and when Mr Magoo dies, I'm getting his eyes transplanted because they are wayyy better than mine! :)

I'm a 'practical' guy, so even though electronics is brand new for me, I am pretty good with fabrication and soldering. I find soldering the bits in the case ok, but because I like to test before boxing, the stuff gets built like a 'loom' anyway, so it's quicker [lazy b'**#%d] to just cram it in. I do shorten anything stupidly long or vice-versa.

The only tricky part I find really is positioning the board and the pot wiring stuff. I suppose it is hugely down to experience but I tend to leave wires a bit long as the board wiring seems to be the most common breaking point because the connections are pretty fragile.

My biggest dilemma is what to build next? I've built the 5 pedals I wanted for a pedalboard to replace my digital stuff: a Tubescreamer, Chorus, Delay, auto wah and reverb?

I'm leaning towards a lawsuit, errrmmm I mean plimsoul... :p    

[Silver Blues]

rocket88 wrote

Well, after spending some time auditioning clipping diodes it's finally finished. Just like Travis I've also added 2 additional clipping options. I just have to eventually remove the sockets and solder in all the diodes. But Ezekiel 25:17 #1 is done. Check it out

Travis wrote

That looks awesome! How did you do the finish? It's a kick ass pedal huh?

I just finished up this 1590A Meathead. I made it earlier in the week but accidentally wired the in and out jacks backwards. Today I fixed it and found the tranny set that will stay.. ME4003 and 2N1302. This is the best meathead I've made. Never thought of doing a Si/Ge hybrid with the meathead but it paid off to try. Tons of gain/sustain but with plenty of bite and clarity courtesy of the small in and out caps. This quick build became a keeper!



 

Gah You guys are killing me  The Zeke looks absolutely killer Rocket, the graphic in the center really ties it all together. Are you using Tayda's jacks? What do you think of them? I used a pair in the Fuzz Face I built for a friend of mine, and I found the barrels were a little larger diameter than the plug itself, which kind of worried me (it worked out ok in the end), and I had to bend in the tips pretty good to get it to latch tightly. I don't know if this is typical or if I just got some wonky ones.

Travis, there's something sublime about the simplicity of that Meathead. The red knob on the matte black is really sweet, and the inside is so clean.

[dbat69]

Travis and Rocket - I am a fan, I bow to you guys, your builds are awsome.  I love the red (slightly metallic) Rocket, looks ace with the graphics.  And Travis, your 3PST wiring is always soooo neat, I take my hat off to you Sir.

Ed that is a nice build too, well done bud.

I must get more of mine finished - need to get some time set aside so I can solder away like its gonna burn my butt.

[rocket88]

Yep, those are tayda jacks. Personally, I really love them and haven't had any issues at all. I've only had maybe one or two that seemed to be a little loose, it took two seconds to fix. I find the quality to price ratio to be really good, in fact most of the time they really grab onto the plug and don't want to let go so easily.

Got to agree about that meathead. It makes my work look like crap. Lol

[Travis]

Thanks Chris. I also used a red DC jack, red LED, and red 3PDT  to complete the look *o*

Btw, the jacks on the Meathead are from Tayda too! They're great for the price, but it's still worth it to buy good quality jacks. If you're not using batteries you can just use the mono neutrik which is pretty cheap and high quality


dbat - thanks! I felt like I kinda butchered the 3PDT on this.. I had to get out the soldering wick and burnt up the orange input wire which you can see. What projects are you planning on building?


Rocket - thanks but can't compare my board mounted pot meathead to the Zeke. The Zeke has so many more wires!

[rocket88]

So true. I usually try to hide the pot wiring by putting the board over them, but in this case, and some others, I can't. Don't get me wrong, it came out neat, and I'm happy with it, it's just the perfectionist in me, as I'm sure it is in you, that drives me nuts when it's not perfect. Like the switch wiring could be better, I was finishing it at 2am, so I was a little rough instead of taking my time making it right. Not to mention that damn rotary switch!!! What a pain in the ass.

Thanks dbat, I guess you can consider it metallic red. Since it's clear red over the bare aluminum. Well I did sand it a bit, but not perfect so it has some character.

[Beaker]

Great work guys!

[Travis]

I made a utility pedal in a 1590G. The 1590G is basically a mini 1590B and it's pretty small.

I started with the Cornish buffer. It sounds nice. A little brighter than I'm used to but it's a great buffer. Then I added two courtesy outlets. One -9V outlet for positive ground pedals and one 18V each with their own charge pump. After that I only had a little room, but enough to squeeze in the momentary kill switch.

Eh, not that nice inside but UTILITY

[Chris60601]

Once again Travis, well done!
If, and I mean IF... if I had to change anything about your build, it would only be to swap the 5 mil LED for a 3. I just love the subtleness (or footprint) of the 3 mils)