Valve Wizard U-Boat

[Neil mcNasty]

I'm a sucker for octave up fuzzes and octave down effects, and have been curious about the Valve Wizard U-Boat for a long time now.
I've been trying to make a layout for it, but I'll have to admit that it is a bit bigger than I can manage.
So getting some help to nail this down would be highly appreciated...

Links:
http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/uboat.html
http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/uboat.pdf
Soundclip:
http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/Uboat.mp3

Cheers!

[induction]

I don't know how much help this will be because I design all of my veros to use a combination of SMD (size 1206) and through hole resistors and caps. (That's why a rarely post my layouts.) But in case you want to give it a shot with SMD:



It's 18x28 so it should fit easily in a 1590B.

[Neil mcNasty]

Thanks for sharing your layout Induction!
But I have to admit that SMD is not my game (yet...)
I do not have any SMD components in my stock, and as of today I have stocked up a huge arsenal of trough-hole components to last me trough the next 10 years (specially on good J201's), so that I can delay that transfer (I'm getting old and lazy and I also got a slight fetish for NOS stuff like Oil-in-Paper, Tropical Fish caps and Germanium Transistors)

I am considering going PCB these days though, but at the moment I lack the ingredients for doing cold-transfer (I find the ironing method a bit annoying/tiresome and unreliable).
Sometimes I actually consider doing the transfer by hand with a sharpy (for smaller circuits)
If it works to repair bad transfers, so why not do the whole trace this way...?
I guess I could then charge some suckers extra for "true vintage PCB design"...

[induction]

Neil mcNasty wrote

I do not have any SMD components in my stock...

If you (or anyone else) ever decide to take the plunge, you can get a full assortment of 1150 SMD caps and resistors for less than $10 on eBay, including shipping. (That comes out to about $0.0085 per component.) It comes from China, but the likelihood of counterfeiting SMD caps and resistors is miniscule, at least for now. It's not like they're hard to come by.

For what it's worth, I find them very easy to solder, easier than through hole components even, and I don't use any special equipment. The reduction in board size is a huge advantage for me, because fitting boards in enclosures is not my strong suit. I doubt I could fit a diaphanous exploder into a 1590A.

[Neil mcNasty]

Thanks for the tip.
I'll have a serious look at it!
That assortment deal is a really good value for the bucks, so why not try...?
As you say the size reduction is a huge advantage and is the reason I consider doing more PCBs in the future.
Your layout is very tempting to be my first try at SMD, and the fact that it will fit 1590B enclosure makes it even more tempting...
Hell... I'll give it a go!
Thanks for your great support and encouragement!

I totally forgot about that Diaphanous Exploder... BRILLIANT DESIGN!
Bet it will make me amazing!
Goes to the top of my build list!


Reminds of when someone asks me for a super transparent pedal, and I offer them to build a pedal with two wires running from jack to jack with a buffered bypass. Few people like that pun, but I can't help it...

[induction]

Cool. I'm glad you'll give it a whirl. Once I tried incorporating SMD into my layouts, I never turned back.  Now, a lot of my build have veros about the size of a postage stamp. (Smaller and cheaper, wave of the future, blah blah blah...) The U-Boat is the largest vero I've built in years, but it still fits in a 1590B. The only reason I use 1590BB's anymore is if I want multiple stomp switches or more than 4 pots.

One thing to keep in mind is that in my veros, I often use SMD to bridge track cuts, and I incorporate a lot of cuts between the holes. (This is mainly to keep the vero small.) I've noticed that some builders do their track cuts by drilling all the way through the vero, which makes the cuts visible from the component side (useful), but might make the cuts too big to strap a 1206-sized cap or resistor across. I do all of my track cuts with a dremel engraving bit, but you probably don't have to be as neurotic as me.

[Hozy31]

Hey induction, it would be nice to see some of your other smd layouts. I have recently got into smd components and have been looking at reducing a few on the site. Smaller is more efficient.

[induction]

I'll make up a list of my SMD veros, post it on Open Chat, and ask for suggestions of which ones to post.

[Hozy31]

Thanks induction. Maybe we could have a new thread on mixed TH/SMD layouts, that would be cool .