Web app for pedals

[scimitar]

Excellent - we are depending on you... (or at least I am)

[Travis]

You da man bencs

Out of curiousity have you built or purchased any cool new gear for your studio lately?

[balazs.bencs]

Oh man, wish I could tell you that I did, but no :(

Lately, I've been messing around in Eagle and started ordering some PCBs from JLCPCB and I'm pretty satisfied, things are working well, every PCB I got is good.

There's one thing I'm currently thinking about a lot: power supplies! I really want to build an isolated power supply, and I have some plans to do it, so soon I hope I'll post some stuff.

Life was really a circus for me in the past couple of months, I moved to Budapest, got a new job, etc.. I haven't really built pedals since I moved! (I know, it's crazy right?!)

[Travis]

Wow Budapest sounds amazing hope you’re enjoying that and the new job.

You still playing with the same band or do you have something new going?

I’m kinda in the same boat in that I’ve been messing with eagle and I haven’t built a pedal since my last move (still in Anaheim)

I’ve been wanting to do a multi channel tube mic pre/DI build and worked on a PCB for it but I’m reconsidering and thinking PTP would be better. I’m looking for super low noise, high fidelity, reliability, etc and the PCB layout is more complicated with that in mind for a tube build with high impedances, lots of current, etc. Here’s where I left off with that

[balazs.bencs]

Yeah man, I have the same band, EP is coming out really soon! I'll show you when we are done with it.

Oh, the old PCB vs PTP debate! I have two things to add to the topic: PCB mounted tube sockets came from hell! I repaired a lot of Marshalls lately, and all of them had issues with the tube sockets mounted on the PCB (or the freaking standby switch dies), the heat over time will destroy the PCB and the solder joints, and also you cannot easily change the components when it's needed. I know I sound terrible, but we all want to build quality stuff that will survive years of abuse right? :)

On the other hand, keeping noise levels down with a PCB is really easy, so it's got advantages too.

What I saw in a couple Friedman amps that I liked is that they have most of the circuit on the PCB, and have only the tube sockets hand-wired. I believe Dave Friedman calls this a PCB/hand-wired hybrid method, maybe you should give it a try.

I would go PTP, cause I love how easily it can be repaired, despite the fact that it is sometimes a horror to find the issues on them (oscillations, hum, etc..). But this is only a personal preference.

[Travis]

Definitely not a fan of PCB mounted tube sockets!! I agree 100%

For this particular project it is seeming like PTP will be easier for me to manage noise issues because I am fairly confident in my tube lead dress abilities (doesn’t hurt that I already have the materials to make the turret board)

Just got my tax return so I can splurge on some nice iron for that project

Re Eagle I just did a layout for the Roger Mayer RM58 Compressor based on info at groupDIY. Planning a stereo build in a 1u enclosure with a VU meter on each channel, stereo link, all that good stuff. Hoping to get some cool crushed drums out of that

[balazs.bencs]

I don't really know a lot about the Roger Mayer RM58, I'll look into it. It's funny, I was actually thinking about building an 1176 compressor too. Sometimes when we are recording drums, I struggle with keeping everything level, I need some more outboard gear ("need" in quotes).

The proper Lundahl transformers would cost about 120euros and the rest is easy.. lots of BC107 trannies, BF245, NE5532, BC560... It would be a relatively not very expensive build I guess.

I started sketching a PCB in Eagle a little while ago, I think it might take a while to actually get to make it.

[Travis]

I’ll let you know when I have successfully done the RM58 and send you the layouts if you want.

It’s relatively simple and inexpensive because you can use a quad op amp for each channel and it’s unbalanced so no transformers

I definitely want to build the 1176 as well. I actually preordered a SA76ADF from Stam Audio but I think I’ll cancel that and build a pair instead.

Probably the most important thing I want to build is a super good sounding DI

The list goes on and on as usual