Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Seek Wah
Well, this was a nightmare build. And it didn't turn out great in the end. I had no problems in getting it to work following the info i found here. The problem is that no matter how much i tried, i couldn't get it to not produce an annoying clicking sound. After having build the first PCB, i decided to just build the digital part of the circuit, the part that sequences the leds. I built it on the breadboard and connected it's ground to a small amp i use for testing, and there was the same clicking. After a process of elimination i found two types of clicking. One was on the lfo circuit that generates clock pulses for the counter ic. And the other clicks were due to the leds coming on and off, if all were fully lit, there was no clicking.
After some browsing into different types of lfos, that were supposed to solve this issue by having a trapezoid shaped wave instead of a square wave, and even using a 555 timer chip instead of the lfo, nothing was solving it. The 555 timer worsened the situation a lot. Finally, a simple resistor eliminated the lfo clicking, but i couldn't do anything to solve the led clicking, but it's much more subtle as it was when i started. Not happy at all with this build. I hope it's owner isn't as picky as me.
After some browsing into different types of lfos, that were supposed to solve this issue by having a trapezoid shaped wave instead of a square wave, and even using a 555 timer chip instead of the lfo, nothing was solving it. The 555 timer worsened the situation a lot. Finally, a simple resistor eliminated the lfo clicking, but i couldn't do anything to solve the led clicking, but it's much more subtle as it was when i started. Not happy at all with this build. I hope it's owner isn't as picky as me.
Octave Fuzz and Tremolo
My build of a Tycobrahe Octavia and a Heartthrob Tremolo.
I'm not into Fuzzes so, i'm yet to figure out if it sounds good or not... But i do think i'll spend some more time on it.
The tremolo has a few problems. I'm going to try and make another pcb with buffers and pull down resistors, because it loses volume depending on where it is on the chain or what pedals are on with it, and it pops loudly sometimes when it's turned on or off. Other than that it sounds great, simple and effective.
I'm not into Fuzzes so, i'm yet to figure out if it sounds good or not... But i do think i'll spend some more time on it.
The tremolo has a few problems. I'm going to try and make another pcb with buffers and pull down resistors, because it loses volume depending on where it is on the chain or what pedals are on with it, and it pops loudly sometimes when it's turned on or off. Other than that it sounds great, simple and effective.
5150 Pedal
I was asked by a friend if i could make a distortion pedal that would sound like a Peavey 5150. So i thought, if someone had done it for the Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier with the Dr. Boogey, maybe i could do the same for this one. I found some schematics on the web, and got to work. This was the breadboard i tested it on. Surprisingly (considering my lack of experience with the breadboard) it worked right away. And sounded pretty good. So once the customer gave the OK, i got to ordering all that was needed to make it.
I decided to make one for myself as well. The one with 8 knobs is mine. The other one was made for Marco of the band Omission . His was simpler as he only wanted to switch between two volume settings and of course, turn the effect on and off. Mine had independent gain as well.
This is a quite different type of distortion from what i had so far, much brighter. But i like it. Always nice to have more options.
I decided to make one for myself as well. The one with 8 knobs is mine. The other one was made for Marco of the band Omission . His was simpler as he only wanted to switch between two volume settings and of course, turn the effect on and off. Mine had independent gain as well.
This is a quite different type of distortion from what i had so far, much brighter. But i like it. Always nice to have more options.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Condor Cab Simulator
A condor cab simulator. Taken from http://www.runoffgroove.com/condor.html
I don't plan on using it for direct recording, i built it with to be able to play guitar anywhere with headphones and my Dr. Boogey pedal. And it works pretty well. It turns the annoying buzz into something quite acceptable.
I don't have interior photos, It's all very tight and mounted on board, it was a PITA to get it all in there, and i'm not taking it out just to take pictures. :p
I don't plan on using it for direct recording, i built it with to be able to play guitar anywhere with headphones and my Dr. Boogey pedal. And it works pretty well. It turns the annoying buzz into something quite acceptable.
I don't have interior photos, It's all very tight and mounted on board, it was a PITA to get it all in there, and i'm not taking it out just to take pictures. :p
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Going back to one of the first builds. Tubescreamer.
This has been the project that has given me more work so far. I think i became a bit obsessed with reproducing as faithfully as possible the original TS-808... I even got to take some of the components from another pedal (a crappy sounding one) to be able to use exactly the same kind of caps, including the Non-polar ones that i think modders usually replace and the 2SC1815 transistors. Of course i left out the fet switching, i wanted a true bypass configuration.
The only ones i hadn't got right were the 51pF ceramic cap in the clipping section, at the time i could only find 47pF or 56pF and the diodes, i was using 4148's instead of the 914's, but i had ordered some parts from other builds and i have the habit or over-ordering cheap components that might come in handy later. I also had ordered a new 500K Alpha pot to replace the Gain pot, the one i had was taken from a guitar and was noisy. The volume pot is the only one that's not Alpha, but it's working fine and has the same feel while turning.
Another component that wasn't right (it was the right value, just not identical to the real thing) was the capacitor connected to a switch for the bass response mod, not only that but it took up a lot of space inside.
Ever since i started making these builds i've learned a lot on how to make proper use of the space inside these enclosures, i still have lots to learn, as i've seen some builds that put mine to shame. But still, i always thought it was embarrassing that having been able to reduce the PCB of this build to a considerable size, i was still unable to fit a battery inside. And these switches were to blame, that and the massive wiring.
What i've done for a few builds is to replace all the wires that do not move with solid wire. The solid wire is not good to connect to the board, because with it moving around, i'd break the connections in no time, but these are very useful for the ground wires and the small wires that go from the switch to the jacks. Some of them are super-glued to the enclosure to tuck them away in a corner.
For the rebuild i got a pair of 2PDT mini-switches, a lot smaller than the previous ones, and i connected the proper caps (just like the original TS-808 ones, taken from another pedal) and the two resistors for the gain mod.
The resistors were all salvaged from old pcb's from old car stereos and stuff like that.
This photo was taken to see how it now fits a battery inside with no problems. I still had to replace the 47pF cap and the diodes.
For the rebuild i also printed a new face for the pedal, it's a little darker than before.
I don't know what happened, but somewhere along the way i got really tired of seeing blue leds in everything, so i've been trying to use leds that make sense with the design of the pedal, so i replaced the blue led with a green one. And added prettier white knobs.
And after everything was put together then came the problems. There was very little boost. It sounded like it usually sounds, but lower. After scratching my head for a while and not being able to see anything wrong, i got back to the schematic and pcb layout. What could be making it sound lower but still overdriving? So i looked at the output buffer, measured the resistance of the resistors around the transistor and there was definitely something wrong, it was the output wire that had one strand touching the ground track :S . Fixed it and it was fine again. I really love this pedal, it's by far my favorite of all i've done, even though it's way simpler than most of them.
The only ones i hadn't got right were the 51pF ceramic cap in the clipping section, at the time i could only find 47pF or 56pF and the diodes, i was using 4148's instead of the 914's, but i had ordered some parts from other builds and i have the habit or over-ordering cheap components that might come in handy later. I also had ordered a new 500K Alpha pot to replace the Gain pot, the one i had was taken from a guitar and was noisy. The volume pot is the only one that's not Alpha, but it's working fine and has the same feel while turning.
Another component that wasn't right (it was the right value, just not identical to the real thing) was the capacitor connected to a switch for the bass response mod, not only that but it took up a lot of space inside.
Ever since i started making these builds i've learned a lot on how to make proper use of the space inside these enclosures, i still have lots to learn, as i've seen some builds that put mine to shame. But still, i always thought it was embarrassing that having been able to reduce the PCB of this build to a considerable size, i was still unable to fit a battery inside. And these switches were to blame, that and the massive wiring.
What i've done for a few builds is to replace all the wires that do not move with solid wire. The solid wire is not good to connect to the board, because with it moving around, i'd break the connections in no time, but these are very useful for the ground wires and the small wires that go from the switch to the jacks. Some of them are super-glued to the enclosure to tuck them away in a corner.
For the rebuild i got a pair of 2PDT mini-switches, a lot smaller than the previous ones, and i connected the proper caps (just like the original TS-808 ones, taken from another pedal) and the two resistors for the gain mod.
The resistors were all salvaged from old pcb's from old car stereos and stuff like that.
This photo was taken to see how it now fits a battery inside with no problems. I still had to replace the 47pF cap and the diodes.
For the rebuild i also printed a new face for the pedal, it's a little darker than before.
I don't know what happened, but somewhere along the way i got really tired of seeing blue leds in everything, so i've been trying to use leds that make sense with the design of the pedal, so i replaced the blue led with a green one. And added prettier white knobs.
And after everything was put together then came the problems. There was very little boost. It sounded like it usually sounds, but lower. After scratching my head for a while and not being able to see anything wrong, i got back to the schematic and pcb layout. What could be making it sound lower but still overdriving? So i looked at the output buffer, measured the resistance of the resistors around the transistor and there was definitely something wrong, it was the output wire that had one strand touching the ground track :S . Fixed it and it was fine again. I really love this pedal, it's by far my favorite of all i've done, even though it's way simpler than most of them.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Group photo
This is my current setup, all home made. Forgot to include the Wah-Wah... You can still see a bit in the right side of the pic.
Delay
This is the rebote delay 2.5. I did two of these. One to put at the beginning of my effects chain and another to put at the end just before the reverb. These came out great (i think). Again with space motivated graphics. Also i've been going back to regular leds, everyone uses blue and white leds these days and i was getting a bit saturated of having all the pedals with blue leds.
I really like these pedals, they sound great and don't seem to change the tone of the guitar.
I really like these pedals, they sound great and don't seem to change the tone of the guitar.
Reverb
This was an effect i wanted to make for a long time. I even thought of doing a rack unit with an Accutronics reverb tank a friend gave me, but never got around to doing it. Eventually i found the D-Verb schematic on the General Guitar Gadgets website, and ordered what i needed.
This circuit uses the Belton BTDR-1H reverb module, and i chose the shorter decay time version. It sounds great, and i'm just a bit sad i couldn't fit it in a smaller enclosure. I really don't like these bigger ones...
This circuit uses the Belton BTDR-1H reverb module, and i chose the shorter decay time version. It sounds great, and i'm just a bit sad i couldn't fit it in a smaller enclosure. I really don't like these bigger ones...
Monday, May 3, 2010
Tremolo stabilizer.
This is similar to a tremolo stabilizer sold by Gotoh i think. I made it for my Stratocaster, when i installed a Floyd Rose tremolo. It wasn't a very good licensed one and it had problems holding in tune. I made this with a aluminum bar, a threaded rod and brass rod. It was a pain in the ass to do with the tools i have, because it was almost impossible to make the drill press do perfectly straight holes in the brass rod. Also the hole in the aluminum bar was crooked but that proved helpful in the end, because it allows me to not interfere with the strings and still have the necessary parts perpendicular to the trem block. I had a hard time finding a decent spring and i don't know where that one came from, but it works very well. I'm still considering taking it to a machinist and have him do one that looks prettier.
Valvecasters
The tunacaster, a valve caster in a can of tuna. People seem to like this one. Not too practical though. And not my best work so far, it was one of my first builds and it shows, maybe i should redo this sometime.
The second version, it's a clone of an LPB-1 and a valvecaster. All in a Behringer switcher pedal enclosure. This one i was very proud of because i learned how to use a JK flip flop. I had to because i could only use microswitches with this pedal. It came out great, but it's another example of a not very usable design. The blue led inside the tube base does look cool though.
The second version, it's a clone of an LPB-1 and a valvecaster. All in a Behringer switcher pedal enclosure. This one i was very proud of because i learned how to use a JK flip flop. I had to because i could only use microswitches with this pedal. It came out great, but it's another example of a not very usable design. The blue led inside the tube base does look cool though.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Dunlop Wah
Started as a regular Dunlop GCB-95 Wah-Wah pedal. From the original i only kept the wah potentiometer, the jacks, the inductor and some connections. I made the board and the circuit is a mix of some other pedals like the Zakk Wylde and Dime models. It has a boost, voicing knob and a 4 way switch for varying effect range.
Tubescreamer
Clone of the Ibanez TS-808, with two mods, switchable, for extra gain and bass response.
Swedish death metal in a pedal.
Clone of the Boss HM-2 pedal. For that swedish death metal sound. The graphic is the cover of Entombed's 'Left Hand Path' album. I was a bit sorry i couldn't fit it inside a smaller enclosure, but at least i can use it with a battery.
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