An overcomplicated buffer.

[MathU41]

Not in the Show Off Your Build topic because it’s not GPCB. But it is related!
Because I’ve nearly filled my pedalboard. With coming toward a dozen pedals, figure a buffer would probably be a good idea.
So I do a quick search for a nice simple op-amp buffer. Edited the picture for clarity, but all credit to the designer.

Nice and simple, right? Grab some perfboard, bits out of the drawer, and have that done in an hour.

So how does it get overcomplicated? By letting my brain have at it!

My reasoning: a buffer doesn’t need to toggle on the fly. So I wouldn’t even need a footswitch! Right?
But I do want a bypass, in case I need to turn it off for whatever reason. It needs power, so I might as well toss an LED in there just for clarity at a glance. And it doesn’t take up that much room, so I might as well use the extra space to make it do something fun…

The end result: the board, two jacks, DC jack, two LEDs, an on/on, and a momentary footswitch crammed into a 1590a.

Like any good witch of literature, I find it helpful to occasionally make a shambles.
See the actual board held in place there? See, I was right! Perfect fit!

The ‘fun’ part? That momentary switch is rigged normal-closed to that side. When tripped, it breaks the output circuit and turns on a seperate LED–and it’s routed so it will do that with or without the buffer turned on.

So now it’s a buffer/mute pedal. Perfect for… Something!
Tom Morello, maybe.

The other fun part? I decided to use up another can of paint I found in a box. Testors translucent blue. Sprayed it over silver expecting a nice candy color.
That’s obviously not what happened. That can’s fifteen or twenty years old. Spit, squirted, clogged, sputtered, clumped and ran, all in the same pass.
But I took that as the surprise blessing the Pedal Gods bestowed upon me and ran with it. I couldn’t recreate that if I tried.

[Barry]

Nice execution!

[Steve]

Nice build. Love the paint job!!

[Author]

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