@barry
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Do not post below this to keep the thread clean.
If you wish to discuss anything post a new thread under a General and refer to this thread with a link.
Yes indeed I have been working up to the announcement for a while.
I will make an official announcement as soon as we have all the particulars together.
I think this should be special event as we are celebrating 10 successful years doing things just a little differently than the rest by using our own creativity to build the most amazing and useful combos. The more tonal options you can put in a single enclosure the better and indeed you are truly creating your own unique circuit design and what is cooler than that?
For those looking to enter the fray I am currently offering an inspirational Bundle.
Those will sell out pretty soon the way it is progressing.
My first hand etched board design just over 10 years ago: Not much larger than your finger nail.
Excellent job on the solder and wiring. Looks like you really got it down.
I highly suggest both the Tone TwEQ for so many builds also including Reverb, Compressor as well as the obvious Dirt and Fuzz applications and I use a Silent Tuning Buffer board myself.
Most people when they start out invest in a One-Spot power supply as they are affordable and have features helpful to proper pedal sharing. I once had 19 pedals power by one. Honestly you would want a decent isolated power supply once you have over 10 pedals though to prevent noise and cross-talk. Current draw on dirt and Fuzz pedals is minimal. <20mA
You can never go wrong with a Tube Screamer but an Aeon Drive is a great (less bloated) version to consider.
This is excellent and thank you for posting!
I also want to assure you that while people seem to be shy around here for the moment about posting I can tell you my site analytics definitely show people are looking. So thanks again and if you are just a lurker, time to throw out some “atta boys”.
If you made it this far (this is an ongoing thread) and forgot the links at the top of the thread I encourage you to visit all of our helpful guides located on our Guides Page and if “Ultimate Combos” is your thing then be sure to check out Playsforfuns Combo Build Guide
Additionally here are some Basic Wiring Concepts
Easy way using INKJET to make labels:
Do not post comments below this thread in order to keep it clean!
For questions or comments post under “General” and refer to this thread instead.
This is not the exact same circuit (our version has probably 4-5 more capacitors than the other) along with other value changes etc.. while it is based off of, we made many changes. Mainly while it is still great for Bass our version is overall much less dark & muddy in our opinion.
We will take a circuit and pass it around and add or subtract things, change values or whatever suits us till we land on something we feel is best. Pretty much what we have been doing for 10 years now.
If you like “stoner tone” I highly suggest the Sunn-T circuit or experimenting with combos.
Tandem stacking drives, fuzz and boost can yield amazing “stoner tones”.I am not that familiar with those.
When i think of a small testing amp this is the kind of thing that personally comes to mind or something like it available in a combo. Maybe i am way off base with what you are trying to go for but if you already have a speaker cab i personally might be thinking about this from Das Musikding.
I would not want to rely on the Sunn-T pedal as the only preamp. I suggest a good tube clean amp to start with and when run through a good clean mix the the Sunn-T pedal will accurately simulate that amp while letting the main amp handle the muscle while adding overall tone control and also give you more options when experimenting with other pedals. Additionally if you get an amp with a return send loop then you can also effectively bypass the amplifiers preamp and use the pedal preamp by inserting it in the loop. This will give you two ways to test the pedals. I hope that helps.
As for starting your first pedal build I cannot stress enough no matter how skilled a person is that you spend an adequate amount of time studying the Guides (all of them) on our Guides Page. This tip alone will save you a world of trouble!
The reason is not to suggest your are incapable but pedal builds, amp builds and computers are three completely different animals and more importantly they require not only (more than basic knowledge) but the right tools and technique for each job.
For example despite having soldering experience watch my solder tutorial (found on the Guides Page) anyway so you know more about our boards and what works using them. What works for our pedal boards will not be the same as what you would do for building amps including the tip shape, heat and absolutely technique. As an example (soldering iron) Heat and Tip size used for amps could destroy a pedal PCB.
The Guides will also explain pedal size components, orientations, temperatures, using fine conical tips, wiring, how to read codes and so much more that will save you making common errors that could destroy a board and help with a more trouble free build.
Of course our GUIDES cover so much more than what I just mentioned and there is no need to repeat what is already written but I cannot stress the importance of digesting those materials.
When I have time later I will try to address the other questions.
In the meantime read up on all of our Guides.
Anyone else please feel free to chime in here 🙂
I am leaving today but I will answer questions and share a things I see.
- You cannot measure resistors (in circuit) because they are affected by the rest of the circuit.
- The transistors look okay but giving us proper voltage readings will help verify.
- You placed the electrolytic capacitors in correctly (see Crash Course Guide)
- Since changing the LED to the Main Board you MUST connect the LED to the Foot Switch using S4, S5 S6 so the Main Board knows when you turn the foot switch on or off. (see Image below)
- The foot switch will work turned upside down as long as it is wired correctly. You must visually verify path using chart in previous post. (Test for continuity see image below)
- I cannot visually conform all of your wiring. It is very hard on a computer screen.
- Tell us if the circuit works in bypass mode? If it works in bypass that is good!
The Poteniometers are now mounted correctly.
The important thing I see there is you need something non-conductive between the back of the potis and the solder side of the board or the circuit can short out. We use Pot Condoms from the SHOP but anything non-conductive will work placed in between. Some people use little felt circles or cover the potis backside with electric tape.
See images below to help with items 1-7 above:
Test continuity using your DMM Digital Multi Meter in continuity mode (Google if needed). You should here a beep at every junction. This image can be found in the Crash Course from the Guides Page.
Note this diagram is not 100% the same as yours since it shows star grounding method however it does help you to see very important connections to test for continuity.
In regards to hair pulling: Please remember this Hobby is difficult and requires a lot of study if you compare to other hobbies like model building etc.. so because of that it is more rewarding when you figure it all out. I have friends who tried this and decided they did not like it because it was very hard to do. A person must have aptitude, study time and patience for both electronics and troubleshooting equally in this hobby.
Also we help as best we can over a computer which is very to do hard as well. We do try. Also I deleted some of the old posts so if other people are looking they will not get confused with old pictures.
I suggest reading the Crash Course again. Several of your questions are answered in that guide.
The good news is once you learn everything which takes many of us lots of time and practice all builds are pretty much the same and it gets easier. You have already learned several important things.
I hope that helps.
Thanks Ray!
The LED’s have nothing to do with the Audio Path at all so no worries.
You should be able to hook it up like the diagram as I have done this with commercial pedals as well but as long as it is working for you i would not mess with it and I am glad you are seeing the wonderful benefit of adding a blend knob to any circuit!!
Thanks
This is a quick reply (maybe someone has time to jump in later) as i have a lot to do today.
That said the 1k8 is bright. The higher you go the less bright it is up to about 4k7.
If you attached the LED to power and did not have at least 1k8 you would likely blow the bulb so fast you would not even notice it. I also keep a coin battery (3v to 5v) handy for checking LEDs in a pinch.
I cannot make out the wiring or Buff N Blend details using the photos available to make any exact deductions.
The PUFF circuit is the same as any of our other Negative Tip circuits thanks to the chip.
As you sussed out wiring would be the same.
Yes this is very nice. Send me an email with what you got and i can host it as a link.
I am sure that will be handy for a lot of folks. Thanks a bunch!
I found this site to be an excellent resource for these types of questions that lead to experimentation. Electrosmash.com
There are many (sites and videos) that explore topics of transistors and chips so one could spend a great deal of time discovering a great deal of contradictory information so it is quite true as Mark pointed out that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and discovery is probably the most fun.
As Wilkie points out & based on your readings with your Volume up full you have a Gain of 2.5 times the input signal which is typically enough however if you desire an added Gain Stage we have a circuit which our International Distributors also carry called an After Blaster which would add a clean gain stage at the end of any circuit and conveniently fits over the ON/OFF status foot switch.
