@bigo
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Barry you got Steel correct. The picture is of Youngstown Sheet and Tube during its heyday and was one of the largest producers of steel in the world at the time. My grandfather and aunt worked there their entire careers, and my father and uncle were able to get summer employment there when in college. The picture is of the Campbell works as opposed to the Brier Hill works further up the valley. YS&T ended in September of 1977 on what is called Black Monday when 5,000 people lost their jobs.
I have no idea, but when I built my MKC the diodes were matched by me to both having 0.35V forward voltage, which is what the original builder of the Klon supposedly did. To my ears, it didn’t sound any different or magical to my ears compared to diodes that had slightly mis-matched forward voltages.
Yes, the tone of this pedal is great. The tone control on this pedal really helps dialing in different tones.
Better sounding than the Triangle Muff that I built about 10 years ago. I still have to A/B the 2 pedals to really get a feeling of the difference between the two, though.
For anyone that is interested, below shows the connections that have to do with the LED as done with a continuity tester. Some of these do not conform to the exact traces on the board, but are for illustration purposes. All of the 9V DC power connections are in yellow. The output pad from the CLR connects to pad #3 of the trimmer as seen in the pink trace. The path from the trimmer to the (+) side of the LED is in light blue. If you want to omit the trimmer, all you would need to do is jumper 3 to 1 or 3 to 2 of the trimpot pads (eg purple dotted trace). Trimpot pads 1 and 2 are connected to each other.
Thanks Barry! I figured I might need a jumper. I realized after I posted that I could check the path with a continuity tester but your response saves me some work.
Very rewarding when your first attempt at building a pedal goes without a hitch! Unfortunately, you likely will get addicted to building more and more pedals.
Already did one – the Clean Dirt Pedal using a GBOF for a distortion circuit that utilized a Rototone for different clipping options and a Paramix to blend clean/undistorted signal into the final mix.
Currently working on 3 different pedals including a combo build, which I will post about in the future.
Instead of a TB Mk1.5 I am going to build a Vox TB with the PUFF. The input cap value of 0.15uF or 0.22uF (both were used) should make this a little more trebly than the 1.5 or FF. Interestingly there are different values of output caps used as well, as seen in gutshot photos on the internet. The output caps on the Ge versions can be 3.3nF or 4.7nF. These were mixed and matched, with IP caps of 0.22uF with both OP values and 0.15uF IP cap with both values. This was likely related to parts availability at the time of building. I am going to socket and see what I like best when I get around to building it.
Jimi, you are way braver than I am. However, I have very little experience working on tube amps other building one with parts and instructions provided -a simple 5W Class A amp head which I named the “One Louder.” What you did is amazing to me and was quite a project! I’m still in the KISS mode when it comes to dealing with amps and more complex pedals because I still am primarily the 2nd “S” when it comes to more complex electronic circuitry.
I use GuitarPCB for a lot of my needs and you get what you ask for without any problems. I used Small Bear in the past, but will wait until things settle there (I purchase many Ge transistors there when I found out the owner was retiring so I am good in that respect). I already have resistor and capacitor kits I purchased a couple of years ago. If I need much else, I have recently had good luck with Tayda. Have not had to use Mouser, but I know that is a good source as well.
I have used Amplified Parts as well, but mostly for kits (ModKitsDIY), which are point to point wiring. I have built both multiple pedals and an amplifier.
I was going to do something similar with my Clean Dirt pedal, which has 4 symmetrical and 4 asymmetrical clipping options. I had planned to use two Rototone’s to mix and match 4 clipping diode pair combinations with 4 single clipping diode choices, but just decided use a switch to switch a single diode with each different pair for a total of 8 combinations instead of the originally planned 16. I just felt it was too much decision making. I have gone back to simpler is better for me, but 24 clipping choices in one pedal is quite impressive!
For most of my Ge transistor pedal builds I converted the bias trimmer to an external bias and then I tend to “trim” the bias by ear. These include a Rangemaster, Ge Fuzz Face, hybrid Ge Si Fuzz Face, and a Tonebender MkII.
Clear coating photo paper works fine for me. But that is for Laser printer graphics, not ink jet printer graphics. For the Barry photo paper method I clear coat and then use Armor All as I had problems with the Armor All, which I think was related to the the brand of photo paper used because the smearing problems didn’t occur at all the first time I used this method (with the last piece of photo paper left over in my supplies).
I also use decal paper with an ink jet printer and clear coat it after letting it dry and cure for over 24 hours.
Jimi, your posts are the greatest! Always give me a laugh or two. You just inject a lot of humor into the text. And I admit that I don’t fully understand a lot of the technical stuff so I am of little to no help unfortunately. I contemplating changing my major to EE but never made it there.
I am actually slower building pedals than I used to. That is because I test every component prior to soldering and double check the value with the instructions. I make a lot less mistakes that way, especially since I use my own resistor stockpile rather than using kits. I have made the 470K / 470R mistake a couple of times in the past. It happens to everyone.
