[BQFS]

Thanks. The enclosure looked so good, I thought that you might have purchased it, as is, from someone. Should have known better. Anyway, it looks great!.

[BQFS]

A paramix is coming up on my list of things to build. I was hoping you could tell me about the enclosure – what is it, where did you get it, did it come that way with graphics, etc? The more you (or anyone else) could tell me about it, the better.

Thanks in advance,

Bud

[BQFS]

Thanks, Barry, for clearing that up.

Bud

 

[BQFS]

I’m pretty new to pedal building, so if this is the wrong place to ask my question, I would appreciate some guidance as to where I should have posted this.

I am just completing a build of this excellent board, and decided to build it close to the original TS 808. The build instructions are confusing. In several places, it refers to using a B500K GAIN control, but nowhere is a component labeled Gain. There is Drive, there is Level, and there is Tone. Obviously, the tone control is not it, so it’s either Level or Drive. In my years in electronics, I have seen all three terms used synonymously, so which is the Gain control? Is it the Level or is it the Drive? If the Drive control is the Gain control, the BOM already calls for a B500K pot, so my guess is that the author used Drive and Gain synonymously, but I hate guessing, and I don’t want to experiment.

I would greatly appreciate it if someone could clarify this for me, so I can complete the project.

Thanks in advance – Bud

[BQFS]

The best way is to inject a signal (I use a signal generator, but you can also use a looper pedal or any other way of putting a guitar-level signal) into the input and follow the signal path starting from the input and working your way towards the output using either an oscilloscope or an audio probe. If you don’t have either one, there are TONS of info on how to build yourself a very inexpensive audio probe. You then use the probe to follow the signal. When the signal disappears, you’ve isolated your FIRST problem. NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING. It is possible that there is more than one issue, but if you follow the signal with either scope or probe, you should be able to isolate the issue. If not, just keep asking questions – lots of help here.

Bud

 

[BQFS]

Too late. I tried it driven by the Emexar, and by itself. Just not the device for me. Definitely in the donate pile.

Thanks for everyone who got back to me on this.

Bud

 

[BQFS]

That figures. I read all rave reviews, then I build the thing and find it just sounds weird. Definitely not interested in playing bass through it. Well, at least I didn’t waste an enclosure. I use the testing tower from MAS Effects which is very helpful and faster than trying to kludge together an ad hoc test box.

I think both board are going in the donation pile. Not worth bothering to enclose either one. Be different if I were a guitar player, possibly.

Bud

[BQFS]

Well, Barry, thank you for your helpful response that sure explains why the build instructions illustrate it one way and say it another, and why I have since learned people def. build them either way. It just makes more sense to me somehow, so I went ahead and wired it so that the Emexar comes first and that drives the Emerald. Its on my test rig, so easy enough to change if it doesn’t sound appealing that way.

When I build pedals I often find they are designed with guitar players in mind; I play bass. With this pedal, my guess is that it will end up for sale as I am not much of a distortion guy. I hardly ever use fuzz. Before two years ago, my only pedals were a compressor, tuner, and wireless receiver. And that’s how I’ve kept it for over 40 years of playing. When I started playing in a duo for a couple of years, I played the leads, so I actually ended up with a pedal board for which I made the power supply, complete with voltmeter and ammeter, and a couple of different fuzz pedals (of which only one is on the board at a time) and a very useful buffer pedal. My others are commercially made bass chorus, bass Xciter, octaver, and reverb.

The reverb is the new one by Fender and is the only Fender product I own. Made specifially  for bass, and after trying a bunch of reverb pedals and not liking any of them, they did great on this one. The key feature is the high pass filter, so no mud.

At the moment I sell one commerical product, an onboard preamp for Stingray basses. I’m about ready to come out with a pedal version. Not huge money makers, but I’m retired so electronics has now returned to being a hobby instead of a profession.

Rant over.

Thanks again for your prompt helpful reply/

Bud

[BQFS]

Well, Billy, I enjoy helping others when I can. I regularly participate in various forums on Talkbass. I enjoy sharing my knowledge and will help anyone who need it, if I can.

On Reddit, I encountered a guy who was selling off his inventory and quitting pedal building. I bought all his stuff which included the first two I built (the STFU and Bloodstone referenced below) as well as the others I have since built with greater success.

So far, I have made about a dozen pedals including two each of two different pedals, the excellent STFU noise gate from lectrix-fx and the not so great Bloodstone also from them. I could not get either of the two Bloodstones to work. Once I have more time, I will go back and troubleshoot them further. They were the first pedals I built, so aside from installing the wrong component in the right hole I’m not sure what else I could have done incorrectly. It’s weird that both pedals fail to operate.

The other pedals all worked the first time I tried them, but I don’t care for the effects that some of them produce, so some might go for sale soon as I put them in better, prettier enclosures.

I also have been successfully marketing a clone of the original 70s Stingray onboard preamp, and am about to come out with a pedal version.

Bud

[BQFS]

I see that now. Thanks for the guidance and quick response. For me this is one of those things that I only figure out after I do it wrong. At least it wasn’t a very costly error.

Thanks again for the assistance. I am very appreciative.

Bud

 

[BQFS]

Well, believe it or not, that was it! I looked over the circuit board build instructions and I see how I made my error. On my board, where the LED connects, there are three holes, one of which has the rectangle symbol and the other two do not. Seems to me, the logical (but incorrect) thing to do is to place one of the LED leads into the rectangle and the other lead to the unmarked hole next to it. That could have been correct, and if I were the board designer, it would have been.

How is anyone supposed to know that if you are using a mono-color LED that it goes into the two unmarked holes? I hate to figure out circuitry through a trial and error process. Sheesh.

Anyway, thanks for your help. Got it sorted and now the effect and LED work simultaneously.

Bud

[BQFS]

Thanks for your quick response. I didn’t know it would even be possible to wire it like that, so I will have a look before I post up more info.

Thank you for raising this possibility.

Bud

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