DIYing me own pedals

[Granny Gremlin]

I don't know how I didn't get in to this so much sooner, but I just finished a copy of  the Klon Centaur overdrive and it was so satisfying.  Used the PCB by Aion and took it from there; a few minor mods.







I considered a switch for alternate clipping diodes, but decided against it in the end - instead I socketted the diodes so I can try a few different types easily and settle on whatever I end up preferring. So far I have only tried some Russian germanium D9Es and I like them a lot, but I have a bunch of BAT41s I should try in there at some point.

If I was to do this over I think I would invert (mirror image) the control layout - that way the stomp switch would be in the “O” vs covering up the “E.” I dunno why I didn’t think of that before. Maybe I’ll redo the enclosure at some point, but probs not due to lazy/if it ain’t broke…

I really like this thing; it's not as dirty/hard as other ODs (hard enough, though I expect to keep the gain knob in the top 3rd of it's range) but, unlike most other OD/dist boxes, doesn't compress your signal very much if at all.  This means that it's great for driving a tube amp or a second OD/Dist, and it won't squash the swell out of any modulation fx (expecially envelope filters; that's been a peeve for me).

Up next is a Ross style compressor, and then another OD - harder, with a parametric mid in front of the clipping circuit, more gain and switchable diodes (based on the Pearl which is somewhat Tubescreamer like).  Both using PCBs from Aion.  After that I'll be getting into the modulation effects; looking at some boards from madbean.

[slinkp]

Sound clips please!!

[slinkp]

It's fun stuff. I wish I had the tools and skills to build proper enclosures.
Back in the day I built a couple PAIA kits:   compressor (quite a decent two-knob optical one), and "tube sound fuzz" which sounded quite decent on guitar but too farty on bass.  Both of them in terrible Radio Shack plastic boxes without proper footswitches, as back in the 90s I could not find anywhere to buy DPDT footswitches.

I also once hand-wired a clone of a foxxtone fuzz (yes really) - it was ugly as hell, but my original foxxtone had been stolen and I was really fond ot it.  I think in this one I finally solved the footswitch problem by using an easy to find SPDT switch controlling a relay.  Or maybe that was in...

a Rat clone that I made from a PCB I got from some guy on some usenet group long long ago - he had made a batch of them and sold me a spare for like $5.  I modified the tone circuit to scoop the mids a tad and get more lows, I don't remember how the hell I did it except that it involved scratching away one link on the PCB and adding an extra resistor or cap somewhere nearby; I had racked my brain figuring out a way to make that work and was astonished that it actually did!  It took a lot of experimenting with values to tune it right, but it did what I wanted.

I wish I understood analog circuit design better.  I've always wanted to try to build an even-better-for-my-taste bass overdrive - probably dual band.   "Leeds in a box" would be the goal   But I just don't know enough, nor have the time.

[Granny Gremlin]

Enclosures are easy - you can get cast alu (Hammond or copies) for as low as $7+ship (actual Hammonds are $10 and up).  Alu is really easy to cut and drill, though I still recommend drilling a small pilot and enlarging it with a stepped but; larger bits will walk around on you more and can chew up the edges.

I'll see about those clips.  I might use it on a track I gotta re-record because our first stab at it is just way too fast.

I wish I had better circuit design skills too.  I'm not super quick about it, but I can trace and generally understand what's happenning  - just enough to make minor mods and adjustments (and get in trouble; going off-PCB with some of my mods on the Klone created a whole universe of new potential short problems).

Just before the Klone I had made another remote control for the AKG BX25 reverb. I think it's the 3rd or 4th one now; people keep emailing me offering me money, and the thing is stupid simple.  The main unit has no way of controlling the decay time; without the remote it's in maximum drench mode (pretty darn wet; almost unusable in most applications... unless, like me, you just love verb).  I used to charge a lot more because I built custom wooden boxes for them, but the last one I did in a metal Hammond enclosure (same size as the Klone, but purple) and that worked very well.

[chromium]

Awesome job!  I really like your enclosure/paintwork. 

The enclosure - especially the artwork/labeling - is where I always struggle the most.  So far I've only tried toner transfer/ferric chloride etching (only trials - no finished projects yet; for me this was messy and inconsistent, but that likely due to my inexperience), bake on waterslides (http://www.papilio.com; takes practice, but results are ok), and simple paintjobs.

That said, this stuff is still really fun and rewarding (when it works haha).


Sharing a few that I've done:


Modified clone of a Colorsound Tonebender, wherein I changed the filter cutoffs a bit (the 'bite' knob sweeps between two fixed filters).  Art was 'borrowed' from the Internets, photoshoped and printed to a bake on waterslide transfer... then clearcoated.  At the time I built these pedals I only had toggle switches handy - hence the lack of a 'stomp switch'









Next was a stereo (or cascaded mono) version of that same pedal.  If the input is TRS (i.e. stereo output from a Ric), you can fuzz both pickups separately and mix together at the output stage... or you can run a mono bass in and cascade them.
Art was photoshopped and color laser printed on typing paper, which I then squished right into the wet enclosure paint and later buried in clear coat  .  (quick and nasty prototype, which I subsequently disassembled for further experimentation and left to languish...)





Here's a Rat clone that I made for my friend's 50th bday, with appropriately endearing title and control labels:




Finally, the most recent - a simple 2 channel efx loop and pedalboard bypass with output attenuator.  Simple paintjob (clearcoated primer, actually) w/o graphics or labels:

[Granny Gremlin]

Love your aesthetic.  Especially the stereo tonebender and the bigass jewel lights on the switcher.

My main concern formwise is pedalboard real estate.  I don't want to have a bigger one so all pedals must be portrait oriented with jacks on the top edge as the one above.  That way I can squeeze in at least 2 more pedals on my current board, which should just about do it after I substitute in some DIY jobs for the name branders I'm not happy with/bored of.  Never quite took to that MXR stereo chorus (for bass; it's ok for guitar)... possibly because I don't think I've ever used it in stereo.

[slinkp]

Wow you guys do really nice looking work. I'm a hack.

[chromium]

Wow you guys do really nice looking work. I'm a hack.

Thanks. Behind every nice one, there have been a wake of 'em that went horribly wrong    Finding time is the hardest part.  Kits are a great way to start, and a breadboard really helps when you get down to the point of building from scratch- either to audition circuits or experiment with designs.

Some time ago I came across these old Heathkit "electronic design experimenter" units and scored one off Ebay for ~$15.  Really cool for this stuff- it has a variable bipolar 15V power supply, test oscillator, and a couple built-in pots that can be used in the circuit.  I hacked it a bit and put 1/4" jacks on the back, all of which terminate to the outer connection points on the breadboard.  This way I can easily carry the effect under trial over to where the big amps reside, plug in, and hear it action.




Plenty of ideas have lived and died on that board

[chromium]

bigass jewel lights on the switcher.

I had found some cool incandescent slide lamps that were looking for a project  

I like that old test equipment look, and there are sill some parts floating out there that lend themselves to that... phenolic resin knobs, dial plates, etc.  I even found a huge stock of old rocker switches like the ones used in Mu-tron pedals, but I haven't had the patience yet to cut enclosures for any (notice you did!).

[Granny Gremlin]

I even found a huge stock of old rocker switches like the ones used in Mu-tron pedals, but I haven't had the patience yet to cut enclosures for any (notice you did!).

Yeah, but to be fair, those little sliders  (came out of an old Traynor powered mixer I couldn't give away for free so I scrapped it for parts - put some on ebay, the badge, cracked, went from 99c to like $60 - I was ready to give the whole thing away so I was pretty flabbergasted... also got a load of decent pots and tropical fish caps out of it, jacks, and a pile of sweet knobs; better quality than I would have assumed) are MUCH smaller than Mutron rockers.  Also those die cast alu boxes cut like butter; drilled the corners and dremelled the rest out (cutting disk).  Took 5 minutes.

I used a cool large red rocker switch on a rackjob I did for 3 McCurdy EQ modules as the main power switch.  Looks cool with the trans blue (almost matches the module colour perfectly) panel I mounted it all in.  It's on the extreme right of the stuff above the console in my jam space pics over in that thread... I left room for a few more modules because the power supply I got is over spec by a mile, just there's not that many other things that run off a single +48V rail.  Funnily enough, the only other modules I could confirm ran on 48 were the oldest (solid black face, no colour, no more then 3 knobs) Ward Beck stuff, so It's gonna be an all-Canadian rack whether or not I add to it (though I have looked around for the WBS modules, I never see them come up for sale publicly (like ebay or craigslist), but apparently the WBS user community likes to keep it in the family as it were and passes the stuff around on their boards). 

[chromium]

Yeah, but to be fair, those little sliders  (came out of an old Traynor powered mixer I couldn't give away for free so I scrapped it for parts - put some on ebay, the badge, cracked, went from 99c to like $60 - I was ready to give the whole thing away so I was pretty flabbergasted... also got a load of decent pots and tropical fish caps out of it...

That's a great way to source parts.  I do the same, and also keep parts of value from any equipment restorations.

I found the CW rocker switches at Electronics Goldmine here in Phoenix (http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com) for $0.25/ea, and bought ~1000 thinking I'd use them in the synth controllers that I build and sell.  That ended up not being the case, and so I started unloading the switches on Ebay for $3.50/ea.  I've sold a ton, and actually bought one of my more recent basses from the proceeds

If you want any for your efx builds shoot me a pm - I'll send you a bunch for shipping cost.

[Granny Gremlin]

I got the PCBs for a Ross compressor, Pearl OD and a 2nd Klon OD (I'm quite sure that as soon as my guitard chums try mine out they'll want one) in the mail yesterday.  Waiting for parts to populate them with is torture.

I am also going to need some more model paint - I only have white, that weird gold-speckle green I used for my GG logo, and pink (the green and pink were in the sale bin for 50c when I bought the white so I grabbed them).  There was this neat shade of blue I used on my model F16 when I was a kid; gonna try to find some of that at least.

[Granny Gremlin]

I finished a Pearl OD-05 copy (aka Fractal PCB by Aion, hence the paint job theme). I am loving the (pre clipping) EQ on this thing; born to be maxxed out and provides such a range of OD tones, from fat warhammer to the chest to jangley volley of arrows. The clip switch provides choice between the (stock) soft clipping option of a pair of 1N914 diodes with series resistors, and hard clipping via 2 series pairs of BAT41 (I had them lying around, they are low enough as regards clipping threshold/forward voltage to use in this circuit, and the clincher was that they were blue, which matches the PCB). The difference is subtle, and most noticable at high drive and EQ gain settings (one more reason to crank the thing).









The compressor I'm working on is also done, but not yet painted and I haven’t decided on what knobs to use, though it is mounted in the box and tested (the blue LED looks awesome with the white powdercoat enclosure). The Wiff is gonna paint that one for me (eventually… she does not feel the same urgency for these things, unfortunately).

The Fractal is using the knobs I mentioned having reclaimed from that old Traynor mixer amp a while back. They just happenned to work perfectly with the circles there.

Up next: BosS CE-1B Chorus, Mutron 3 and a digital delay with modulated tails and other neat things (x 2; 1 for me and one for a bud).

[Granny Gremlin]

Finished the BOSS CE-2B chorus pedal copy.



More pics