Post-Lockdown pedal building

idiotwind

Looking back to page 25 of this thread, it seems my last pedal build was March 2021.  That was a mammoth vero build which dampened my enthusiasm a bit.  But I've got the itch again and am taking the next logical step after going from PCB to vero.  We're going tag strip, with the plan to go full point to point after this.  I may have spent some time looking at the Reeves Electro site...

roberty

@idiotwind cool good luck with the build. Looks like a fun way to work (more fun than Vero anyway lol) (vero is not fun)

Boxed this today, BBE sonic stomp clone. Another fuzz dog. Sounds great, will be really good for recording guitar and bass I think

idiotwind

First a quick WIP photo, showing off the totally unnecessary interior paint job.  Felt odd doing the "offboard" wiring first



and then the finished article







It's a Colorsound One Knob Fuzz, but with a BC108/BC183L rather than a BC109/BC108.  Heavily "inspired" by the Reeves Electro 183Sound (ok, totally ripped off).

I added a 1M pull down resistor and the LED is on the other side to match other pedals I have.  Definitely not because I flipped it because I had spent so long looking at the inside shot.  Nice big 1W resistors and huge capacitors for that retro charm.  I decided to keep the outside simple, just sanded to 800 grit and a honking great aluminium knob from Jed's Peds.

Pedal sounds good from my limited testing so far.

roberty

@idiotwind wow mate that's awesome. Super tidy. Pretty sure Marcus Reeves would approve :-) he is active in the Facebook DIY/fuzz groups

Keefy

idiotwind said:

First a quick WIP photo, showing off the totally unnecessary interior paint job.  Felt odd doing the "offboard" wiring first



and then the finished article







It's a Colorsound One Knob Fuzz, but with a BC108/BC183L rather than a BC109/BC108.  Heavily "inspired" by the Reeves Electro 183Sound (ok, totally ripped off).

I added a 1M pull down resistor and the LED is on the other side to match other pedals I have.  Definitely not because I flipped it because I had spent so long looking at the inside shot.  Nice big 1W resistors and huge capacitors for that retro charm.  I decided to keep the outside simple, just sanded to 800 grit and a honking great aluminium knob from Jed's Peds.

Pedal sounds good from my limited testing so far.

Is the playing experience enhanced if you look at the pedal guts at the same time? Asking for a friend obviously!

roberty

My latest pedal building related purchase was some safety goggles for drilling lol. Figured I am quite used to having two eyes. They also double as an all night rave accessory

stickyfiddle

@idiotwind  That's great!! 

idiotwind

Thanks all, it was a fun one to do.  I've long admired point to point pedals and this tagstrip ladder style seemed like a nice step on the way to that.  To be honest, one of the hardest parts was finding the right tagstrip at a reasonable price.

I've got my eye on the Leo next, a bit more complex and fully point to point.

roberty

Sourcing parts is a massive pain, especially now after Covid/Brexit/war. Struggling with pots atm. Just did a big order from Mouser in the US

roberty

The smash twins. Handwired vero SHO and a Fuzz Dog IC Big Muff with the extra feedback cap for fizz. Both old builds revisited

I got impatient with the clear coat and ended up with loads of bubbles in the pumpkin muff. Might redo it in a week or two if it still bothers me. I printed off spare decals



The knob labels line up well

Rkphilpot

I've gone back through 20 pages of these and there are so many cool pedals on here! I should have thought to look here sooner.
Is this the thread for asking some questions about kit builds? I'm reasonable with a soldering iron, but my first two kit builds haven't quite worked and I have no idea how to fault find.

Cookiemonster

Rkphilpot said:

I've gone back through 20 pages of these and there are so many cool pedals on here! I should have thought to look here sooner.
Is this the thread for asking some questions about kit builds? I'm reasonable with a soldering iron, but my first two kit builds haven't quite worked and I have no idea how to fault find.

I’m sure we will all be happy to help 

post some photos of the circuits and off board wiring 

Cookiemonster

idiotwind said:

First a quick WIP photo, showing off the totally unnecessary interior paint job.  Felt odd doing the "offboard" wiring first



and then the finished article







It's a Colorsound One Knob Fuzz, but with a BC108/BC183L rather than a BC109/BC108.  Heavily "inspired" by the Reeves Electro 183Sound (ok, totally ripped off).

I added a 1M pull down resistor and the LED is on the other side to match other pedals I have.  Definitely not because I flipped it because I had spent so long looking at the inside shot.  Nice big 1W resistors and huge capacitors for that retro charm.  I decided to keep the outside simple, just sanded to 800 grit and a honking great aluminium knob from Jed's Peds.

Pedal sounds good from my limited testing so far.

That’s fantastic. I have thought about doing this myself. Where did you get the parts ? 

Rkphilpot

Cookiemonster said:

Rkphilpot said:

I've gone back through 20 pages of these and there are so many cool pedals on here! I should have thought to look here sooner.
Is this the thread for asking some questions about kit builds? I'm reasonable with a soldering iron, but my first two kit builds haven't quite worked and I have no idea how to fault find.

I’m sure we will all be happy to help 

post some photos of the circuits and off board wiring 

Will do tomorrow, thank you.
Its a Jed's Peds Big Muff build, pretty simple, still managed to make it noisey as hell. Will upload a video of it too.
Thank you

roberty

Will try to help @Rkphilpot. An audio probe is cheap to make and really handy for fault finding

Rkphilpot

roberty said:

Will try to help @Rkphilpot. An audio probe is cheap to make and really handy for fault finding

Thank you, will look into them

Cookiemonster

Rkphilpot said:

Cookiemonster said:

Rkphilpot said:

I've gone back through 20 pages of these and there are so many cool pedals on here! I should have thought to look here sooner.
Is this the thread for asking some questions about kit builds? I'm reasonable with a soldering iron, but my first two kit builds haven't quite worked and I have no idea how to fault find.

I’m sure we will all be happy to help 

post some photos of the circuits and off board wiring 

Will do tomorrow, thank you.
Its a Jed's Peds Big Muff build, pretty simple, still managed to make it noisey as hell. Will upload a video of it too.
Thank you

I think Big muffs can be noisy, I built the one that’s supposed to be close to the Fallout and that was the quietest Muff I’ve built. 

I gave it to a friend who’s lad is learning guitar and he seems to be enjoying it 

idiotwind

Cookiemonster said:

That’s fantastic. I have thought about doing this myself. Where did you get the parts ? 

The tagstrip was from eBay and the spacers and screws were Jed's Peds. The enclosure (1590BB, so slightly deeper body) and 1W metal film resistors were Switch Electronics.  The transistors and axial capacitors were Bowood Electronics except that electrolytic one which was Bitsbox.  Add in some sockets and other bits from Fuzzdog and it was quite a cosmopolitan build really.  I think my cost split between actual items and postage was about 60:40.

Cookiemonster

idiotwind said:

Cookiemonster said:

That’s fantastic. I have thought about doing this myself. Where did you get the parts ? 

The tagstrip was from eBay and the spacers and screws were Jed's Peds. The enclosure (1590BB, so slightly deeper body) and 1W metal film resistors were Switch Electronics.  The transistors and axial capacitors were Bowood Electronics except that electrolytic one which was Bitsbox.  Add in some sockets and other bits from Fuzzdog and it was quite a cosmopolitan build really.  I think my cost split between actual items and postage was about 60:40.

Interesting thank you for the detail, I haven’t used all the sites mentioned. I tend to use eBay, Bitsbox. Although I do use Jed’s and Fuzzdog both are fantastic. 

I really want to get some old vintage style parts so will check the other sites. I have some tagboard so might try using that, but those spacers etc looks great 

roberty

Redid my DIY noise gate. New graphics and a reflow/tidy inside. I think I can get half my big board DIY now. I just want to confuse any pedal nerds who lean over for a look