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View Full Version : Voodoo Octave Fuzz becomes Compact Direct Drive #2



jugglindan
02-06-2020, 07:17 PM
Bakersdozen hatched a plan to convert his Joyo Voodoo Octave Fuzz to a Barber Compact Direct Drive. The enclosure is a perfect match for the number of pots and switches. Rather than the two toggle switches of my build, this one will have the gain switch on the second footswitch. This is a mod I wish mine had.

To make it interesting, I am going to see how many parts can be salvaged from the Joyo. From its ashes a new pedal will arise.

Hopefully.

Still waiting on the Joyo pedal to arrive in the mail, but I have made a start on the main board for the CDD. Board cut to size, track cuts made and triple checked, some components soldered. But I have posted so many photos of boards in this state there is no value from posting more just yet.

Bakersdozen
02-06-2020, 07:59 PM
Yesss! A build diary I'm excited to watch this hatch. The compact drive is a pedal I always wanted to have and seeing DC's original build progress and how happy he was with it, I approached him to see if it was something he wanted to have a play around with considering he's already done the hard yards by building one already.

The Joyo Voodoo Octave - I was never happy with this pedal and I think I even tried to do some advertised mods to it in the past and it still just sat collecting dust. I looked at it and it had the exact layout that would work in terms of pot and switch holes.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200602/3ccf6e9806667502088cd2cc68c5b50c.jpg

Once DC gave me the green light, I immediately set to work scraping the text and print off the face of the pedal and gave it a metallic gold vinyl wrap. Cool a green and gold pedal.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200602/c22feb26bdb586e586f516c6bcc8df6c.jpg

Now what to do for a decal. I wanted to capture something about the Gold top and possibly the green, but not sure. After some pondering I realised the Gold element in the periodic table was also number 79 which is the same vintage as me. Cool. Also it has the Au label, so that kind of blends in with the Aussie "green and gold" situation. Cool. Some fenangling with Inkscape I later came up with this for a layout.


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200602/8752cee3e0830c126709584c85461e24.jpg

It looks good over the goldtop and I also added a double red pinstripe around the sides to kind of go with the name of the pedal. In my haste to get it in the post, I forgot to take some shots of it all prettied up. Oh well, enough from me now over to the master builder. Should arrive momentarily...

jugglindan
02-06-2020, 09:01 PM
I didn't know you were 79 :)

Got the links, diodes, and three-quarters of the resistors done tonight. Should get the rest of the main board finished this week.

I will post photos of the enclosure when it gets here, before I get a chance to stuff it up. I swear things get scratches just by me looking at them.

DC

jugglindan
03-06-2020, 07:46 PM
Main board finished but for 2 caps which are an out of series value. They should be here later this week. After they go on I will turn my attention to reclaiming parts from the Joyo pedal. So far, this board is turning out neater than the first one.
35460

Bakersdozen
03-06-2020, 07:52 PM
Very tidy work there mate.

Simon Barden
03-06-2020, 07:57 PM
I expect it took you two hours to solder that lot. ;)

jugglindan
03-06-2020, 08:05 PM
Very tidy work there mate.

Thanks. I have reached the point where I don't even need to measure the leads, it's just "this resistor spans 4 holes, bend about here and here". And I swapped to a different solder composition which is giving me much shinier joins.


I expect it took you two hours to solder that lot. ;)
A bit longer than 2 actually. I move slowly, measuring component values, continuity testing, inspecting each solder join and so on. It's slowest when doing the first components. With fewer known-good landmarks on the board there is a lot more counting. As the board fills the relative placement of new components gets faster.

And yes, I get the reference to my lame joke elsewhere :)

McCreed
04-06-2020, 06:24 AM
What's the second footswitch do?
I see BD has it labelled as Bypass, but doesn't it just do that when the pedal isn't engaged?

Bakersdozen
04-06-2020, 06:57 AM
What's the second footswitch do?
I see BD has it labelled as Bypass, but doesn't it just do that when the pedal isn't engaged?

Hey McCreed - dang I really wanna call you Mike McCready (oh well that's my personal battle haha)...The second footswitch (gain) will engage the toggle between low gain and high gain. The bypass switch will work as advertised, just turning the circuit on and off in a true bypass manner.

Your most likely all over it already, but here is the link (http://www.barberelectronics.com/compactDD.html) to the original pedal.

jugglindan
04-06-2020, 07:23 AM
The second footswitch is a mod I mentioned wishing I made to my build. The original CDD (and my build) have a toggle switch that selects between the low and high gain voicing. I found that when I set the pedal for a nice low-gain-almost-clean-but-for-a-touch-of-hair-and-breakup-that-responds-to-guitar-volume-and-pick-dynamics sound (does that have a shorter name?) that simply flipping to high-gain mode gave me a great tone very similar to a Marshall Guv'nor pedal. So two very useful but different effects on the toggle, meaning I don't need to spend time dialing in different sounds when switching. I mentioned that it would have been better to control that with a second footswitch, so that's what we are doing to this one.

The harmonics switch is more subtle so it doesn't really need a footswitch. On my low gain settings the harmonics toggle adds more bite from the filter letting higher harmonics through while keeping it in the almost-clean zone. I like to use it when fingerpicking. I don't have nails so the harmonics switch helps compensate for the softer attack. Works beautifully with the Orange Squeezer in front of it.

It's a lovely pedal. I really want to track down the schematic. From the board layout I can see hints of some unusual design choices - the voltage divider biasing the op amp looks odd for example.

DC

Bakersdozen
04-06-2020, 08:39 PM
After spending at least 4 days idle in the Melbourne processing area, the package tracking is now reading Strathfield NSW. Seems to have shot straight past the ACT along the eastern border for a holiday . . . I'm not going to have a rant about the postal system given current circumstances, but yeah..gaahoouumph

jugglindan
04-06-2020, 08:56 PM
Boo!

The parts from PPA arrived today though, so I have the missing caps and pots. The Marshall-style knobs look good too.

I am using the downtime on this build to progress the mini-amp and the TS-808. Need to do the enclosure drilling template and layout.

I should probably think about getting back to my tele build as well. This weekend marks 2.5 weeks since I put the last coat of clear on the neck, and around 6 weeks since I put clear on the body. I should be able to start polishing soon.

jugglindan
05-06-2020, 06:34 PM
The package has arrived. It's hard to do justice to the stellar work by BakersDozen on this enclosure with my photos taken in poor lighting, but here 'tis:
35498

Looks amazing, no?

But the attention to detail just gets better with the pinstripes along the side:
35499

I better build the best overdrive ever to be worthy of this enclosure.

I was also struck by the heft of this enclosure. Even with all the internals removed, it feels incredibly solid. Just goes to show that if you like the sound, Joyo make some solid pedals for the price. And if you don't like the sound, then we can rebuild it. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man, err edit that part out later...

jugglindan
05-06-2020, 08:34 PM
The Joyo board:
35501

On inspection, most of the components are surface-mount, making them pretty much useless and near impossible to desolder or reuse. But the pots, switch, and 6.5mm jacks should come off and be usable. The switch will hopefully serve for the harmonics switch, the jacks should be fine too in the new pedal. The pots are all 100k linear taper. That's the right value for the CDD volume, but the wrong taper. And the shaft doesn't match the knobs. So the reclaimed pots won't make it into the new pedal.

A few other components are also salvagable, like the transistors (just cut the leads to avoid heat damage) but that's about it.

The footswitches are just perfect for the new pedal. I didn't desolder, just cut the leads at the circuit board. It is using an unfamiliar PCB with 6 leads out and an integrated LED, so the first step was to trace the board and reverse engineer the pin outs:
35502

It's messy since I didn't know where the connections would run when I started. But I am pretty sure it's correct. One footswitch has 4 leads connected which is perfect for the gain switch, and the other has 6 leads wired up as a standard true bypass. The power LED is on a separate circuit. When on, the input signal goes to the effect board and the output signal goes to the output jack. When bypassed, the input signal is routed directly to the output jack (true bypass) and the effect output goes to ground via a 51 ohm resistor. Note that with this wiring, the effect circuit is fully powered even when bypassed. I don't know what the current draw is in this state compared to when an input signal is applied, but it means that all those pedals on your board are drawing some power even when bypassed.

I don't know if the attached leads will be long enough to reach the new effect board, since the connections are not in one convenient location. Will probably desolder the current leads.

jugglindan
06-06-2020, 09:14 PM
A bit more time on this tonight, much of it fruitless. Destroyed the jacks getting them off the PCB, which is fine cause they take up too much space. I will use the same open jacks I always use. Got the switch off in usable form though, so that's something.

I then discovered one issue when using an enclosure drilled for different parts: less than ideal hole diameters.

Footswitches: OK (using the same ones)
6.5mm jacks: holes a little large, but workable.
DC jack: hole is too large for the mini jacks I normally use, but slightly too small for a larger DC jack I have. I am afraid to drill the nicely finished enclosure, so might have to use a washer behind the mini jack to stop it pulling into the hole.
Pots and switch should be OK. Some slack which Joyo could afford since everything was PCB mounted which means the pots don't even need fixing to the enclosure. But I need a strong connection on the case mount to stop things wobbling around. Will just have to tighten the nuts up and use carefully chosen washers.

I also finished the circuit board, adding the final capacitors.

Bakersdozen
06-06-2020, 10:14 PM
Yay! Good progress, all good about not being able to salvage parts, it was a nice idea but happy to move on..If you need to, don't worry about drilling that DC Jack hole. Anything can be fixed so go for your life. You can just peel back the stripes if your worried, enlarge the hole and lay em back down. They probably won't even budge with a little enlarging anyway. Sounds like you've got a handle on the rest and woohoo for a completed board. I'm not excited at all, can you tell?

jugglindan
07-06-2020, 06:28 AM
I thought the pinstripes had clear over the top. If not then I will peel them back and drill for the larger DC jack. I won't be using it for anything else since I prefer the smaller ones. The larger jack is left over from the Orange Squeezer kit since I used the mini jack on that.

jugglindan
07-06-2020, 02:24 PM
OK, I drilled. Of the two holes, I drilled out the larger since the 6.5mm jack was a better fit in the smaller hole. Nothing exploded and no scratches added to enclosure.
35560

Next steps are a mock build to test layout, then off-board wiring, test, and final assembly. The mock build will let me know if I can use the existing footswitch wires or if I need to change them. Changing would have the additional advantage of getting my standard wire colours, which is maybe enough incentive.

Bakersdozen
07-06-2020, 02:35 PM
Looking good! I promise I only have a little bit of drool escaping the corner of my mouth. Have you tested your OG build for amp draw by any chance?

jugglindan
07-06-2020, 03:40 PM
I haven't measured current draw yet, but I just poked around in the shed and found a cable that will let me rig my multimeter inline with the power lead to the pedal. I will be very surprised if it draws more than 50mA, and slightly surprised at >40mA.

jugglindan
07-06-2020, 10:04 PM
This pedal is kicking my arse just a little bit. Getting solder out of circuit boards just seems to take a long time, even with three different removal methods. Standard builds are usually finished by now.

Finally got the two footswitches ready to go and wired up. Funny how I didn't notice until taking the photo that I wired them with the wires coming from opposite sides. They will still work just fine though, so meh! Also had to make three tiny boards to convert the PCB-mount pots. Just need to wire the harmonics switch and then I can assemble things into the case, cut the wires to final length and finish connecting the wires.

I don't trust the ground connection on the jacks through the enclosure since it's painted so well, so I will wire grounds. Which, thinking about it, creates a ground loop due to multiple ground paths to each jack (wires and case). But since I do this all the time without problems, Simon is right about ground loops not causing issues at the very low currents found in these circuits.

Oh yeah, the progress photo:
35568

Bakersdozen
07-06-2020, 10:24 PM
Wow. Did you end up using the pots from the Joyo? Or did the pain come from desoldering the switch wiring?

Simon Barden
07-06-2020, 11:18 PM
It's not just the low currents, it's also the relative size of the wires, PCB tracks and the short distances. Even with higher currents, ground paths of 3-5cm won't produce much of a volt drop at all. And the distances will be similar, and so will any resulting volt drops. What you end up with in a pedal are a few ground paths in parallel that have a common input connection point and a common output connection point, so there's not a lot of scope for measurable potential differences at the circuit connection points. But obviously at least one good ground connection to the enclosure is required so that it stops external noise from getting in.

On the Tone City mini-pedals that Andertons sell, the input and output jack sockets don't have a permanent ground connection to the enclosure. It's only when you insert a jack plug that the connection gets made. PCB-mounted jack sockets that just fit and holes cut in the enclosure, which all saves assembly time and keeps costs low.

jugglindan
08-06-2020, 08:13 AM
Wow. Did you end up using the pots from the Joyo? Or did the pain come from desoldering the switch wiring?Footswitch desoldering. Got the wires off easy, but it took an hour to get all the holes clear of solder. They have a relatively thick PCB with tinned through holes, so small beads of solder stubbornly refused to leave their snug little homes. Too deep for the braided copper to work, ditto the vacuum sucker. The heat and whack method got them clear eventually.

DC

Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk

jugglindan
08-06-2020, 08:16 AM
It's not just the low currents, it's also the relative size of the wires, PCB tracks and the short distances. Even with higher currents, ground paths of 3-5cm won't produce much of a volt drop at all. And the distances will be similar, and so will any resulting volt drops. What you end up with in a pedal are a few ground paths in parallel that have a common input connection point and a common output connection point, so there's not a lot of scope for measurable potential differences at the circuit connection points. But obviously at least one good ground connection to the enclosure is required so that it stops external noise from getting in.

On the Tone City mini-pedals that Andertons sell, the input and output jack sockets don't have a permanent ground connection to the enclosure. It's only when you insert a jack plug that the connection gets made. PCB-mounted jack sockets that just fit and holes cut in the enclosure, which all saves assembly time and keeps costs low.I use open jacks so the screw mount makes a direct connection to the case. But it's occasionally intermittent so I run earth wires too. Thanks for the explanation. It makes sense.

Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk

jugglindan
08-06-2020, 03:22 PM
BD teaser:
35599

A lot more room in this enclosure than I am used to. Now to start cutting wires to length and make the final connections. Wait is that a song? It's the final connection ...

Bakersdozen
08-06-2020, 03:26 PM
Oh yes baby. Looking very sweet .. great work mate.

McCreed
08-06-2020, 07:01 PM
What I really want to know is...


how can those wee-tiny little components create such a HUGE, BEAUTIFULLY RAUCOUS NOISE!!!!

Cool :cool:

Simon Barden
08-06-2020, 07:04 PM
BD teaser:
35599
A lot more room in this enclosure than I am used to.

Surely some of those electrons will get lost in such a vast space? ;)

Bakersdozen
08-06-2020, 08:30 PM
Kind of fitting. That's exactly how I picture my brain in comparison to my skull. Lots of empty space .. great for a reverb chamber .. maybe I could convince @igor to implant some input and output jacks for me...

I managed to find a few short minutes today to knock up a quick pedal board

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200608/3180d988b64002411b037fa190e0a700.jpg

jugglindan
08-06-2020, 08:55 PM
It doesn't look so sparse as it started to fill up with wiring. So many pots, so many switches, so many wires.
I have seen beautiful wiring in pedals, with everything cut exactly to length, but I am not of that school of thought. I find that if everything is only just long enough it can really suck to make repairs, and the final wiring gets really difficult as well. So I end up with this:
35603

Yes, I know the pots are not all neatly lined up. The mini circuit board adapters I made to convert the PCB mount pots collide with the case walls so I rotated them a bit. Fortunately the pot shafts are round so I can get away with this. Chamfered pots wouldn't have let the knobs line up correctly.

At this point I put the back on and hooked up to my amp for a good-news, bad-news moment. All controls seemed to work as expected (always test this), but the sound was off. Certainly nothing close to my version. There were echoes of my pedal, but everything was fizzy and noisy. Normally if there is an electrical fault the result is much more obvious: no sound, nothing but noise, noise from a pot, volume wired backwards, that sort of thing. But here, everything worked as it should but the sound was fizzy and wrong. The only other clue to the issue was that the gain switch didn't make a lot of difference.

Based on this, I had an intuition to swap out the op amp. I always use sockets so it's an easy change.

Plug in again and - drum roll - sounds nearly exactly like my version. So the first op amp is a dud.

But only nearly. The high gain settings don't have quite the same gnarly Marshally grind that I get from my pedal. But I know the rest of the circuit is good so I am going to experiment with a few other op amps to find one that sounds better. I have around 15 4558s and 10 TL072s so there should be a better one in there somewhere. Will try tomorrow as I find myself oddly tired now. I think the pressure of building a pedal for someone else made this project a lot tougher than my own. For my own pedals I will gladly shelve something for a month before I feel like fixing it.

Oh, nearly forgot the late-night-bad-lighting photo:
35609

jugglindan
09-06-2020, 05:10 AM
Kind of fitting. That's exactly how I picture my brain in comparison to my skull. Lots of empty space .. great for a reverb chamber .. maybe I could convince @igor to implant some input and output jacks for me...

I managed to find a few short minutes today to knock up a quick pedal board

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200608/3180d988b64002411b037fa190e0a700.jpgLooks great! Is that the buffer pedal?

Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk

Bakersdozen
09-06-2020, 05:20 AM
Yes the little buffer works great [emoji3]

jugglindan
09-06-2020, 07:18 AM
Yes the little buffer works great [emoji3]

What circuit did you use? I found lots of different ones before building mine. I chose based on components I had in stock more than reviews.

I will do the op amp swapping tests with your pedal today. Should get it in the mail this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

Bakersdozen
09-06-2020, 07:29 AM
I just followed this quick and easy circuit

https://youtu.be/dMxwT7BT7oE

I know there are more advanced circuits, but this was a simple start for me.

Awesome thanks for all your hard work dude - much appreciated. I'm super excited to have a play around with it. Shoot me an email and we can work out fundage.

jugglindan
09-06-2020, 12:18 PM
OK, swapped out the op amp for another 4558, then plugged into my board alongside my build so I could do a true A/B test. After dialing in the settings, I can't tell the difference between the two pedals now. The new pedal still sounds awesome with a compressor in front of it. I got some radical sounds by stacking one CDD into the other as well. The first on low gain setting, and the second on high. Sustain for days :)

It also has the same sweet spot as my build for a clean tone. Tone 1 o'clock, gain at 12, volume just over unity, harmonics on (up for high harmonics), high-gain switch off. Sounds juicy with my amp. Your mileage may vary. Just heading to the post office now to send the pedal on it's way. Once I find some bubble wrap.

JohnH
10-06-2020, 05:13 AM
Great work! I've only ever built two or three pedals for other people but I always found it super stressful - right up until they had it plugged in and were loving it lol

jugglindan
10-06-2020, 08:59 AM
Great work! I've only ever built two or three pedals for other people but I always found it super stressful - right up until they had it plugged in and were loving it lol

I can relate to the stress part. Putting a failed build in a drawer isn't an option. Fortunately no builds this year have failed, yet. Touch wood. Too early to say if BD will love it, but I hope so.

Bakersdozen
10-06-2020, 09:10 AM
Pretty sure I will .. keep you updated

Bakersdozen
16-06-2020, 08:45 PM
Dude! I just spent a couple hours behind this thing. You knocked it out if the park [emoji12] I'm getting smooth creamy overdrive all the way up to cranked Marshally goodness out if this thing. I can only really describe it as "amp like" .. totally takes on different characteristics of each guitar being either humbuckers, p90's or single coils and reacts very differently as opposed to a generic pedal where everything sounds the same.

Playing with the harmonics switch and the high cut you can really dial in all kinds of sweet spots for what each guitar needs and wants according to the tone your chasing. I found the single coils needed the harmonics off or the high cut dialled right back with it on. I totally understand their choice there as it's the only thing that you feel like you need to change when the trebles get a bit harsh.

And the gain control on the Footswitch was a magic touch. Pretty much a 2 channel pedal. And so handy to have that at your feet to crank it over at will.

I couldn't stop playing it and super satisfied. It's a well designed and thought out circuit and you totally did it justice mate. Well done and thank you so much again, I can't thank you enough. You might be able to tell, I'm pretty stoked and it's living up to my hopeful expectations of what this pedal would bring.

jugglindan
16-06-2020, 08:56 PM
Awesome!

I was afraid to open this thread, just in case you didn't like it.

I agree that it's a fantastic pedal. I tested and examined so many marshall in a box pedals before building this one. I can't wait to finish my tele so I can try it with humbuckers.

I use the harmonics switch quite a bit with my singles, but I have the amp EQ permanently set to tame the excess brightness.

I am pretty envious of the dual footswitches though! I didn't think of that until after building my pedal. It works a treat though, so I was happy with how it turned out.

Bakersdozen
16-06-2020, 08:59 PM
I am pretty envious of the dual footswitches though! I didn't think of that until after building my pedal. It works a treat though, so I was happy with how it turned out.

Re-box could be in order for you ??

jugglindan
16-06-2020, 09:11 PM
Re-box could be in order for you ??

Maybe, but I play sitting down, so the switch is always easy to reach. Maybe one day when I find another pedal with three pots and two switches.

Plus there is also the debacle of the knob that I stuck on with CA glue :) I sure won't be doing that again. Or will I ...

Bakersdozen
16-06-2020, 09:12 PM
Maybe, but I play sitting down, so the switch is always easy to reach. Maybe one day when I find another pedal with three pots and two switches.

Plus there is also the debacle of the knob that I stuck on with CA glue :) I sure won't be doing that again. Or will I ...Meh - hit it with a hammer. It'll come off . Or some acetone. Job done.

jugglindan
16-06-2020, 09:16 PM
I think I'll just live with the single switch for now :cool:

jugglindan
17-06-2020, 08:33 AM
OK, so I was watching a review of the Compact Direct Drive (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTwvtzp9imU). Some of the comments are interesting. One says "I have an actual Marshall combo. The direct drive into its clean Channel sounds more Marshall than the actual Marshall gain channel.", and another "Sounds more like a cranked up amp than a distortion or overdrive pedal. It seems to be the closest I have heard to the tone of the amp but at sane volume levels. Many pedals claim to be able to deliver this but the Direct Drive demo here shows that Barber really knows how to get it done right". So you are not the only one to think it sounds very amp-like.

But then I saw the same guy had a review of the Barber Gain Changer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K17RmGOPEwU&t=1067s

It's similar in that it combines several earlier Barber pedal voicings into the one pedal, selected via toggle switches. But it's said to be more American voiced rather than British/Marshall. Not sure if that means Fenderish or something else. But it sounds good in the review, so I know what I am building as my next drive pedal (https://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2014/04/barber-gain-changer.html) :)

I will definitely do this with footswitchable gain.

Bakersdozen
17-06-2020, 08:46 AM
Nice one, glad to get a sanity check on what I was hearing and experiencing. I'm so keen to get it fired up loud with my Marshall amp on the clean channel. That has confirmed exactly how I pictured it would sound in the that setting.

Sounds like a good one to aim for mate. They certainly know their stuff.

Bakersdozen
07-07-2020, 08:20 PM
The opportunity finally presented itself tonight with the family away from the premises to indulge in some high volume cranky crank with this beast. Going into the clean channel of my Marshall valvestate AVT50 combo which has a Celestion v30 retro fitted - this pedal is so hard to put down. It really sounds like you have engaged the dirty channels of a wall of Marshall stacks. I love how you can have a semi-overdriven creamy signal on one side and then throw down the gain switch to either swing into a singing solo or take it up a significant notch on your dirty sound. it is really like having a two channel distortion pedal which turns your (clean amp) into a 3 channel situation. The CDD really cleans up as well using your volume knob on the guitar. It seems to be respectful of where you are set and tastefully adjusts accordingly. Still very very impressed. Thankyou DC.

jugglindan
07-07-2020, 09:05 PM
Glad you are enjoying it. I don't have a 50w Marshall to test mine with, but it's definitely my favourite drive pedal. It does everything from a smooth and creamy clean sound with more through to somewhat nasty.

I really need to build another pedal with 3 knobs and 2 switches so I can rebox my DD but still use the #5 enclosure on something else.

Dave Barber has good ears.

Bakersdozen
07-07-2020, 09:07 PM
Hear here !

jugglindan
07-07-2020, 09:34 PM
I am still planning the Gain Changer as well (I have all the parts from Tayda already), but ... Must Finish BlueyCaster ...

Bakersdozen
07-07-2020, 09:35 PM
[emoji16] you will .