The D.I.Y. FX Pedal Building Thread

[DrNomis_44]

Hi Everyone,


Just thought I would start yet another one of my threads, this time it was inspired by some suggestions by Andy40 about putting up a tutorial on building D.I.Y FX Pedals, so, I thought I would take the opportunity to discuss how I build my pedals, I hope this thread will be of some help for those wishing to get into the fun hobby of D.I.Y FX pedal building.


I must point out that the way I build my pedals is not the only way to do it, there are lots of ways to build them, the way I build my pedals is usually dictated by the parts I have available to me in my local Jaycar Electronics Shop, occasionally I will source my parts from other countries if the parts I need are not stocked by Jaycar Electronics, I used to buy my parts from Dick Smith Electronics before they turned into a general Consumer Electronics Store, which is a bit of a shame.

When I go to build a pedal I usually go through a multi-stage process that goes like this:


Step 1, I think about the type of pedal I want to build, this can be influenced by a number of factors.

Step 2, I go online and see if I can find a good circuit-diagram for the pedal I wish to build, Google is one search engine I use a lot, there are a few others though, but I mostly use Google.

Step 3, Once I have found a circuit-diagram, I download it to one of my computers, sometimes I may do a print-out of the circuit-diagram too, if I find a good article about the pedal I'm building, I usually download and print it out too.

Step 4, Once I have the printouts I take some time to study the circuit-diagram to work out how it is supposed to work, this comes in handy during later stages of the build-process because it's usually in the late-stages that a problem is most likely to occur.

Step 5, I get a few pieces of A4 printer paper and draw up a parts list for the pedal I'm building.

Step 6, I go and buy all the needed parts from Jaycar Electronics, or, if they don't have what I need in stock, I'll order the needed parts online.

Step 7, Once I have the parts I need, I sometimes do what's called a "Breadboard Build", this involves building the circuit up on what's called a Solderless Breadboard, this is so I can check that the circuit will work with the parts I have, if I need to do any tweaking I go through and make adjustments till I'm satisfied with the results I get, a classic example is if I'm building an old school pedal that uses Germanium Transistors, like a Fuzz Face for example, I'll try different Germanium Transistors in the circuit till I find ones that work well.

Step 8, Once I've completed the previous step I move onto building the circuit up into a more permanent form.

Step 9, The next thing I do is I get the metal box I'm using for my pedal build and I do all my marking out so I can drill any necessary mounting holes in the box, these mounting holes could be for the pots, footswitch, in and out sockets, etc, while determining where I'm going to place the holes, I bear in mind how much space in the box I have to work with and position the various holes accordingly, sometimes with some of the boxes I use it can be a bit of a tight fit, but I usually end up managing pretty well.

Step 10, Once everything has been fitted in the box, I go ahead and do all the wiring up of the various controls, inputs, outputs and etc.

Step 11, Once all the wiring up has been completed, I do all the testing and setting-up of the pedal, it's usually at this stage when any problems become obvious and I go through the process of fault-finding and fixing the problem, sometimes I'll get lucky and the pedal will work first go, in that case I'll call the build-process finished.


Sometimes with a new finished pedal-build I'll give myself time to familiarize myself with the pedal before I dismantle the pedal in order to spray-paint the metal box and apply labeling and clear coat to it, during this getting-to-know period I may try the pedal out in various scenarios.



So that's generally how I go about building my pedals.


Note: if the PBG forum moderators can find a better place for this thread, please feel free to move it to that place.

[stan]

really interesting Doc, you seem pretty methodical.
Hope you do a pictorial of your next build, that would be cool

[Andy40]

Thanks doc i appreciate the time you put into this.

[DrNomis_44]

really interesting Doc, you seem pretty methodical.
Hope you do a pictorial of your next build, that would be cool


I sure will, but I really do need to get myself a new Digital Camera, I'm not that happy with the image quality of the pics I've taken with my Samsung Galaxy Y phone, I really need to be able to take sharper pics so you can see everything more clearly.



@ Andy40, no worries at all mate, I actually enjoy doing these threads, and sharing my knowledge makes me feel good inside.

[stan]

find my Benson pickup wiring thread in non pitbull gear, that's all done on iphone, lighting is the key to good shots on a phone. They are not masterpieces by a long shot, but it shows up wiring just fine.

cool thread Doc

[DrNomis_44]

When I go to build a pedal, I tend to concentrate on designs that use Analog electronics, and parts that are relatively easy to get, a lot of the old Chorus and Delay pedals from the 1970's used a type of technology called "Bucket Brigade", I won't go into too much detail about how it worked though, back then Bucket Brigade ICs used to be fairly inexpensive and readily available, nowadays they are very hard to get and expensive if you can find them, you can occasionally buy them on eBay but there have been lots of reports of counterfeit Bucket Brigade ICs being sold.


There is one IC that can be used to build a Chorus and Delay pedal and it's not hard to get, it's called a PT2399 IC and was originally designed for use in Theater Hi-Fi Surround Sound applications, I have a little chorus pedal that I built using a PT2399 IC, it's called a Little Angel Chorus, the problem with it is it sometimes doesn't power up correctly.


If you're interested in building a Compressor, Chorus or Delay pedal you can find details to build one on this website, note that you need to register as a member, registration is free though:


www.freestompboxes.org


Have a look in the DIY Stompboxes thread.


You can find circuits for lots of other pedals on freestompboxes.org too.

[Swanny]

Doc, how do you do your PCB? Back when Dick Smith used to sell electronic components, I used to etch PCB's by drawing the tracks onto a copper plated board with some sort of ink pen, then dip it into an acid that ate away the rest of the copper. I then rinsed off the board, cleaned off the ink, leaving the tracks I wanted. Then it was drilling holes for the components.

I found out about vero-board after that, but that was using wire to join the components on the back of the board. I built a 6800 Dream computer on vero-board when I was in high school (with a lot of help from a very knowledgeable friend!). The circuit diagram for the computer was published in a magazine, Electronics Australia. I was the envy of all my geeky friends!

[DrNomis_44]

Doc, how do you do your PCB? Back when Dick Smith used to sell electronic components, I used to etch PCB's by drawing the tracks onto a copper plated board with some sort of ink pen, then dip it into an acid that ate away the rest of the copper. I then rinsed off the board, cleaned off the ink, leaving the tracks I wanted. Then it was drilling holes for the components.

I found out about vero-board after that, but that was using wire to join the components on the back of the board. I built a 6800 Dream computer on vero-board when I was in high school (with a lot of help from a very knowledgeable friend!). The circuit diagram for the computer was published in a magazine, Electronics Australia. I was the envy of all my geeky friends!



Well, seeing as I don't have alot of PCB making material at home, most of my pedals are made using Veroboard, I have tried etching my own PCBs a few times but I got variable results, so I tended to stick to using Veroboard, it's a bit time-consuming because you need to design a suitable layout on graph paper first though, but it worked for me, a couple of Tonebender pedals I built (a Mk I and a MkII) used some Tagboards to mount the components, another pedal I built used an 8-Way Tagstrip to mount the components, I was a big fan of the Electronics Australia Magazine too, I used to buy them each month, it's a bit sad that the only Australian DIY Electronics magazine in existence is Silicon Chip, we used to have a Magazine called Electronics Today International.


Speaking of the ETI Magazine, I have a big file full of the complete construction details of the ETI International series Music Synthesizers as published back in the early 70's, I would absolutely love to be able to build a complete and working ETI 4600 Music Synthesizer, there's this online website that has all the info on the ETI 4600 Music Synthesizer:


http://www.eti4600synthesiser.org.uk/

[Swanny]

I used to have a heap of both EA, and ETI magazines, but a change in work took me away from learning more about electronics.

My PCB etching back then was an extra large coffee jar filled with a ferric chloride solution to dip my board into. I think I drilled the holes by hand - nowadays we have dremels and battery drills to make life easy.

The Synthesizer ... my knowledgeable friend built that, and I borrowed it for a few months... didn't know how to capture the sounds that came out of it!

[DrNomis_44]

I used to have a heap of both EA, and ETI magazines, but a change in work took me away from learning more about electronics.

My PCB etching back then was an extra large coffee jar filled with a ferric chloride solution to dip my board into. I think I drilled the holes by hand - nowadays we have dremels and battery drills to make life easy.

The Synthesizer ... my knowledgeable friend built that, and I borrowed it for a few months... didn't know how to capture the sounds that came out of it!


The last PCB I etched was for my UniVibe pedal, I didn't have a drill at the time so I used a pin vice and a suitably sized drill bit to manually drill all the component holes in the PCB, amazingly I got pretty much all the holes spot on centred after drilling them all by hand, the family I grew up in had a long tradition of doing D.I.Y stuff, my dad built the stereo amp and the speakers for our Hi-Fi because he was into electronics, my mum made her own dresses, my two brothers and I made our own toys out of wood, when my dad retired from work he built a big Reflection Telescope all by himself, he made all the metal and plastic parts too, he had to buy the mirror though, I guess I get my interest in D.I.Y stuff from my dad.

My dad was also into Astronomy which is why he built the Telescope, he even bought a movie camera and shot home movies when my brothers and I were growing up, I think he still has all those movies.

In my family, if something broke down, we replaced it or fixed it ourselves, if we couldn't fix it, or buy it, we made a new one.


I should get back into etching my own PCBs, I want to have a go at making some Turret boards for re-building my SLO 50 Valve Amp Head.


My older brother, George, built himself a Sprint Car and he would go out to the Speedway Race Track just outside of Kununurra, and he would enter himself into races, I went out to the Race Track a few times to watch him, this was before I moved from Kununurra to Darwin.

[SIMpleONe89]

Guys, do check out www.tagboardeffects.blogspot.com.au. I started building my pedals from their vero board layouts. Very simple, just like making a puzzle!

[DrNomis_44]

Guys, do check out www.tagboardeffects.blogspot.com.au. I started building my pedals from their vero board layouts. Very simple, just like making a puzzle!


Cheers for that, they look like interesting designs to build, definitely has alot of useful info on it.


I've got that website bookmarked now.

[SIMpleONe89]

Cheers for that, they look like interesting designs to build, definitely has alot of useful info on it.


I've got that website bookmarked now.

Yes they're really easy to use. I built some and they sound real great. Check them out!

Lovepedal eternity clone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My3OI4w5gPc&list=PLLl9s0CzVs-eOGI84ltXefHmq35eOancm&index=2
MI Audio crunchbox clone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdONTd2HCDc
Lovepedal Plexi clone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERjOkPEKVoY&list=PLLl9s0CzVs-eOGI84ltXefHmq35eOancm&index=4

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


I thought that I would go ahead and show you how I actually build an FX pedal from scratch, and do a write-up with some pics of the build process, note that this is just to illustrate the general build process since it is relatively the the same for most types of pedals.

Before I could start, I had to first work out what type of FX Pedal I was going to build, for this write-up, I deliberately chose something relatively easy to build using parts bought from my local Jaycar Electronics Store, the FX Pedal I chose to build is one called an Axis Fuzz pedal as used by Jimi Hendrix on the Axis: Bold As Love Album, which was released on December 1967, I think that qualifies it as a vintage Fuzz pedal, incidentally, the Fuzz Pedal was one of the first effects used by guitarists to get new and interesting sounds, one of the very first Fuzz Pedals was the Gibson Maestro FZ1, this pedal was designed by a recording Engineer, Glen Snoddy, while recording the song "Don't Worry" by Marty Robbins back in 1962, if you want you could try googling for the story behind how the song was recorded, when the Gibson Maestro FZ1 was first marketed to the general public, there wasn't much interested in it until Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones used one to record the distinctive Buzzy Tone riff in the song "Satisfaction", after that every 60's guitarist had to have a Fuzz Pedal.

A Fuzz Pedal takes the sound from your guitar and heavily distorts it so that it sounds very raspy, the idea was to deliberately imitate the sound of a blown speaker, but with more control over it.

Over the years since 1962, Designers have created lots of different designs for Fuzz Pedals ranging in complexity from relatively simple designs, such as the Fuzz Face, to more complex ones such as the Big Muff, they all produce a distinctively raw raspy and Buzzy tone.


I am going to be buying all the parts to make an Axis Fuzz Pedal from Jaycar Electronics in the morning, and will be documenting the build process so stay tuned for more updates to come.


For the time being, here's the circuit diagram of the Axis Fuzz Pedal:


10462

[kimball492]

Great read thanks Doc

[Dedman]

I look forward to your tutorial Doc

[DrNomis_44]

While I was shopping for all the parts to build the Axis Fuzz Pedal, I stopped in at JB HI FI to buy a couple of new DVDs to watch tonight, one is the latest 007 James Bond movie Spectre, and the other one is Star Wars: The force Awakens, should be good viewing tonight.

[Dedman]

Spectre is better than the previous Bond film but still a bit average, haven't seen the Star Wars one. You haven't got time for movies anyway, you have a tutorial to write!

[DrNomis_44]

Spectre is better than the previous Bond film but still a bit average, haven't seen the Star Wars one. You haven't got time for movies anyway, you have a tutorial to write!


That's right, I almost forgot about that, I need to put my cordless drill on charge overnight though so I can start work on the pedal in the morning, the Cordless Drill is needed to drill the holes in the Aluminium box I'm going to use to house the Axis Fuzz in, and the drill is the only one I have.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


My Cordless Drill has had enough time to re-charge so I'm going to start the Axis Fuzz build-process today, I started by preparing the Tagboard which I'm using to mount all the Electronic Parts on minus the pots, footswitch, in/out jacks, Led etc, I'm taking pics as I go through the build-process so that I can add them to the write-up, stay tuned for more updates.

[stan]

great stuff doc, this will be cool

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Okay here's a step by step account of what I have done so far in the build process:


Since I decided to use a piece of Tagboard to mount the parts on, I did a quick search in Google and found a suitable Tagboard layout which I drew onto a piece of A4 printer paper:


10572


Once I was happy with the layout, I trimmed the Tagboard to size so that there were 12 solder-tags on each side of the board:


10573


10574


The next thing to do was to use a Blue marker pen to mark out where the wire-links, linking the solder-tags together, needed to go:


10575


10576

[DrNomis_44]

The next step was to solder the wire-links to the Tagboard, some were soldered to the underside of the board, some were soldered on the top:


10577


10578


After doing that, the Tagboard was ready for soldering the components to it:

10579


And this is what the Tagboard looks like now, all that needs to be done is to solder the two transistors in place, the transistors are the two black components with three silver leads below the Tagboard in the pic:


10580




So once the transistors are correctly soldered onto the Tagboard, the next step in the build process is going to be the marking-out of the Aluminium case I'm going to be using to house the pedal in, I need to work out where the centres for the mounting holes for the pots, footswitch, in/out jacks, and the indicator Led, are going to go, once the centres are all marked out I can then go ahead and drill the holes to size.

[stan]

cool to see the process

[DrNomis_44]

cool to see the process



Surprisingly, the actual build-process for building a DIY FX pedal is nowhere near as hard as people may think, it just takes a bit of time, same like building a guitar.

[Dedman]

OK Doc, for us noobs can you label what the components are in the diagram and maybe a copy of your shopping list?
I'd be keen to have a go but am component ignorant atm

[dave.king1]

Surprisingly, the actual build-process for building a DIY FX pedal is nowhere near as hard as people may think, it just takes a bit of time, same like building a guitar.

Not a lot of sanding involved though ;)

[Dedman]

Not a lot of sanding involved though ;)

my thinking exactly!

[DrNomis_44]

OK Doc, for us noobs can you label what the components are in the diagram and maybe a copy of your shopping list? I'd be keen to have a go but am component ignorant atm



Can do, I'll make a clearer drawing of the Tagboard layout so it's easier to follow, and I'll also post a list of the parts I used with their Jaycar Electronics catalogue numbers so you can find them, you may need to order the Tagboards from Evatco if you want to build the circuit on a Tagboard like I did, I'll get that all sorted out in the morning.

[DrNomis_44]

Not a lot of sanding involved though ;)


Lol...yep, very minimal sanding involved.

[DrNomis_44]

Also, I will be posting some more pics of the Axis Fuzz build process this morning along with an audio demo so you can hear what it sounds like, stay tuned.


I'm also thinking of doing another pedal build in this thread, but it's going to be the Silicon transistor version of the Fuzz Face as used by Jimi Hendrix in the latter part of his career in the Band Of Gipsys.

[DrNomis_44]

Here's a pic of the two transistors soldered in place on the Tagboard, you will notice that I have put some coloured plastic insulation on each of the transistors legs, this prevents any short-circuits and also indicates which leg is which, the Tagboard is now complete and ready for installation in the Aluminium box housing:



10623

[DrNomis_44]

So the next step in the Axis fuzz build process is to mark out all the centres for the mounting holes for the pots, footswitch, Led, and the in/out jacks on the Aluminium box:


Top Centres marked:

10624


These are where the mounting holes for the pots,footswitch, and Led indicator.


Left Centre marked:


10625


Right Centre marked:


10626


These are for the mounting holes for the in/out jacks.



All that's needed to be done is to Centre-punch and drill all the holes to the correct size and then the Aluminium box will be ready to be wired-up prior to installing the Tagboard.

[DrNomis_44]

Okay, so I've done all the Centre-punching and have drilled all the mounting holes out to the correct size, all that's left to do is to cut the pot-shafts to size, do all the wiring for the pots, footswitch, and in/out jacks and then install and wire up the Tagboard, after a quick check out with my multimeter it will be ready for trying out with one of my guitars and my Peavey Backstage Plus amp, I'll see if I can do a demo of the pedal a bit later on once I know it's working correctly, for now, here are some more pics of the build process:


Top Holes drilled to size:

10631


Right hole drilled to size:


10632


Left Hole drilled to size:


10633


And a quick test-fit to check if everything is going to fit, fortunately it all looks good:


10634


The blue dots on the pot shields are just to indicate the most anti-clockwise position of the pot-shaft so I can correctly wire the pots up so that they work like they're supposed to, there's nothing worse than having to de-solder the wiring to a pot because it's wired back-to-front, i'm sure some of you have done that at least once, I've been there and done it too.

[SIMpleONe89]

Wow that's incredibly neat!

[DrNomis_44]

Wow that's incredibly neat!



Cheers for that, I have just finished building the Axis Fuzz pedal and I'm just going to try it out.



I've just given it a quick try out......and........she works!!!!


It actually sounds surprisingly good, considering that it's a Silicon Transistor Fuzz pedal, I've been taking some more pics of the build process so I will post them shortly.

[wokkaboy]

awesome pedal Doc, the wiring side looks way too technical for me. Where did you get the ally box from, did someone bend the sides into shape for you ? Can't wait to hear the pedal cranking with your new strat build !

[DrNomis_44]

awesome pedal Doc, the wiring side looks way too technical for me. Where did you get the ally box from, did someone bend the sides into shape for you ? Can't wait to hear the pedal cranking with your new strat build !



Cheers Wokka, the Aluminium box was bought from Jaycar Electronics while I was in the process of buying all the bits I needed to build the pedal, the Aluminium box is a Diecast type manufactured by a company called Soanar, I find that these Diecast Aluminium boxes are about the right size to make most FX pedals, I have used quite a few of them to build pedals so far.

[peterh]

Very cool build. Are all the parts easily bought at a decent electronics store?
Curious about the 9V battery. Where does it get wired in - it doesn't look like it's connected yet. How long would it last (guess it depends on how much you play) - wouldn't want to have to replace those all the time, especially if you have a bunch of pedals.

[wokkaboy]

cool Doc so it has a base plate to screw into the box ?

have you worked out the total cost of all the parts Doc ? be interesting to compare to the cost of a pre-made Axis pedal

@ Peter think the trick to pedals with 9V batteries is to make sure the input jack is unplugged when not in use. I think if left plugged in they drain the battery. Sure the battery would get a fair bit of life if you remembered to do that

[Fretworn]

When I used to hang around pedal maker forums they always used to say that you don't make your own pedals because it's cheaper. You might be able to make a boutique circuit cheaper, but you can't make a homemade pedal cheaper than guys like Mooer or Behringer are spitting out, unless you go for really cheap components.

[DrNomis_44]

Very cool build. Are all the parts easily bought at a decent electronics store?
Curious about the 9V battery. Where does it get wired in - it doesn't look like it's connected yet. How long would it last (guess it depends on how much you play) - wouldn't want to have to replace those all the time, especially if you have a bunch of pedals.




Yep, all the parts I used to build the pedal can be easily bought "off-the-shelf" at most decent Electronics Stores that stock and sell parts, you can also order the parts online from websites on the Internet, one website you can order the parts and Aluminium boxes from is a website called Pedal Parts Plus, I've had good dealings from that company so far, here's the website address:


http://www.pedalpartsplus.com/



The black lead from the 9V battery is soldered to the ring-connection on the input socket so that it is connected to ground when you plug a Tip/Sleeve mono 6.35mm plug into the input socket, lots of factory-made pedals do this, generally the battery should last quite a while since the circuit doesn't draw a lot of current when it's powered up, to prolong the life of the battery simply unplug the guitar from the input socket.

Note that I haven't actually tested how long a 9V battery will last with this pedal, so I can't say for sure, but it should last a fair while, assuming that the pedal is operating correctly and you make sure to unplug the guitar from the input socket while the pedal isn't in use.

[DrNomis_44]

When I used to hang around pedal maker forums they always used to say that you don't make your own pedals because it's cheaper. You might be able to make a boutique circuit cheaper, but you can't make a homemade pedal cheaper than guys like Mooer or Behringer are spitting out, unless you go for really cheap components.



In some cases, making a pedal will actually work out cheaper than if you were to by a factory made version of it, I think the Axis Fuzz pedal I just made probably only cost me about $50.00, plus my time.


Some vintage pedals, like an original Dallas arbiter Fuzz face, a pedal containing probably $50.00 worth of parts, are going for silly amounts of money nowadays, anything from $800.00 and up, you can easily build an equivalent for a fraction of the price.

[DrNomis_44]

cool Doc so it has a base plate to screw into the box ?

have you worked out the total cost of all the parts Doc ? be interesting to compare to the cost of a pre-made Axis pedal

@ Peter think the trick to pedals with 9V batteries is to make sure the input jack is unplugged when not in use. I think if left plugged in they drain the battery. Sure the battery would get a fair bit of life if you remembered to do that



Yes, the Diecast aluminium box does come with a base plate which attaches via four philips-head screws, as a rough estimate, my Axis Fuzz pedal cost me about Au $50.00, a factory made Axis Fuzz will probably cost anything up to maybe $300.00 or so, so I reckon building one has worked out cheaper for me.

[DrNomis_44]

I'm just going to re-size all the new build-process pics I took while finishing off my Axis Fuzz pedal so I can post them for you to check out, shouldn't take too long, I'll also see if I can do a quick audio demo so you can hear what it sounds like with my new strat, stay tuned.

[wokkaboy]

good one Doc, can't wait to hear the pedal, wonder if it will sound anything like Jimi's axe on Axis Bold as Love - fingers crossed

[DrNomis_44]

Okay, here we go, here are the remaining Axis Fuzz build-process pics I took with my Nikon Camera, this is what needed to be done to get the pedal into a finished and working state:


First thing I did was shortened the shafts of the two pots so that the knobs were fairly close to the Aluminium box I used to house the pedal, then I mounted the pots, footswitch, Led Indicator, and the In/Out sockets to the Aluminium Box and tightened the mounting nuts, I also stuck four rubber feet on the base plate:


10638


10639



Once that was done I started work on doing all the ground-wiring, I used some wire with Black plastic insulation so I could see that it was the ground wire, it helps to colour-code the wiring to minimize errors:


10640


The next thing I did was to solder wires to the Indicator Led, In/Out Jacks, and the pots, you will notice a 5k6 resistor soldered to one of the pots, this is to reduce the resistance of the pot from 5k to about 2k6, which is close to what the pot needs to be, I could have bought a 2k Linear pot but Jaycar didn't have any in stock, so I used a 5k linear pot instead and soldered the 5k6 across the two outer solder lugs, again this gives us a 2k6 pot which is close enough to 2k:

10641


Next thing to do was to solder a short length of shielded audio wire to the input and ground tags on the Tagboard, because the circuitry on the Tagboard has grounding on it already and is connected to the other grounds by a single black wire, the shield is only connected to the ground tag on the Tagboard, I cut the shielding off the other end of the input wire and used some heatshrink tubing to cover the wire leaving the inner conductor exposed:


10642

[wokkaboy]

excellent tutorial Doc. You make it look much easier than I thought it would be. As long as you have all the correct parts and a decent wiring diagram I think I could tackle building one. Can't wait for the demo. A cool distortion pedal for about $50 is a bargain and would learn a fair bit building it

[DrNomis_44]

Once the input wire was soldered to the Tagboard, I installed the Tagboard in the Aluminium box housing using two adhesive nylon standoffs:


10643


Once the Tagboard had been installed, I went through and did all the final wiring up of the pedal, I then checked the voltages on the transistors to make sure they were working normally, fortunately everything looked good:


10644


Once the final wiring-up had been done, I attached the base plate to the box using the four philips-head screws that came with it, and here's the result, one finished and working Axis Fuzz pedal:

10645

[wokkaboy]

looks wicked Doc, I'd think about a nice glossy coat of paint and maybe get some stickers made up - would look like a bought one then haha

[DrNomis_44]

excellent tutorial Doc. You make it look much easier than I thought it would be. As long as you have all the correct parts and a decent wiring diagram I think I could tackle building one. Can't wait for the demo. A cool distortion pedal for about $50 is a bargain and would learn a fair bit building it


Cheers mate, building a pedal is actually easier than most people would think if they take their time and do it step by step, I really hope that this pedal build tutorial I've done is going to be of great help to those wishing to build some DIY pedals, it can be a lot of fun to do so, I can happily say that I have learnt a lot from building my own pedals myself, and I want to offer my encouragement to all those interested in doing likewise, yes you can do it.

[DrNomis_44]

looks wicked Doc, I'd think about a nice glossy coat of paint and maybe get some stickers made up - would look like a bought one then haha


Good idea Wokka, I will be giving my Axis Fuzz pedal a nice paint job at a later stage, that's for sure, I might see if I can make a sticker of Jimi Hendrix to put on it once it has been painted.

[DrNomis_44]

Here's another pic of the finished and working Axis Fuzz pedal, this time with it's Blue Indicator Led lit:


10646



The Blue Indicator Led is wired up so that when it is on the pedal is activated, and when it is off the pedal is bypassed.

[DrNomis_44]

Okay, I'm just going to make myself another coffee and then I'll get cracking on an audio demo of my finished Axis fuzz pedal, so stay tuned.


I'll also include some audio from my Red Jim Dunlop JD-F2 Germanium Transistor Fuzz Face to show what the two Fuzz pedals sound like in comparison to each other.

[wokkaboy]

sounds good Doc, look forward to the demo, keen to see how it hears say distortion on about setting 3, 6 and 10 !

[DrNomis_44]

Just finished doing a take of the Axis Fuzz and the Fuzz Face, I recorded both pedals one after the other in the same take, I'm playing a riff using the Hendrix chord with both pedals, towards the end of each pedals demo I gradually bring the Strat's volume down so you can hear how each pedal cleans up, it's just a quick and dirty recording with both pedals recorded straight so you can hear what they sound like in comparison to each other.

[kimball492]

I used to have an original fuzz face and rat pedal both my nephew took a shine too. Lol

[DrNomis_44]

Talking about Hendrix I was given this by my Buddy as a 40th birthday present. I don't know if you guys can read the letter if not let me know. Interested to hear the sound of these pedals Doc


That's wicked Kimball, whatever you do keep that letter cause it's a piece of rock history mate.


I'm just in the process of uploading the quick and dirty demo I recorded of my Red JD-F2 Fuzz Face and my newly built Axis Fuzz to my dropbox folder, I'll be posting a link to it shortly.

[wokkaboy]

wow KB that is an awesome piece of rock history. Is it one of Hendrix's rings ? that should be worth heaps to a fan/collector

[DrNomis_44]

Okay, here's the link to the quick and dirty demo I recorded, you'll probably notice that half the recording sounds bassy, and the other half is more trebly, the bassy half is the Red JD-F2 Fuzz Face, and the trebly half is the Axis Fuzz, I started off each half with the fuzz/drive control at minimum and gradually increased the setting until it was maxed, towards the end of each pedal's half I turn down the guitar's volume so you can hear how each pedal cleans up....enjoy!!:


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7787692/Fuzz%20Pedals%20Demo.mp3


Here's a pic of the two Fuzz pedals:

10649

[kimball492]

Yeah it's Hendrix's ring the letter, ring and pic are all sealed beautifully in a silver metallic frame. Sorry Doc I wont Jack your thread anymore.

[DrNomis_44]

Yeah it's Hendrix's ring the letter, ring and pic are all sealed beautifully in a silver metallic frame. Sorry Doc I wont Jack your thread anymore.


That's alright mate, the thread-jacking doesn't bother me at all, in fact I think the letter you posted is pertinent, since we are talking about pedals that Jimi Hendrix used.

[kimball492]

I think you made a great job of the pedal Doc and the demo was great. Thankyou much appreciated. What's your favourite pedal you've made and why ?. Also was it a clone of other pedals

[DrNomis_44]

I think you made a great job of the pedal Doc and the demo was great. Thankyou much appreciated. What's your favourite pedal you've made and why ?. Also was it a clone of other pedals


You're welcome Kimball, it's hard for me to pick a favorite out of all the pedals I've built, but if I had to it'd probably be my Baja Real Tube Overdrive pedal, since it uses a real 12AX7 Tube or Valve to generate Tube distortion which has a different character to Fuzz pedals, there are some pedals which I've built that I really like a lot, my Rangemaster Vintage Treble Booster is a good example, I also built a Klon Centaur just to see what the fuss about it was, it doesn't really sound like anything special, basically like a TS9 Tube Screamer with a more prominent midrange and more output.


How close do you reckon my Axis Fuzz sounds to the one Jimi used on his Axis Bold As Love album?


Since I have it here at home with me, I should do a quick demo of my Octavia pedal, shouldn't I?

[wokkaboy]

hey Doc good comparison, gee the fuzz face sounds totally different to the Axis pedal.

might as well demo your octavia pedal Doc

would be hard to replicate Jimi's sound without Jimi playing and who knows what sort of pickups/string gauges etc he used.

What pickup setting was that Doc, bridge?

[DrNomis_44]

hey Doc good comparison, gee the fuzz face sounds totally different to the Axis pedal.

might as well demo your octavia pedal Doc

would be hard to replicate Jimi's sound without Jimi playing and who knows what sort of pickups/string gauges etc he used.

What pickup setting was that Doc, bridge?


I used the neck position pickup for that sound demo Wokka, yeah, I agree, the Fuzz Face has a different sound compared to the Axis Fuzz, has a lot more bass in it, I'll do a quick demo of the Octavia shortly.


Oh, and I've got 42-09 gauge strings on my Strat, who knows what gauge strings Jimi used on his Strats, I think he custom made his own gauge of strings from different sets, there's a story on the internet about how he used a Banjo string for one of the strings on his Strat.

Of course, you can get close to Hendrix's sound by using the pedals he used with a 60's Super Lead Plexi, but unless you play exactly like he did, you won't sound exactly like him, there's been guitarists that got close to sounding like Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan is one example.


I've also got my Univibe pedal here with me, can do a demo of it too.

[wokkaboy]

yeah cool, lots of demo's to do Doc !

Jimi and SRV are in my top 10 favourite guitarists, its a hard cut to make I tell you !

[kimball492]

Supposedly Jimi Hendrix used these strings. But it depends who you talk to. The actual strings he used were not what people would expect. The string gauges would run .010, .013, .015, .026, .032 and .038. The big difference there is that you're using the .015 for the third, because if you use the .017 for the third, the actual sound of the guitar is very G-heavy.

[kimball492]

Need you to play some Hendrix riffs Doc so we can check out the Axis pedal.

[wokkaboy]

thats a very light gauge KB, maybe thats how he did triple bends so well.

On the other hand I think SRV used very heavy gauge strings?

[DrNomis_44]

Need you to play some Hendrix riffs Doc so we can check out the Axis pedal.


Will do, but first I'll be doing a demo of my Octavia and then my Univibe pedal.

[kimball492]

Yeah SRV had real strong fingers Woks. One of his earliest major interviews, around 1983, Stevie Ray Vaughan let out a bit of personal information that has had an effect on gear and gearheads to this day. Talking about his now well-known ‘59 Strat—even then completely trashed—he told the interviewer what string gauges he was using: .013 to .052. The interviewer was surprised and asked him to repeat it. Yep, 13s. I remember reading that interview as a teenager and my jaw dropping.

[DrNomis_44]

thats a very light gauge KB, maybe thats how he did triple bends so well.

On the other hand I think SRV used very heavy gauge strings?


I seem to remember reading somewhere that Stevie used a 56 gauge string for his low-E.


Anyway, here's the Octavia demo, I start out with just the Strat set to the neck pickup, and then I activate the Octavia, you may notice that the guitar sounds an Octave higher in pitch:


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7787692/Octavia%20Demo.mp3

[wokkaboy]

here's an article on SRV string gauges, don't know how true it is but it says he played up to a 0.058" E string

says he tuned to E flat would have made the string tension less and easier to bend strings

https://www.stringjoy.com/stevie-ray-vaughans-guitar-string-gauges/

[DrNomis_44]

here's an article on SRV string gauges, don't know how true it is but it says he played up to a 0.058" E string

says he tuned to E flat would have made the string tension less and easier to bend strings

https://www.stringjoy.com/stevie-ray-vaughans-guitar-string-gauges/


Geez, 58 gauge strings on a Strat?, yeah, you wouldn't be able to tune a Strat to standard E to E pitch without some serious neck bowing, you'd probably end up breaking the truss rod before you got most of the bow in the neck out..

[kimball492]

Man those strings would kill my wrists lol

[DrNomis_44]

Just going to do the demo of my Univibe.

[wokkaboy]

Man those strings would kill my wrists lol

yeah well think about bass players, they would laugh at a 58 gauge string and say that's only my G string gauge haha

[DrNomis_44]

Here's the Univibe demo, I'm switching between three different voicings in both the Chorus and Vibrato modes, my Univibe has a three-position voicing switch which can be switched to either the Reslytone, Voodoo Vibe, or Univibe voicing, each one has a different character:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7787692/Univibe%20Demo.mp3



I'm using the neck position pickup on my Strat in this demo.

[wokkaboy]

pretty cool sounding pedal Doc, so you didn't touch the tremelo that is all the pedal the vibrato sounds ?

[DrNomis_44]

pretty cool sounding pedal Doc, so you didn't touch the tremelo that is all the pedal the vibrato sounds ?


Yep, what you hear in that demo is all done by the pedal, I didn't use the trem bar at all, at slow speeds the Vibrato mode tends to sound a bit seasick-ish, but it starts to sound a bit more like a vibrato effect as you turn up the effect speed, the other mode, Chorus, is actually a Phaser effect meant to replicate the sound you get when playing through a Leslie Rotating Speaker, you'll notice that the effect becomes more prominent as the speed of the effect increases, this is normal behaviour and original Univibes behaved that way too.


Jimi Hendrix most likely used the Univibe on some songs he recorded in the Band Of Gypsys to give his guitar a kind of underwater-like sound.

A good example is his song "Machine Gun".

[kimball492]

Doc do have a ground loop hum eliminator. It would tidy up your sound much. You could probably build one in your sleep lol, if you don't already have one.

[DrNomis_44]

Doc do have a ground loop hum eliminator. It would tidy up your sound much. You could probably build one in your sleep lol, if you don't already have one.


I agree, I definitely need a ground loop hum eliminator, I think half the hum is being generated by the Univibe and half of it is from the guitar, I might see if I can get the Univibe a bit more quieter, might take a bit of work.


A hum loop eliminator could be a good DIY project for me to tackle at some stage.

[kimball492]

Doc I'd just make up a guitar cable with a resistor and capacitor in it. Much easier cost you a couple of dollars and I think you'll find it cleans it up so you won't have to touch the uni vibe. It basically works as a hi pass filter

[wokkaboy]

good tip KB, have you got one of these guitar cables and does it lower the hum ?

PBG forums have been brought to you by the Doc/KB and Woks show todaz haha

[DrNomis_44]

Doc I'd just make up a guitar cable with a resistor and capacitor in it. Much easier cost you a couple of dollars and I think you'll find it cleans it up so you won't have to touch the uni vibe. It basically works as a hi pass filter


Or, I could build the resistor and cap into a Diecast Aluminium box and put it between the Univibe and the guitar.

[DrNomis_44]

good tip KB, have you got one of these guitar cables and does it lower the hum ?

PBG forums have been brought to you by the Doc/KB and Woks show todaz haha


Hahahaha....good one Wokka.

[wokkaboy]

Doc is there space to put the resistor and cap in the univibe box ? Save having another box on the ground to trip over

[kimball492]

It does make a huge difference I made a couple years ago Woks. The box is a great idea Doc. The great thing about putting it in a cable is even if your at a buddies you can take the cable with you. Make both Doc lol. Not the best video but gives you an idea.
http://youtu.be/VzKQv5-UnAU. I built a couple about 15 years ago because of the house I had then had terrible ground hum noise. In truth I'm not sure what values where Doc as it was so long ago. I think one of the videos above has one showing values. Hope it helps.

[DrNomis_44]

Doc is there space to put the resistor and cap in the univibe box ? Save having another box on the ground to trip over


I suppose I could give it a try, but putting the resistor and the cap in a box is an intriguing idea, I'll have to do some research and internet searching about it.

[DrNomis_44]

It does make a huge difference I made a couple years ago Woks. The box is a great idea Doc. The great thing about putting it in a cable is even if your at a buddies you can take the cable with you. Make both Doc lol. Not the best video but gives you an idea.
http://youtu.be/7-iTqEMUyfg



Do you remember what values you used for the resistor and capacitor?

[kimball492]

Again if you put it in the cable Doc it doesn't matter which effects pedal you use. But it would save you going round all your effects pedals and changing them all. Thanks for the info on fx pedal, when you get time do more Doc. Kimball

[DrNomis_44]

Again if you put it in the cable Doc it doesn't matter which effects pedal you use. But it would save you going round all your effects pedals and changing them all. Thanks for the info on fx pedal, when you get time do more Doc. Kimball


Will do mate, seeing as this thread has generated quite a bit of interest, I think there's a good overdrive floating around in one of my magazines that I could adapt as another DIY project for this thread, might also do a step by step build of a Rangemaster Treble Booster as a later project, might even see if I can come up with an original design too, I reckon that would be cool to do.

[DrNomis_44]

Just as a quick note:


I just found the invoice I got from Jaycar Electronics after paying for all the parts and Aluminium box needed to build the Axis Fuzz pedal, all up the pedal actually cost me Au $51.87 plus my time and labour to make.


Also, I just checked on the internet, a brand new Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz retails for Au $379.00, so there you have it, I saved myself some money by building one.


http://deluxeguitars.com.au/roger-mayer-axis-fuzz.html

[kimball492]

Doc If you've got anything Ts808 Sd1 Ts9 related would be great. But f not will go with what you've got planned.

[DrNomis_44]

Doc If you've got anything Ts808 Sd1 Ts9 related would be great. But f not will go with what you've got planned.


Funnily enough, I have been thinking of making a TS 808, or TS-9 Tube Screamer pedal for some time, the Boss SD1 shouldn't be too hard to make either.


A Big Muff Distortion pedal shouldn't be too hard to make either.

[kimball492]

I remember seeing a build where it combined a Ts 808 and a Ts-9. I was going to do a build at that time but had great trouble finding the correct genuine chips. Maybe an SD-1 may be better option Doc.

[DrNomis_44]

I remember seeing a build where it combined a Ts 808 and a Ts-9. I was going to do a build at that time but had great trouble finding the correct genuine chips. Maybe an SD-1 may be better option Doc.


The TS 808 and the TS 9 both used a chip called the JRC4558D, if my memory serves me right, I used to have a TS 10 which also used a JRC4558D, one day I decided to try swapping out the chip for a TLO72CP chip, and guess what?...it worked, to my ears it seemed to sound smoother and warmer than the stock JRC4558D chip, so that basically means that you don't necessarily have to use the original chip to build a TS Tube Screamer, provided that the substitute chip has the same chip-pin configuration it should work fine.


I think the SD1 also used a JRC4558D chip but I could be wrong, I'll have to google an SD 1 schematic so I can check.


Okay, after a quick google for a Boss SD 1 schematic, it turns out that the Boss SD 1 does indeed use the JRC4558D, as I said, if you can't source any genuine JRC4558D chips you can easily substitute a TLO72CP chip and it will work perfectly in the circuit.


Jaycar Electronics stock the TLO72CP chip, and from memory it costs about $2 to $3 or so, they are relatively inexpensive compared to what you might expect to pay for a genuine JRC4558D chip on eBay, hang on, I just checked eBay and it turns out that one seller from China is selling a lot of 50 JRC4558D chips for about Au$5.91.


http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/50pcs-JRC4558D-RC4558D-4558D-OP-AMP-IC-ICs-DIP-8-pin-Low-Power-NEW-/191738595333?hash=item2ca482c805:g:w5sAAOSwkZhWSEO I



http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.XJRC4558D+ ICs+.TRS0&_nkw=JRC4558D+ICs+&_sacat=0

[kimball492]

I'll go with you Doc. Look forward to whatever you build.

[DrNomis_44]

I'm also thinking of building a 4 Knob Tube Driver, it's another Distortion pedal that uses a real 12AX7 Tube to create an overdriven Tube amp sound, I have just the thing to house it in, a big Aluminium Diecast box.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


I'm looking at doing another full pedal build this fortnight, and thought I would do a write-up for it just in case any one else is interested in building one, this time it's going to be an EH Big Muff pedal, these EH Big Muff pedals are a very high-gain distortion pedal, noteworthy for the very fat Fuzz/Distortion tone they generate, supposedly it's one of the pedals used by The Smashing Pumpkins on their 90's albums, also, supposedly Jimi Hendrix used one when he was known as Jimmy James, I'm going to be buying all the needed parts tomorrow from my local Jaycar Electronics store, stay tuned for further updates.

[wokkaboy]

good stuff Doc, interested to see if you get a similar sound to the big muff pedal

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


I have just gotten back home after buying all the parts needed to make an EH Big Muff pedal, I will be documenting the build-process this fortnight so stay tuned.

[wokkaboy]

good stuff Doc, look forward to the build diary, now you got the parts you can sink your teeth into this project !

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


I have just started working on a couple of circuit boards for building an EH Big Muff, I'm using a special type of circuit board called Vero Board, to make the circuit boards, Vero Board is a type of board used to build circuits on, it consists of an insulating Paper Phenolic material which has thin copper-foil strips glued to one side of it and each of the copper-foil strips is pierced at an interval of 2.5mm for the full length of the copper-foil strip, the idea with Vero Board is to poke the circuit-component leads through the holes and solder it to the copper-foil strips, this connects the components together, laying-out a circuit on Vero Board can be a bit tricky, but it can be done, this saves the expense of having to design and etch a proper circuit board, which is why some electronics hobbyists use Vero Board.


Here's what Vero Board looks like, sometimes it is darker in colour, and also sometimes it's called Strip Board:

11537


When I go to build a circuit on a piece of Vero Board, I do some preparation work on it, this involves cutting the Vero Board to a suitable size, steel-wooling the copper-foil strips till they're shiny, and then tinning, or coating, each copper-foil strip with solder, tinning the strips makes it easier to get consistently-good solder joints, once the prep-work has been done, I then use some graph paper to draw up a suitable layout for the circuit I'm building on the Vero Board, making sure I mark the intended breaks in the strips with an "X", once I'm happy with the layout I use a felt-tip marker to put a dot on the hole in the Vero Board where a component-lead is going to be poked through prior to soldering, next I flip the Vero Board over so that the shiny copper-strips are facing upwards and then I mark out the positions strip-breaks with the felt tip pen, once I'm happy that all the strip-break positions have been marked out correctly, I then use a 3mm drill bit to make the strip-breaks by placing the tip of the drill bit on a marked hole and then twisting the drill bit in my fingers untill there's a break right through the copper-strip while being careful not to drill all the way through the Vero Board.


Update:


Okay now I've finished the prep-work I needed to do on the two Big Muff circuit boards, all that's left to be done is to work out a suitable layout for the parts and then start soldering the parts to the board once the parts positions are marked.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


I have just finished soldering all the parts onto the first of two Big Muff Circuit Boards I am making, and thought I'd post a pic of it here, here's what it looks like:

11606

[DrNomis_44]

Update:

Today I'm going to be doing all the marking out, drilling, etc, prior to mounting all the pots, knobs, sockets, footswitch, and battery holder in the Aluminium box I'm using to house the EH Big Muff in, once that's done I can then do all the wiring-up needed to get the pedal working, there'll also be some pics of the wiring-up process and of the finished pedal along with an audio demo so you can hear what it sounds like, so stay tuned.

[wokkaboy]

sounds good Doc, looks pretty intense the circuit board

[DrNomis_44]

sounds good Doc, looks pretty intense the circuit board


I agree, that's because the Big Muff circuit is a bit more complex compared to the Axis Fuzz, it uses four transistors to produce a very high gain aggressive sounding Distortion, or Fuzz tone, hopefully the demo I record will demonstrate that, you can get some pretty smooth lead tones out of it though.

The Big Muff features a tone control knob where you can vary the tone from really bassy, to ice-picky, it also produces quite a bit of level so you can use it to drive an amp harder.

[Dedman]

looking good Doc! Can't wait to hear it

[DrNomis_44]

If you're interested in learning more about the EH Big Muff and it's history, here's a great website to check out:


http://www.bigmuffpage.com/Big_Muff_Pi_versions_schematics_part1.html


The EH Big Muff circuit I'm using to make my Big Muff is the second version of the Triangle Big Muff (Version 1 Big Muff Triangle 66#8).


Note: In my build I'm using 560pF, and 3.3uf Capacitors since they are easier to source from Jaycar Electronics, I also added a 220uF/16V DC Capacitor across the +9V supply as a supply filter cap, the original circuit did not include it but I have added it as good design practice.

Note 2: The original circuit specified FS36999 NPN transistors for Q 1-4, these are probably hard to find, but as they are Silicon NPN types you can substitute other NPN Silicon transistors and they will work provided you get the transistor oriented correctly, I have had good results in the past with BC549C transistors, for this current build I'm using four of my BC108C NPN Silicon transistors.

Note 3: The original diodes wre unknown types, but they were Silicons, the circuit specifies 1N914, but you can also use 1N4148 Silicon Diodes, which is what I'm using as they are very easy to source from Jaycar Electronics, you can also easily source all the other needed parts from Jaycar Electronics too.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Okay, so I've got all the mounting holes drilled in the Aluminium Box I'm using to house my EH Big Muff, and I'll be taking pics of the rest of the build process as I'm wiring it all up, will be posting all the pics I take after I've finished testing the pedal, and will also do a write up when I post them, stay tuned for more updates.

[kimball492]

Interesting Doc look forward to your demo

[DrNomis_44]

Interesting Doc look forward to your demo


Hi Kimball,

I have just finished work on building the pedal, I had a couple of problems with it but managed to sort it out, and the pedal is now fully working, it's 2:09am so I'm going to leave doing the demo till the morning and go get some sleep, I've got pics of the build process to post, but I'll leave that till the morning too.

[kimball492]

No hurries on the Demo Doc. Do it when you have time.
Cheers

[DrNomis_44]

Here we go, here are the pics I was taking with my digital camera while doing all the wiring up:


As in the previous pedal build, the first thing I did was to mark out the positions of the mounting holes in the aluminum case and drill them to the correct size:

11647


Next thing was to do a test fit of all the parts that mount on the aluminum case:

11648

This should give you a bit of an idea what the pedal is going to look like when finished, I decided to lay out the controls in a Triangle shape like the original Big Muff:

11649


Next thing to do was to wire up all the ground connections prior to doing the control wiring and installing the circuit board:

11650

At this point all the control wiring, and all the in/out wiring, etc has been done:

11653

[DrNomis_44]

Next thing to do was to solder each wire to it's correct connection point on the circuit board:

11654


And finally, here's the finished and working EH Big Muff pedal, I had a couple of things to fix on the circuit board before I got it working but those were only minor problems, fortunately they were easy to fix, the pedal sounds really fat with lots of gain:

11655

[wokkaboy]

excellent job Doc, very neat build. Why don't you look at printing a cool design for the top ?

[DrNomis_44]

excellent job Doc, very neat build. Why don't you look at printing a cool design for the top ?


Cheers mate, and I will do that a bit later on after I give the case a spray paint, for the time being I'm going to leave it as is because I'm taking it out to my mate's place for a jam session on Friday.

I'm thinking of spray painting it Soft Silver, or metallic grey.


I'll see if I can get a demo of it recorded so you can hear what it sounds like.

[wokkaboy]

sounds good Doc, can't wait to hear it in action

[DrNomis_44]

sounds good Doc, can't wait to hear it in action


Just finished recording a rough demo, I'm going to edit it and then I'll post a dropbox link to it once it's all ready, shouldn't take very long so stay tuned.


Okay as promised, here's a link to the demo of my EH Big Muff build, at the start of it, I've recorded it straight with no amp simulator plugins, just so you can hear what the pedal sounds like on it's own, I start off with the Sustain control at minimum and sweep the tone control from low to high so you can get an idea of the range of tone the pedal is capable of, next I set the tone to about the 12:00 position and then slowly crank up the gain so you can hear the amount of gain it's capable of, the second half of the demo is me playing the pedal through BIAS, an amp simulator plugin, I'm using the JCM900 Clean preset so you can hear what it sounds like through an amp, I used my LP Studio to record the demo, the first half was recorded with the bridge pickup, and the second half was also recorded with the bridge pickup, but I switched to the neck pickup towards the end for a bit of soloing so you can get an idea of what kind of lead tone you can get from an EH Big Muff:


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7787692/EH%20Big%20Muff%20Demo.mp3

[Dedman]

thats good fuzz Doc!

[wokkaboy]

I never knew you added the link Doc, sounds nice and fat, what a great sounding pedal, well done

[DrNomis_44]

thats good fuzz Doc!

Cheers mate, hopefully your EH Big Muff build should sound the same since I'll be using the same parts to build your EH Big Muff circuit board, I'm going to start work on it this afternoon, once I know it's working I'll post it off to you with a wiring diagram so you'll be able to do all the wiring up, I'll also note down the Jaycar Electronics Cat. numbers so you'll be able to find everything you need to build your pedal.

[DrNomis_44]

I never knew you added the link Doc, sounds nice and fat, what a great sounding pedal, well done


Cheers mate, I have a feeling that this particular pedal build is going to be the most popular with all the forum members, I think ShazzRandom might be interested in building one too.


@ Kimball Would you like me to make an EH Big Muff circuit board for you too?.


You can also use the Big Muff with a Bass guitar too.


Oh, and before anyone asks, yes it does Djent too, just add a noise gate and a Rangemaster Treble Booster pedal, oh and an Electric guitar that has more than six strings on it.

[DrNomis_44]

Thought I would post a link to this webpage on the Tonepad site for those of you interested in ordering a proper PCB for making an EH Big Muff, there are PCBs for other pedals which you can order too:

http://www.tonepad.com/tonepadshoppingcart.html


Thanks goes out to Kimball for emailing the link to the page, cheers mate.

[kimball492]

I'll have to get a pcb off them Doc
Let you know how it goes.
Best Wishes
Kimball
Doc you may find this useful a buddy sent me this software
For laying out pcb the best thing it's free
http://diy-fever.com/software/diylc/
Plus other links
http://gaussmarkov.net/wordpress/tools/software/eagle-cad/

[Muzza]

Hey Doc, maybe you're the man that can help me.

I've recently gone back to playing bass (where I belong - I love it) and at band practice tonight, just for the hell of it, I plugged into my Diamond compressor (CPR-1) that I bought while I was in my rhythm guitar mode, and it blew me away.

Much better than the compressor I've sworn by for years. But this isn't a bass compressor. They're GOOD for bass, but Diamond put out a variation specifically for bass, the BCP-1 which is getting rave reviews. If this one sounds this good, then the bass version must be sensational.

My question is, would it be possible to mod the standard Diamond compressor and turn it into something more like the bass version? I don't really want to fork out for a new one, they're around the $350 mark.

Any ideas?

[DrNomis_44]

Hey Doc, maybe you're the man that can help me.

I've recently gone back to playing bass (where I belong - I love it) and at band practice tonight, just for the hell of it, I plugged into my Diamond compressor (CPR-1) that I bought while I was in my rhythm guitar mode, and it blew me away.

Much better than the compressor I've sworn by for years. But this isn't a bass compressor. They're GOOD for bass, but Diamond put out a variation specifically for bass, the BCP-1 which is getting rave reviews. If this one sounds this good, then the bass version must be sensational.

My question is, would it be possible to mod the standard Diamond compressor and turn it into something more like the bass version? I don't really want to fork out for a new one, they're around the $350 mark.

Any ideas?


I reckon it's possible that it is do-able, ie, to mod it to be usable for bass, they may have used the same circuit for both versions but changed some component values in the bass version, what I would do is see if I could find schematics for both versions on the internet, print them out and have a good study of them to see what the differences are.

[FrankenWashie]

Just finished recording a rough demo, I'm going to edit it and then I'll post a dropbox link to it once it's all ready, shouldn't take very long so stay tuned.


Okay as promised, here's a link to the demo of my EH Big Muff build, at the start of it, I've recorded it straight with no amp simulator plugins, just so you can hear what the pedal sounds like on it's own, I start off with the Sustain control at minimum and sweep the tone control from low to high so you can get an idea of the range of tone the pedal is capable of, next I set the tone to about the 12:00 position and then slowly crank up the gain so you can hear the amount of gain it's capable of, the second half of the demo is me playing the pedal through BIAS, an amp simulator plugin, I'm using the JCM900 Clean preset so you can hear what it sounds like through an amp, I used my LP Studio to record the demo, the first half was recorded with the bridge pickup, and the second half was also recorded with the bridge pickup, but I switched to the neck pickup towards the end for a bit of soloing so you can get an idea of what kind of lead tone you can get from an EH Big Muff:


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7787692/EH%20Big%20Muff%20Demo.mp3

Wicked Doc, that's a great Fuzz effect, some good tone range too. Nice Job!

[Dedman]

The good Doctor was kind enough to make me a Big Muff circuit board, all new ground to me, this wiring stuff,if I can get a straight run at it I'm feeling confident of not stuffing it up, but I keep getting interruptions.
12325

[wokkaboy]

good stuff Dedman lets hope you can get it working like Doc's pedal. You are all setup with the 3rd arm setup !

[Dedman]

I made one small change from Doc's diagram, I'm putting in a 9v socket rather than battery holder. A small section of SE QLD will probably vaporise when I switch it on :P

[wokkaboy]

haha I doubt that will happen Dedman, have trust in your abilities !

looks like Wednesday arvo brought to you by the Dedman and Woks show !

[DrNomis_44]

Looking good so far Dedman, the pedal should work fine with the 9V DC socket, you might get a bit of hum from the power supply coming through but it should work the same as for a 9V battery, I may even mod my Big Muff to allow it to be powered from a 9V DC socket at some stage this year, looking forward to hearing the finished pedal.


That Dr Fuzz logo looks cool, it'll definitely look great on the pedal.

[Dedman]

gonna need a decal for the top of the box I reckon
12327

[DrNomis_44]

haha I doubt that will happen Dedman, have trust in your abilities !

looks like Wednesday arvo brought to you by the Dedman and Woks show !


You forgot to mention the good Doc too...hahahaha....

[wokkaboy]

cool logo for the top Dedman.

Sorry Doc I didn't mention you as I trust your circuit will work fine and not cause any natural disasters haha

[DrNomis_44]

cool logo for the top Dedman.

Sorry Doc I didn't mention you as I trust your circuit will work fine and not cause any natural disasters haha


Haha...that's okay mate, if any natural disasters do occur I shall assume full responsibility for them, you can then point the finger directly at me and exclaim..."He did it!!!".....hahahaha....

[wokkaboy]

nah Doc with your electronics background I have total faith in your work. Plus can the circuit board be pre-tested did you do that before you posted it ?

[DrNomis_44]

nah Doc with your electronics background I have total faith in your work. Plus can the circuit board be pre-tested did you do that before you posted it ?


To be honest, I didn't get a chance to pre-test the circuit before posting it but I am confident that it should work fine because I used the exact same layout as the board that's in my Big Muff when I made the second board, I made sure that I did a thorough check of all the track breaks on the back of the board, so, if it is wired up as per the diagram I sent with it, it should work first time.

If for some reason it doesn't work first time I'll be happy to do whatever it takes to get it working.

[Dedman]

finished wiring this morning, got nothing :( If I press the switch it will by-pass, and I don't have the led coming on so I'm guessing I have the power socket wired wrong. Will try again tomorrow morning :)

[wokkaboy]

Hey Dedman yes sounds like there's no power to the pedal. Work on (long term) borrowing Hooligan's 1947 Indian Chief and I'll keep him distracted !

[DrNomis_44]

finished wiring this morning, got nothing :( If I press the switch it will by-pass, and I don't have the led coming on so I'm guessing I have the power socket wired wrong. Will try again tomorrow morning :)


Also, check to see if you've got the Led wired up correctly, you can use a multimeter set to Diode Test to work out which lead is positive (A) and which lead is negative (K), you do this by touching the red probe to one lead and the black probe to the other lead, if the Led lights then the lead with the black probe touching it is the negative (K) lead, and the lead with the red probe touching it is the positive (A) lead.

If the Led doesn't light, swap the probes around, if it still doesn't light, it may be that the Led has burnt out and needs replacing, I have had one Led that I bought brand new not work at all.


If your plugpack that you're using to power the pedal is wired up as a centre negative, then check to make sure that the circuit grounds are connected to the centre terminal on the DC socket, hope that helps.


If you want, I can measure the voltages on the transistors in my Big Muff build so you have something to compare with while troubleshooting your build.

[wokkaboy]

good work Doc's troubleshooting service !

[Dedman]

Thanks Doc, will fiddle again tomorrow. If I don't get it working I'll post it off for surgery :P

[DrNomis_44]

I've been thinking of having a go at designing/building a Valve preamp for recording guitar tracks with my bedroom studio, basically, it's going to be something that I can plug directly into one of the Mic/Line inputs of my Audio Interfaces, I want to house it in maybe a 1U or 2U 19 Inch rackmount case, I also want to include some kind of Analogue Speaker Emulation circuitry in the preamp, and also a full preamp section of a Tube Guitar amp, maybe the preamp section of a Soldano SLO 100 complete with an FX Loop and channel switching, and also footswitchable reverb (in case I feel like using a VST reverb plugin), this just the brainstorming phase though.

Furthermore, wouldn't it be cool to have the preamp circuitry built on a turret board point-to-point style?, and then build the other circuitry on circuit boards.

I know I'll probably have to deal with hum noise issues.

[DrNomis_44]

Hey Dedman, just wondering if you've managed to have another crack at your Big Muff build?.

[Dedman]

no haven't had a chance to get back to yet, maybe tomorrow....I hope

[DrNomis_44]

Update:

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since my last post in this thread, so I thought I would do an update, anyway, I'm in the process of getting some parts together to build a couple more pedals, but this time they are going to be based on older Vacuum Tube, or Valve Technology, one pedal I'm going to be making is called a Matchless Hotbox, and the other is called The Persuader, now since the Matchless Hotbox runs the Valves at about 250V DC, it's not really something I would recommend to those new to building pedals because of the very real danger of electrical shock, if you're unsure about what you're doing even the slightest mistake could have lethal consequences, on the other hand, The Persuader pedal is a lot safer to build because the circuit only runs at about 9V DC or so, I can't see why it can't be modded to run at 12V DC though, so, I will be doing a write-up for the Persuader Pedal, some of the parts needed to build the Persuader Pedal may be hard to source from your local Electronics Parts shop so here's a link to a webpage where you can order a kit of parts online, you can also download the Build Instructions PDF, Schematic, and troubleshooting guide too:

https://www.amplifiedparts.com/products/K-930

Since I already had some of the parts I needed I have chosen to source the rest of the parts myself rather than buy a kit, once I have all the parts I need to build the Persuader Pedal, I will start doing the write up as I'm building it next week so stay tuned.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:

I managed to get the rest of the needed parts for building the Persuader pedal today, and will be doing more work on it tomorrow, also, I will be starting the write up for the build, stay tuned for more updates.

[Dedman]

I rewired the power socket on the Fuzz, I have static but thats all. I might have to send it to you for surgery Doc, I don't think my hands are steady enough for this tiny soldering :P

[DrNomis_44]

I rewired the power socket on the Fuzz, I have static but thats all. I might have to send it to you for surgery Doc, I don't think my hands are steady enough for this tiny soldering :P


No worries mate, send it to me in the post and I'll sort it all out for you so that it works properly, you still have my postal address, don't you?

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


So here's a couple of pics of the Persuader Tube Distortion pedal I'm going to be working on, I haven't made much progress on it since last night:


12688

12689



So as you can see, this pedal doesn't use a PCB or a tagboard to mount the components on, it uses three tagstrips and the components are soldered point-to-point style between the solder tags and solder lugs of the 9-pin valve socket, might see if I can do more work on it tonight.

[wokkaboy]

hey Doc looks good, what is the tube between the dials in the top photo ?

[DrNomis_44]

hey Doc looks good, what is the tube between the dials in the top photo ?


The tube is an old 12AU7A twin triode tube I had in amongst my stash of tubes, it's similar to the 12AX7/ECC83 tubes that you find in Marshalls except the 12AU7A produces less gain, you can use either a 12AU7, a 12AT7, or a 12AX7 and their ECC equivalents in this pedal, you get different amounts of gain/distortion with them, the 12AX7/ECC83 gives the most gain/distortion, the 12AX7WA/7025 will also work in the pedal too.


As it turns out, I also happen to have a 12AT7 and a few 12AX7/ECC83 tubes in amongst my stash of tubes too, maybe I could do a tube shootout audio demo once I have finished building the pedal and it's working so that those who want to build one of these Persuader pedals can hear what the three different tubes sound like in the pedal?


The persuader pedal is powered by a standard Boss-style 9V DC plugpack adaptor, but, you can also (and I would recommend it) power the pedal by a standard 12V DC/500mA plugpack adaptor too, provided that you get the polarity of the DC plug and socket correct.

[wokkaboy]

Cheers for all the background on the tubes Doc. So Will the tube be fitted inside the box or where it's shown on the photo? Will be awkward if it's mounted on top of the pedal.
Would be cool to hear the difference in the 3 tubes

[DrNomis_44]

Cheers for all the background on the tubes Doc. So Will the tube be fitted inside the box or where it's shown on the photo? Will be awkward if it's mounted on top of the pedal.
Would be cool to hear the difference in the 3 tubes


The tube is going to be fitted where it's shown in the pic, there's not really enough space inside the pedal to accommodate it, although you can mount all the parts on a piece of Veroboard, this will free up space so you can then mount the tube socket inside the pedal, to be honest I didn't really notice any awkward-ness with having the tube socket mounted where it is, it's no more or less awkward than any other pedal although other people may find it a bit awkward.

Where the tube is located is exactly where it is in the original Persuader pedal design.

I reckon it'll be cool to hear exactly what the difference is, this pedal design may be really useful in a situation where a guitarist is in a studio recording session.


I may even see if I can improve on the basic design of the pedal later on, and present it as a build project for other forum members that are interested.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:

I couldn't get any sleep last night so I stayed up all night and worked on my Persuader pedal, anyway, it's finished and working, I've taken some pics of the build process as I was working on the pedal and will see if I can post them later on today for you guys.

[wokkaboy]

hardcore Doc staying up all night, hope you can get some sleep sometime today. Look forward to pics and eventually sound demo's.
Will the other tubes be easy to interchange for a demo ?
The only awkwardness I see with the tube where it is, is adjusting the 2 dials but sure it won't be a problem. Also if you have a massive pedal board if that pedal was at the front you may end up tripping over it ! Would have to have it at the back of the pedal board

[DrNomis_44]

hardcore Doc staying up all night, hope you can get some sleep sometime today. Look forward to pics and eventually sound demo's.
Will the other tubes be easy to interchange for a demo ?
The only awkwardness I see with the tube where it is, is adjusting the 2 dials but sure it won't be a problem. Also if you have a massive pedal board if that pedal was at the front you may end up tripping over it ! Would have to have it at the back of the pedal board


Yep, the tubes are easy to interchange for the demo, all you need to do is remove the shield, then remove the tube, replace it with another one, then put the shield back on, you can even do it while the pedal's powered up since it operates at a low voltage and nothing will get damaged.

I guess you could use a bigger case to house the circuitry in and then the two controls would be easier to get to, I'm already thinking of some mods to the original design, and I might present it as another DIY project, just need to breadboard the circuit to try out the mods and tweak things if necessary.

[wokkaboy]

no worries Doc, so is that how the original Persuader pedal was had the tube on top of the pedal ?

[DrNomis_44]

no worries Doc, so is that how the original Persuader pedal was had the tube on top of the pedal ?


Yep, that's how the original Persuader pedal had the tube situated on the pedal, I can't see why the pedal couldn't be modded to have the tube mounted inside it, but the circuitry would need to be built on a piece of Veroboard to get it to fit.

[DrNomis_44]

Here we go, as promised, here are some build process pics I took as I was building my Persuader Tube Distortion pedal:


First thing I did was to mark out the centre for the large mounting hole for the 9-Pin tube socket, this is because the positions of the other mounting holes in the diecast case are based off the position of the Tube socket so that there's enough clearance:

12764

Having established the position of the Tube socket, I marked and drilled two smaller holes for the mounting screws that hold the Tube socket in place, I also marked and drilled all the other holes to size:

12768

Next, I did a test-fit of the 3mm Blue Led, In/Out sockets and footswitch:

12771

Next, I cut the pot-shafts to length and mounted them in the diecast case, I also cut two of the 8-way tagstrips so that they had 5 tags on them, and mounted them plus the single 8-way Tagstrip in the mounted case, I also mounted the black plastic DC in socket in the case, I positioned it near the output socket to ensure that no hum/noise got into the input of the pedal:

12772

Next I fitted the two knobs to the pot shafts and checked that there was enough clearance between the Tube socket and the pot knobs:

12773

[DrNomis_44]

Next thing to do was to remove everything from the case, wipe all the marking out off it, and then start soldering all the parts onto the single 8-way Tagstrip, this is what it looked like after I had finished doing all the soldering:


12774


Next I installed all the Pots, Sockets, Led, and Tagstrips back in the case so I could start doing all the wiring-up:

12775

I started doing the wiring up by soldering a .1uF/100V cap between one of the tags on the 8-way Tagboard and one of the solder-lugs on the footswitch:

12776

Next thing to do was to solder-in some ground wiring and a 22uF/25V cap, I also soldered a piece of red wire to the + terminal on the DC in socket after soldering a black wire from the circuit-grounds to the - terminal on the DC in socket, the extra 220uF/25V cap was soldered between a ground tag on the 8-way Tagstrip and the + terminal on the DC in socket:

12777

Next, I soldered-in a 22k/ 1/2 Watt resistor between one of the tags on one of the 5-way Tagstrips and the + terminal of the 3mm Blue Led, this 22k resistor limits the current to the Led so that it doesn't burn out:

12778

I also added some orange wire to connect the tip solder-lug of the input socket to one of the solder lugs of the footswitch, I did the same for the output socket except I used a piece of white wire, it makes things a lot easier if you colour-code your wiring up.

[DrNomis_44]

So, after soldering in all the wiring and all the other components, this is what the pedal looked like when finished:

12785


This is what's called point-to-point wiring since no printed-circuit board is used, the components are simply soldered between two convenient points, lots of old guitar amps from the 40's, 50's, and 60's were built this way, some musicians reckon an amp built point-to-point style sounds better than one built using a PCB, personally I don't really hear much difference, although the point-to-point style of construction does have some advantages.


For those of you interested in hearing what the Persuader actually sounds like, I'm going to record some demo clips shortly, so stay tuned.


Here are the links to the demo clips I recorded, this is what the raw sound of the pedal sounds like:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7787692/Persuader_12AU7A.mp3

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7787692/Persuader_12AT7.mp3

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7787692/Persuader_12AX7.mp3


I'm going to do a small mod to my Persuader pedal that I've just thought of, the 5K Drive pot seems a bit too big so I'm going to try replacing it with a 1K Pot to give a better range of control so that it's not bunched-up at one end of the knob rotation, also I'm going to add a bypass cap from the pot wiper to ground, might record a demo after the mod has been done.

[kimball492]

Great job Doc sounds good too. Personal preference was the 12AX7 bu the others may cut through a mix better.
Well done.

[DrNomis_44]

Great job Doc sounds good too. Personal preference was the 12AX7 bu the others may cut through a mix better.
Well done.


Cheers mate, I liked the tones I got with both the 12AU7A and the 12AX7, the 12AT7 sounded a bit brighter to my ears, I have just tried the pedal out with the mods I thought up, to my ears it seems to sound a bit less gainier at max Drive settings, but the tone is a bit smoother, it still really likes being overdriven with my Rangemaster pedal though, I'll record a demo of the modded pedal a bit later on for those interested.

Of course, you don't necessarily have to stick with using the Persuader pedal with a guitar, you could probably use it on drum loops, etc in a studio.

[DrNomis_44]

Okay, here's the demo clip of my modded Persuader pedal, I recorded it and my Rangemaster pedal straight into my Saffire Pro40, into FL Studio, I only used one plugin, an Impulse Response Speaker Cab simulator called NadIR, set to simulate a quad box with Celestion G12's miced up with an SM57, I used the Rangemaster pedal to overdrive the Persuader pedal, the guitar I used was my LP Studio, the Tube installed in the socket is a Ruby 7025SS/12AX7A, first half of the demo is the modded Persuader by itself, set to max Drive, second half is same like the first half but with the Rangemaster switched in, the knob on the Rangemaster was set to about the 2 o clock position, just check out the sound I got:


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7787692/Persuader%20And%20Rangemaster.mp3

[Dedman]

that sounds great Doc

[DrNomis_44]

that sounds great Doc


Cheers mate, I reckon that has to be about the best distortion sound I have ever gotten out of a Tube-based pedal so far, it has that vintage rock sound, in the next couple of weeks, I might do a build write-up for the Rangemaster Treble Booster since it is a really easy one to build.

[wokkaboy]

you got a wide range of sounds Doc, sounds good. I liked the 2nd half of the last demo with the Rangemaster on, nice clear crisp distorted sound. Have you done a build diary on the Rangemaster treble booster ?

[DrNomis_44]

you got a wide range of sounds Doc, sounds good. I liked the 2nd half of the last demo with the Rangemaster on, nice clear crisp distorted sound. Have you done a build diary on the Rangemaster treble booster ?


Haven't done a build write-up for the Rangemaster yet, but I can certainly do one this week,I have a spare diecast case I can use to house it in, actually that gives me a good excuse to try one of the transistors from my stash of old 60's Philco transistors in it,should be interesting to see what results I get from them.


The Rangemaster is a very easy pedal to build because it doesn't use very many parts, so I reckon it's a good one to start with for those who are new to building pedals.

Here's what one of my 60's Philco transistors looks like:

12794


I bought it as part of a lot of 560 of them on eBay, I can't remember how much they all cost me, but I think it was about Au$100.00 or so.

[Dedman]

I finally have Doc's Big Muff fuzz pedal working, after sending it back to the Doc to correct my dodgy first attempt at electronics wiring.
It seems to sound best with single coils or a split humbucker but it hazzz the fuzzzzz! and sustain? I went out, got a coffee, came back , split the atom, cured the common cold and it was STILL going! Going into my little 20W Vox with its 8 inch speaker it really sounds a bit strangled, so I'm looking forward to the posty this week as he's bringing me an Orange Micro Terror amp and 12inch Celestion Greenback. Next project...speaker cab!

[DrNomis_44]

I finally have Doc's Big Muff fuzz pedal working, after sending it back to the Doc to correct my dodgy first attempt at electronics wiring.
It seems to sound best with single coils or a split humbucker but it hazzz the fuzzzzz! and sustain? I went out, got a coffee, came back , split the atom, cured the common cold and it was STILL going! Going into my little 20W Vox with its 8 inch speaker it really sounds a bit strangled, so I'm looking forward to the posty this week as he's bringing me an Orange Micro Terror amp and 12inch Celestion Greenback. Next project...speaker cab!


Those little Micro Terror amps are cool, I saw a video on youtube of a Micro Dark Terror being demoed, and was amazed at the sounds it was producing, that Big Muff pedal should sound cool through your new Micro Terror amp, I've tried my Big Muff pedal through my Marshall and it sounded pretty good.

[kimball492]

Sounds like Docs cracked the Big Muff pedal Dedman. Glad it's working, well done both. Those Orange Micro Terror are supposed to be excellent and put out 20w. A buddy sent me this the other day, not Japanese but thought you may enjoy Dedman. http://www.thetruthaboutknives.com/2016/08/video-making-a-traditional-korean-sword-from-smelting-to-embellishment/#comment-20386

Hey Doc you building the Ibanez pedals ?

[Dedman]

thanks Kimball, very similar process that seems to have developed world wide. I tend to think there was a lot more international travel 1000yrs ago than we think occurred. (In this case Korea and Japan have invaded one another a few times over the centuries).

I looked at a lot of options before going with the Orange, the Dark version was a little too gainy for my tastes, but I wanted something small, not overly powerful and I can mess with different speakers in different cabs or different amps later, like I might do a 12in Jenson cab later or pick up a Fender or Vox head later.

[DrNomis_44]

Sounds like Docs cracked the Big Muff pedal Dedman. Glad it's working, well done both. Those Orange Micro a Terror are supposed to be excellent and put out 20w. A buddy sent me this the other day not Japanese but thought you may enjoy Dedman. http://www.thetruthaboutknives.com/2016/08/video-making-a-traditional-korean-sword-from-smelting-to-embellishment/#comment-20386

Hey Doc you building the Ibanez pedals ?

Not yet since I'm a bit short of money at the moment.

[kimball492]

Plenty of time Doc just saw you'd eyed some up at a music shop lol.

[DrNomis_44]

Plenty of time Doc just saw you'd eyed some up at a music shop lol.


Arghhhhhh....I guess my secret's out now.....hahahaha, I'm looking at buying myself a new TS-9 pedal and a new MXR Dynacomp pedal, I used to have a Dynacomp some years ago but it either got pinched or I lost it, I tried making one a couple of years ago but it never worked as well as a bought one.

Been doing some revision of my FX chain prior to designing/building of a pedal board, and I think I've got it to the point where it should cover all the sounds I could ever want....(famous last words).

[kimball492]

Your right about travel Dedman. Check this out 3000 years ago from the Bronze Age in the UK. They've just opened up a dig to find beads from the Mediterranean and Indian areas. Plus a host of other things too.
https://www.historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/news/bronze-age-domestic-life-revealed

[kimball492]

Hey Doc you could save yourself a fortune on the TS-9 pedal check out the mini tubescreamer. They sound pretty darn similar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJym68_NX


Also what about this Doc ,but with your skills you could probably build one from scratch.http://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Tube_Screamer_TS808_TS9/p847124_7462506.aspx

[wokkaboy]

Hey KB, nice new avatar bro, is that your jazz bass ?

[DrNomis_44]

Your right about travel Dedman. Check this out 3000 years ago from the Bronze Age in the UK. They've just opened up a dig to find beads from the Mediterranean and Indian areas. Plus a host of other things too.
https://www.historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/news/bronze-age-domestic-life-revealed


I think it's a very safe bet that the 3,000 year old food found in the pots is well past it's use by date by now.

[Dedman]

the traces of cocaine in Egyptian mummies was a dead give-a-way for intercontinental travel.

Doc, not at the 7-11 near my place LOL

[kimball492]

It's not mine Woks but i love it. A beautiful bass with so much tone. My next build amongst others lol

[kimball492]

Ha Ha Doc Im sure most of it was . With all the chemicals they put in food now however we wouldn't have that problem. They've also found Honey in Egyptian tombs that was still edible. I wonder how they decided who should be the guinea pig and try it.

[DrNomis_44]

Ha Ha Doc Im sure most of it was . With all the chemicals they put in food now however we wouldn't have that problem. They've also found Honey in Egyptian tombs that was still edible. I wonder how they decided who should be the guinea pig and try it.


Certainly not me, not after what happened to one Archaeologist who disturbed the tomb of Tutankhamen, he got bitten by a mosquito and died, the Archaeologist that is.

[kimball492]

i was a little bit worried at first Doc thought the mosquito had died after biting the honey eating Archaeologist lol.

[DrNomis_44]

the traces of cocaine in Egyptian mummies was a dead give-a-way for intercontinental travel.

Doc, not at the 7-11 near my place LOL


Geez, those smugglers are a devious lot, aren't they?

[DrNomis_44]

i was a little bit worried at first Doc thought the mosquito had died after biting the honey eating Archaeologist lol.


Well, you never know with those mosquitos, it might have been one that had a penchant for biting only Archaeologists that happen to have a taste for honey, maybe the Archaeologist should have had some raspberry jam on toast for breakfast that day, but we can only speculate.....hahahaha.

[kimball492]

Hey doc did you get your firewire card if so how'd you get on getting everything working

[DrNomis_44]

Hey doc did you get your firewire card if so how'd you get on getting everything working


Not yet, I'm still waiting for it to turn up in the post, going by what the delivery estimation said, it should have arrived in the post last Wednesday, it might arrive this week, I'm also waiting on some spare parts for my 42Inch LG Plasma Screen T.V., I've been without T.V. since it broke down and refused to power up correctly.



Update:


I have just received the new PCI Firewire 400 card in the mail and I'm about to install it in my PC, wish me luck guys.


Update 2:


Just tried out my new PCI Firewire 400 card and the results are pretty much the same as for the other Firewire ports, my Saffire Pro 40 still seems to be a bit glitchy every now and then, I tried re-installing the latest driver for it and I got the same results as before, every now and then the audio will go a bit crackly and I end up having to power the Saffire Pro 40 on and off a few times, then change a few settings to get it to come good, it seems to be a very sticky device driver.


Update 3:


Just tried my Digi002 to see if it would work with the new PCI card, no joy, even tried a different firewire cable, same result, Device Manager could see that it was connected but it wouldn't work with my DAW software, so I reckon the Digi002 is faulty in some way.

[Dedman]

Geez, those smugglers are a devious lot, aren't they?

LOL........hmmm that could be my next get rich quick scheme

[DrNomis_44]

Update:

So I went to the Top End Sounds Pro Music Shop today to see if they had a TS-9 and an MXR Dynacomp in stock, they didn't, but they did have a TS-808 and a Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer in stock, I ended up buying them instead plus an MXR DC Brick Pedalboard Power Supply, the really cool thing about the MXR DC Brick (well it's cool for me anyway) is that it features two 18V DC outputs in addition to eight 9V DC outputs, so I can use those two 18V DC outputs to power my Tonebone Hot British pedal and my UniVibe pedal, I just need to make a couple of custom DC Cables.

Part of the internal circuitry of my Univibe pedal actually runs at about 20V, the other part runs at 15V, so it should work fine, the MXR DC Brick is powered by an 18V/2,000mA Switchmode Plugpack Adaptor which I reckon should be enough to power all the pedals I wish to use on my Custom Pedalboard.

So, what's all that got to do with DIY Pedal building?, well, I'm planning on building myself a custom Pedal Board with the help of a great mate of mine, he's found a nice piece of plywood for me that's 80cm by 45cm in size, I was going to aim for 100cm by 50cm, but 80cm by 45cm is still going to be big enough to give me enough real-estate to mount my pedals on, there's only going to be about seven or eight pedals on my Pedalboard, so I'm pretty happy with that, anyway, I thought it would be a cool project to include in this thread so I'll include a write-up of the build process just in case any of you guys might be interested in building your own custom Pedalboard, stay tuned for more updates.

[wokkaboy]

sounds good Doc, I think the size of the pedal board will be ample for 8 pedals. Will you build some sort of cover for it when being transported ? Couple of forumites have built basic pedalboards I think Pablo has built one. Simple construction he just angled it to raise the back edge made accessing the pedals easier

[DrNomis_44]

sounds good Doc, I think the size of the pedal board will be ample for 8 pedals. Will you build some sort of cover for it when being transported ? Couple of forumites have built basic pedalboards I think Pablo has built one. Simple construction he just angled it to raise the back edge made accessing the pedals easier


Yep, I'm going to see if I can incorporate some kind of detachable cover for the Pedalboard, something along the lines of what they do with flight cases for amps and studio gear, maybe have it hinged at the back, but still detachable, I could also include a lock on the front edge so that none of my pedals get nicked during a gig, I'm planning on covering the top surface of the Pedalboard with carpet tiles so I can just use Velcro to hold the pedals in place, the good thing about that is I can easily move the pedals around as I see fit, my mate wants to use cable ties to hold his pedals in place on his Pedalboard, I should check out how those other members made their Pedalboards.


I just tried out my new TS-808 pedal with my LP Studio guitar and my white Ibby guitar, going into my Marshall's clean channel, seems to be working really well and I got some nice low gain sounds, might try out my new Boss Compressor Sustainer pedal later on.


I just checked the 80cm by 45cm dimensions for my Pedalboard again with a tape measure, I've definitely got enough real-estate to work with, best of all, it's not too big to manage.

[Dedman]

cool Doc, I'm planning on building one after my current kit and my 1 x12 cab (which I got the timber for today)

[kimball492]

Doc a few people have had this issue with the saffire pro. Not sure if this helps any but we have 2 saffire pro 40s and an Octipre and every now and then I have to go into the Saffire mix control and change the clock setting to ADAT on our system. Still haven't figured out why it changes to "internal" on it's own. Also try changing the hardware buffer in DAW software. Cracks and pops are normally caused there. Maybe switch it to adat then back to internal. id suggest taking the saffire pro into your friendly favourite music shop ask them to test for you. At least you will then know if its your audio device or your computer. if its a faulty audio device at least you will know one way or the other.

[DrNomis_44]

Doc a few people have had this issue with the saffire pro. Not sure if this helps any but we have 2 saffire pro 40s and an Octipre and every now and then I have to go into the Saffire mix control and change the clock setting to ADAT on our system. Still haven't figured out why it changes to "internal" on it's own. Also try changing the hardware buffer cracks and pops are normally caused there. Maybe switch it to adat then back to internal

Cheers mate, I'll give that a go next time it plays up and see if it sorts it out, the funny thing is Focusrite say something about the internal clock being jitter-free, or something like that in the user manual.

[DrNomis_44]

cool Doc, I'm planning on building one after my current kit and my 1 x12 cab (which I got the timber for today)


Nice, which reminds me about the 2 X 12 speaker cab I want to build for my Peavey Renown, what speaker do you reckon you'll put in the 1 X 12 cab?

[Dedman]

I went with a Celestion Greenback. I asked a mastering mate who is friends with a custom amp/speaker guy and he said to keep away from the Classic, Vintage and G1275's Clestions. He mainly uses Jensen Falcons in bigger rigs but I'm only using the little Orange Micro

[wokkaboy]

I thought you said you had a Celestion Greenback Dedman, should sound great !

Those Orange Micro amp heads still sound pretty good for their size !

[Dedman]

Going to try it through the headphones later tonight :D

[wokkaboy]

Dedman how much do those Orange Micro amp heads set you back ? keen to hear how it sounds through the 12" cab you build

[kimball492]

Here you go Dedman might help you decide which speaker to put in your cab.
https://youtu.be/jb21UzrsCXM

Personal favourites are the Reignmaker and the Govenor.
But need to listen on something other than my iPad.

[DrNomis_44]

I went with a Celestion Greenback. I asked a mastering mate who is friends with a custom amp/speaker guy and he said to keep away from the Classic, Vintage and G1275's Clestions. He mainly uses Jensen Falcons in bigger rigs but I'm only using the little Orange Micro


Good choice, I think those were used in lots of early Marshalls like the JTM45 Bluesbreaker, you should get a good sound with that.

[Dedman]

Wokka, $225 on fleabay (new). Sounds nice through my headphones LOL
Found out my pedal power supply hums like bloody flouro however, I was blaming a el cheapo delay but it's the power tank :(

[wokkaboy]

cheers Dedman good price for such a compact head !

[DrNomis_44]

Just out of curiosity, are any of you guys interested in me doing a write-up for a tutorial on making DIY guitar leads?, I've been thinking of doing one where I show you how I make my own custom guitar leads.

[Dedman]

why not? I bought a few plugs and cut the leads that come with the kits up and made patch cables for pedals, I really had no use for 4 2m leads :P

[DrNomis_44]

No worries then, I'm just in the process of making some new leads and have literally just finished making one, here's a pic of it, I used some gold-plated Tip/Sleeve plugs, and some microphone cable I bought from Jaycar Electronics today:

13078


The lead is 5 metres long and I think it is easily as good as a commercially manufactured lead, the cable cost me roughly $3.00/m and the connectors cost me roughly $4.00 each, I bought four of those gold-plated Tip/Sleeve plugs, so I estimate that a 5 metre lead would be roughly $25.00, but the thing is, I've made leads like these before and they have never gone faulty on me....touchwood, whereas some of the commercially manufactured leads I have bought have gone faulty within a few weeks of use.


I'm going to make another one of these leads shortly and I'll take some pics so I can document the process, will do the write up tomorrow, so stay tuned.

[Dedman]

yea, I bought a pack of 5 patch leads and 1 didn't work, the actual plug was dodgy.

[DrNomis_44]

yea, I bought a pack of 5 patch leads and 1 didn't work, the actual plug was dodgy.



A mate of mine bought a Planet Waves lead, which is supposed to be one of the best types of leads you can buy, it went faulty on him and he gave it to me and asked me to fix it for him.

[Dedman]

how about a A/B/Y box Doc? Would it be a simple build (with LEDs for channel selected) ?

[DrNomis_44]

how about a A/B/Y box Doc? Would it be a simple build (with LEDs for channel selected) ?


I reckon it's do-able, I might need some time to experiment with a circuit to get it to the point where it's simple and easy enough to build, I've done a simple A/B box pedal, and a more complicated FX-Looper pedal with Leds, so an A/B/Y box sounds like a good project for this thread, I'm willing to give it a go.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


After doing a bit of thinking, I've managed to come up with a suitable layout for the pedals which are going onto my Pedalboard, here's a pic of the layout:

13103


Starting at the top left of the layout, there's my new Boss CH-1 Super Chorus Pedal, next to it is my new Moen Pretty Dolly Delay pedal, next to those two is going to be my Univibe pedal (I'm using my Big Muff pedal to represent the Univibe because the Univibe is at my mate's place), the little silver rectangular box in the top right of the pic is the MXR DC Brick Power Supply.

Beneath those pedals is my Danelectro Cool Cat Tremolo, followed by my Rowlin 5-Band EQ, then my Radial Tonebone Hot British pedal, next to that is my Boss BD-2 Blues Driver, followed by my new Ibanez TS-808, then there's my Jim Dunlop Crybaby Wah, my new Boss CS-3 Compressor/Sustainer, and then finally my Korg Pitchblack+ Tuner.

[kimball492]

Here's a couple of places for A/B Y pedal or kits Dedman
http://www.loopipedals.com.au/routing/aby/aby-pedal/
http://www.mammothelectronics.com/Tonefiend-ABY-Box-Kit-p/kit-tnfnd-abybox.htm
http://www.musikding.de/A/B/Y-Switch

[Dedman]

Cheers Kimball!

[Fretworn]

Wah before compressor usually. Wah's and fuzzes like to be first in chain. Try it both ways, but you will probably find that the wah responds better without compression (or Boss buffering) running into it.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


While visiting the big green shed for a couple of tools and some materials to do some restoration work on my Gold Standard Strat, and also to do some work on the Headless Guitar project, I decided to stop by my local Jaycar Electronics shop to buy some bits needed to finish off an Overdrive Pedal I started building last year, since it's a relatively simple design, I thought that it would be cool to include it in this thread and do a write-up for it, I'll also be making a layout diagram so that anyone interested can make one for themselves if they like, the design is based on the TS series of Tube Screamers and the Boss OD-1, stay tuned for more updates.

[kimball492]

Cool Doc what chip does the OD-1 use

[DrNomis_44]

Cool Doc what chip does the OD-1 use


I think it's the venerable, and much sought-after, JRC4558D chip that was used in the OD-1, I could be wrong though, but it is the most likely chip that was used due to it's cheapness, there are a few alternative chips you can use in the circuit, which are pin-for-pin compatible with the pin-out of the JRC4558D, a couple that come to mind are the TLO72CP, and the LM833, there are a couple of high-end chips which are also pin-for-pin compatible too.


The TS Tube Screamer circuit and the OD-1 circuit are very similar to each other, the only difference being that the OD-1 doesn't have the extra tone-control stage included, so you only have a Drive control and a Volume control.

[kimball492]

Supposedly there are better chips than the JRC4558D but most of the collectors of the old Tubescreamers love its sound.

[DrNomis_44]

They say there are better chips than the JRC4558D but most of the collectors of the old Tubescreamers love its sound.


Yep, apparently that's got a lot to do with the way the chip behaves as it recovers from being overdriven, there's an article I read somewhere that talks about this behaviour, I can't remember where I found the article but I do remember reading it, I might see if I can find it again cause it's an interesting read.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Had to put my cordless drill on charge so it could recharge it's battery overnight, it's all charged now so we can go ahead with the build-process of the new Overdrive pedal, going to be working on it today and will post some pics of the build-process for you guys.


I'm thinking of calling the pedal "Dr Overdrive", what do you guys think of that?


Here's a pic of the circuit board that's going in the new Dr Overdrive pedal:


13237


Here's a pic of the underside of the circuit board:

13238

[Dedman]

not much to it is there?

[DrNomis_44]

not much to it is there?


Yep, it's a very basic circuit so that you get all the goodness out of it, and there are no buffers so it's a true-bypass pedal, I have noticed that the best sounding pedals tend to be the ones that don't have a lot in them.


I'm just going to add a pic of the underside of the circuit board.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:

So I worked on building the new Dr Overdrive pedal all last night and it is now all finished and working, I'm pretty surprised at how good it sounds through my Marshall Amp, it sounds a bit like a Tube Screamer and is pretty smooth, I'll upload some pics of the build-process and do a bit of a write-up for it later on, will also see if I can record a demo so you can hear what it sounds like too, so stay tuned.

[kimball492]

Good job Doc Thanks for the time and effort.
Much appreciated

[stan]

wow, so simple , impressively so

dr overdrive is a perfect name

[DrNomis_44]

Okay, here are some build-progress pics I took last night as I was building the Doctor Overdrive pedal:


As usual with all my pedal builds, I started off by marking out the centres for all the mounting holes in the diecast aluminium case:

13259

After drilling all the mounting holes to size, I did a quick test-fit to make sure everything was okay, and also to stick the four nylon circuit-board standoffs in place:

13260

These next two pics should give you a bit of an idea what the pedal is going to look like:

13261

13262

[DrNomis_44]

Next thing to do was to start doing all the initial wiring-up of all the controls and etc, prior to installing the circuit board:

13264

Then I started wiring up all the controls, etc to the circuit board:

13266

And then comes the final wiring-up of the input socket to the footswitch and circuit-board, I also wired-up the 9V battery clip too:

13267

[DrNomis_44]

And here's a pic of the finished, and working Doctor Overdrive pedal:

13268

[stan]

so cool, love it Doc

[DrNomis_44]

so cool, love it Doc


Cheers mate, I thought you guys would like it.

[Dedman]

You are going to have to go into business Doc

[DrNomis_44]

You are going to have to go into business Doc


Hahaha...I reckon, actually that wouldn't be a bad idea, would bring in some extra money for me.


Building guitar fx pedals to earn money to buy more PBG kits, that sounds cool.


I'm in a pretty vibed-up mood today, probably cause a good mate of mine is going to be popping by for a visit, with some new parts for his Peavey Triumph amp that I'm modding for him.


Last night I couldn't turn my Marshall up very loud while I was trying-out my new Doctor Overdrive pedal, so I decided to give it another test-run a few minutes ago, my initial impressions from last night were pretty spot-on, now that I was able to turn my Marshall up a bit, I'm pretty surprised just how good the pedal sounds through the clean channel of my Marshall, it seems to work pretty well, and I am really liking how dynamic the pedal is, pick softly and there's very little overdrive, as you start picking harder the overdrive gets more intense, just like a good valve amp, which is surprising cause the overdrive effect is created by what's called a back-to-back clipper-diode configuration, there's one difference between the Dr Overdrive circuit and the Tube Screamer circuit in that the Dr Overdrive circuit uses three silicon diodes in the back-to-back clipper-diode configuration whereas the Tube Screamer uses two.

[DrNomis_44]

I guess it's time for me to do a little demo clip of the Dr Overdrive pedal for you guys, I'll see if I can record one for you to check out, so stay tuned.


Here you go, here's a link to the demo clip I recorded for you, I recorded the pedal straight into FL Studio with no fx plugins just so you can hear the raw sound it creates:


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7787692/Dr%20OD%20Demo%202.mp3

[Dedman]

nice work Doc, that has some nice bite

[DrNomis_44]

nice work Doc, that has some nice bite


I agree, it has the kind of bite you get with a Marshall amp, I'll have to record a demo of it going through the clean channel of my Marshall, might see if I can do that this weekend.

I'll see if I can get a board layout posted so that anyone interested can make one too, and I'll do a mini-tutorial on how I made the circuit board too.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Thought I would build yet another vintage Fuzz pedal for my Pedalboard, this time it is based on the Red Fuzz Face with White knobs that Jimi Hendrix was using during his Band Of Gypsys phase, apparently it is a modded Axis Fuzz which was modded for a lot more gain and low end, from what I've read online, the Band Of Gypsys Fuzz Face is basically the Octavia circuit without the octave generating circuit, I have managed to get most of the circuit built up on a small piece of Vero Board, and have only got three more caps to solder in place before it's all finished.

I'm going to be calling the new pedal "The Gypsy Fuzz", will post some pics of the circuit board later on.


Might even consider calling it the "Gypsy Eyes" Fuzz.

[DrNomis_44]

Here's a pic of the circuit board for the new "Gypsy Eyes " Fuzz I will be building hopefully this fortnight, I still need to solder in a few more parts before it is completed and ready for installation in the casing:


14134

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


I've bought the parts I need to finish off the Gypsy Eyes Fuzz circuit board, so it shouldn't be too long till it's an actual working pedal, will do a demo clip so you can hear what it sounds like once it's all up and running, stay tuned.


And here's a pic of the finished Gypsy Eyes Fuzz circuit board:


14166


It's all ready to be installed in it's diecast aluminium case and wired up to the controls and etc.

[keloooe]

Now THAT is compact!

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


So, having finished the circuit board, I'm going to start building the Gypsy Eyes Fuzz pedal today, will post some build-process pics and a link to an audio demo of it later on once I know it's working properly, stay tuned.


Update 2:

The build-progress of the new Gypsy Eyes Fuzz has been going pretty steady, I'm at the stage where I can go ahead and do all the final wiring-up, I have been taking pics to document the build-process and will be posting them soon, along with a link to an audio demo, assuming that all goes to plan and the pedal works first go, stay tuned.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


I just finished work on building the Gypsy Eyes Fuzz pedal....and....she works!!


First impressions, it is a very gainey and aggressive sounding Fuzz, more gainey than the Axis Fuzz I made, and very loud too, it seems to have a huge amount of output level and you can easily coax it to feedback in a musical way, I'm going to see what it sounds like going straight into my Audio Interface.

[stan]

awesome, look forward to a demo

[DrNomis_44]

awesome, look forward to a demo


I'll get an audio demo of it done tonight, I'll see if I can record it as an A/B comparison between the Gypsy Eyes Fuzz and the Axis Fuzz so you can hear what the differences are, if there are any differences between them.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Yesterday, a mate brought four of my other pedals back from uni for me and dropped them off at my place, the pedals were my Tonebender MkI, Tonebender MkII, my Jimi Hendrix Wah, and a pedal called a Ray-Gun Chaos Fuzz, I guarantee that once you hear what it sounds like you will think that other Fuzz pedals are passe, it's hard to describe what it sounds like in words, but the closest would be a Synthy Fuzz that has a random and chaotic quality about it, I'll see if I can do a demo later on for you, so stay tuned.


Here's a pic of my Ray-Gun Chaos Fuzz pedal:


14276


Just for fun, I tried it with my Yamaha ERB 300 Bass Guitar and it seems to work great, in the demo clip I'll record some sounds with the Bass Guitar too.