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Marcel
21-09-2017, 11:18 PM
Was browsing around on Ebay and found a Chinese seller who amongst other things sells a number of different guitar pedal kits for just under US$20 each. So I bought a few, namely a distortion kit because it has a cool picture of a Dragon on it, a compressor kit as there are times I just want a compressor of any sort on my guitar, and a two transistor Fuzz kit just for the fun of having an old school Fuzz box between my axe and my amp.

They also had a basic 3 mode reverb pedal for US$40 which I also thought 'why not'. The 3 modes are 'hall', 'spring' and 'room' and the 2 controls are 'mix' and 'time', so yep! very basic...

Hopefully they will all turn up sometime mid October. It will be interesting to see how well/good my AU$125 spend turns out...

DrNomis_44
22-09-2017, 10:14 AM
Was browsing around on Ebay and found a Chinese seller who amongst other things sells a number of different guitar pedal kits for just under US$20 each. So I bought a few, namely a distortion kit because it has a cool picture of a Dragon on it, a compressor kit as there are times I just want a compressor of any sort on my guitar, and a two transistor Fuzz kit just for the fun of having an old school Fuzz box between my axe and my amp.

They also had a basic 3 mode reverb pedal for US$40 which I also thought 'why not'. The 3 modes are 'hall', 'spring' and 'room' and the 2 controls are 'mix' and 'time', so yep! very basic...

Hopefully they will all turn up sometime mid October. It will be interesting to see how well/good my AU$125 spend turns out...

Cool, you should definitely start a build thread for each of them, I'll be interested in seeing how they turn out.

Marcel
22-09-2017, 11:00 AM
Nice thought Doc, but historically the way I end up building little kits like these the threads would end up being more work than the kits themselves. I think I'll just keep them all here on one thread but still as separate items or aspects of one build...

Joe3334
22-09-2017, 04:05 PM
Any chance you could post the name of the seller? I'd be interested in building some pedals.

Dedman
22-09-2017, 05:36 PM
will be watching with interest

Joe3334
22-09-2017, 07:56 PM
I found the seller on eBay and decided to buy one. It was only $25 for a distortion pedal kit which obviously came with the components however they could not supply me with an actual diagram, they did however send me 4 images that are supposedly going to tell me exactly what goes where. Feel free to judge on whether or not these images are good enough to easily follow.

Simon Barden
22-09-2017, 09:10 PM
I'd say no, not clearly. The last photo is the only one showing the orange and black wires to the holes above the ones marked 'input', and they then run under the board without showing with any certainty what they connect to. Whilst you can probably assume that RV 1, 2 and 3 run across the box in order, there's nothing to definitively state this, though it should be easy enough to test once built and correct if necessary (if you haven't cut the wires too short).

Simon Barden
22-09-2017, 09:13 PM
Also if RV1, 2 and 3 have different values, then which goes where?

Marcel
22-09-2017, 09:14 PM
The kit you pictured Joe3334 appears to be very similar to the distortion pedal kit that I ordered for the same price you paid. Uses a TLA072 chip or similar for distortion gain and a offset biased transistor to create the distortion effect. When I finally get it built I'll be interested to see how it compares to my TS-9. Same for the reverb pedal how it stacks up against the digital reverb in a JVM210c or my Lexicon MX200.

The Ebay seller I used is linked below for anyone who wants to chance a look. They have an interesting array of kits and stuff on offer.

https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/landtone1008/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

Joe3334
22-09-2017, 09:38 PM
I ordered from landtone1008 too, Marcel. Other DIY pedal kits that they stock do have actual paper instructions that come with the kit, from what I can see based on the eBay listing my kit doesn't come with paper instructions. I did request instructions and they sent me those 4 images. I'm a complete newbie to all of this DIY pedal stuff let alone DIY guitars :D so I'll see how my attempt at this goes, and the kit was $25 anyway so if everything goes downhill I haven't lost a fortune in doing so.

I would recommend checking out landtone1008's Aliexpress page, they sell a plethora of pedal related stuff compared to their eBay page such as even more diy pedal kits, individual shells for pedals, components etc.

mjg
24-09-2017, 05:18 PM
That would be a bit confusing for a first time builder if there are no instructions included with the kit. Hopefully you'll at least get a listing of which part goes where on the PCB.

The price is ok, but I should point out that you can get very similar effects from an Australian based place, which will come with proper build documents, videos to help you build, and local support if you get stuck. For about the same price as what you paid I think. Have a look at diyguitarpedals.com.au - the only thing he doesn't sell is the metal enclosure.

And there are heaps of good quality kits and PCBs available around the Internet...eBay kits are probably going to be the lower end of the quality scale. IMHO. But hopefully you've scored a good one.

(Sorry trying not to be too negative about this, and it will probably work fine, but there are better places to buy kits from. eBay is fine for cheap enclosures, and some parts, but I've had a lot of bad parts from eBay too)

Marcel
27-09-2017, 04:32 PM
Just so everyone knows, I'm a bit of a kit demon... not just guitars...

In the photo is yesterdays Ebay delivery from one kit supplier... a single channel 1MHz LCD Cro kit with case, a 1MHz function generator kit, a LED clock kit, a DDS signal generator, two counters and two RPM meters for my PU winder project, a couple of temperature meters, a SDR and some other random bits.

Only the Cro kit has decent instructions (any instructions for that matter), the remainder will heavily rely on my years of electronic kit building experience to get going.

mjg
27-09-2017, 04:49 PM
Very cool!

Dedman
27-09-2017, 05:46 PM
Just so everyone knows, I'm a bit of a kit demon... not just guitars...

In the photo is yesterdays Ebay delivery from one kit supplier... a single channel 1MHz LCD Cro kit with case, a 1MHz function generator kit, a LED clock kit, a DDS signal generator, two counters and two RPM meters for my PU winder project, a couple of temperature meters, a SDR and some other random bits.

Only the Cro kit has decent instructions (any instructions for that matter), the remainder will heavily rely on my years of electronic kit building experience to get going.

*smiles nods and goes back to my leggo. No idea what that stuff is but I cant wait to see what it becomes :P

JohnH
27-09-2017, 06:58 PM
+1 for not knowing what any (or at least most) of that stuff is, but super interested to see what you do with it!

WeirdBits
28-09-2017, 11:44 AM
LCD Cro... we humans are funny.

Rabbitz
29-09-2017, 10:53 AM
Which SDR kit is it?

I've been thinking about putting as SDR together for a while but funds have been at historic lows...

Col
(VK2CSW)

Marcel
29-09-2017, 11:21 AM
The whole bunch of kits and other bits in the latest batch came from the following seller...
https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/kiss_buyer/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

The SDR wasn't a kit as I felt I have enough things to build on my to-do list at the moment, however the seller does have SDR kits, both Rx only and Tx/Rx.

For those that want to know.... SDR = Software Defined Radio. It is a tiny 'black box' with only a USB port and an antenna connection. Plug it into your PC/Mac and you have a radio that can be controlled by appropriate (often downloaded) software. You can listen to AM or FM or short wave broadcasts or you can decode (some) data transmissions such as ADS-b tracking data from most aircraft. Some high end SDR's can even decode digital video transmissions. An SDR is not an 'internet radio'...

(De VK4TMH)

Rabbitz
29-09-2017, 01:41 PM
Must. Not. Buy. Everything. They. Have.

TNX

Marcel
29-09-2017, 04:38 PM
LCD Cro... we humans are funny.

WeirdBits helped me choose the first kit to build.

The single channel TFT LCD Cro... Cro is the generic name given to displays like this. Originally it stood for Cathode Ray Oscilloscope using a vacuum tube display, however with modern developments this unit uses displays not unlike those found in smart phones.

Awesome supplied instructions in colour!! Follow the instruction to the letter and in about 3hrs (the time it took me to build) you will have a working display to show the amazing waveforms that come out of your axe. This is not a soldering newby or beginners kit as it has lots and lots of very fine very tiny soldering, but if you can get past that it is a useful 9V battery operated tool to visualise what voltages is emanating from your axe or is passing between those pedals.

First photo is all the bits in their bags
2nd photo is after 1hr of assembly
3rd photo is the fully assembled working unit displaying the 50Hz noise that my body is picking up...

Marcel
29-09-2017, 04:40 PM
Must. Not. Buy. Everything. They. Have.

TNX


I know your pain.... lol

Andy40
08-10-2017, 04:36 AM
I bought the compressor one too, built it and it doesn't work. I thought the circuit was a bit weird. Someday I'll pull it apart and rebuild it.

I bought the Jaycar DIY compressor and it works great. learned a lot more b/c instructions were good. the only problem is that its massive and it runs off 12 volts.

Marcel
10-10-2017, 12:47 PM
Postie delivered today...

one reverb pedal complete,
one compressor kit
one distortion kit
one fuzz kit.

JohnH
10-10-2017, 05:25 PM
What a great haul! Look forward to seeing them come together

DrNomis_44
10-10-2017, 05:55 PM
Those kits look pretty cool, I'll have to go check out the website.

Marcel
11-10-2017, 04:44 PM
Had a few hours to kill so spent two of them on the compressor kit.

Instructions are meagre and there is nil circuit diagram, but there is enough info to do the assembly. Whether there is enough info to make it work will be left to another day.

Started with the resistors, then the caps, and then the other bits. The parts were nicely labelled and for the most part there was little confusion as t what went where. The only exception to this was the "PWC" connection which needs to go to two places being the 'ring' on the input jack and to a point on the DC in jack.

One thing that is not explained is the LED & LDR combination that is part of how the gain adjustment part of the circuit works. The two parts face each other with the brightness of the LED affecting the resistance of the LDR and thereby changing the gain of the stage that passes the audio. In my build I have added a short piece of black pipe so that the LDR can only "see" the LED, so therefore flashy stage lights shouldn't do weird things to the audio passing through the pedal.

Powering up and testing to come....

Marcel
12-10-2017, 04:12 PM
Built the FuzzFace kit today.... Much disappointment with one very tiny win.

As can be seen by the photos there is not a lot of information with the kit... A parts list. That's it... Okay the parts list tells what the various part values are, but nil other info. Nil circuit schematic, nil wiring diagram. and nil explanatory text or even a welcome & thanks for buying our kit.

There is only a few components so the basic assembly of the board isn't that hard... however working out what should be connected to where was a head ache for me so I truly pity the dilemma of a first time builder.

I got it to work, and the Fuzz does sound nice but the volume level is incredibly low so there are still faults to be found.

And for the moment the compressor is a complete failure. The light comes on and off as expected however there is nil noise under any circumstances. I suspect there is a short to ground in there somewhere... most probably in with the i/p & o/p jacks.

Andy40
12-10-2017, 06:26 PM
I've heard that the IC on these compressors are supposed to be fake. I put it down to that rather than my bad skillz

Marcel
12-10-2017, 08:14 PM
My gut feeling is there are nil fakes in these kits Andy. I've been checking values of the passive parts before I soldered them in and they all have been very close if not spot on the correct value, so I doubt they would stuff it all by not using at least half decent active parts. Even the quality of the jacks and pots and enclosures seems quite good and reasonable...

Just wish they'd include a circuit diagram....

Marcel
13-10-2017, 03:52 PM
So while my bench is in kit building mode (and cos I'm waiting on copper foil and nuts to arrive via Aussie post) I had a go at the 3rd kit being the Distortion kit with the pretty Dragon on the housing.

Again the only accompanying documentation was a list of parts identifying that value bit had whatever name on the board. A missing R1 and two R15's was just annoying as R1 connected to nowhere so was surplus to requirements and the two R15's were the same value. In the end there was a part for every needed vacancy on the board.

A very nice thing about this kit was all the supplied lengths of wire, all trimmed and with soldered tips... very handy, and more of them than was needed. And again the parts seem to be of reasonable quality.

Got it together pretty easily, connected a battery, plugged in my test axe and Vox Pathfinder 10 amp.... and it made noise. Through some sort of Friday the 13th miracle it worked first go... Very happy.... It even sound half decent, but only if I pushed the 'Drive' past 7 or 8... Tone and volume also work as they should.

Inspired with confidence I jumped back to the Fuzz kit. After a short time discovered that the foot switch was faulty so set about replacing that. Now that 'bypass' worked I discovered that in bypass this pedal does nasty things to the clean signal. The switch only changes over the output from pedal to bypass and turns on the LED, the input to the pedal is always connected to the guitar so the nasties are coming out of the input to the fuzz board which is not good. When engaged there is some intermittent bits of fuzz in between lots of pops and crackles. A few minutes with the multimeter confirmed nil shorts and the values of the resistors are still fine, and that the transistors are still okay, so something else must be going on which I'll hunt for on another day..

On another note I gave the Reverb pedal a try out. Not the best sounding reverb but it is pretty good for the AU$50 cost. Hall is a bit much for my liking, however Spring and Room are quite reasonable. More suited to a practice/rehersal environment where you just want some reverb type noise. As a work pedal it is quite limited with only Mix and Time controls but it would definitely and admirably get you out of a pinch if you had a gig and your regular reverb device had decided to pack it in.

Marcel
14-10-2017, 04:41 PM
Back to the compressor pedal...

Things are best tackled with a fresh mind on a new day is so true here. Took maybe 5 minutes for me to find the wiring error of having the tip and ring connections on the input jack swapped. A penalty for working in evening daylight I suppose.

Once the error was corrected the pedal was tested and on the audio quality front it passed admirably, but as a compressor ... Hmmm, maybe I'm a bit spoilt from previous experience with 'real' compressors as to my ears this little pedal was somewhat disappointing. After some messing around I worked out the variable gain section that is subject to the amount of light on the LDR worked quite well, however the LED and drive signal to the LED was far less than stellar. I swapped LED's with spares I have, changed to different coloured LED's, all with little tangible improvement. I concluded that maybe a high intensity LED is what is needed which halted work as I have none on hand.

In the photo you can see beside the IC the black sleeve I used between the LDR (Light Dependant Resistor) and the LED. Even with this arrangement the simple act of taking the back cover off the pedal housing has the effect of slightly reducing the gain through the device, enough change to be easily heard when listening to a strummed guitar and through a small practice amp, so limiting stray light into the LDR is important to the overall performance of the pedal.

Simon Barden
14-10-2017, 05:21 PM
Have you got anything white or silver that you can use instead of the black tubing? You'll get a lot more reflected light, effectively making the LED brighter. You can always run some black tape round the outside to stop external light ingress.

JohnH
14-10-2017, 05:23 PM
Glad you got it working. I guess at the price it's not all that surprising it's not the best compressor, but it's an interesting exercise nonetheless

Marcel
14-10-2017, 07:51 PM
It has been interesting JohnH, and to a fair extent quite enjoyable, and the fun isn't over yet...

About the only thing I can think of Simon that could improve the little light tunnel is maybe a small block of Aluminium with a 5mm hole drilled through. Using Al-foil could be risky in creating short circuits, and anything heavier risks damaging the legs of the LED or LDR. I do have some self-amalgamating tape that I could wrap around, but I think the biggest issue is getting the LED set right to have the greatest affect on the LDR. By my reckoning there needs to be a brighter LED so it's either a new and brighter LED or changing the current limit resistor to a lower value so that the existing LED burns brighter. It would be nice to have a circuit included with the kit so the choice of which way to go would be simpler. Look like I'm going to have to trace the whole thing out the hard way...

DrNomis_44
15-10-2017, 07:15 AM
It has been interesting JohnH, and to a fair extent quite enjoyable, and the fun isn't over yet...

About the only thing I can think of Simon that could improve the little light tunnel is maybe a small block of Aluminium with a 5mm hole drilled through. Using Al-foil could be risky in creating short circuits, and anything heavier risks damaging the legs of the LED or LDR. I do have some self-amalgamating tape that I could wrap around, but I think the biggest issue is getting the LED set right to have the greatest affect on the LDR. By my reckoning there needs to be a brighter LED so it's either a new and brighter LED or changing the current limit resistor to a lower value so that the existing LED burns brighter. It would be nice to have a circuit included with the kit so the choice of which way to go would be simpler. Look like I'm going to have to trace the whole thing out the hard way...


I seem to remember reading somewhere that most LDRs (Light Dependent Resistors) tend to have a bell-shaped light-sensitivity curve where they are most sensitive to green light, so, maybe using a Green Led might help things.

Marcel
15-10-2017, 08:02 AM
Yeah Doc, the kit came with a Green LED and out of all the LED's I've tried the Green does work the best. It just isn't bright enough to appreciably affect the LDR, and the LED certainly affects it less than stray daylight does which should give an idea of the depth of the problem.

I've had the thought that if I replace the LED's current limit resistor with a pot it might work as a kind of threshold control.

DrNomis_44
15-10-2017, 08:36 AM
Yeah Doc, the kit came with a Green LED and out of all the LED's I've tried the Green does work the best. It just isn't bright enough to appreciably affect the LDR, and the LED certainly affects it less than stray daylight does which should give an idea of the depth of the problem.

I've had the thought that if I replace the LED's current limit resistor with a pot it might work as a kind of threshold control.


I think most standard Leds will work fine with up to about 20mA of supply current.

Marcel
15-10-2017, 09:51 PM
I found the resistor in the compressor pedal that set the current through the LED. It was a 4k7 so max current was about 1.9mA. Changing it to a 1k or 10mA effected nil change in performance, and annoyingly the most dramatic change in gain was still only when I fitted or removed the back cover. Actually depending on the gap or space between the cover and the housing I could vary the volume to various levels so the level control portion of the compressor works very well, just the level detection and LED driver section is useless.

After spending a few quality Sunday hours on this compressor thing and trying a number of alternate value components I've restored it to original and decided to set it aside. It works, but not as well as could be expected. Some mid winter R&D and subsequent modification is needed to turn it into something I think is useful...

Marcel
19-10-2017, 02:13 PM
The Fuzz Face kit... Not what I was expecting....

When I first assembled the kit the result was disappointing. There was some Fuzz, however there was also a lot more of spluttering and extended patches of unwanted silence. The fuzz itself was consistent in tone and level just it wasn't consistently there, almost as if I had a loose wire or something. At first I suspected that I had cooked the transistors when I soldered them in. Sadly Germanium transistors can be 'cooked' a lot more easily than their Silicon counterparts. So after downloading data sheets of the supplied Germaium AC128 transistors and getting out my stock of Silicon PNP replacements, I set about to find the real cause of the disappointment to this so far less than impressive build.

I hooked up my little LCD Cro and a signal generator and pushed a clean sine wave through it to see visually what was happening to the signals. On the test bench with signals of 50mV and above it worked "fine", and instantly I realised that there in lay the problem, and that I hadn't cooked the Germaniums. Normal signals from a guitar are not usually that big. What this Fuzz pedal really needs is some clean boost. At the same time I also noticed an induced common mode hum on the screen when I touched the pedals metal housing which indicated the housing wasn't earthed, so I replaced the output jack with a different type which cleared that problem.

I patched in the compressor kit pedal before the Fuzz... Success!.. And it sounds quite okay. Not too harsh, Has musical aspects to notes/chords played through it. Interestingly and despite its short comings the compressor kit pedal seems well suited to drive the Fuzz Face kit pedal as a good range of tones can be dialled up using both together... Note to self - always use a pre drive or level boost pedal with this Fuzz Face kit pedal.

One thing I needed to get used to is the Fuzz pedal does mute when volumes from the guitar get a bit low which can be useful in some scenarios but also can get very annoying. Keep the strings moving and you get consistent noise from the amp, let notes ring out and they will Fuzz until they suddenly (but predictably) die.

So I got all 3 kit pedals working. None are as good as any commercially made pedal but certainly good enough to make practice noises at home. All 3 sound different to commercially made units which if I was chasing tone of another guitarist would make most of them a big fat fail, however if they were in use by a guitarist/writer they do offer(force) options in tone that would push certain writing styles. Of the 3 kits I favour the distortion kit pedal with the picture of the Dragon as it has the best range of sounds that I like, with the Fuzz in at 2nd and the compressor 3rd as it gave the most disappointing result.

For those who are interested, On my home 'just for fun' setup I typically run 7 pedals, For the moment the reverb pedal from earlier in this thread has displaced my Nux Time Core as my 2nd delay pedal, and of all things the Dragon Distortion kit has displaced my TS9. Other pedals in my line up between my usual LP (and increasingly the ES-1TL) to the JVM210 are a Dunlop JH-1 Wah, a PolyTune 3, a TC Electronics Sub-n-up, a Joyo Vintage Phase and a CatalineBread Echorec. ... Go figure...

DrNomis_44
19-10-2017, 04:58 PM
The Fuzz Face kit... Not what I was expecting....

When I first assembled the kit the result was disappointing. There was some Fuzz, however there was also a lot more of spluttering and extended patches of unwanted silence. The fuzz itself was consistent in tone and level just it wasn't consistently there, almost as if I had a loose wire or something. At first I suspected that I had cooked the transistors when I soldered them in. Sadly Germanium transistors can be 'cooked' a lot more easily than their Silicon counterparts. So after downloading data sheets of the supplied Germaium AC128 transistors and getting out my stock of Silicon PNP replacements, I set about to find the real cause of the disappointment to this so far less than impressive build.

I hooked up my little LCD Cro and a signal generator and pushed a clean sine wave through it to see visually what was happening to the signals. On the test bench with signals of 50mV and above it worked "fine", and instantly I realised that there in lay the problem, and that I hadn't cooked the Germaniums. Normal signals from a guitar are not usually that big. What this Fuzz pedal really needs is some clean boost. At the same time I also noticed an induced common mode hum on the screen when I touched the pedals metal housing which indicated the housing wasn't earthed, so I replaced the output jack with a different type which cleared that problem.

I patched in the compressor kit pedal before the Fuzz... Success!.. And it sounds quite okay. Not too harsh, Has musical aspects to notes/chords played through it. Interestingly and despite its short comings the compressor kit pedal seems well suited to drive the Fuzz Face kit pedal as a good range of tones can be dialled up using both together... Note to self - always use a pre drive or level boost pedal with this Fuzz Face kit pedal.

One thing I needed to get used to is the Fuzz pedal does mute when volumes from the guitar get a bit low which can be useful in some scenarios but also can get very annoying. Keep the strings moving and you get consistent noise from the amp, let notes ring out and they will Fuzz until they suddenly (but predictably) die.

So I got all 3 kit pedals working. None are as good as any commercially made pedal but certainly good enough to make practice noises at home. All 3 sound different to commercially made units which if I was chasing tone of another guitarist would make most of them a big fat fail, however if they were in use by a guitarist/writer they do offer(force) options in tone that would push certain writing styles. Of the 3 kits I favour the distortion kit pedal with the picture of the Dragon as it has the best range of sounds that I like, with the Fuzz in at 2nd and the compressor 3rd as it gave the most disappointing result.

For those who are interested, On my home 'just for fun' setup I typically run 7 pedals, For the moment the reverb pedal from earlier in this thread has displaced my Nux Time Core as my 2nd delay pedal, and of all things the Dragon Distortion kit has displaced my TS9. Other pedals in my line up between my usual LP (and increasingly the ES-1TL) to the JVM210 are a Dunlop JH-1 Wah, a PolyTune 3, a TC Electronics Sub-n-up, a Joyo Vintage Phase and a CatalineBread Echorec. ... Go figure...


Sounds like the Fuzz Face you built may be biased wrongly, what voltages are measuring on the transistors?, you should see about .6V on the collector of the first transistor and around 6V on the collector of the second transistor, if they are biased about right, you should see something like .2 to .3V across each transistor's B-E junction, I could measure the voltages in my Jim Dunlop JD-F2 Fuzz Face and post them as a reference if you like, the JD-F2 uses two AC158 Germanium transistors.

Marcel
19-10-2017, 05:17 PM
Thanks Doc, posting voltages would be a great help.

I've checked all the voltages and they seem okay, but that doesn't mean they are correct. Both the B-E voltages are at a fraction under 0.3V, however the collector voltages indicate either saturated or cut-off. With these transistors I might have t try a resistance wheel to Q1 base to find the right value to get Q2 collector at 4.5V

DrNomis_44
19-10-2017, 05:27 PM
Thanks Doc, posting voltages would be a great help.

I've checked all the voltages and they seem okay, but that doesn't mean they are correct. Both the B-E voltages are at a fraction under 0.3V, however the collector voltages indicate either saturated or cut-off. With these transistors I might have t try a resistance wheel to Q1 base to find the right value to get Q2 collector at 4.5V


You could also try replacing the collector resistor (typically an 8k2) for the second transistor with a 10k trimpot, this will allow you to easily set the collector voltage to around 4.5V, the smaller value resistor (330 ohms or 470 ohms) can then be increased to 1k to increase the output level a bit.

As a sidenote, the collector voltage on the second transistor plays a big part in determining the sound you get out of a Fuzz Face, if it is around 4.5V, the result is a smooth squarewave sounding fuzz tone, below this the Fuzz Face tends to sound a bit sputter, which some guitarists tend to like, above 4.5V, the Fuzz Face gets really smooth, but you also lose a bit of sustain. most of the commercially manufactured Fuzz Faces tend to be biased so that they clip the signal asymmetrically, I seem to remember playing around with the Fuzz Face circuit, after breadboarding it, and managed to take some pics of the waveforms I saw on my Oscilloscope, I think I still have the pics on one of the slave HDDs in my studio PC, I'll post them here as reference.


I managed to find this one, if your Fuzz Face build is working and biasing correctly, you should see a waveform like this on the first transistor's collector, the waveform on the second transistor's collector should look like an inverted and more sharply clipped version of this waveform (assuming that you've set the Fuzz control to maximum):

22842


Here's an interesting article about the technology of the Fuzz Face:

http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/fuzzface/fffram.htm

Marcel
19-10-2017, 07:21 PM
The exact results I got Doc are a bit hazy as I did measure lots of things lots of times, however 8.5V seems to stick in my head as the collector voltage on Q2. And I can't be sure but I think it was set there pretty hard.

When I drove the FF with the Comp I did get a asymmetrical waveform similar to the picture you showed. Mine was much more squared off in shape, and the squaring off varied slightly depending on the frequency. Lowering the signal generator input level could result in a sine wave pulsed shape, and with full gain and enough drive will result in a near on full square wave. So I'm sure the circuit works, but as you say it needs the right bias and where to set that bias to is the million dollar question. Seems like a Q2 collector of 4.5 to 8V would be the optimum range.

DrNomis_44
19-10-2017, 07:43 PM
The exact results I got Doc are a bit hazy as I did measure lots of things lots of times, however 8.5V seems to stick in my head as the collector voltage on Q2. And I can't be sure but I think it was set there pretty hard.

When I drove the FF with the Comp I did get a asymmetrical waveform similar to the picture you showed. Mine was much more squared off in shape, and the squaring off varied slightly depending on the frequency. Lowering the signal generator input level could result in a sine wave pulsed shape, and with full gain and enough drive will result in a near on full square wave. So I'm sure the circuit works, but as you say it needs the right bias and where to set that bias to is the million dollar question. Seems like a Q2 collector of 4.5 to 8V would be the optimum range.


Yep, I agree with Q2 being biased anywhere from 4.5V to 8V, based on my experience from breadboarding the Fuzz Face circuit using the standard resistor/cap/pot values, to my ears, any Q2 collector voltage from about 4.0V to about 6.0V tended to produce a pretty good sounding Fuzz tone, for Silicon transistors the sweet spot seemed to be about 4.5V, and for Germaniums, it seemed to be about 6.0V, that's assuming that Q1 had an Hfe that measured around 82, and Q2 had an Hfe that measured around 120, I noticed that if you substituted a transistor with a higher Hfe for Q1, that increased the amount of sustain you got out of the Fuzz Face circuit.

The trick is to measure Q2's collector voltage with your multimeter probe directly on Q2's collector solder joint rather than where the 10nF output cap joins at the junction of the 470 ohm and 8k2 collector resistors.

Marcel
19-10-2017, 08:09 PM
Ah ha !!!

I clicked on that link you posted Doc.... It is amazing how your perception of a circuit can change when it is drawn differently... and the explanation sure is a great help too...

Marcel
19-10-2017, 08:15 PM
I had an Ah ha! moment there Doc.
Clicked on the link you posted -- It is amazing how your perception can change if a circuit is drawn even slightly differently.... and the explanation certainly helped too...

DrNomis_44
19-10-2017, 08:36 PM
I had an Ah ha! moment there Doc.
Clicked on the link you posted -- It is amazing how your perception can change if a circuit is drawn even slightly differently.... and the explanation certainly helped too...


No worries, I like it when those little "Ah ha!" moments occur, especially when you've been working on something for a long time, makes it all worthwhile.

The Fuzz Face circuit is a deceptively simple circuit that functions in a pretty complex way, I think I've probably spent a lot of time analysing how it works from an electronic theory point of view.


There's nothing like having a decent and clearly drawn schematic available to help when it comes to faultfinding an electronic circuit.


Whether through deliberate design, or perhaps a happy accident, the way I see it, the Fuzz Face circuit appears to have been designed to behave in a non-linear way on purpose, normally a circuit designer would try and design the circuit to produce the least amount of distortion possible, the original designer of the Fuzz Face circuit is probably unknown.

Marcel
20-10-2017, 05:00 PM
After reading that link, and stabbing my Fuzz kit with a DMM it didn't take long to work out that something was darstardly amiss with the installed AC128's. Nil volts across the B-E junction, Collector voltages (Wrt E) at saturation on Q1 and 1V on Q2. So out they came, to be tested on the DMM semiconductor mode. Yep, On both Q1 and Q2 the B-E and B-C junctions tested correct in both forward and reverse, and then I tested E-C and found their weakness. A weakness of 92 ohms in both directions on Q1 and 118 ohms on Q2. These guys don't need resistors to bias them up, the internal leakage does it all for you and to hell with your intended purpose or circuit.

I had on a previous occasion bought various Silicon transistors from Jaycar so I though maybe I could swap a pair of those into the pedal if only to prove a point. I found two 2N2907 PNP types that have a hfe of 75 at 10V/0.1mA so gave them a try. Voltages this time look far better - Q1 B-E at 0.57V and Q2 E-C at 3V which is much closer to the ideal range.

Unfortunately when I looked at a signal through the pedal on my TFT Cro I saw a horrible signal that didn't resemble al all the signal going in. Connected up an amp and was greeted with a woeful motorboating burble that refused to quit. Long story short I had made a rookie mistake - I was using a plug pack that has very limited filtering on the 9V out and with only the FF as a load the incoming 9V was basically just crap, adding a 2nd pedal to add load to the plug pack cleaned up the 9V and the FF.

Inspired I connected my test guitar and flicked the strings.... Yep! It's 'Fuzzing'...!... Not the best fuzz, better fuzz on the A and E strings than on the D and G strings. Quite dynamic, the fuzz depth is highly dependant on how hard the strings are played. Picking the test guitar up and with the pedals guts all over my bench I played a few notes, for about an hour.....just to get a feel for it... you know... sorta thing....

So the hunt is on.... for an even better replacement to the AC128's that let me down... Particularly as I'm not keen on spending lots of money on hundreds of AC128's to test so as to find the two 'good ones' needed ... the Jaycar 2N2907's Silicon PNP's will do until something better is found.

DrNomis_44
20-10-2017, 05:30 PM
After reading that link, and stabbing my Fuzz kit with a DMM it didn't take long to work out that something was darstardly amiss with the installed AC128's. Nil volts across the B-E junction, Collector voltages (Wrt E) at saturation on Q1 and 1V on Q2. So out they came, to be tested on the DMM semiconductor mode. Yep, On both Q1 and Q2 the B-E and B-C junctions tested correct in both forward and reverse, and then I tested E-C and found their weakness. A weakness of 92 ohms in both directions on Q1 and 118 ohms on Q2. These guys don't need resistors to bias them up, the internal leakage does it all for you and to hell with your intended purpose or circuit.

I had on a previous occasion bought various Silicon transistors from Jaycar so I though maybe I could swap a pair of those into the pedal if only to prove a point. I found two 2N2907 PNP types that have a hfe of 75 at 10V/0.1mA so gave them a try. Voltages this time look far better - Q1 B-E at 0.57V and Q2 E-C at 3V which is much closer to the ideal range.

Unfortunately when I looked at a signal through the pedal on my TFT Cro I saw a horrible signal that didn't resemble al all the signal going in. Connected up an amp and was greeted with a woeful motorboating burble that refused to quit. Long story short I had made a rookie mistake - I was using a plug pack that has very limited filtering on the 9V out and with only the FF as a load the incoming 9V was basically just crap, adding a 2nd pedal to add load to the plug pack cleaned up the 9V and the FF.

Inspired I connected my test guitar and flicked the strings.... Yep! It's 'Fuzzing'...!... Not the best fuzz, better fuzz on the A and E strings than on the D and G strings. Quite dynamic, the fuzz depth is highly dependant on how hard the strings are played. Picking the test guitar up and with the pedals guts all over my bench I played a few notes, for about an hour.....just to get a feel for it... you know... sorta thing....

So the hunt is on.... for an even better replacement to the AC128's that let me down... Particularly as I'm not keen on spending lots of money on hundreds of AC128's to test so as to find the two 'good ones' needed ... the Jaycar 2N2907's Silicon PNP's will do until something better is found.


I just remembered that I have a whole heap of 60's Philco Surface Barrier Transistors in a couple of boxes in my old flat, I could grab them next time I'm at the old flat and then send some to you in the post if you like, I've tried some in a breadboarded Fuzz Face circuit and they do seem to work pretty well, and from what I've read online they are Germaniums, they don't have any part numbering on them though.

One thing you can do to cure the Motorboating is to put a bypass cap from circuit ground to the supply voltage rail, any value from about 47uF to 470uF should work fine.

Marcel
20-10-2017, 07:47 PM
I've got box's and box's of all sorts of caps Doc, I was just too lazy to get off my arse and get one, it was simpler to plug in another pedal that was already sitting on my bench.... but I know what you mean, and it's probably a good thing to do any way to every pedal build to keep the 9VDC playing nice under any circumstance.

Those SBT's could be the go. Not many Germanium transistors available any more. All the major suppliers don't seem to stock them either. Let us know if you do find them. I know how easy it it to loose things, I've only had my big shed for 8 years and I'm always finding stuff that I thought I had lost or loosing stuff that I had in my hand only yesterday....

Even though the 2N2907's are silicon they still do a pretty decent job at creating fuzz. For the reasons given in the article you linked Doc their hfe is in the right range and their other characteristics like Max V and frequency response are reasonably similar or better to the published AC128 values. I didn't measure their hfe and I only had two of them so it was always going to be pot luck at getting a positive result. At uA currents the hfe is 75 but at mA currents the hfe increases to 100 so it is definitely in the ball park on that front. On some fronts I'm suspecting the whole Germanium thing might be a bit of a mental phurphy played out by some guitarists as these 2N2907's are doing a commendable job. Knowing now the FF theory from the article I can see how the BC108 NPN crowd grew their legs, so to speak...

DrNomis_44
20-10-2017, 08:04 PM
I've got box's and box's of all sorts of caps Doc, I was just too lazy to get off my arse and get one, it was simpler to plug in another pedal that was already sitting on my bench.... but I know what you mean, and it's probably a good thing to do any way to every pedal build to keep the 9VDC playing nice under any circumstance.

Those SBT's could be the go. Not many Germanium transistors available any more. All the major suppliers don't seem to stock them either. Let us know if you do find them. I know how easy it it to loose things, I've only had my big shed for 8 years and I'm always finding stuff that I thought I had lost or loosing stuff that I had in my hand only yesterday....

Even though the 2N2907's are silicon they still do a pretty decent job at creating fuzz. For the reasons given in the article you linked Doc their hfe is in the right range and their other characteristics like Max V and frequency response are reasonably similar or better to the published AC128 values. I didn't measure their hfe and I only had two of them so it was always going to be pot luck at getting a positive result. At uA currents the hfe is 75 but at mA currents the hfe increases to 100 so it is definitely in the ball park on that front. On some fronts I'm suspecting the whole Germanium thing might be a bit of a mental phurphy played out by some guitarists as these 2N2907's are doing a commendable job. Knowing now the FF theory from the article I can see how the BC108 NPN crowd grew their legs, so to speak...


Fortunately I happen to know exactly where I put all those SBT's, so it'll be fairly easy for me to find them, I'll post a pic once I get them back to my new flat, I thought I might have a pic on one of my PC's slave HDDs but so far haven't found it, I've got a semiconductor analyser that I can use to pick out some good ones.


I've also got a small plastic bag of some BC108C transistors at my old flat too.

Marcel
02-12-2017, 12:44 PM
Why do I keep doing this to myself.... buying cheap things that are supposed to be copies of expensive things....

Got a KLON pedal kit off Ebay (the last one). At less that 1/20th the price of a real one I wonder if it will be 1/20th of the tone .... $1k of tone for $50 is a fair deal in my books...

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DIY-KLON-CENTAUR-GLODEN-PROFESSIONAL-OVERDRIVE-EFFECTS-PEDAL-Booster-FX-Pedal/192322700286?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

JohnH
04-12-2017, 01:39 PM
Ha ha, that's gotta be worth the gamble right?

Marcel
03-01-2018, 08:01 PM
It's always a gamble JohnH...

It took a few weeks longer to get here due to the seasons festivities, but they have arrived... Two kits to make two clones of the fabled Klon Centaur overdrive pedal that for an original one retails on Reverb for better than Forty times the price I paid for these individual kits... If the hype on YouTube for an original is anything to go by then these two should be quite the adventure...

Having a quick look before getting stuck into assembly I figured I needed to get my fine point soldering iron out as some of the joints on the board do appear quite small... tracks running between IC pins being the most obvious warning...

And while there is all the info you need to build it with the kit there is nil circuit diagram. Just two pages, one with a few words on recommended assembly and a picture indicating the off board connections.

Simon Barden
03-01-2018, 09:38 PM
I've got a J Rocket Archer - which is supposed to be a very good Klon copy. They really are best for giving a very slightly pushed boost on a clean sound, a bit like an aural exciter. I find (my pedal at least) it sounds a bit harsh with a lot of gain (which can be useful at times).

Guvna19
04-01-2018, 05:35 AM
I'm thinking of getting a diy pedal or 2.

https://www.wish.com/search/guitar%20pedal%20kit

just incase i ever get any spare time...lol

Marcel
04-01-2018, 07:49 AM
Uh-ohhh...!!

And now there is 8..... a Nu-tube screamer...

https://reverb.com/news/ibanez-to-launch-new-nts-tube-screamer-for-2018

Simon Barden
04-01-2018, 06:06 PM
Uh-ohhh...!!

And now there is 8..... a Nu-tube screamer...

https://reverb.com/news/ibanez-to-launch-new-nts-tube-screamer-for-2018

Looks like I might just have to get one of those, just in case it becomes a classic like my TS-808!

Simon Barden
04-01-2018, 06:12 PM
Ibanez have done some teaming up with Korg before. http://www.ibanez.com/eu/news/f_products/2014/KP/index.html
Maybe more to follow.

Marcel
04-01-2018, 08:10 PM
Well, aren't I glad I bought two of these Klon clone kits.... ;)

Got the kit together last night in 2 1/2 hrs. It was late so I didn't bother testing it and left it on the table
Tonight, I re-examined it, found a cap that I had loaded wrong. Fixed the cap. Checked for other errors and found none, and then took some happy photos all before I made any attempt to see if any of that 'magical smoke' that makes all electronics work wanted to get out of and depart this pedal build ...

It seems the 'magical smoke' is only too happy to stay inside this build, and pass on its wonderfully distorted presence onto the guitar signals passed through it.... I have to say I instantly liked what it does to any guitar I plugged into it... the PRS-1H build, my ply Strat, and particularly the denim Tele all have a lot of extra magic through this Klon clone...

Best AU$50 I've ever spent...

churchie
05-01-2018, 02:35 AM
Nice work.

I like the thought of putting together some pedals, but i'm worried my soldering skills won't be up to scratch.

Any suggestions on simple kits to start with?

Marcel
05-01-2018, 06:50 AM
Soldering skills can be a huge issue.. particularly on kits like this Klon clone. And the only reason I say that is in the Klon clone kit the soldering joints on the board are all very small and there is a lot of them, with some of the most difficult soldering joints being on the IC's where other circuit tracks passing between the IC pins that needed to avoid any soldering. A quality fine tip iron is essential so that you only solder what needs soldering in the Klon clone...

As for easy starter kits my suggestion would be a Fuzz pedal of some sort. A low component count of usually decent sized parts and relatively simple circuit both being big pluses for the beginner. Then come your distortion kits and the like, with delay kits being more complex and therefore harder. I haven't built enough pedal kits to give any recommendations of particular suppliers as my formal soldering training and then +40 years of soldering experience has a tendency to 'colour' my opinion rather strongly. Maybe one of the other pedal builder guys from the forum might like to offer some great suggestions... (Doc?? JohnH..??)

DrNomis_44
05-01-2018, 11:37 AM
There's at least a couple that immediately come to mind with regards to kits for those just starting diy pedal building, you could try starting with a Bazz Fuzz which is a very simple one-transistor design, or, the ever popular Fuzz Face, which is also a relatively simple design, when I first started out in electronics, I started with very simple circuits and gradually worked my way up to more complex ones, along the way I did lots of practicing with soldering, I started off with a relatively cheap 15 Watt soldering iron, but eventually upgraded to a decent temperature-controlled one, if you can afford one definitely invest in a decent temperature-controlled soldering station because it will make it much easier to get good solder-joints, which is what you want when building your diy pedal kits, also invest in a decent multimeter too since that will come in handy when you need to do some fault-finding.

JohnH
05-01-2018, 05:37 PM
Nice work.

I like the thought of putting together some pedals, but i'm worried my soldering skills won't be up to scratch.

Any suggestions on simple kits to start with?

I totally recommend just jumping right in - I'd never done anything with solder or electronics before September last year, but I bought myself a cheap soldering kit from Jaycar, and spent some time googling simple fuzz and distortion circuits (and also bought an eBay kit, but I don't know that I'd recommend that). I've made a pedal a week since then. There was a lot of confusion, frustration, and swearing along the way, but I've learnt heaps and got some cool pedals to play around with


Aside from the eBay kit, I mostly started out looking at things like this:

http://tonefiend.com/tonefiend-diy-club-projects-resources/

http://www.seymourduncan.com/tonefiend/wp-content/uploads/DIY-Club-Project-1-Part-14-v03.pdf

I buy most of my components from either my local Jaycar, or online from Tayda electronics as they are cheap, and their packages arrive quickly (I recommend choosing DHL as the postage option - it's crazy how fast they'll get it to your door, and they have a signature waiver so you don't have to be home to sign for it)

Marcel
05-01-2018, 07:09 PM
While not strictly pedal related there are a number of interesting electronics kits at Jaycar that are ideal for developing soldering skills. Most are very well documented with good clear circuits and detailed explanations on how the circuit works and are often quite easy to get going, and are usually not too difficult or fussy over the builders soldering ability or lack there of. Many also include a few invaluable notes on identifying values of various components and on good soldering technique.

Sadly the same can't be said for many of the Ebay kits where a builder is fortunate if there is more than a basic B&W picture of the final wiring assembly included. Few suppliers feel the need to include a parts list. And it is extremely rare to be blessed with an actual circuit diagram from those Chinese Ebay kit suppliers which makes fault finding an errant build all that way much more difficult.

In getting some soldering experience I'd highly recommend trying a few of the cheaper battery or plug-pack powered kits from Jaycar first. Most stores have a whole section dedicated just to simple, often amusing and yet oddly useful electronics kits. Pedals become so much easier after even one or two of the Jaycar kits. Stay away from mains powered kits like 'motor speed controllers' until you have a LOT of experience, mostly due to to the safety concerns of working with our very lethal mains power, and as even I am having considerable difficulty in getting mine going.

churchie
06-01-2018, 07:10 AM
Thanks for the tips.

Will have a look at the JayCar stuff.

I remember years ago, when I lived in NZ, Dick Smith used to do little kits.

DrNomis_44
06-01-2018, 10:31 AM
I'll definitely second recommending staying away from mains-powered kits for newbies just starting out building kits, there is a very very small margin for error when working with 240V AC mains powered circuits, and yes, our 240V AC mains supply can be very lethal in the event that a mistake has been made, that cannot be overstated, I've had some very close calls in the past and fortunately I'm still alive to tell the tale.

Marcel
06-01-2018, 11:01 AM
Thanks for the tips.

Will have a look at the JayCar stuff.

I remember years ago, when I lived in NZ, Dick Smith used to do little kits.

Yep, Jaycar sells pretty much the same as what the old Dick Smith Electronics stores used to sell... well it's similar sort of stuff at least...

There was a time where the two were in competition, then Woolies bought DSE out and changed the direction of the store away from the Jaycar market to be more a threat to Harvey Norman and JB Hifi.... and then lost that battle entirely...

WeirdBits
06-01-2018, 01:54 PM
Tucked away at the back of a shelf, not sure how I ended up with this 20th printing circa 89:

23976

DrNomis_44
06-01-2018, 02:35 PM
At one point I had all three of those DSE Funway Into Electronics books, I did manage to build a working Funway 3 Mini Synth, that was a fun little project, I wish they'd bring the Funway series back, nowadays some of the kits available feature micro controllers, there used to be some really cool kits but they got discontinued.

JohnH
06-01-2018, 05:26 PM
I've got all three of those too - had to go to a few second hand stores til I found them, and they're all different editions (though really, who cares). There's a few projects in there that I think my son would really enjoy. Our doorbell recently died so I thought maybe he and I could build the doorbell project one weekend.

I remember going to Dick Smith when I was little and being so intrigued by all those electronic components, but there wasn't anyone in my family who was into electronics so my interest never went anywhere, sadly.

JohnH
06-01-2018, 05:29 PM
Slightly different, but there's an amazing second hand store in Goulburn called the Argyle Emporium - run by this great, if somewhat eccentric guy. Anyway, he has a pretty good stash of books on electronics - lots of old service manuals, and resource books (like those transistor comparison tables, etc). One day we got chatting about all the electronics books I'd been buying, and he said 'if you like electronics, you might like these', and showed me this shelf right up on the top of a bookcase which is chockers full of thousands of old amateur radio magazines. It's amazing.

Marcel
06-01-2018, 07:44 PM
Yep, Being a licensed Ham (Amateur radio operator) I have my own collection of AR magazines spanning the last 10 or so years from the WIA (Wireless Institute of Australia) which is the worlds oldest amateur radio association. http://www.wia.org.au/

Also have in my shed some ramshackle collections of broadcasting manuals and handbooks, a few ARA (Amateur Radio Action) and Silicon Chip, and Electronics Australia magazines... plus in a bookcase in my office a few neatly bound copies of the RSGB (Radio Society of Great Britain) monthly magazine "Bulletin" dating from July 1959 through to December 1967...

Lots of interesting, factual and historical reading...

It's quite funny and yet odd to read adverts for back then in the '60's.... The RSGB dinner club 1967 new years dinner (possibly attended by the patron of the RSGB - HRH the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, KG) at the Kingsley Hotel Bloomsbury Way London WC1 would cost 30s/-, a BC108 cost 7s/6d, 52ohm coax cost 1s/4d per yard, in the book shop copies of the ARRL (American Radio Relay League) handbook going for 44s/-, and a Shure 275SK microphone would set you back $4/2s/6d (pounds, not Dollars), a new Swan 400W 3.5MHz to 28MHz transceiver going for 250 pounds back then, or a FT100 for 180 pounds... .... and then also there is the detailed explanations on how to build a 7MHz transmitter using a 6BE6, and on how a Yagi antenna works (with slide-rule friendly formulas) and absolute ways to measure SWR and impedance of a Aerial... Sadly, not much in those old RSGB pages about guitar amps...

De- vk4tmh

JohnH
08-01-2018, 04:53 PM
What an amazing resource/collection! I've only recently discovered Silicone Chip, and have a few issues kicking around now. I've also subscribed to the much more recent Diyode, which is admittedly a little different in content. Radios are entirely new to me. I have a few books now that I bought from the Goulburn guy, and one in particular is cool - a transistor radio project book, which I keep meaning to actually pull out and attempt some of the projects from.

Hilariously I somehow convinced the Canberra Contemporary Art Space to give me an exhibition later this year which will feature about 50 drawings of electronic components (all at a 1:5 scale) alongside some interactive electronic 'sound devices' (which so far exist only in my head). We shall see how it goes. The drawings I've already started, and am happy with, but the electronics are way outside my normal comfort zone.

Marcel
08-01-2018, 05:13 PM
The whole "which so far exist only in my head" thing I can totally relate to....

Lately I've been contemplating the ups/downs good/bad of starting a YouTube channel based purely on the electronics aspect thing... topics like soldering, basic ohms law but put into practice. simple fault finding, the who/what/when/where/why of building a pedal, colour codes and wire colour conventions. There's a bucket load of topics that could be covered to an 'understanding' or very practical level.... I suppose all I've got to do is get off my arse and do it... Though I still need a half decent business entity name to work it ...

Marcel
25-01-2018, 06:21 PM
Passing the time in the tropical Summer heat on YouTube sometimes has kickbacks.

Our friend Brian Wampler of Wampler pedals has an amusing channel on YouTube and one of his most recent video's about dissecting a RAT passed out a real gem of information.... check out the link... so much of a edumacational thing for any potential pedal builder hack....lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBGKdnlh4Ws
https://www.electrosmash.com/schematics#pedals

Marcel
29-11-2018, 07:46 PM
It's surprising how events cause you to digress...

After seeing Brian's video on the RAT, and building a clone of a Klon, I went and build a pedal board loaded with all my distortions and fuzz's and overdrives, and brought together a few of my favourite axe's, and a comfy stool, and indulged in a voyage of exploration in the various "tones" over far too many nights.

The rig - A PRS SE245, a Gibo LP, a MIM Strat, the ES-1TL build and the denim Tele, patched in some oddball and constantly changing way into a TS9, a RAT, a Big Muff Pi, a Behringer HD200, a NUX HG-6, a clone Klon, and a kit OD then on to my VOX VT40X amp and a set of appropriate headphones... Other identities briefly came and went, their stay isn't worth mentioning.

While I know the clone Klon isn't the real thing it is damn impressive, as is the RAT and the Big Muff. Maybe this rig isn't the best for the TS9 as I found it to be left in bypass more that doing its kind of magic. The HD200 had its moments and the HG-6 really suits special applications. Sadly the kit OD fell into the 'acquired taste' category with a flavour that doesn't suit me all that much.

And then there were the experiments in gain stacking... That was fun, with both stellar and tragic results. I highly recommend it for those who figuratively want to rip heads off in semi uncontrolled steps. Be sure to have a 2nd set of headphones on standby if the first set go up in smoke...

So, I've blown off quite a few nights, learned a lot about what I like and don't like with these pedals on various guitars... and my playing has improved though my repertoire has failed to grow, yet I feel there is a wave of new gain bathed material waiting eagerly to burst out..... I suspect most probably with either the Strat or the LP into the clone Klon...

FrankenWashie
30-11-2018, 02:36 AM
Sounds like a great effort! I have picked up a couple of Kink pedals recently, the Charlie Fuzz and the Trem-endous Gain. They both go hard and torture my little practice amp beyond sanity.