BYOC OD-2 refurb

While waiting for paint to dry I decided to refurbish the enclosure for my BYOC OD-2 (it's a modded TS circuit with a clean boost in the same case).

Here's why:
Attachment 34481

Step 1: unboxing. I had to cut the three wires from the power jack, but that's a simple fix
Attachment 34482

Step 2: heat gun, wire brush and a lot of elbow grease later:
Attachment 34483

Step 3: SCA filler primer left over from my TL-1TH kit:
Attachment 34484

That's as far as I got today. The plan is to respray with duplicolor red with a couple of white stripes, ala the classic Dodge Viper scheme. And the handwritten labels will be replaced with waterslide decals (ordered some sheets from Dr Decal and Mr Hyde today for the TL-1TH headstock).

Also, it currently has a JRC4558D but I might experiment with some other op amps to see what it sounds like. I have a Burr Brown OPA2134 and a couple of others.

Just thought of another mod to make. This pedal has a switch for toggling clipping between 1N4148 diodes, 3mm red LEDs, or no clipping. I might desolder the LEDs and add sockets so I can experiment with different LED colours. The higher forward voltage of other colours (like blue) might give me a bit more headroom to play with (since I tend to use lower gain settings).

Or it might just make no real difference at all ...

The op-amp should make almost no difference whatsoever. There are a couple that can affect the tone very slightly, but most will just drop in and do exactly the same thing. It's basically providing a clean boost to the signal which the gets clipped by diodes, so as long as the op amp is within its linear performance boundaries, then they should all perform in a very similar manner.

Brian Wampler tests out a whole load of op-amps in this video on a TS circuit, then changes the diodes.

http://youtu.be/PH2uj9bWfM4

I have watched that video a few times, most recently last week. I pretty much agree, and don't expect much difference but I still want to try and see what my own ears tell me. It's that video that gave me the idea to socket the clipping LEDs, since clipping diodes made a much more audible difference in it.

I will test a bunch of 20 4558Ds that I bought very cheap on eBay because I suspect they were too good to be true but haven't tried them in a circuit yet. I should test them in a known good circuit before I start building my next tagboard pedal (Barber Compact Direct Drive because I don't have all the parts for a Guv'nor yet). Hopefully they all sound exactly the same.

But mostly I just want my kit pedal to look a bit closer to my original vision which I abandoned out of laziness when the first paint attempt went awry :)

Got a second coat of filler-primer on today, and also started painting my home-brew 3 button footswitch (based on the Digitech FS3X circuit). No other progress due to spending most of the day hunting for Easter eggs and cleaning out the shed.

Pretty cool man, that is one giant PCB

Yeah, it is big. It's two mostly separate circuits, and has 4 16mm pots and 2 toggle switches mounted to the PCB on the other side. It's a snug fit into the 125B.

Got the red sprayed today. It's a Ford Hot Chili red that I got for $2 on clearance. Which gives me an idea for naming this reincarnation of the OD-2.
Attachment 34546

It's a stripey kind of day
Attachment 34600

I am making up some waterslide decals in a vintage feel racing font for both pedals, for the race car vibe I am attempting.