The D.I.Y. FX Pedal Building Thread

[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_...ics_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:




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



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:




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



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

[DrNomis_44]

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




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:

[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