True - Bypass Looper Box - 5 in 1 - steampunk

 

 

WARLOCK- Steampunk

My inspiration for this pedal was the wood. In the right light it's dark with a red underbelly.

Couldn't help but think it's kinda evil. Witchy. Went from there.

With a theme like that. It's got to be Badass. I've always known about a boutique kiwi pedal builder called RedWitch and I knew they made a fuzz god, had a look and lo and behold the circuit

tagboardeffects.search=god

Fuzz Main With A Wrath Footswitch,, Sounds goodie.

  

Gathered my bits and as before I used sketchup for some initial design work.

 

Also had to use Inkscape to create etch masks.

 

Ordered some parts for the circuit, found the transistors needed in a metal can version, so thought I'd mojo the circuit a bit as well and started building. While I'm building I'm thinking seeing as I've only used Rune symbols for the knobs, I could really put any circuits I like in it. 2 even. All the pots and switches are for the fuzz god circuit and with so many it also gives you plenty of options for a duo combination. At the time it was just a thought.

The metal cans were duds in the end. Spec'd way low. BC109's are now bc549 in a silicone package and common as you get, so put them on the shopping list.

I had a circuit made up and working for the Catalinbread "Dirty little secret MKII". uses 5 pots and 2 switches. Waiting for me to come up with a box design. Left with one knob. mmm. The ZVEX super hard-on seems to get a rave. I've wanted to make one. So I decided to put them in for now. In the end I changed the boost to a crackle not OK version. the crackle on the original seemed to come through all the time, not just when I dialed the pot. Badass, Evil, Black sabbath, Metallica running on 18v via  switchable charge pump) coupled with a hot little booster. It's WARLOCK DOOM by accident. The circuit has a presence trimmer which I decided I wanted to mount as an external pot and managed to squeeze one of the smaller packaged pots I pulled from the fried marshall in on the side, covered with a bit from a compressor valve,

 

Sweet Honey Deluxe - Steampunk

 

 

Since I put my first Sweet Honey clone on my board I find myself using it as the go-to if I'm not fixed to a certain pedal for a certain song.

We play a mix of covers and original numbers. They range quite a bit from each members taste, so we mix it up so we're all happy. One guys from an Irish band background, the Bass-man likes the heavy stuff, and I've always been most interested in alternative rock heading into punk sort of vibe. Along with many, many other styles.

I find this pedal capable of sounding good in a lot of our songs. Really good in the blues- rock area. Basically it's on the permanent list.

I didn't like my last Tayda printed art job and decided to upgrade the box.

I find surfing the web, looking for ideas, styles I find interesting, is the best way for me to try and come up with something I like. I find and save lots of pictures, patterns, stuff I think may be useful. If I see a style I like, it's like , yeah that's kind of what I was looking for and I start forming ideas based on what I've seen. So - originality? maybe not entirely, but I don't want to outright copy anyone by any means. My problem is I'm terribly much more a logical type than the artist.

In all honesty this pedal is very much a mix of both with some originality I will claim.

My searching eventually led me to some SteamPunk looks. I'm the first to admit I was most inspired for this look by SVISOUND. If you haven't seen, take a look svisound. For me, it was like, yep this is where I've been going.. next level, and sort of what I'd like to incorporate in some of my builds. 

steampunk honey factory came to mind. The industrial honeycomb feature ventured into my thoughts as a possible feature. I decided if I'm going to try this I'll draw it in Sketchup first, to get a decent look at it before I commit to anything and make sure everything I'd found to possibly use for this look .was going to place well and help me plan the processes to make it.

 

I've been using Sketchup a long time now to help with projects I work on. The logical needs to know what it will look like. what do i need, can i do it?

I found some old blocks of hardwood and sliced them up on a table saw and have a selection of a few flavors now. This is an old piece of Rimu with a rather thick coating of a glossy clear coat to look like it's covered in Honey.

Scrounged the draws for anything brass or useful, bought a few things, brass plate, wire, jewellry trinkets, colored glass. I did manage to use a fair bit of recycled bits.Like the knobs are reused plumbing fittings. Epoxy resin is very useful.

LOT OF TIME to make this one from draw to finish. It's a hobby, I do it cause It's what I enjoy doing, for me the time is irrelevant. More importantly - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

The Sweet Honey Overdrive - Deluxe

Memory Man with a PT2399

 

I've finally found a circuit worthy of replacing my  Memory Boy -for me. I use delay subtly and especially just like the tone my EHX  adds to my sound, dark, spacious, analogue - just nice. It's not moving for anything less. This has made the grade. I've set it up side by side and been able to get it to sound the same on settings I use, and it has a lot more functionality, and it uses a readily available PT2399 IC.

 

The circuit originates from Madbean - the discontinued "Dirtbaby". In their own words " an honest attempt to recreate a Memory Man with a PT2399". The circuit has been traced on Dirtbox layouts and thanks to him can be found here dirtbox - madbean .

I read up a lot on this one and have modified this some. Added a switchable charge pump to 17v, placed the trimpot on top which does give me some less/more effect options. I've a few component values based on recommendations for a darker tone. Just found my notes I grabbed while researching

NOTES

 So I finished a couple Dirtbabies lately, one for a friend and one for me.

It's simply the BEST PT2399 delay I've built.

I changed C10 (1,5nf instead of 1nf) and C12 (150nf instead of 100nf) for less noise and a very slightly darker tone (still quite bright!)
R4 is about 30k (raising C12 raised the volume also), and R35 is 56k. C14 is a 47uf tantalum (I read in the notes from valvewizard that using a tantalum in that place was better, so I keep doing it with every PT2399 circuit I build)

The first opamp is a BB OPA2134 and the second one is a OP275.

I added a charge pump to run it at 18v (much better in my opinion!) and also added a couple things:
- a tone switch that adds another 1,5nf in parallel with C10 for a much darker delay
- a slam footswitch with internal trimpot accessible from behind, to decide how fast it ramps towards oscillation.

I t's seriously not a difficult build, as long as you take your time to plan everything well.

I'd recommend to socket all opamps and PT2399 of course, but also :
R4 (feedback resistor. In mine, 33k)
R35 (mod rate. In mine 56k)
R37 (mod depth. Kept it stock in mine)
C8 (just in case, cf build doc. Stock in mine)
C9 and C10 (in mine C10 is 1,5nf, helps with the noise, though it cuts a tiny amount of treble response. Still bright enough for me. Far brighter than the analog mode of my Echo Park, which is supposedly modeled after a DMM)
C13 (will alter the way the repeats degrade, keeping more treble in a tape-like way, cf build doc)

And I definitely recommend a charge pump to run it at 18v. So much better in both my builds!! (and that's the reason I use a IR9022 instead of TL062 for the LFO, since 18v is the maximum voltage allowed for TL062)  

I stuck with the 17v charge pump as I've used the TL062 for reasons as above. A vero layout for this can be found on tagboard effects along with many other useful little circuit tools. As with the mods I did use, I suggest socket - experiment once you've got a working thing.

Aside from all the options this pedal offers, the level/volume control is a big pro for me. The memory Boy always give a volume increase which is a pain in the A** . Now I can get unity.

It's not a pedal I would attempt first, there's a bit going on. But I highly recommend to do at some stage.

It is now my full-time delay - main board.

I'm stoked with the look of this one. Continuing on now from the protein look. Adding a bit of colour,

I've found UV cured epoxy, cheap as chips from TEMU, China. It's great. You can tint it, apply it, and when you're happy, cure it. This is my first use of it instead of paint to colour the etching cavities. Still a clear coat on top too.

I picked up some 50k slider pots for an EQ/Boost pedal I'm thinking about next and was able to use one of the extras here. Looks retro. Stole the slider knob off an old Technics HI-Fi Eq I got with my record player.

Making your own Pedz from the shed Rulez :-)

Blues 2 Rock - Protein

   

My next project I've decided is the Protein. I found the circuit thanks to Dirtbox layouts and his awesome selection of circuits. A modified ODR-1 Overdrive going into a blues-breaker with added headroom. It's on my board in Looper 2- overdrives, at the end. Timmy at front for stacking if wanted, Bluesbreaker with HEADROOM at the back. It works really well. Bluesbreaker on it's own, ODR-1 on it's own. Put them together for even more. Stacking other pedals into the bluesbreaker is keeping it there. I highly recommend to try. I have used shielded/grounded wire on input and output to help ensure no noise issues, as it's close quarters inside a 1590BB2. The LED's are running off a piece of vero also.

 

I'm starting to get very happy with how a pedal I've made looks. The enclosure is "silver hammer" 1590bb2 from Tayda. Acid etching enclosures and patching cock-ups with plates has led me think this one up. I just recycle old aluminum flashings, whatever looks like it will work. Most polishes up Ok. Some are a alloy and for that reason I started converting my hydrochloric acid to Ferric Chloride. It's relatively simple and I've found works well, and with other metal such as brass. It's all just hacksaw and file and plenty of patience. Drew it up on Inkscape and went from there. For now this is where I want to head on the look, which is becoming somehow a big part of the whole experience.

 

 

 

Spring Reverb with tank from old amp

 How I came about building this was the result of an unfortunate event. Don't let people with booze near your gear!!! Some one dropped a boubon and coke all over my Marshall VS265 and it dribbled inside, all over the circuit board while it was on. Fried it, and although not impossible to fix perhaps - too major for my abilities at the time. Sigh,  I loved that amp. I had to replace it with same. Took a while looking out for one. $500 later all's well that ends well I suppose.

The fried Marshall has been saved for parts for No2 mostly, I've pulled the speakers and made a couple of extension cabinets out of plywood with them. There was also this spare reverb tank that turned out to be exactly the one required for General guitar gadgets "Centre Stage Reverb". Thanks to them for posting this stuff. Had to build it, and it works well. A very analogue reverb. I'm happy enough for this to be my keeper. I only use it when I'm playing clean stuff, and a bit of subtle delay, nice and glassy.

Artwork was done during the sticky decal film period. Painted the enclosure white, then had a go wrapping it entirely in the printed film. Not something I'd recommend. I managed to do it reasonably tidy. The overlap splices are mostly where it looks less than pro. It's not too bad though and allowed me to continue the art pattern all over.

RECYCLED MARSHALL SPEAKERS 

Made up from what I had lying around. Rubbing the stain on ply turned out quite cool I thought.

ABY swich

 Another handy addition to the arsenal. I've built this so I can switch from my electric to acoustic guitar going to same amp without having to unplug. LED's indicate which channel I'm on. Alternately use from 1 guitar able to switch between 2 different amps. This is something I carry round just in case the need to use arises.

I used the diagram kindly posted by Beavis Audio found here along with much more Beavis Audio Switchers

Klon Buffer

 

 

So if you end up with more pedals on your board than you really need- like me, you might find one of these little things handy. Volume drop through a lot of pedals, or signal strength more to say weakens. One of these will re-invigorate your signal. I use the Silver Klon at the beginning of my chain. It's on a lot of the time in a subtle fashion, so boosting my incoming signal when on and doing the same when off with the built in buffered bypass.

To avoid my signal having to go through everything on the board, I use a 5 position true bypass looper. I've just finished making my own version of this. Will post later.

My chain is from IN🠊 Tuner 🠊 Klon / BUFFER🠊 loop1 distortion/high gain pedal/s 🠊 loop2 Overdrive pedal/s  🠊 loop3  Modulation -phaser, chorus, tremelo etc  BUFFER🠊 loop4  Delay 🠊 loop5 Reverb 🠊 Noise gate 🠊 EQ 🠊 Boost 🠊 Out to Amp. Right or wrong it works for me.

 The looper allows me to true bypass most of the pedals not in use at the time. With the EQ and boost at the end I don't find the need for a buffer there. I made this one up to sit at the end of whatever modulation pedals I have on board at the time.  It's these pedals I mostly suffered losses from and placing one here seems to have erased that problem well. I found a small box so it can be placed without much room grab. 

I've made another out of a used Mustard box- thought it seemed appropriate to the purpose of the circuit. Works sweet. Switchable with a 3pdt toggle, led indicator, wired the input straight out to a plug due to access restrictions. This one will go on my ultimate pedal board in the end.

The circuit is basically a trace of the buffer built in the Klon, small and easy to build with common TL072 ( probably many dual op-amps would work here). You can find circuit for this on many of the sites I've put up that offer layouts

The RAT - Pack

 

For many years I have been using the MOOER Black Secret as my RAT option. It's small, vintage or turbo switch and sounds great cleanish or dirty - The RAT is a very versatile overdrive and distortion. I would put this on the bucket list for sure. In whatever form you choose to have - new/second hand aren't that expensive. Older ones will have the LM308 IC, which are hard to find. ( I got a few from JAYCAR @ $10 each) I've got enough to build a few. I tried the OP07 and still sounded good to me. Also have some LM208's in metal can version. Yet to try but confident they will work.

Along with the Big Muff ( now replaced with the Scarab Deluxe) was my main dirty dirt pedal and It will always be on my board.

I found the build info for this one via some help on forums from Beavis Audio Research. Link is here Beavis Audio 4 Knob Rat .

This one involves producing 2 PCB's, The main circuit and a daughterboard with different clipping options. I managed to squeeze it all in a 1590BB, but it was tight and I'd use a 1590BB2 next time if I make another like this one. On that note, I have also discovered a vero layout for this on Sabratone proco-rat-w-lots-of-options . Using a 5T rotary switch for clipping selection. With a vero size of 20 x 14 I'll most likely try for a smaller enclosure, probably have to 125b with the big 5T switch, 4 pots and 2 switches.

Again I've tried Acid Etching with reasonable success this time. Diluted the brew, used nail polish on any visible weaknesses to the mask. Fairly happy with the finish. You'll see I'm a bit of a Stranglers fan with Rattus Norvegicus in the mix. Some hand painting - clear coat. This one is serving me well.

I've placed the clipping LED's on top as well, lighting up more the harder you play

Obsessive Compulsive Distortion

 I've owned an original version 3 for many years. My general go to prior to sweet honey showing up. Definitely a pedal worth having. The circuit was found in vero from again Mark @ tagboard effects. Parts are easy and this sounds just like my original. Well maybe a slight difference. My components vs theirs is going to have some undoubtedly. A recommended build. Read the comments ( as I always do ) version 3 seems most popular.

Artwork turned out a bit better etch-wise, although the OCD got a bit munted and again a remake planted on top solved the problem.

Silver Klon

 

 Up until now my KLon has been the NUX golden horse. Almost always on - a pedal I don't want to part with. The NUX is actually very good. Switchable between gold and silver versions and also able to switch between true bypass or buffered when not on. I keep it in buffered at the beginning of my chain.

The circuit is originated from build your own clone Silver pony in vero layout from Mark @ tagboard effects along with a few other Klon options. I seem to almost always opt for the silver version on the NUX so that was my choice.

Again my etching has turned out rather scratchy, but given I wanted an aged celtic look it fits well.

The firehorse text was fairly illegible, so began me starting to fix things to the box as I decided to cover it with a remade bit of aluminium.

I did find some extra noise issues, and would recommend some shielded(grounded) input and output wires here and get the right voltage doubler. One drawback here is I had to to 125b enclosure due to size of vero board, so it takes up more room than the little NUX. Other than that works great.

Heartthrob Tremelo

 

 

Tremelo is not a modulation I use a lot, but we have a couple of numbers it works well with and that was good enough excuse to make one. Thanks for circuitry to Mark @ tagboard effects. It works and sounds great. A very capable replacement for my Boo Instruments version. I think I added a volume control and the 2 top LEDS pulsate with the modulation speed which I do find handy when setting the tempo.

Again acid etch not so good . Too strong - too long. More patience with a weaker solution required

 

Phaser with Script MOd

 

 An MXR Phaser with script mod, includes a wee circuit which allows the 2 LED's at the top to oscillate with the phaser speed. 2N5952 transistors are not essential. I've used a quad of matched 2n5457's from Tayda electronics and it sounds equal to my real thing. That jfet tester is essential too. While I had it in working order with the 2n5457's, I also tested J113's, and /j201's with good results. Just a bit of tweaking  to the bias trimmer for each to find the phase zone. This has replaced my original.

A new phase of box design. The Tayda prints were great, and I was honestly just wrapped that I cracked the Inkscape/ Scribus solution to printable PDF's. But they weren't Shed Peddy enough for me. I wanted more industrial and hand-made looking. Having already done a bit of etching with PCB making. I had a half bottle of hydrochloric acid left over from when I painted the garage floor, and I still had an old toner printer in a cupboard store. Watched some you-tube how to's. This is my first attempt.

Etch design- Inkscape. Etch job was below average for me and its .taken some experimentation with a stopwatch about how long I spend ironing on the mask and how long and strong a solution I etch with. I still get some rough edges and bits where it gets through the mask, but I find it really adds to the handmade in the shed look I think I'm heading toward

Honey Overdrives

 

 Thanks again to drdfx. Made the BJF Honey Bee and the Mad Professor Sweet Honey in the other. The write-ups where good, I wanted to compare the sounds together. Although it was more designed for mass production, I gotta call the sweet honey the one. I would class this ( as with the scarab deluxe) a must build. I have since reboxed the sweet honey in a steampunk version ( my title page background pic, basically because I love it so much, It's Stayin!

In retrospect I found my artwork design a bit over the top on this one. It was a lot of shagging around on Inkscape to get the end picture, so I went with it. Again Inkscape + Scribus = Tayda printable PDF.

It's a very usable mid-gain overdrive. My go-to overdrive on many songs we play. 

Basic Audio Scarab Deluxe

 Up until I made this my "fuzz" option was a Big Muff. It didn't get much use. You can't hear it in a live setting. I needed something  with a bit more grunt. I love this pedal, and its a stayer for me. I'm going to re-box it in something a bit more deluxe ( and smaller) at some stage. With the bias set to not too much fuzzy It's a an awesome distortion option ( for me). I found using some lower gain 2N5088 transistors produced better soundz.

Again I got the circuit and build info from drdfx. I chose a few of his to start with. In my view it seemed he had shortlisted worthy builds and I haven't been disappointed in his choices.

Inkscape drawing left, actual right pic. Printed using Tayda printing service.

The circuit can also be found in vero layout.

Cranked AC30

 

This is another I decided to build early on from drdfx. requiring etching a PCB. artwork is Inkscape (left pic ) printed by Tayda printing service.

The circuit is a discontinued Wampler cranked AC. It requires 3 matched sets of J201 Jfet transistors.

Needed to make a JFET tester for this. SMD J201's can be found on Tayda. soldering them to adaptor boards is a trick, but not as hard as you think it will be. youtube videos are great for learning how.

I would call this a bright overdrive/ distortion. Very usable from light gain settings to heavier stuff.

drdfx have videos with soundz examples if you think you might like

 

PT2399 Delay no 1

Another pedal I've used Inkscape art (left pic) for Tayda printing service. I've placed a few 3mm green led's on the radar screen to look like blips when it's on.

The circuit is The Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay with a volume control ( which was one of the draws to building this. I didn't beat my memory boy off my main board, mostly as it's more digital sounding compared to the more organic, analogue, darker toned EHX machine. Not to say its not good, its an excellent sounding delay. I had this on my board for ages as a 2nd option delay.

Thanks to drdfx this was made with the use of his pcb layout

 

Timmy the Kid

This is about when I discovered Tayda and Their printing service. I've used Sketchup for many years to design things before I commit to making, so I was able to eventually use Inkscape to start drawing designs in vector format according to Tayda requirements, mostly no overlaps, sized right etc. With the use of another program called Scribus I was able to convert the finished drawing into the correct layer format, change colours to CYMK, apply the right Roland swatches for the clear and white layers and end up producing a PDF that worked. Above are a png of my inkscape drawing and photo of pedal.

Another great pedal really. I use it often as a booster/ stacker booster, but useful on its own in many ways. So many transparent overdrives and their all good. worth the build for me