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