New Pedal Build day!

[CTN]

Well, the tinkering bug didn't stay away for long. I think I managed a solid 4 or 5 months without any tinkering. But now it has come back. And it must be fed!!!

I am building this:

This is the third edition and is supposedly the hairiest, most outta control version of the Big Muff. I will be modifying it as I see fit though, cuz I want something that sounds REALLY hairy, sputtery, wooly, thick, and just downright nasty.

Planning on keeping the budget under $50.

$30 worth of resistors/capacitors/transistors/jacks/pots/switches already bought.

Still gotta pick up some diodes, knobs, the perfboard for the final build and the actual enclosure itself. Shouldn't be more than 10 or 15 bucks.

Huzzah!

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

What trannies & diodes are you planning on using?

 

[CTN]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

Not sure about the trannies. I have some 2N3904s, 5088s, 2222As and 4401s.

I think they're all swappable so I'll probably do some trial and error testing to see which sounds best.

As for the diodes, I was thinking 1N914s or 1N4148s, since my local electronics store carries both.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

I'll have to dig around and see what I've got. I think trannies are the only things I'm short of barring a footswitch and a box - I should give it a go. I've only ever done one once about 30 odd years back for someone at work - time to dust off the welders goggles...

 

[CTN]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

go for it! I built an LPB clone ages ago, then i built a fuzz face clone. now this. Seems like a pretty simple circuit.

 

[CTN]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

and breadboard is nearly complete. Still gotta get those clipping diodes. Then I can hook up the pots and jacks and start experimenting with component values.

 

[stratsandaks]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

That looks like fun, I've built a fair number of BYOC kits lately but I haven't laid a circuit out like that on a breadboard since I was in high school.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

I could definitely be on for one of these. It turns out I've got a couple of boxes and foot switches . All I need is some trannies and I should be off to Bahrain this weekend, where there's Radio Shack.

 

[CTN]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

Well I went and got all the other parts I need and spent the afternoon fidgeting and making sure I had the circuit laid out correctly. Please excuse my temporary "Crunchmaster" mounting board...I needed to to a mockup so as to test it without things falling off the board.

But now I need to troubleshoot. I'm getting very little drive, negligible increase in volume and the tone knob is doing nothing at the moment. Tried swapping the 2N3904's for 5088s and that helped a bit, but it's nowhere near that filthy fuzz that I should be hearing.

 

[CTN]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

blargh. Went over the entire circuit from beginning to end, fixed all my wiring problems and I'm still getting virtually no gain, and virtually no sweep from any of the pots.

And now my true bypass won't work properly.

Epic frustration.

I'm gonna have to seek some help from the usual diy effects forums and find out what the hell is going on here.

 

[CTN]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

ok now that I worked out the stupid voodoo problems, and everything works as expected, it's time to perfboard that sucker!

Made a layout, but I'm not gonna tackle the soldering etc until tomorrow or day after probably.

and just for sh!ts 'n' giggles...



hahahahahahahaha man, probably 20 years since I last heard this song and it still cracks me up lol

 

[CTN]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

blargh. Made a stupid mistake. Laid everything out horizontally there instead of vertically like I had originally planned. Brainfart!

Here's the correct one, v2.0. Looks a bit neater too.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

Which trannies did you settle on in the end?

I grabbed some pots and perf board today, but still need to pick up some semi-conductors.

 

[Left_Hand_Strat]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

blargh. Made a stupid mistake. Laid everything out horizontally there instead of vertically like I had originally planned. Brainfart!

Here's the correct one, v2.0. Looks a bit neater too.

you've missed the output. lol

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

That layout is HUGE. You sure you can't shrink that down a bit? Small layout = more options for enclosures.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

you've missed the output. lol

No he didn't. Check out the original circuit diagram and the wiper contact of RV3...

 

[Surgeon]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

Nice man. One of my next two builds is a Triangle Big Muff, right after I build an Ampeg Scrambler... gonna mod it a bit though, adding a voltage starve pot to it. PCB etching is also a nice way to work and keep spage at a minimum but perf, when thought out well works very nicely.

Have fun!

 

[CTN]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

Which trannies did you settle on in the end?

I grabbed some pots and perf board today, but still need to pick up some semi-conductors.

I'm using 2N5088s for Q1-3 and a 3904 for Q4. Would've gone all 5088s, but I didn't have a 4th, and couldn't be arsed to get one more when i have a bunch of other types that will work as well.

That layout is HUGE. You sure you can't shrink that down a bit? Small layout = more options for enclosures.

certainly is lol. I already have an enclosure for it, it's big enough for this board

 

[CTN]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

Laid out everything on the perfboard. Gonna solder it up tomorrow.

Here's the enclosure I'm using. Hammond 1591, ABS plastic cuz I don't trust myself to drill through a diecast aluminum enclosure with a hand drill.

I've got a nice yellow/orange LED to put in as well...I say yellow/orange cuz it's technically yellow but glows orange. I have an orange LED too which looks like it's glowing red. Also got red and blue superbright LEDs, but I don't wanna use those cuz it tends to blind me a little bit.

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: New Pedal Build day!

I need to start doing this, looks like fun.