Space Chasm reverb

What started as a scary build by Rob (deadastronaut) over at DIYStompbox has been laid out by George (Chi_boy) of VIPFX on a nice PCB. I built one of these on the etch mask that was provided by Rob but I had troubles with the offboard wiring and got frustrated with the build quickly. George’s layout made it so easy to get this up and running.

This thing sounds great and can get very subtle to very, very huge and oscillates nicely to infinite decay. I used the Belton BTDR-2 large and I am very happy with the results.

I etched the encloser with some artwork of astronaut cats (thanks Google images) in homage to deadastronaut.

IMG_0945.JPG

Gut shot:
IMG_0947.JPG

 

Quick Demo
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/166005785″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

Another Fuzz Face

I am working on a germanium Fuzz Face for a buddy and decided to use Scruffie’s layout with an onboard MAX1044 to change it to a negative ground effect.

Here is Scruffies notes on it

Power Filtering included, Polarity Protection, Input Level Trim (To adjust like you would your volume knob) Onboard Bias Pot to adjust for different climates and optional smoothing caps for both transistors (10-100pF range).

I am building it to the Analog Man Sun Face NKT275 specs as in this schematic in red. I used metal film resistors and audio grade electrolytic capacitors (even for power filtering just to keep it consistent and the gold caps looks awesome lol)

fuzzface1

From the underside

photo 4

Rub-a-Dub Reverb

I built a RaD reverb for my dad last year and he has really been getting some good use out of it. Josh at 1776 Effects did a outstanding job with this circuit. It’s simple and sounds great. My dad came to me asking for another one so he could have one pre-looper and another post-looper. What a great idea that is. With that setup you can easily avoid muddy loops and only place reverb on what layer you want. This is what I came up with for him.

I did a etched PCB since I used my last manufactured one. I also did a reverse etch art work of a dude wearing a suit and made the chicken head knob his head.

IMG_0917.JPG

IMG_0916.JPG

Great Fuzz Face Transistor Info

Ran across this blurb and wanted to archive it. This is taken from Mac at DIYSB

Rule of thumb, as long as the you match the right hfe for a fuzz it will sound good.

q1: hfe=70-90, leakage <50ua better but can be up to 200uA
q2: hfe=90-120, leakage <200ua but 300-400 may work.

q1 should be low leakage so as to have 4.5v at q2 collector with a resistor closer to the original 8.2k.
Also q1 has a much great effect on the bias resistors than q2. Just finger heat the transistors one at a time and watch what happens at q2 collector. Or if you bias the circuit with 4.5v at q2 collector, and you replace q2 with a leaky transistor ot much higher gain, vc2 will move a little. Put the original q2 and replace q1; vc2 will jump a lot.

About the sound, I have some american and japanese transistors with the right parameters, ie, the ones above. I know some may say I’m crazy but there are differences. Some are brighter, some darker, some have more mids, etc. But they all have fuzz nicely.

Shoegazer

Decided to build myself a Devi Ever Shoegazer clone to replace the one I sold. I decided to keep this one stock since I never seemed to use “chaos mode” on either circuits. Kept it clean and simple. This is one mean fuzz and has a great gated sound to it. Drench it in reverb and echoes and you have a instant wall of sound.

I etched the PCB and did a reverse etch on the enclosure. I can’t remember where I got the artwork from, thanks google images.

IMG_0879.JPG

IMG_0880.JPG

IMG_0882.JPG

Pudgii build

This is a Zvex Fat Factory work alike by Madbean. I have a Fuzz Factory that was in a horizontal layout and decided I wanted to build one in a vertical layout to save space on my board. I etched up the board and found some really cool 2SA72 transistors in my stash that work great in this circuit.

20140721-004646-2806901.jpg

20140721-004647-2807184.jpg

Supreaux Deux build

This is an awesome circuit that was created by RunOffGroove and this layout was made by OftenFX. This effect is based on a popular Supro amp and this pedal captures much of the amp’s tone. This is a FET-based design and I would classify it as a low gain / medium gain pedal. It has a built on charge pump to run the pedal at 18v from a standard 9v adapter. It has a great vintage rock and roll sound to it.

20140720-034705-13625178.jpg

20140720-034705-13625459.jpg

Voltages:
Q1 J201
G 0v
S 0.4v
D 11.8v
Q2 J201
G 0v
S 0.4v
D 11.7v
Q3 J201
G 0v
S 0.4v
D 11.9v

Sweet Honey OD

I had a populated VIPFx Silk Hat OD that I built last month but not had the time to box it up. This is a great low gain circuit and breaks up nicely and is ver dynamic with playing.

I did a reverse etch of a honey bee on the enclosure and used some metallic root beer paint. I am happy with the outcome.

20140717-062539-23139893.jpg

Gut shot, nothing special.

20140717-062540-23140212.jpg

I recommend picking up one of these PCBs or a Sweet Honey pedal.

Builds are coming

It has been a busy month so far and I am way behind on my builds. I have tons of populated PCB that are just calling to be boxed. Here is a photo of the off board wiring I just finished tonight for the next 3 builds.

20140708-230357-83037481.jpg
Next up is etching some enclosures. I’m off of work a bit early tomorrow and may try to turn some enclosures out.