Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Any DIY pedal builders on TB? Strut your stuff!
- Thread starter SubHuman
- Start date
Check out El Grande under requests on tagboard forum. FX-Fidden has been helping out greatly
Awesome! Fidden be da man! Or WOman, whatever the case may be.
Couldn't see the layout as the link was broken, so maybe Fidden took it down while he fixes those few cuts/details?
Trying to follow your conversation with Fidden, but without the layout to look at ... that's when vero really does my head in.
Yes , it was down for a little bit, Elijah ( FX-Fidden) has corrected some mistakes. I’m going to make the changes / corrections this evening and see how it goes. Elijah has been great and has put a lot of time and effort into this. That’s what is so great about the DIY community. People helping people that they don’t know and have never met and ask nothing in return. There is hope for humanity. Happy lead sniffing everyone.
Matt
Is Elijah's vero the one that's up on "DirtBoxLayouts"?
I wasn't even aware of the DBL site before last night, but I got a tip from a MadBeaner about a vero for DOD's FX15 on DBL, and coincidentally (*yeah right, "coincidentally") there was the EGBF in a thumbnail to the side.
*Personally, not a fan of being tracked and having my "tastes catered to". This sort of push notification limits making new discoveries and expanding one's range of taste.
Imagine you're in the Matrix and it discovers that you like rice, and so it only feeds you rice dishes thereafter. You'll never know the succulent flavour of beans, or mmm mmm — Rice & Beans, let alone an Asian fruit-salad with Dragon Fruit, Rambutans, Lychees, Pomello, Star Fruit, Jack Fruit, mangos, and mangosteens ... all garnished with candied Hawthorne berries.
Sorry — NO DURIAN ALLOWED!
I wasn't even aware of the DBL site before last night, but I got a tip from a MadBeaner about a vero for DOD's FX15 on DBL, and coincidentally (*yeah right, "coincidentally") there was the EGBF in a thumbnail to the side.
*Personally, not a fan of being tracked and having my "tastes catered to". This sort of push notification limits making new discoveries and expanding one's range of taste.
Imagine you're in the Matrix and it discovers that you like rice, and so it only feeds you rice dishes thereafter. You'll never know the succulent flavour of beans, or mmm mmm — Rice & Beans, let alone an Asian fruit-salad with Dragon Fruit, Rambutans, Lychees, Pomello, Star Fruit, Jack Fruit, mangos, and mangosteens ... all garnished with candied Hawthorne berries.
Sorry — NO DURIAN ALLOWED!
no, Elijahs layout is on tagboard the Layout on DBL was a request by yours truly, go figure,lol. They are 2 completly diffrent beasts. I will be building the DBL layout Sat morning. Fuzzhead (DBL) AKA Anders ( on Tagboard I believe), is awsome and does great layouts. he puts alot of thought into the placement of components. he also responds quickly and is always adding new layouts. I dont know where he finds the time but his blog is a great asset.Is Elijah's vero the one that's up on "DirtBoxLayouts"?
I wasn't even aware of the DBL site before last night, but I got a tip from a MadBeaner about a vero for DOD's FX15 on DBL, and coincidentally (*yeah right, "coincidentally") there was the EGBF in a thumbnail to the side.
*Personally, not a fan of being tracked and having my "tastes catered to". This sort of push notification limits making new discoveries and expanding one's range of taste.
Imagine you're in the Matrix and it discovers that you like rice, and so it only feeds you rice dishes thereafter. You'll never know the succulent flavour of beans, or mmm mmm — Rice & Beans, let alone an Asian fruit-salad with Dragon Fruit, Rambutans, Lychees, Pomello, Star Fruit, Jack Fruit, mangos, and mangosteens ... all garnished with candied Hawthorne berries.
Sorry — NO DURIAN ALLOWED!
Residing on the bench,
I've got my solder-pen — on,
I've got my parts — trusty.
I've got my blem-box
On my work-station.
It's already... D-d-d-d-d-drilled
Of course.
I wanna have a Cowgirl
If you could hear my Cowgirl
I wanna have a Cowgirl
If you could hear my Cowgirl
I wanna have a Cowgirl...
BUILD REPORT
Home on de ranged.
Based on John Hollis’ EasyVibe circuit, The Cowgirl's circuit is Madbean’s Wigl. EasyVibe has four stages to it, like the original Uni-vibe. MadBean cut it in half, 2 stages, and it still sounds good. The enclosure was a blem I found on TaoBao (China's Amazon), for the price I couldn’t resist. When I got the box, it'd already been drilled and had the graphics printed on it. I guess it was the control unit for a ... machine... of some sort, with a cable attachment hole at the wrong end for a pedal. I’ll fill that up with some black rubber cement or something similar.
The main two controls of the Cowgirl-enclosure matched the Wigl-board’s pot spacing perfectly, and even the control names lent themselves to an EasyVibe-ish nature... The Monster LED was a drop-in fit in another of the pre-drilled control-holes; originally I was going to use that hole to place the stomper, but the hole was a smidge too big and trying to lock down the 3PDT, well it just rotated in place. So I had the brilliant idea to try the large LED, which fit like a lambskin love-glove. Then I reamed out the original stock LED-hole for the footswitch.
While most of the holes were ready for insertion of parts, some key holes still needed to be drilled and I had to decide ...
Side-Saddle or Top-Mount?
Sidejacks would fit, maybe, might not as that LED is HOOJ! OR see if I can squeeze in top jacks. Gee, waste space and time with having the Cowgirl riding side-saddle, which might interfere with the LED, or waste lots of time (but no space) measuring thrice, thrice times, and risk ruining an enclosure… Can always order another blem enclosure, it was super cheap.
Even though the Wigl’n Cowgirl is in a larger enclosure compared to my last build, the 1590A Siberian Hamster, I still had to measure just as extensively before attempting to do anything.
Unlike the Siberian Hamster, I didn't do a lot of mods. Pretty much stock build, just a few sockets to try some non-stock signal-path bassification kajiggering. Mm-hmm.
Oh, and I made that MoNsTeR indicator-LED work double duty as the rate-LED as well.
I had to heavily clearance the lid's lip to clear the jacks. That was the most substantial mod to the enclosure.
I didn’t have the correct LDRs, so I socketed those and for good measure the LFO’s LED, so I can try other colours. The circuit calls for LDRs that have a 20M dark resistance, what I have is 0.5M dark. Thing might not even fire off, so I ordered some other LDRs, but still haven’t got the correct ones on order yet. I’ll Mix&Match some LEDs with whatever LDRs are coming: in there now is Red (650nm), but I will try Yellow (570nm), Pink (?nm), and Green (510nm), too.
There're two LEDs that are used for voltage biasing that could mess up the photocells’ reading of the LFO's LED, so my wife painted them with nail-polish. Great for taming bright bypass LEDs, the translucent polish trick, but for this application it needed to be opaque and wasn’t. So I added some felt marker and that still wasn’t enough to prevent light leakage — looked like cold lava with hot cracks. So for good measure, I mounted the little lava-lamps on the pots-side of the board — otherwise they’re right next to what they shouldn’t be next to. Mounting the bias-LEDs underside also helped with critical space saving for the TOP JACKS! FTSJ-paradigm!
Another "mod" was using a W-taper trim pot for the LFO, I figured the W taper would help dial in the LFO’s sweet-spot. It’s a Bourns multi-turn (12), compared to a regular single-turn trimmer (240º), I should be able to get bang on the money.
The last mod was replacing the 1uF electrolytic output cap, but even though I’ve got 1uF film caps, I stuck in a 2u2 film cap — just can’t seem to build anything stock.
So, hardly any mods at all. Really.
I couldn’t wait any longer for the correct LDRs to arrive. So last night I finished up the final wiring (in/out as far away from the board and LFO as possible). I stuck the LDRs I had in it, Tayda’s KE10720, and fired it up. Testing it, even with the wrong photocells, it worked well — it even worked with the lights on with guts fully exposed. Given the meagre LDRs though, the Cowgirl isn’t quite galloping at full-tilt-boogie. I didn’t even mess with the LFO trimmer! Since I finished it so late in the evening, I was unable to have a prolonged tinker-test, just a quick yep it works, knobs work, & shut down before the neighbours complain.
Originally I was looking at building the Magnatone, a similar-sounding circuit, on perf — but the Wigl fell into place and it all came together quickly (except for the LDR-waiting game). Will still build a Magna in future.
Next up, a lovely little squeeze into another 1590B, a completely stock build that I'll later mod, see if I can tell the difference...
I've got my solder-pen — on,
I've got my parts — trusty.
I've got my blem-box
On my work-station.
It's already... D-d-d-d-d-drilled
Of course.
I wanna have a Cowgirl
If you could hear my Cowgirl
I wanna have a Cowgirl
If you could hear my Cowgirl
I wanna have a Cowgirl...
BUILD REPORT
Home on de ranged.
Based on John Hollis’ EasyVibe circuit, The Cowgirl's circuit is Madbean’s Wigl. EasyVibe has four stages to it, like the original Uni-vibe. MadBean cut it in half, 2 stages, and it still sounds good. The enclosure was a blem I found on TaoBao (China's Amazon), for the price I couldn’t resist. When I got the box, it'd already been drilled and had the graphics printed on it. I guess it was the control unit for a ... machine... of some sort, with a cable attachment hole at the wrong end for a pedal. I’ll fill that up with some black rubber cement or something similar.
The main two controls of the Cowgirl-enclosure matched the Wigl-board’s pot spacing perfectly, and even the control names lent themselves to an EasyVibe-ish nature... The Monster LED was a drop-in fit in another of the pre-drilled control-holes; originally I was going to use that hole to place the stomper, but the hole was a smidge too big and trying to lock down the 3PDT, well it just rotated in place. So I had the brilliant idea to try the large LED, which fit like a lambskin love-glove. Then I reamed out the original stock LED-hole for the footswitch.
While most of the holes were ready for insertion of parts, some key holes still needed to be drilled and I had to decide ...
Side-Saddle or Top-Mount?
Sidejacks would fit, maybe, might not as that LED is HOOJ! OR see if I can squeeze in top jacks. Gee, waste space and time with having the Cowgirl riding side-saddle, which might interfere with the LED, or waste lots of time (but no space) measuring thrice, thrice times, and risk ruining an enclosure… Can always order another blem enclosure, it was super cheap.
Even though the Wigl’n Cowgirl is in a larger enclosure compared to my last build, the 1590A Siberian Hamster, I still had to measure just as extensively before attempting to do anything.
Unlike the Siberian Hamster, I didn't do a lot of mods. Pretty much stock build, just a few sockets to try some non-stock signal-path bassification kajiggering. Mm-hmm.
Oh, and I made that MoNsTeR indicator-LED work double duty as the rate-LED as well.
I had to heavily clearance the lid's lip to clear the jacks. That was the most substantial mod to the enclosure.
I didn’t have the correct LDRs, so I socketed those and for good measure the LFO’s LED, so I can try other colours. The circuit calls for LDRs that have a 20M dark resistance, what I have is 0.5M dark. Thing might not even fire off, so I ordered some other LDRs, but still haven’t got the correct ones on order yet. I’ll Mix&Match some LEDs with whatever LDRs are coming: in there now is Red (650nm), but I will try Yellow (570nm), Pink (?nm), and Green (510nm), too.
There're two LEDs that are used for voltage biasing that could mess up the photocells’ reading of the LFO's LED, so my wife painted them with nail-polish. Great for taming bright bypass LEDs, the translucent polish trick, but for this application it needed to be opaque and wasn’t. So I added some felt marker and that still wasn’t enough to prevent light leakage — looked like cold lava with hot cracks. So for good measure, I mounted the little lava-lamps on the pots-side of the board — otherwise they’re right next to what they shouldn’t be next to. Mounting the bias-LEDs underside also helped with critical space saving for the TOP JACKS! FTSJ-paradigm!
Another "mod" was using a W-taper trim pot for the LFO, I figured the W taper would help dial in the LFO’s sweet-spot. It’s a Bourns multi-turn (12), compared to a regular single-turn trimmer (240º), I should be able to get bang on the money.
The last mod was replacing the 1uF electrolytic output cap, but even though I’ve got 1uF film caps, I stuck in a 2u2 film cap — just can’t seem to build anything stock.
So, hardly any mods at all. Really.
I couldn’t wait any longer for the correct LDRs to arrive. So last night I finished up the final wiring (in/out as far away from the board and LFO as possible). I stuck the LDRs I had in it, Tayda’s KE10720, and fired it up. Testing it, even with the wrong photocells, it worked well — it even worked with the lights on with guts fully exposed. Given the meagre LDRs though, the Cowgirl isn’t quite galloping at full-tilt-boogie. I didn’t even mess with the LFO trimmer! Since I finished it so late in the evening, I was unable to have a prolonged tinker-test, just a quick yep it works, knobs work, & shut down before the neighbours complain.
Originally I was looking at building the Magnatone, a similar-sounding circuit, on perf — but the Wigl fell into place and it all came together quickly (except for the LDR-waiting game). Will still build a Magna in future.
Next up, a lovely little squeeze into another 1590B, a completely stock build that I'll later mod, see if I can tell the difference...
Man, @disssa, I really like your work!
Ive got parts coming for six fuzz boxes. Things that are either hard to find, expensive, or have some elusive mojo. All vero/stripboard.
Third Man Records Bumble Buzz
Escobedo Harmonic Jerkulator
Love tone Big Cheese
Frantone Lo-Tone Classic
Spaceman Rumble Fuzz
Shin-Ei Companion Fuzz
Ive got parts coming for six fuzz boxes. Things that are either hard to find, expensive, or have some elusive mojo. All vero/stripboard.
Third Man Records Bumble Buzz
Escobedo Harmonic Jerkulator
Love tone Big Cheese
Frantone Lo-Tone Classic
Spaceman Rumble Fuzz
Shin-Ei Companion Fuzz
I recently sold off a Shin-Ei TR8 fuzz-wah, i believe it's similar to the Companion. Cool sound, but the resale was more than what it was 'worth' to me.
HAPPY 3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679
DAY,
PEOPLE!
For you solder-fume sniffers, here's a couple sales...
SynthCube "15OFFSALE" at checkout. I'm not too familiar with SynthCube, it comes up on my Radar once in a while; you have to be registered with SC to use the code. I think they do fully built stuff too? Lots of modular DIY synth stuff. They also carry MFOS and DeadEndFX PCBs.
Storyboardist at Effects Layouts is having a Happy Pi Day sale "3.14" at checkout for 15% off. Lotsa dirt. There are, however, more interesting items on offer IMHO...
RNGD: a random noise generator into a PT2399 delay with a bunch of knobs — a collaboration with effects brand Jānis.lv.
TRANSMORGRIFYING DELAY: Extra-long PT2399-based delay with modulation (requires a Vactrol).
Oh, and you get a BMP PCB with your order.
DAY,
PEOPLE!
For you solder-fume sniffers, here's a couple sales...
SynthCube "15OFFSALE" at checkout. I'm not too familiar with SynthCube, it comes up on my Radar once in a while; you have to be registered with SC to use the code. I think they do fully built stuff too? Lots of modular DIY synth stuff. They also carry MFOS and DeadEndFX PCBs.
Storyboardist at Effects Layouts is having a Happy Pi Day sale "3.14" at checkout for 15% off. Lotsa dirt. There are, however, more interesting items on offer IMHO...
RNGD: a random noise generator into a PT2399 delay with a bunch of knobs — a collaboration with effects brand Jānis.lv.
TRANSMORGRIFYING DELAY: Extra-long PT2399-based delay with modulation (requires a Vactrol).
Oh, and you get a BMP PCB with your order.
D
Deleted member 165050
Guest
Can't sleep so finished my Ocelot build in the small hours, amazingly it works! Tracking pretty darn good on bass and sounds like an OC2 clone should. A couple of tiny problems to fix but it's heading for the pedalboard...
This is great news. I have been waiting to hear how the tracking is on it. I built a blue box clone and I was less than impressed by the tracking. I will be ordering this board to give it a shot. Thanks for your update
D
Deleted member 165050
Guest
Having fixed my switch wiring mistake (GND and SW the wrong way round) I've been playing with it a bit today... I'm using a Wal Pro fretless with a passive high-output humbucker and La Bella flats played fingerstyle. Tracking with is impressive, very fast and accurate until you head down below B-ish then it doesn't like it. The Wal humbucker in series mode can push the pedal into clipping on lower notes if I'm not careful. The 2nd octave on its own seems a bit useless but when added to the 1st makes a big difference. It's years since I used an OC2 so can't say how close it is... but anyway it's now on my B125 enclosure board. Just one empty slot (to be filled with a Delegate compressor).
Btw I noticed PedalPCB is releasing a Super Ocelot which has the synth mod, whatever that is...
Last edited:
Nice, I like the paint as well.
Super Ocelot with a synth mode?!?! I"m getting that!
I'm about to place an order with them for a Delegate compressor (my EHX Bass Preacher is a little lacking) an Obsidious, and a Mini Heterodyne with faceplate. I'm on the wait list for the Spirit Box. I wish they offered more SMT boards.
Good times!
Ficelles, the red knobs and power jack really look great with the bronze hammertone.
I, too, just saw the Super Ocelot with Synth Mod.
Here's the mockup:
BOSS OC-2 synth mod with sound clips
I'll go that route; I also went with the Boneyard-edition Delegate. Like getting pre-modded pedals.
Synth mod on the Super Ocelot might be any number of things, but I'm guessing it's the square-wave mod.
Boss OC-2 "Synth Mod"?
schematic was here with stuff marked out.
Modding my OC-2...
[EDIT: It was this ^ thread that the square wave was explained by Iron Ether head honcho Taylor Livingstone: "the way the OC-2 works is that it creates that square wave that's an octave or 2 octaves below the input, then uses the octave square wave to cut the input signal on and off. So in normal functioning, you're not meant to ever hear the square itself, which is why there's no gate circuitry there."]
BOSS OC-2 synth mod with sound clips
Boss OC-2 "Synth Mod"?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just in, for me, is a BlueBox clone sans enclosure, but with the octave toggle. Messed around with it before making supper and it made me chuckle. You play a note but you never know what exactly you're going to get, looks to be loads of fun.
Gotta see what mods are out there. If it doesn't invert phase, I'll definitely add a clean blend to it. I might mess around with the clean signal, put a green ringer on it, then with the clean blend you'd have 3 signals: octave-down/Unity/Octave-up, with the ability to isolate any one of them...
Also in, Kranklonestein Distortus Maximus. ChuckDBones over at PPCB forum has some interesting mods for this one.
I, too, just saw the Super Ocelot with Synth Mod.
Here's the mockup:
BOSS OC-2 synth mod with sound clips
I'll go that route; I also went with the Boneyard-edition Delegate. Like getting pre-modded pedals.
Synth mod on the Super Ocelot might be any number of things, but I'm guessing it's the square-wave mod.
Boss OC-2 "Synth Mod"?
schematic was here with stuff marked out.
Modding my OC-2...
[EDIT: It was this ^ thread that the square wave was explained by Iron Ether head honcho Taylor Livingstone: "the way the OC-2 works is that it creates that square wave that's an octave or 2 octaves below the input, then uses the octave square wave to cut the input signal on and off. So in normal functioning, you're not meant to ever hear the square itself, which is why there's no gate circuitry there."]
BOSS OC-2 synth mod with sound clips
Boss OC-2 "Synth Mod"?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just in, for me, is a BlueBox clone sans enclosure, but with the octave toggle. Messed around with it before making supper and it made me chuckle. You play a note but you never know what exactly you're going to get, looks to be loads of fun.
Gotta see what mods are out there. If it doesn't invert phase, I'll definitely add a clean blend to it. I might mess around with the clean signal, put a green ringer on it, then with the clean blend you'd have 3 signals: octave-down/Unity/Octave-up, with the ability to isolate any one of them...
Also in, Kranklonestein Distortus Maximus. ChuckDBones over at PPCB forum has some interesting mods for this one.
Last edited:
Weekend update; Completed a refinish of a previous build that I need to take photos of. Also finished a new build, but need time to troubleshoot it. Checked my stripboard layout against the schematic and spotted a few errors that are easy to fix.
I was hanging out with a guitarist friend this weekend that I gifted [URL="https://www.talkbass.com/threads/any-diy-pedal-builders-on-tb-strut-your-stuff.1469191/page-6#post-24760613"]THIS[/URL] Barbershop clone to for Christmas. His impression was "sounds transistor-y, but I like it". That's a compliment coming from a self professed tube snob who DIY'd his own tube amp and only uses one pedal, a Tube Works Real Tube.
What goes around, comes around. He gave me two tools from his late fathers hoard. First was a 1950's vintage Weller soldering gun that is overkill for pedal building. The second was his own well worn Harbor Freight grinder that he replaced with his father's superior vintage USA-made grinder. He gave me one ominous safety warning, "the wheels are finnicky to lock in place so be extra sure they are both secure or you will throw a disc"
. I plan on putting buffing wheels on it and creating polished bare metal enclosures in the near future.
I was hanging out with a guitarist friend this weekend that I gifted [URL="https://www.talkbass.com/threads/any-diy-pedal-builders-on-tb-strut-your-stuff.1469191/page-6#post-24760613"]THIS[/URL] Barbershop clone to for Christmas. His impression was "sounds transistor-y, but I like it". That's a compliment coming from a self professed tube snob who DIY'd his own tube amp and only uses one pedal, a Tube Works Real Tube.
What goes around, comes around. He gave me two tools from his late fathers hoard. First was a 1950's vintage Weller soldering gun that is overkill for pedal building. The second was his own well worn Harbor Freight grinder that he replaced with his father's superior vintage USA-made grinder. He gave me one ominous safety warning, "the wheels are finnicky to lock in place so be extra sure they are both secure or you will throw a disc"
. I plan on putting buffing wheels on it and creating polished bare metal enclosures in the near future.
Red. If I need multiple LED colors then orange and maybe yellow, but I won't go farther up the spectrum than that. I like to not be blinded by my pedals when I am playing in a dimly lit environment.
Same. Red is first choice, yellow is second choice. Whichever color matches the enclosure finish. Anything that isn't blinding bright blue is acceptable.
