Any DIY pedal builders on TB? Strut your stuff!

[Deleted member 165050]

That looks rad.

I'd never heard of the Schumann PLL before seeing yours here not long back (or at leas Id'd never paid it any attention till now if I had), and it seems pretty gnarly. Are you using them on any specific projects? I've only watched a few demos and it feels like I'm watching someone try to fly a plane for the first time without any instruction in most of them. What do you plan to do with four of them?

Now that i know these exist I feel like I've got to build one. Maybe I'll make that my 2021 goal: get to a place where I feel I can take on a larger project like this and complete it.

Quick edit to add: have you built the full PLL, the one with the momentary and drone switches?

joe

I've always had a fascination for PLLs but actually very little practical use for them, I just like fooling around with them at home. And the Schumann clones are 12V AC power so not pedalboard friendly but the EQD clone is DC so it's on a board. The first one I built was the full one, here it is:

 

[Feral Feline]

... I've only watched a few demos and it feels like I'm watching someone try to fly a plane for the first time without any instruction in most of them...
joe

I think ficelles is building a Squadron of PLLains to fill airspace with enough sonic brute force to take over the world...


Have you checked out the PLL thread, @ficelles?
(There's a few on TB, of course, but specifically referring to the catch-all Everything PLL (Shumann, Broughton, Dimehead, ELTA, etc) )


A person after my own heart. I first heard of the Schumann PLL extremely early in my musical meanderings, and its mere description intrigued me and became my holy-dodo-grail even before I heard one. Had I found one when I first stumbled upon it, the internet in its infancy if even in existence then, I might've been able to afford it; but so few were built and quickly the legend grew and with it prices...


Of more than a thousand types of pedal iterations, the Schumann PLL was the harbinger of sonic chaos and mental-musicality in the old commercial-pedal Commonwealth... before WAS the dark times... before the DIY Clone Wars. Now, DIY has brought light to the dark mysteries of FX.

Even just a few years ago, there was little in the way of info on PLLs, even if you had a schematic you'd have to do your own layout. Then small numbers of commercial PLLs started popping up in Italy, Canada (Broughton) and elsewhere...

It's been a long journey from that magazine article showing the Schumann and its snake-pit of a gutshot...

I'm still building my skillset to tackle it, but with the DeadEndFX PCB... maybe 2021 is the year of the Schumann clone for me, as well.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

Here's the PLL collection: DeadEndFX PLL One and PLLain, PedalPCB Super Heterodyne Receiver, Parasit Studio U-235. Also included the Parasit New Wave CV sequencer (green) which works great with the U-235 but as yet not with the others, not sure why as they all use the same 4046 IC and CV in is on the same VCC pin. Also have strangely different multiplier behaviour from the two DeadEndFX PLLs which is odd but maybe I made a mistake in the PLLain...

 

[JoeDaddio]

Here's the PLL collection: DeadEndFX PLL One and PLLain, PedalPCB Super Heterodyne Receiver, Parasit Studio U-235. Also included the Parasit New Wave CV sequencer (green) which works great with the U-235 but as yet not with the others, not sure why as they all use the same 4046 IC and CV in is on the same VCC pin. Also have strangely different multiplier behaviour from the two DeadEndFX PLLs which is odd but maybe I made a mistake in the PLLain...

That's wonderful - I'm imagining the hours it must have taken to build all of those! Great work. Do you plan on leaving them unlabeled? It's a good way to ensure that no one else knows what kind of magic smoke you've got in those boxes.

I just put the order through on the final bits I need to get started on a Dirty Sanchez I am building for my cousin. He was telling me about one of his band mates - this guy is paranoid that other people are stealing his tone to the point that he buys knobs without indicators on them an puts them on his amp and pedals, and uses tape to cover other things up, stuff like that. I decided that I'm building him a blackout pedal without any markings or indicators so he can mess with his friend a bit. Black knobs, black enclosure, no lettering or anything. He did want a green LED, though, so there's that.


joe

 

[Feral Feline]

Here's the PLL collection: DeadEndFX PLL One and PLLain, PedalPCB Super Heterodyne Receiver, Parasit Studio U-235. Also included the Parasit New Wave CV sequencer (green) which works great with the U-235 but as yet not with the others, not sure why as they all use the same 4046 IC and CV in is on the same VCC pin. Also have strangely different multiplier behaviour from the two DeadEndFX PLLs which is odd but maybe I made a mistake in the PLLain...

Truly inspirational! (the PLLs, not Tattoo)

 

[Fuzzonaut]

Here's the PLL collection: DeadEndFX PLL One and PLLain, PedalPCB Super Heterodyne Receiver, Parasit Studio U-235. Also included the Parasit New Wave CV sequencer (green) which works great with the U-235 but as yet not with the others, not sure why as they all use the same 4046 IC and CV in is on the same VCC pin. Also have strangely different multiplier behaviour from the two DeadEndFX PLLs which is odd but maybe I made a mistake in the PLLain...

Wow, what a wonderful bunch of weirdness. Did you try to run them together?

Maybe, the Parasit Studio Into the Unknown might fit in there too.




On another note, I finished an Unpleasant Surprise (PedalPCB), graphics from a poster of a Dario Argento movie.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

I think 2021 has to be the year I stop building pedals and start doing graphics for the ones I've built... that Into The Unknown looks interesting though and there's a CV In on the board

 

[cosmicevan]

Have you folks A/B'ed your clones next to the real deal and if so, how do they fair? Can't tell in a blind taste test or similar but not quite?

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

yeah tubes in pedals is gimmicky to me.
either they're super low voltage or you've got high voltage on the floor where some idiot can spill beer on it

One of the reasons why I wouldn't use one is because that idiot would be me.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

Have you folks A/B'ed your clones next to the real deal and if so, how do they fair? Can't tell in a blind taste test or similar but not quite?

I can't afford a Schumann PLL so no way of checking there... I used to own a Lovetone Meatball and the two Meatball clones I've built were pretty close, the circuits I used (MeatSphere and MeatyBalls) are supposedly true to the original so any small differences would be in my choice of components.

 

[Fuzzonaut]

Have you folks A/B'ed your clones next to the real deal and if so, how do they fair? Can't tell in a blind taste test or similar but not quite?

I mostly build stuff I don't have, but I did that once with an Boss FZ-2 I used for years and my build was pretty much spot on, .... at least in mode 1, I never cared for the other modes, so I didn't even check.

 

[Feral Feline]

Fantastique Unpleasant Surprise, Fuzzonaut.

That's my goal, to make pedals that look as good as that.

I haven't quite got the graphics part of the build down yet...




For future comparisons, I've got (and have yet to build) the following:

Boss Bass Chorus
Fairfield Barbershop
MXR Noisegate
fDeck HPF-Pre
Diamond Bass comp
DOD Meatbox

I might've forgotten a couple that should be in the list above; and my friend's got a few that we want to compare as well, such as Phase 90...
I'm not going to bother attempting cloning my Wahs, nor TS808/Rangemaster (aka DVK Hairball); although I do have the bits needed to make those circuits, I intend to mod the hell out of those builds when I eventually get to them.

I'd like to get an Unpleasant Surprise and then build that, too. Love Fairfield stuff. So much to do...

 

[Fuzzonaut]

Fantastique Unpleasant Surprise, Fuzzonaut.

That's my goal, to make pedals that look as good as that.

I haven't quite got the graphics part of the build down yet...

Thanks! I really enjoy the graphics part. I prepare in Photoshop and then print, stick on and apply clear coat.

For future comparisons, I've got (and have yet to build) the following:

Boss Bass Chorus
Fairfield Barbershop
MXR Noisegate
fDeck HPF-Pre
Diamond Bass comp
DOD Meatbox

Nice list. Did you get the Soy Sauce for the Meatbox?

I also have the reissue and thought about making another one.

 

[Feral Feline]

...Nice list. Did you get the Soy Sauce for the Meatbox?

I also have the reissue and thought about making another one.

Yup, Soy Sauce, and I bought a few of the chips from Small Bear, in case I screw up one, or two.

Also, there's a Vero-build of an octaver on tagboard's forums that uses the same chip, but is NOT a Meatbox Clone. So, if I don't fry all my chips making Saucy Soy that would be another fun project, in my next lifetime when there's more millennia in the space-time continuum.

Along with the DOD re-ish, I've also got a 1st-gen (I think) Mantic Density Hulk I got from Somnambulance. So, will be fun comparing all three SUBeroos. I'd like to figure out what's different with the Mantic. I read his very first ones (pre-gen1) were direct clones, then he tweaked the circuit a bit, purportedly?

I have to wait a few months before I can even compare the DOD to the Mantic, bit frantic with other things right now.

 

[G.Bisson]

Final build of 2020, a Devi hexafuzz!
For my 6th Devi build I combined 6 circuits with 6 paint colors for a dual effect. Challenged myself with the split paint job and lots of lettering. Painting neat letters was the hardest part on the entire build.
Left side is painted white primer with gold & silver acrylic and blue letters. Silver Crank, BIT & GZ fuzzes.
Right side is painted black primer with blue & red acrylic and gold letters. Ruiner, Dark Boost & Hyperion fuzzes.

 

[DDXdesign]

the 18-hole drill marathon.

Hey I think I saw a copy of that at the back of my Dad's old video store...

 

[JoeDaddio]

Final build of 2020, a Devi hexafuzz!
For my 6th Devi build I combined 6 circuits with 6 paint colors for a dual effect. Challenged myself with the split paint job and lots of lettering. Painting neat letters was the hardest part on the entire build.
Left side is painted white primer with gold & silver acrylic and blue letters. Silver Crank, BIT & GZ fuzzes.
Right side is painted black primer with blue & red acrylic and gold letters. Ruiner, Dark Boost & Hyperion fuzzes.
View attachment 4109803
View attachment 4109810

Nice and clean, especially for a vero build. Looks great. How's it sound?


joe

 

[Deleted member 165050]

Lockdown NYE

 

[G.Bisson]

In order from most to least favorite:
Hyperion: lives up to the hype as a muff killer. I've built several combo variations with this circuit I like it that much.
Silver Crank: gated fuzz that sounds like a bit crusher. Has a clean well behaved tone.
Ruiner: gated fuzz with a saturated wall of fuzz tone. Like the evil brother of the Silver Crank.
BIT: has some cool crushed fuzz tones, but is SO LOUD! Goes from 0 to 11,000 in the turn of a hair.
GZ: first time I've built this circuit and still getting a feel for it. Kinda sounds generic to me, acceptable fuzz tone, but not unique. At maximum fuzz it gets a bit trashy and harsh.
Dark Boost: dirty boost with some fuzziness in the background. Somewhat boring, like most boost pedals. Havent tested it's synergy with other effects yet, where a boost really shines.
I experimented with combining the Hyperion and Ruiner on the right side with the Crank on the left side and they sounded really good! I was expecting a noisy mess, but found more fuzz sounds in the combos.

 

[JoeDaddio]

Lockdown NYE

Do you have a permanent workspace? I always had such a hard time getting started when I had to unpack everything to start and re-pack everything to get it moved out of the way. If you managed to build all those effects on a stool in your living room it's all that more impressive!


joe