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Any DIY pedal builders on TB? Strut your stuff!
- Thread starter SubHuman
- Start date
Welcome to the dark side. Once you start you can't stop and you'll never be the same again, lol.
They se em great. I think i'm going to place an order.
I can start to imagine the wife telling me to get of the damn pedals
I've built the Big Fluffy Pie Bass Blender Tall Font version. Really like it. I plan on building another with the Civil War option.
I don't know your background as far as electronics go but you are in a good place here if you have any questions. I started about 2 or 3 years ago and I'm still learning. My wife is supportive of it, keeps me out of her hair and I traded drinking for pedal building, lol.
The biggest thing I would recommend is a good solder iron / station. I stated out with a cheapy and got quickly frustrated and ruined a couple kits. I learned my lesson the hard way. The Hakko FX 888-D has treated me well for the time I have had it and its not overly expensive. A good desk top magnifying glass with a light in it helps a lot as well. As I said I don't know you background so you may already know these things, if so it may help someone else. Welcome to the world of DIY it a great journey and you meet a lot of cool , knowledgeable people.
Indeed, and good solder too. I've always disliked lead-free solder because I don't like the handling properties (higher melting temp and the joints don't look "right" when they're set if you're used to looking at joints made by leaded solder) but I don't know what the limitations are on getting leaded solder, what with RoHS (I see that you're in the EU). If you can get leaded, I recommend a eutectic solder (e.g. 63/37 Sn/Pb) or better, a silver-bearing one.
Welcome to the endless pit of pedal-building fun!
Welcome to the endless pit of pedal-building fun!
Also look into the new T12 soldering stations. The performance is superior to the traditional stations like the FX888. They heat up and recover very quickly and they have auto sleep and shut off functions that are very useful because pedal building is done in batches.
A small flathead tip, for example a 1.6mm wide D16, is best for working with PCBs.
Definitely use leaded solder if you can. 60/40 is ok but 63/37 is better because it solidifies instantly. If you're worried about lead, you can try to find D-lead soap and D-wipes - designed to clean heavy metals from skin and surfaces. Personally I'm stranded in Poland and can't find any of that stuff so I maniacally wash my hands 50 times when I solder.
I wouldn't bother with a tabletop fume extractor. Those things are too weak to suck in fumes unless they're within 10-15cm of your work area. I have one but I flip it around and use it as a fan to blow the fumes away from me and towards an open window. Any fan will do.
I've built several Musikding kits and they're fine. They also sell kits from other manufacturers like PedalPCB. The build docs can be underwhelming but there is a lot of support on forums.
When you feel ready to jump to the next level, sourcing your own components will prove quite monumental but once you're done you will be able to build anything you want. It won't be cheap either but it's a lot of fun.
A small flathead tip, for example a 1.6mm wide D16, is best for working with PCBs.
Definitely use leaded solder if you can. 60/40 is ok but 63/37 is better because it solidifies instantly. If you're worried about lead, you can try to find D-lead soap and D-wipes - designed to clean heavy metals from skin and surfaces. Personally I'm stranded in Poland and can't find any of that stuff so I maniacally wash my hands 50 times when I solder.
I wouldn't bother with a tabletop fume extractor. Those things are too weak to suck in fumes unless they're within 10-15cm of your work area. I have one but I flip it around and use it as a fan to blow the fumes away from me and towards an open window. Any fan will do.
I've built several Musikding kits and they're fine. They also sell kits from other manufacturers like PedalPCB. The build docs can be underwhelming but there is a lot of support on forums.
When you feel ready to jump to the next level, sourcing your own components will prove quite monumental but once you're done you will be able to build anything you want. It won't be cheap either but it's a lot of fun.
I'm about to start a PedalPCB Maleficent Mids build. It's a clone of JHS Hainting Mids, which is a variable mids booster. I plan on modding it, though, so that the Mids sweep is more suited for bass. Currently, it sweeps between 400hz to 7.5khz. I don't want it to sweep so high, so I have a mod to get it to sweep from about 200hz to 3khz. Any thoughts on this range?
You'll be dipping into the upper bass range, but not a bad thing for bass.
Breadboard it first and see if that range suits your needs. For some versatility, you could use the stock values and throw some extra caps in there for yet more range for toggle position of: low, stock, Xlow
C3
Stock 10n
Mod 1 22n
Mod 2 47n
C4
Stock 10n
Mod 1 3n3
Mod 2 1n8
Mod 1 as calc'd by Chuck gives the 180Hz to 3k3Hz range.
Mod 2 is my suggestion but I'll let you do the calculations, tweak as needed.
So for C3 you're doubling, use parallel caps on the switch.
For C4 you're halving — run whatever value caps in series to get the desired values.
A 3PDT could work, one pole for the parallel caps, two poles for the series caps;
or a 4PDT with 2 poles for both parallel and series.
You'll be dipping into the upper bass range, but not a bad thing for bass.
Breadboard it first and see if that range suits your needs. For some versatility, you could use the stock values and throw some extra caps in there for yet more range for toggle position of: low, stock, Xlow
C3
Stock 10n
Mod 1 22n
Mod 2 47n
C4
Stock 10n
Mod 1 3n3
Mod 2 1n8
Mod 1 as calc'd by Chuck gives the 180Hz to 3k3Hz range.
Mod 2 is my suggestion but I'll let you do the calculations, tweak as needed.
So for C3 you're doubling, use parallel caps on the switch.
For C4 you're halving — run whatever value caps in series to get the desired values.
A 3PDT could work, one pole for the parallel caps, two poles for the series caps;
or a 4PDT with 2 poles for both parallel and series.
I feel like I'm being followed
.I will have to read up on caps in series/parallel to understand halving/doubling to do the calculations.
This is an excellent suggestion. I'm not really looking to go xtra low. But a toggle between stock and Chuck's cap values would make this build suitable for both guitar and bass...
..I'm just not sure how I would add extra caps to facilitate the build. It's one thing swapping caps, but adding and switching between them might be me getting ahead of myself. Who knows. I'll breadboard it and see how I feel.
Still, really cool suggestion
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
- Website and Social Media at Sadowsky
I feel like I'm being followed
I know what you mean! Feral, I think you were commenting on my Son of Ben posts on pedalpcb.com!
There's a few of us TBers over on PPCB, gang, don't go gettin' paranoid!
Well, unless you're playin' it...
Well, unless you're playin' it...
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
- Website and Social Media at Sadowsky
One thing I found last night... running my Son of Ben pedalpcb build at 18V makes a huge difference. Night and day with the increased headroom.
Walking bass, eh? 
Here's one for crushing bass
a Cisneros Tone Generator (= 3 parallel circuits) into an Apostle, which is a Matamp GT120/Orange OR120 Jfet interpretation (MODE switches between the tone stacks associated to each model).
The Apostle runs mostly on 36V. I know, it's a bit of a joke to put Marshall knobs (and a chickenhead) on the Matamp/Orange part, but I didn't have any appropriate knobs at hand.
Both circuits are Dunwich Designs, PCBs available form God City or Musikding. The little PCB for the FAC rotary is from Oshpark.
As I wasn't sure how the 2 circuits would behave sharing the power supply - one running a charge pump up to 36V and the other running the ICs bipolar - I added a switch that let's you choose to use just one or both 9V outlets.
It's a BEAST!!!!!
Here's one for crushing bass
a Cisneros Tone Generator (= 3 parallel circuits) into an Apostle, which is a Matamp GT120/Orange OR120 Jfet interpretation (MODE switches between the tone stacks associated to each model).
The Apostle runs mostly on 36V. I know, it's a bit of a joke to put Marshall knobs (and a chickenhead) on the Matamp/Orange part, but I didn't have any appropriate knobs at hand.
Both circuits are Dunwich Designs, PCBs available form God City or Musikding. The little PCB for the FAC rotary is from Oshpark.
As I wasn't sure how the 2 circuits would behave sharing the power supply - one running a charge pump up to 36V and the other running the ICs bipolar - I added a switch that let's you choose to use just one or both 9V outlets.
It's a BEAST!!!!!
Invalid Link Removed Preamp
I know, the screws are bit to long...
And a 1:1 comparison:
I know, the screws are bit to long...
And a 1:1 comparison:
