• 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!

#1,601
N.E.W. C.T.G. and B.O.D. by G.C.I. <(alphabet soup for two Dunwich-designed effects now sold by GodCityInstruments). Following @Fuzzonaut with another CTG. I came into these builds expecting to like the BOD more, but the CTG was the clear winner. The blended drives of the CTG come together for an excellent dirty preamp. Stacks well too, sounded great with the BOD pushing it. Also worked well paired with Zorg Glorious Basstar. Basstar is higher gain and fuzzier than the CTG, two very different multi-drives.
Another of my attempts at dipped paint with mixed results. It's chaotic and unpredictable process. Haven't got a hang of it yet.

20220704_120237.jpg


20220704_115827.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Steveaux, mdalamond, Fuzzonaut and 2 others
#1,603
G.Bisson said:
N.E.W. C.T.G. and B.O.D. by G.C.I. <(alphabet soup for two Dunwich-designed effects now sold by GodCityInstruments). Following @Fuzzonaut with another CTG. I came into these builds expecting to like the BOD more, but the CTG was the clear winner. The blended drives of the CTG come together for an excellent dirty preamp. Stacks well too, sounded great with the BOD pushing it. Also worked well paired with Zorg Glorious Basstar. Basstar is higher gain and fuzzier than the CTG, two very different multi-drives.
Another of my attempts at dipped paint with mixed results. It's chaotic and unpredictable process. Haven't got a hang of it yet.

View attachment 4739379

View attachment 4739380
Click to expand...

Very cool, indeed!

And color coded knobs on the CTG, nice touch!
 
  • Like
Reactions: mdalamond
#1,604
Right around my birthday, Aion Electronics announced a new circuit - the preamp of a Traynor TS-50B.

Needless to say, I ordered immediately!

Aion states "The TS-50B was notably adapted by Tronographic for their Rusty Box, first released in 2007 and still in production. The TS-50 Bass Preamp presumably shares a lot in common with the Rusty Box, but we have not seen inside one and our TS-50B is not based directly on that pedal."

One cool thing about the Aion circuit is that they supply the pedal with bi-polar -15/+15v using a standard DC adapter (or pedal power supply): "we set out to find a reliable way to supply +/-15V from a standard DC adapter. ... and a high-quality DC-DC converter module will give us exactly what we need. They’re not cheap (USD$9-15 each), but once you account for the fact that you no longer need a specialized power adapter..."

This project also coincided with my father-in-law giving me his laser engraving machine, so it was my first attempt at using that tech.

The machine is old, so I needed to find an old edition of Corel Draw that’d be compatible with it.

Learning the software/hardware was WAY harder than the soldering…aside from a REALLY DUMB error of soldering the Boost and Hi/Lo switches to the wrong side of the circuit board.:rage:

But once I de-soldered and corrected it, the pedal fired up and worked perfectly.

And it sounds like a can of Shellac…
 

Attachments

  • 0EFD39E0-69C8-4144-8693-AF389CC49191.jpeg
    0EFD39E0-69C8-4144-8693-AF389CC49191.jpeg
    1.5 MB · Views: 112
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: xJasonSmithx, Silver Blues, G.Bisson and 3 others
#1,605
groovaholic said:
Right around my birthday, Aion Electronics announced a new circuit - the preamp of a Traynor TS-50B.

Needless to say, I ordered immediately!

This also coincided with my father-in-law giving me his laser engraving machine, so it was my first attempt at using that tech.

The machine is old, so I needed to find an old edition of Corel Draw that’d be compatible with it - then learn the software/hardware.
That part was WAY harder than the soldering…aside from a REALLY DUMB error of soldering the Boost and Hi/Lo switches to the wrong side of the circuit board.:rage:

But once I de-soldered and corrected it, the pedal fired up and worked perfectly.

And it sounds like a can of Shellac…
Click to expand...
I saw the Traynor pcbs the other day from a sale email I received. I couldnr resist and ordered 2. Curious to hear how it sounds. I must say im a bit envious of the laser engraver. I struggle with the enclosure art aspect. You are very fortunate to have that at your disposal. Can't wait to see some more from you.
Matt
 
#1,606
mdalamond said:
I saw the Traynor pcbs the other day from a sale email I received. I couldnr resist and ordered 2. Curious to hear how it sounds. I must say im a bit envious of the laser engraver. I struggle with the enclosure art aspect. You are very fortunate to have that at your disposal. Can't wait to see some more from you.
Matt
Click to expand...
I'll try to record a sample of the TS-50B pre and post it here...

My next project will be Aion's trace of the B3K/Vintage MicroTubes - not sure if I'll use the laser for that; the enclosure I got is bare aluminum and I'm not sure how the etching will show up...
 
#1,607
Here's a quick (and messy) sample that I recorded with 3 different basses:
1) My P-Bass
2) A PJ with active EMGs
3) My Dingwall Z3
Each bass plays 8 strums.
Signal chain was: bass into TS-50B pedal into interface.

And here's the OG, for comparison:


The last part is a short snippet of me noodling around (on my Dingwall) with a cleaner - but still not terribly clean - sound.
 

Attachments

Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: I´mTheUrbanSpaceman, Jebberz and mdalamond
#1,609
Jebberz said:
Totally unrelated question, is that your own dog? (and if so, a whippet or an Italian Greyhound?)
Click to expand...
It's the pic on the cover of the Shellac album "Excellent Italian Greyhound".

Knowing the sarcastic/ironic tendencies of Albini and crew, I had to wonder if maybe it wasn't some other breed of dog...but Wikipedia says "The album's title is a reference to drummer Todd Trainer's Italian Greyhound, Uffizi, who appears on the album's cover."
 
Last edited:
#1,612
Just finished this up. It’s a State Variable Filter. Sounds awesome on bass. So many tones to be had. Really enjoying this one. Pcb by me. Finally , with the help from a friend (;)) I’ve got the art work moving in the direction I like. I used a matte clear finish over everything once I was done. Can’t wait to try it with the band. I have 2 more projects I’m working on that should be done in the next few days I hope.
Matt

20B3E4B0-CD7B-452E-8088-529E829BBD97.jpeg
60040808-EB80-49D2-91D7-373967F07185.jpeg
38592AC0-71C8-4DFE-9692-9D7AFF39CE16.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: I´mTheUrbanSpaceman, Silver Blues, karter2000 and 8 others
#1,613
mdalamond said:
Just finished this up. It’s a State Variable Filter. Sounds awesome on bass. So many tones to be had. Really enjoying this one. Pcb by me. Finally , with the help from a friend (;)) I’ve got the art work moving in the direction I like. I used a matte clear finish over everything once I was done. Can’t wait to try it with the band. I have 2 more projects I’m working on that should be done in the next few days I hope.
Matt

View attachment 4753188 View attachment 4753189 View attachment 4753190
Click to expand...
beauty!
 
#1,614
Hi guys, sorry to be off topic, just wanted to know if this works?

View attachment 4753483

I am changing the preamp on my TRBX305, I just wanted to utilise the existing switch hole but replacing it with a 3 way Alpha switch.

The new 3 way switch will act as:

Position 1 - active
Position 2 - passive with resistor to emulate half pot and tone cap
Position 3 - passive with resistor bypass to emulate tone rolled off
 
#1,616
mdalamond said:
Just finished this up. It’s a State Variable Filter. Sounds awesome on bass. So many tones to be had. Really enjoying this one. Pcb by me. Finally , with the help from a friend (;)) I’ve got the art work moving in the direction I like. I used a matte clear finish over everything once I was done. Can’t wait to try it with the band. I have 2 more projects I’m working on that should be done in the next few days I hope.
Matt

View attachment 4753188 View attachment 4753189 View attachment 4753190
Click to expand...

Lookin' good Matt. SVFs are great, I was just looking at the Pedal PCB version of the Anderton Super Tone Control actually. Building one would be kind of a full circle moment for me, which could be cool. I rarely do clones but that would be a worthy exception I reckon.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AudioTaper
#1,617
mdalamond said:
Just finished this up. It’s a State Variable Filter. Sounds awesome on bass. So many tones to be had. Really enjoying this one. Pcb by me. Finally , with the help from a friend (;)) I’ve got the art work moving in the direction I like. I used a matte clear finish over everything once I was done. Can’t wait to try it with the band. I have 2 more projects I’m working on that should be done in the next few days I hope.
Matt
Click to expand...

Is that a published circuit, or did you design that yourself? Looks excellent.
 
#1,619
Passinwind said:
Lookin' good Matt. SVFs are great, I was just looking at the Pedal PCB version of the Anderton Super Tone Control actually. Building one would be kind of a full circle moment for me, which could be cool. I rarely do clones but that would be a worthy exception I reckon.
Click to expand...
I just put that Anderton Super Tone Control in my PedalPCB wishlist. Because, why not!
 
  • Like
Reactions: mdalamond and Passinwind

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back