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Post by flateric on May 9, 2009 17:52:49 GMT -5
Tubescreamer DIY pedal mkIISort of gave my last one away so here's a new homebuild Tubescreamer 808 asymmetrical diode-clipping Stevie Ray Vaugn Special with a little bit more max distortion. Quite mid-rangey sound but a great pedal, the holy grail of overdrive tones used to recreate the sound of a tube amp being driven into break-up. The tone control is a little sensitive again - all the real change happens in the last 15% of the pot sweep. What is great about this pedal is the rich harmonics of the overdrive, very natural, and you can back off with the guitars volume control easily to clean up the sound. it can be used on low level to boost a fairly clean sound by a few Db or you can whack it up and go for a very natural full-on distortion but we're not talking scopoped mids metal territory, its more of a warm vintage push. The pedal is very useful as a solo boost as well as a general low to medium distortion device for rhythm parts. Another one currently in the making too - this time a straight TS808, not the SRV special. Pic 1: PCB about half way thru the etching process Pic 2: PCB finished, cleaned and drilled Pic 3: Started populating the board with components. In total 18 resistors, 3 diodes, 7 capacitors, 2 transistors and a 4558 Op Amp IC. Pic 4: A huge squeeze getting it all to fit into a slim project box. I had to abandon the hope to get a 9V DC socket in there as well. 3PDT footswitch gives true bypass as well as a little LED status indicator. Pic 5: the finished pedal. 
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Post by flateric on May 9, 2009 18:18:46 GMT -5
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Post by cynical1 on May 9, 2009 19:59:13 GMT -5
So you did this all from scratch...and you put up a sound clip.
Where'd you find the plans for this little beauty?
Thanks for sharing this one.
You are still the man.
Happy Trails
Cynical One
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Post by flateric on May 10, 2009 3:32:53 GMT -5
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Post by flateric on May 10, 2009 9:43:20 GMT -5
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Post by cynical1 on May 10, 2009 12:49:47 GMT -5
Well, the mist is starting to clear...
The tutorial you put together really surprised me with just how simple the process is for making a PCB. This is something I could do.
The other link on the diagrams and PCB layouts was equally as impressive.
I'm getting better at reading schematics, but I still have a hard time actually spec'ing the components. Understanding the values and actually pulling them out of a catalog is the next hurdle. There are enough designs detailed on the link you posted to push me to learn this.
Since I have no plans on playing live again the thought of building an effects console for recording is beginning to fester in the old dormant organ...chorus, flange, an overdrive...maybe two, compressor, delay...maybe a wah...I'm still reading the list on the web page...
Not to go too far off topic here...but I have a question.
Would it be feasible to make the PC boards a uniform size, and provided they all had identical power requirements, build a set number of "bays" in the console and just add a power connector to each board to connect to your power supply, and an interface to allow the signal to pass through the console to the next/previous effect, then swap out effects as needed.
The theory here is to have a bevy of potential effects available to you and only have to store the individual printed circuit board modules... Using hex standoffs on the PCB, and a coverplate, you would have your pots and switches already in place. The coverplate would have your mounting screw holes, so, in theory, you could add effects or change the effect order with 4 screws and three connectors.
Anyone ever make one with a standard power supply to avoid wall wart or batteries? And what's the SOP for chaining a group of these together in a console and having 1 line in and 1 line out?
Keep in mind my only electronics training was a HeathKit set I had when I was kid...
+1 for taking the voodoo out of pedal building for me...and giving me one more thing to aggravate the pain and strife with...
Happy Trails
Cynical One
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Post by flateric on May 10, 2009 13:05:35 GMT -5
Nice one, -yes perfectly feasible modular approach to effects cards, the guys at Tonepad dot com and General Guitar Gadgets also have some modular PCB's they offer which are usable for a few differernt types of circuit. Warning: The overdrive and fuzz types are a great starting place but when you get into delays, flange, chorus, you will see the circuits get mindblowing! easy to make a silly error and render it useless, and waste many hours trying to debug it. Well worth a look thru their websites anyway. For me the 3 great places for resources are: www.diystompboxes.com www.generalguitargadgets.comwww.tonepad.comhave fun getting sucked into this addictive, dark and clammy activity of electronic music geekdom! |
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Post by cynical1 on May 10, 2009 20:53:26 GMT -5
Yeah, I noticed that about the designs becoming more involved when you go into the cool stuff...I looked up Electric Mistress and had a blond moment looking at the layout...
The overdrives and some of the amp pedals looked like good entry projects. If I don't blow a fuse on these I may start studying for the cooler stuff.
Thanks again for posting all this great stuff.
Happy Trails
Cynical One
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Post by gfxbss on May 10, 2009 21:42:27 GMT -5
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Post by flateric on May 11, 2009 1:49:27 GMT -5
I'm using a little Dremel hobby drill and a 1mm drill bit - the bit could do with being a little smaller but 1mm is the smallest I have that is still intact.
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Post by gfxbss on May 11, 2009 6:15:20 GMT -5
alright, i think i have a .8 dremel bit so that will be what i use.
thanks,
Tyler
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Post by flateric on May 11, 2009 7:26:10 GMT -5
Thx for the press'n'peel link, must give that a try, it looks great!
I have 4 projects on the go at the moment,
1) Basic standard unmodded unadulterated 808 tubescreamer
2) clean solo boost circuit
3) simple compressor
4) Noisy cricket micro guitar amp circuit.
Will see if I can get some of this sticky blue paper to try.
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Post by gfxbss on May 11, 2009 16:39:07 GMT -5
not a problem.
i cant wait until mine comes in.
i have been doing everything on perf board.
i am currently working on
a TS-808
a Colorsound overdriver for someone else
a SolaSound Tone Bender
another Big Muff Pi for someone else
and a Small Clone Chorus
Tyler
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Post by flateric on May 11, 2009 17:39:08 GMT -5
Be interested to see your small clone layout, do you have a link?
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Post by gfxbss on May 11, 2009 18:24:40 GMT -5
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Post by flateric on May 12, 2009 1:38:35 GMT -5
I have an issue with this:
posted by an admittedly non-chemist, he's making some quetionable assumptions here.
1) Hydrogen Peroxide and Hydrochloric acid are easier to get hold of than ferric chroride - Not so. If you put this on your shopping list up here you'd get followed home by the bomb squad!
2) Hydrogen Peroxide and Hydrochloric acid are somehow environmentally safer than Ferrous Chloride which reacts with the copper to form Copper Chloride and Hydrochroric acid. This is also flawed logic, and I am a chemist. In the end I'd prefer to stay away from peroxide, as well as being caustic and irritant its a lot nastier than anything you would get from the traditional FeCl3 route.
-Good luck with the Small Stone project. Don't think I;m ready to tackle this complexity yet!
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Post by gfxbss on May 13, 2009 6:41:48 GMT -5
here too, but all i needed was a small amount of hydrochloric acid.
i appreciate the heads up. i think the reason they are claiming that it is more environmentally friendly is that you can recharge it and supposedly dont need to throw it out...
the small stone will probably be the last one of the lot. I dont think that i am ready for it either, but i figure with an etched board it should be a ton easier than the perfboard way that i have been doing.
Tyler
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