It's probably not the best first post but it is on my mind.
I have been meaning to build an active A/B/Y switcher. I know R.G.Keen designed one
http://www.geofex.com/FX_images/humfree2.gif (http://www.geofex.com/FX_images/humfree2.gif)
I have no idea if it is any good, though a project like this would be good to build.
I have a Pasty Face in the works, though I'd also like to build a Tonebender 2 without the tone control, is there an existing board for this type of build?
I know BYOC has a Tonebender 2 kit, but I'd prefer to buy a board and get my own components. The Mad Bean boards are great, very well thought out.
Mark
The Active A/B/Y project is available as a kit from BYOC, so I'm not sure it's the best project to offer when it's already being offered elsewhere.
If you just need a PCB for an active amp switcher, I do have a PCB on the way that might help you.
There are projects out there for the 2 knob Tonebenders, I think Tonepad has one in particular, and BYOC as you mentioned.
Jacob
Thanks for your reply Jacob. I didn't realise that BYOC made a A/B/Y splitter, they have been quite expensive in Australia and for this reason I don't look at their website. I'll have to check again as they may be cheaper now with the high Australia dollar.
As far as the Tonebender goes I'd prefer not to build the board. I have made boards in the past and it is a hassle and they aren't as good as the new double sided boards.
Have you guys seen the Valve Wizard designs available on his website?
http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/engineersthumb.html (http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/engineersthumb.html)
This his compressor.
This is the comment that grabbed my attention, " the Dynacomp was an astonishingly good design for its era. However, it shows its age, and the main objection to it is its noise floor. This is because OTAs are fundamentally noisy beasts, and when the circuit is not amplifying a signal the OTA is just sitting there running at max gain, producing its maximum amount of output noise.
An obvious solution is to place the OTA in the feedback loop of an opamp, so the situation is reversed. Now when the circuit gain is highest the OTA gain must be lowest (restricting the amount of feedback), so its noise is also lowest."
He's right the Dynacomp units are noisy.
Mark
Built one (on my site), it's very good. As are all of Merlin's effects to be fair.
Actually, Merlin's Engineer's Thumb Compressor is a soon to be release project with my PCB company. Stay tuned for more details.
Jacob
I'd be interested Jacob as I have experimented with the Ross/MXR compressor and while I like the response of it (great for funk) the noise is too much. The top end is shaved off purely to lower the noise floor.
Merlin is a pretty cluey guy, his books on valve amps are on the money.
Mark
acoustic sim
loop station ;D
and how about a delay like raulduke's 2 in 1 (echo machine) i think
Hi Jacob
Do you offer a board for the Engineers Thumb?
Thanks.
Mark
It's coming.
Jacob.
^looking forward to that one very much!!
think we need a amp or two in the PCB's
Maybe a 9v tube and a low voltage solid state
^there was one in the members area, 'lil green watter' or something? Little 1 watt thing I think?
George
yes we do and i have one. but this seems to be a endless topic for the new guys.
why not just have a pcb on the list. so many people dont want to etch
Quote from: jeffaroo on January 01, 2013, 02:45:35 AM
yes we do and i have one. but this seems to be a endless topic for the new guys.
why not just have a pcb on the list. so many people dont want to etch
Well, if you look on the "upcoming" list on the projects page and in the project development blog, you'd see that Bean's designing a submini tube amp. You'll notice most of Brian's projects for the last year have been original (or heavily tweaked) designs, and amps aren't designed in a day.
9v supply is, according to a thread I started recently on DIYSB, a little ambitious for a tube of any sort.
Jacob, let me know when the Engineers Thumb PCB is available. Does it have the same squishiness as the Ross compressor has?
Thanks Jacob.
Mark
Here is the board for the Tonebender and I bought it, thanks Mad Bean, I look forward to receiving the board and building the pedal.
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/Tonebender/Tonbender2014.pdf (http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/Tonebender/Tonbender2014.pdf)
Regards
Mark
I for one would LOVE to finally see some noise gate PCB's being released. You'd think that with those gazillions of dirtbox, compressor and boost PCB's being constantly released by everyone there would be some need for a noise gate to keep all that noise down.
Quote from: Muadzin on October 19, 2014, 09:57:38 AM
I for one would LOVE to finally see some noise gate PCB's being released. You'd think that with those gazillions of dirtbox, compressor and boost PCB's being constantly released by everyone there would be some need for a noise gate to keep all that noise down.
Definitely. I built a Decimator/Engineer's Thumb combo and the two circuit work perfectly together. The Decimator keeps the noise out before the compressor can raise it.
Quote from: mremic01 on October 19, 2014, 07:27:54 PM
Quote from: Muadzin on October 19, 2014, 09:57:38 AM
I for one would LOVE to finally see some noise gate PCB's being released. You'd think that with those gazillions of dirtbox, compressor and boost PCB's being constantly released by everyone there would be some need for a noise gate to keep all that noise down.
Definitely. I built a Decimator/Engineer's Thumb combo and the two circuit work perfectly together. The Decimator keeps the noise out before the compressor can raise it.
Compressor usually goes in front of dirt, noise gate goes after unless you like to hear the SSSHHHHHHHHH sound of stacked gain pedals when guitar signal is muted by the gate... putting a gate in front of the dirt is a bit irrelevant to me.
With the amount of Decimator i've built on etched layout i'd be the first one to have fabbed and available for DIY, unless some of pcb floggers gets a deal or consentement with ISP Technology, i highly doubt any of us will publicly release a layout, 100% sure we'll get sued.
Rej
Hey Rej what decimator layout are you using for your builds?
Richard
Quote from: Shrtyska9 on October 19, 2014, 09:26:17 PM
Hey Rej what decimator layout are you using for your builds?
Richard
Gallego, can be found on DIYSB i think.
Ok cool. Thanks man
Richard
Quote from: GrindCustoms on October 19, 2014, 09:12:20 PM
Quote from: mremic01 on October 19, 2014, 07:27:54 PM
Quote from: Muadzin on October 19, 2014, 09:57:38 AM
I for one would LOVE to finally see some noise gate PCB's being released. You'd think that with those gazillions of dirtbox, compressor and boost PCB's being constantly released by everyone there would be some need for a noise gate to keep all that noise down.
Definitely. I built a Decimator/Engineer's Thumb combo and the two circuit work perfectly together. The Decimator keeps the noise out before the compressor can raise it.
Compressor usually goes in front of dirt, noise gate goes after unless you like to hear the SSSHHHHHHHHH sound of stacked gain pedals when guitar signal is muted by the gate... putting a gate in front of the dirt is a bit irrelevant to me.
With the amount of Decimator i've built on etched layout i'd be the first one to have fabbed and available for DIY, unless some of pcb floggers gets a deal or consentement with ISP Technology, i highly doubt any of us will publicly release a layout, 100% sure we'll get sued.
Rej
Depends on where your noise is coming from. I've had more luck with noise gates in front. It keeps things from getting amplified by cleaning up your signal early on. Yeah, a gate at the end of the chain will clean up anything generated by other stuff, but I've always had issues with the threshold settings either needing to be too high to turn off any boosts and not have it have weird decay problems, or not be high enough to deal with any noise getting boosted by pedals in front of it. In front of a compressor works for me, and keeps the compressor quite to boot.
I'd agree with that, pretty much depends of the setup. I always have a comp on, no matter dirt or clean and it's boosting a bit at the same time, that helps alot to control the treshold of the gate when put at the complete end of the chain.
There isn't a home-designed noise gate that works as well if not better?
http://fearedandloathed.com/Images/BYOC/gstring.pdf (http://fearedandloathed.com/Images/BYOC/gstring.pdf)
Is this the link/layout you are after?
Mark
Quote from: GrindCustoms on October 19, 2014, 09:12:20 PM
Compressor usually goes in front of dirt, noise gate goes after unless you like to hear the SSSHHHHHHHHH sound of stacked gain pedals when guitar signal is muted by the gate... putting a gate in front of the dirt is a bit irrelevant to me.
With the amount of Decimator i've built on etched layout i'd be the first one to have fabbed and available for DIY, unless some of pcb floggers gets a deal or consentement with ISP Technology, i highly doubt any of us will publicly release a layout, 100% sure we'll get sued.
Rej
Why? Plenty of other pedals get cloned and offered as pcb's. What makes the Decimator so protected?
Besides, even if the copyright gods do frown upon doing a Decimator pcb, why not use the MXR noise gate? It may not be exactly like the Decimator, but its been around for a while on the DIY circuit and something is better then nothing.
Quote from: Muadzin on October 20, 2014, 01:11:54 PM
Why? Plenty of other pedals get cloned and offered as pcb's. What makes the Decimator so protected?
Most pedal circuits aren't patented, and can't be, but the Decimator is.
IIRC, from researching the Decimator and G-string layouts a month or so ago, there are some corrections that are needed to be made to that build doc (Slade's G-string version). The corrections and the build doc aren't an all-in-one, easy-to-read file though, and you have to comb through several forum pages to get it. I'll attach a couple files that will help you figure it out. (The corrections were derived from going through Galego's G-string schematic and finding where Slade's layout was incorrect.)
There is another layout floating around, not from DIYSB, that appears to be an original Decimator that incorporates a 3PDT switch and I/O jacks right on the PCB. Very limiting on how you can lay it out, obviously. The ground plane is a bunch of cross hatches. I had that etch layout downloaded, but deleted it in favor of the corrected G-string version, and now I don't know where to find it again.
Quote from: kothoma on October 20, 2014, 01:31:32 PM
Quote from: Muadzin on October 20, 2014, 01:11:54 PM
Why? Plenty of other pedals get cloned and offered as pcb's. What makes the Decimator so protected?
Most pedal circuits aren't patented, and can't be, but the Decimator is.
Seriously? :o If its not possible to patent circuits, how could they do it with the Decimator? Especially since I came across two PCB vendors who were selling boards for it?
Quote from: Muadzin on October 20, 2014, 09:12:46 PM
Quote from: kothoma on October 20, 2014, 01:31:32 PM
Quote from: Muadzin on October 20, 2014, 01:11:54 PM
Why? Plenty of other pedals get cloned and offered as pcb's. What makes the Decimator so protected?
Most pedal circuits aren't patented, and can't be, but the Decimator is.
Seriously? :o If its not possible to patent circuits, how could they do it with the Decimator? Especially since I came across two PCB vendors who were selling boards for it?
It's perfectly possible to patent circuits. It's just VERY difficult.
G-string Schematic attached. Didn't realize the new layout didn't identify a few parts (look here for the answers).
Quote from: Muadzin on October 20, 2014, 09:12:46 PM
Quote from: kothoma on October 20, 2014, 01:31:32 PM
Quote from: Muadzin on October 20, 2014, 01:11:54 PM
Why? Plenty of other pedals get cloned and offered as pcb's. What makes the Decimator so protected?
Most pedal circuits aren't patented, and can't be, but the Decimator is.
Seriously? :o If its not possible to patent circuits, how could they do it with the Decimator? Especially since I came across two PCB vendors who were selling boards for it?
I didn't say that. Just that most can't be patented, and that's because they are in essence copies of copies, with minor changes, irrelevant for the patent office. Well, if Maxon had applied for a patent for TS-type diode soft clipping in 1974...
The Decimator uses a novel method (http://www.isptechnologies.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Decimator-white-paper.pdf) of adaptive release times and ISP owns a patent for that (afaik).
Okay, so the Decimator cannot be offered for sale as a PCB. Still, there were noise gates long before the Decimator came around that could be offered for sale. Like the MXR, or the Boss. I'd be perfectly willing to settle for one of those.
Quote from: Muadzin on October 21, 2014, 10:39:49 AM
Okay, so the Decimator cannot be offered for sale as a PCB. Still, there were noise gates long before the Decimator came around that could be offered for sale. Like the MXR, or the Boss. I'd be perfectly willing to settle for one of those.
Why not settle down and do your own layout then? ;) ;D
I imagine the reason Madbean hasn't done a noisegate PCB is because they don't interest him all that much.
http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=18 (MXR Noise Gate $14.00)
Brian works in mysterious ways, this year he updated the Retrograde board but didn't allow a choice of transformers from Small Bear (Mouser #42TM022 1500CT/600CT or Mouser #42TU011 1.5K CT/500 Ohms CT.) The differences between the two transformers is core size and wire resistance as shown in the attachments. It is my guess the larger core size would make the 42TU011 a better option. Mounting the board on the lugs of the pots would have been very desirable too, though the weight of the transformer might have been a reliability issue?
Hopefully transformer options can be done in the next run of boards?
I hope this doesn't sound too critical, Brian does design a great board which is why he gets my business, but I suspect he is very time poor and this isn't his day job.
All food for thought.
Mark
Quote from: Mark0614 on October 22, 2014, 11:21:19 AM
I hope this doesn't sound too critical, Brian does design a great board which is why he gets my business, but I suspect he is very time poor and this isn't his day job.
All food for thought.
Mark
I believe it is his day job (someone correct me if I am wrong).
I also don't want to sound too critical, but if Brian/Madbean took everyone's requirements for PCB's they want, components they want to use etc. into consideration and acted on all requests then there would probably be NO projects released, let alone the ones we do get.
I also know that Brian (and the other guys who are partners here) spend a lot of their development time verifying designs and getting things
right before they release anything.
I'm usually a pretty laid back guy, but these 'I want this PCB so why can't Brian design one' or 'I want to use this component so why didn't Brian think of using it' comments kind of get my back up to be honest.
This forum is one of the few places on the internet that I know of that is always positive, and hardly ever resorts to people moaning or griping, and I like it that way.
My honest advice (and I mean this in the nicest way) is that you have a specific request, or would like to use a component in your builds, why not learn to use Eagle/Diptrace etc. and do your own layouts? It is honestly one of my favourite parts of the whole DIY pedal process. It is also really fun! OSH park is so cheap you can get a prototype of your own design for hardly any outlay.
Maybe I'm just being over sensitive... who knows :(
Quote from: raulduke on October 21, 2014, 11:03:24 AM
Quote from: Muadzin on October 21, 2014, 10:39:49 AM
Okay, so the Decimator cannot be offered for sale as a PCB. Still, there were noise gates long before the Decimator came around that could be offered for sale. Like the MXR, or the Boss. I'd be perfectly willing to settle for one of those.
Why not settle down and do your own layout then? ;) ;D
I wish I could. I really did. I really respect all you guys who can, who come up with great and interesting designs, but I don't have the skills, nor the time to design any myself. I can barely debug my own builds.
QuoteI imagine the reason Madbean hasn't done a noisegate PCB is because they don't interest him all that much.
Perhaps, still, its a business he's running and since this thread has more or less become dominated by noise gate discussion I'd say there is some market for them. Again, with all those gazillions of dirtbox kits and PCB's being released by everyone you'd think there would A: be a market for them and B: somebody willing to fill that niche to make a buck. After all, where is the business sense in releasing yet another overdrive when the market is overrun with them when there is a whole new market waiting to be exploited out there? Besides, most dirtboxes all sound the same to me anyway.
Quote from: kothoma on October 21, 2014, 12:06:39 PM
http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=18 (MXR Noise Gate $14.00)
I have ordered one of those in the past. Unfortunately it would seem that the Tonepad PCB seems to be a hit and miss and needs tinkering to get working. At least with Brian you know that when he releases something it will work.
Quote from: raulduke on October 22, 2014, 11:32:39 AM
Quote from: Mark0614 on October 22, 2014, 11:21:19 AM
I hope this doesn't sound too critical, Brian does design a great board which is why he gets my business, but I suspect he is very time poor and this isn't his day job.
All food for thought.
Mark
I believe it is his day job (someone correct me if I am wrong).
I also don't want to sound too critical, but if Brian/Madbean took everyone's requirements for PCB's they want, components they want to use etc. into consideration and acted on all requests then there would probably be NO projects released, let alone the ones we do get.
I also know that Brian (and the other guys who are partners here) spend a lot of their development time verifying designs and getting things right before they release anything.
I'm usually a pretty laid back guy, but these 'I want this PCB so why can't Brian design one' or 'I want to use this component so why didn't Brian think of using it' comments kind of get my back up to be honest.
This forum is one of the few places on the internet that I know of that is always positive, and hardly ever resorts to people moaning or griping, and I like it that way.
My honest advice (and I mean this in the nicest way) is that you have a specific request, or would like to use a component in your builds, why not learn to use Eagle/Diptrace etc. and do your own layouts? It is honestly one of my favourite parts of the whole DIY pedal process. It is also really fun! OSH park is so cheap you can get a prototype of your own design for hardly any outlay.
Maybe if you're an American that is. If not, then Oshpark ain't that cheap at all. American overseas shipping is brutal. :(
QuoteMaybe I'm just being over sensitive... who knows :(
Methinks there is nothing wrong with a thread where people can make suggestions towards Brian for future releases. I'd say that is potential customer feedback for himand that is good for any business. That way Brian can make guesses as to what new kind of project might be both interesting and profitable for him to persue. Being dismissive of that, that seems almost as wrong as people demanding that Brian makes something for them.
Quote from: raulduke on October 22, 2014, 11:32:39 AM
Maybe I'm just being over sensitive... who knows :(
I'd say somewhat yes, somewhat no. And I say "somewhat no" because I understand why you're thinking what you are. It's exactly the same reason why I try my hardest to stifle my child-like enthusiasm for the Etcher's Paradise release. I want to ask every day "is it done yet?!?" like a kid asking his parents if they're at the theme park yet... but that can come across as seemingly entitled, which none of us are, so I squelch it so I don't sound ungrateful. If I do make any posts asking about a timeline it's only out of excitement. I think that's what a lot of the suggestions are - not intended to be complaints, but they can be taken in a manner much more critical than what they're intended, and they're intended to be helpful and suggestive, providing feedback and efforts to improve. Problem is, anytime you suggest an improvement you're also implying that the version in front of you has a flaw. So it's a catch-22 situation.
Quote from: Muadzin on October 22, 2014, 03:28:42 PM
American overseas shipping is brutal. :(
Huh? Free shipping is brutal? See here: http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=9587.0
Yeah maybe I saw red here. Apologies if I have offended anyone.
I agree there is nothing wrong with a bit of customer feedback/suggestions.
I think there is a way of suggesting stuff that doesn't come across as semi-entitled/gripey though, but I don't want to start an argument ;)
Also, Muadzin, OSH park is free for international shipping dude.
Depending on exchange rates (I'm in the UK) it can work out even cheaper for us EU guys than our US pals.
I know it is daunting to take those first steps with doing your own layouts, but it will honestly open up a new world of pleasure from the hobby for you (IMO of course).
Doing layouts is almost as addictive as building the pedals up!
I say dive in and try something simple (eg. a one knob fuzz or LPB) and you will end up hooked; I guarantee it!
Anyway, onwards and upwards ;D
1 - This is my day job. I have 2.5 day jobs now (MBP, FFX and 424) plus daddy day care in the afternoons. Just FYI.
2 - I did not know about the alternate transformer in the Octavia. I just used the one I've always built mine with. The reason that the pots are not PCB mounted is because of the transformer height. It might fit if 9mm PCB mounted are used instead of 16mm, but it just isn't something I checked into.
Don't forget there is also a "request" section of the forum, which I do check now and again. Granted, most everything I am going to do is planned out for the next six months but sometimes there are suggestions that come up that I never consider which gets me pumped up :)
Hi Brian, thanks for your reply.
I'll try to explain my comments to all a little further. My posts are not complaints but positive criticism. I didn't think it was reasonable to assume Brian gave every pedal the same attention, I don't think it is an effective usage of time to do so. The pedals which typically fall into this area are the classics, the Fuzz Face, the Orange Squeezer, the Phase 45, the Phase 90, and of course the Octavia to name but a few. The logic is why re-invent the wheel when all the mods are already out there, and people pretty much like the pedals as is.
I have been looking at the Octavia and looking at all the ways to get the best performance from it. As previously mentioned a fellow Mad Bean Forum member tried the transformer upgrade (I have yet to try it), and said it made a huge improvement to the pedal. I did look at a lot of photo's of Octavia's and repro's of this pedal and the transformer did seem larger than the 42TM series txer. So it did seem probable that the 42TU transformer would work better.
I've seen mods to the Octavia on GGG site and I don't think they are all that effective, I've found turning the gain down on the Octavia is a better option to turning the Octavia fully up and reducing the guitars volume. I have used the Octavia without the octave effect and it does work well when all controls are dimed, so I'm inclined to think turning down the tone and volume controls is a way of having your cake and eating it.
Typically with this effect, using the front pickup always helps, the tone control helps too, but only to a point, I found the 0.1uF cap in my Strat reduced the signal too much and a smaller cap (possibly a 0.01uF, haven't tried this yet) will enhance the octave up effect and still sound good. I'm going to use a DPDT switch to switch the shunt cap in with the octave effect.
Regards
Mark
Quote from: raulduke on October 22, 2014, 03:50:51 PM
Yeah maybe I saw red here. Apologies if I have offended anyone.
I agree there is nothing wrong with a bit of customer feedback/suggestions.
I think there is a way of suggesting stuff that doesn't come across as semi-entitled/gripey though, but I don't want to start an argument ;)
Yeah, I agree. I think the suggestion box is a good thing. I also agree that there are positive and negative ways to approach things. You see it in regards to suggested projects, announced projects that aren't ready yet, contests that have been announced but haven't happened on time, etc...
Life gets busy for all of us. I'll stick up for Brian here because I've gotten to know him as a friend and business partner over the past year and because I know he has a lot of irons in the fire. If it's been announced, he's working on it. Odds are, he wants it to be ready as much as you do. Have patience, if the project is good, it'll get there; if it doesn't work out, there's probably a reason it didn't. Same thing with proposed projects. If it seems like a cool project, somebody will probably pick it up. If there are reasons people want to avoid it, then you may have to find a different project or learn how to do layouts yourself.
Some requests I see remind me of a buddy who is a talented Linux programmer. He has spent plenty of time writing programs that he wanted for himself and often releases them to the public as a contribution to the community. People contact him with ideas and expect that he will just do the work they requested. His response has always been that he writes programs the he wants for himself and often shares them. But if somebody wants something he isn't inclined to write for himself, they can either A) pay him to write it or B) learn how to code themselves. He didn't mean it to be a jerk but he has a family and time commitments and keeping up with requests could easily be a full-time job. It's also less fun if it's not something he is inherently interested in.
Anyway, that's a bit of an aside.
For what it's worth, the requests in this thread haven't seemed too unreasonable, raulduke's post just got me thinking.
At one point Brian was working on an etchable layout for the decimator. Here is the thread:
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=7161
Richard