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Here's my Boneyard build for a friend of mine. I gotta say, I LOVE THIS PEDAL!

I'm gonna build one for myself and I think I'll stay with the same Plexi theme cause it turned out pretty cool!

Hope you guys like it














-Kaleb

Hey guys!

I have a very peculiar problem that has baffled me. My boneyard works perfectly with the boost ON, but once I turn it off, it sounds extremely low, distorted, controls are really not too responsive. I turn the boost on, works perfect.

I have:

1) Checked the entire board for solder bridges, cold joints, etc. None found. Everything is super clean.

2) Triple checked all resistor values. I should note, the ONLY two different values I have are 2.2K on R4 because I didn't have a 2k and 47R for R5 because it seems like this value sounds way better than the 470R called.

3) I removed the switch. Tested the switch for functionality and it works fine.

4) I have soldered wires 2 and 3 of the SW2 to test with the Boost ON and works great. Did the same with wires 1 and 2 to test with Boost OFF and it WORKS!  ...

so you're probably thinking the same thing as I did, if the circuit works when soldered directly to the OFF and ON positions of the switch, then it must a switch wiring issue.

Well, I have wired the switch (2PDT) twice. I mentioned I tested the switch and works great as it should. I do notice a peculiar characteristic that makes sense to me looking at the circuit, which makes me wonder how can the switch really work.

If the Boost pot is all the way up (max resistance), and the boost is ON, I have continuity only on B2 and B3

FOR REFERENCE:

    A     B
    1     1
    2     2
    3     3

If i turn the pot all the way down, then I have continuity on 1 to 2, 2 to 3 and 3 to 1, which means that the pot is acting as a short and therefore connecting all terminals together (pedal still works though, remember the boost is ON)

Now, if the boost is OFF, I get continuity on all (1 to 2, 2 to 3 and 1 to 3) regardless of the pot value 


And this is where I go...WHAT?!?


Can somebody check if this behavior is normal when the boost is OFF? I honestly do not think so, since it doesn't make any sense to me, but if it is it means i should looks at some faulty component? Which again doesn't make sense because the pedal works fine with the boost ON :S


I'm just rambling now....please any help with this would be VERY APPRECIATED! I'm really losing it with this one...


-Kaleb

Hey dudes!

Just finished my Mangler! It sounds awesome! I screwed up the placement of the resistors on the pots (I had to modify pots to get them where I wanted) so right now it sounds with the Fuzz at 100% haha. I'll fix it later but I'm happy it sounds so cool! I used OC140's from Small Bear. Special thanks to Paul (JakeFuzz) for suggesting them. Love them!

I made the whole theme in German. So the name is Kreigsheld Flaum (War Hero Fuzz). Controls are Laut! (loud), Flaum (Fuzz) and Bias...well guess that one haha. Ein (In), Aus (Out). I used mil-spec wire on it. Absolutely the best wire I've used before!! It's incredible.

I also included a few recent builds (An Egodriver and a Ross Compressor from guitarpcb.com). Don't ask about the names (the guy had some poor taste in names/concepts in my opinion, but hey! those are his pedals! hehe) No gut shots for the Ego, sorry  

Enjoy!

-Kaleb

Hey guys!


So I ordered a pair of OC140s from SB which I believe to be NPN (Please correct me if I'm wrong). I am under the impression the Mangler board is meant for a PNP circuitry correct?

So, in this case, I have flipped the power protection diode as well as the capacitors to match the NPN wiring. The rest of the wiring is straight forward as the any other pedal.

Problem I'm having is that for some reason, if I plug in to the input jack I have LED power all the time, although it gets a little dimmer when it's off. And I don't have sound with the pedal engaged.

I have checked the LED wiring. Positive lead (longest) goes to the tip of the DC jack along with the main power that goes to the board. Negative lead of the LED to the main switch which connects it to ground when the effect is engaged.

This little problem happens only when I have the input connected. If I only connect it to the power supply, it works fine (LED turns on and off as it should).

My input jack has the ring connected to the Black lead of the battery and the Sleeve connected to ground. I have played with the ground locations connected to the Sleeve (straight to the ground on the DC jack or to the main switch).

I should mention that Im using a wiring board from Mammoth which I have used a few times already with success all the time. I have checked all my connections to the board, functionality of the switch as well, continuity, etc....

I'm only suspecting I might have missed something with this project being meant to be built as a PNP circuit.

What do you guys think?

I can post pictures if you need me to.

Thanks!


-Kaleb

Ok, I feel like a super noob asking this question but I'm about to throw my pedal out the window.

Can anybody shed some light about working with these jacks? I have never worked with enclosed jacks like this.

So first off I accidentally bought them with the wrong terminals but no big deal, cause I'm soldering to them anyways. My question is, how do I work with these? Do I have to connect to a specific side of the jack? Do they need to be jumpered so then it doesn't matter which side I'm on? Should I not jumper them?

Any help would be great! Thanks guys.






-Kaleb

Hey guys!

I got a pair of matched OC140s (Q1:Hfe 95, L: 15)(Q2:Hfe 160, L: 43) from SB and he provided the resistors used to match them, however I have no idea which are the resistors mentioned in the provided piece of paper:

R3: 33k
R4: 680
R5: 10K
R6: 100K

In the Mangler, where would these resistors fit?

Thanks!

-Kaleb

So I'm super excited about building my first fuzz pedal which is going to be the Mangler project. I was looking at some wah demos randomly in Youtube when I stumbled into this video

Wah sounds fantastic, but when he clicked his fuzz around 2:11:

And here is another vid of the fuzz alone:

My reaction:  I want this in my pedalboard!

So...I went to SmallBear to get a pair of trannies. Below are the PNP options they have. The guy on the video used option A below and I'm really leaning towards them...unless any of you have used any other pair from these that u can recommend ?

What do you wise gents think?



A. Transistor Pair, The Fuzz Face PNP, SINO
Two matched, old-stock 3AX31C, tested in the Fuzz Face circuit. Supplied with list of resistor values used. Will also work in Bear Face, "Two-knob" Tone Benders, "69", Fuller Mods, etc.
PRICE: $11.00     Shipping Wt. 0.1 oz

B. Transistor Pair - The Fuzz Face PNP, U.S.
Two matched PNP devices, U.S.-made, unbranded old-stock, tested in the Fuzz Face circuit. Supplied with list of resistor values used. Will also work in Bear Face, "Two-knob" Tone Benders, "69", Fuller Mods, etc.
PRICE: $13.00     Shipping Wt. 0.12 oz

C. Transistor Pair, The Fuzz Face PNP, SINO-U.S.
A 3AX31C and a U.S.-made device, tested in the Fuzz Face circuit. Supplied with list of resistor values used. Will also work in Bear Face, "Two-knob" Tone Benders, "69", Fuller Mods, etc.
PRICE: $14.00     Shipping Wt. 0.1 oz

D. Transistor Pair - The Fuzz Face PNP, "All-American"
Two matched PNP devices, U.S.-made, branded and JEDEC-numbered (2Nxxx) old-stock, tested in the Fuzz Face circuit. Supplied with list of resistor values used. Will also work in Bear Face, "Two-knob" Tone Benders, "69", Fuller Mods, etc.
PRICE: $15.00     Shipping Wt. 0.1 oz

E. Transistor Pair - Fuzz Face PNP, "The Continental"
Q1 is OC75, Q2 OC76. Tested in the Fuzz Face circuit, supplied with resistors of the values used in testing. Will also work in Bear Face, "Two-knob" Tone Benders, "69", Fuller Mods, etc. Sorry, no choice of gains.

PRICE: $18.00     Shipping Wt. 0.5 oz


-Kaleb

Hey dudes/gals!

I know maybe this is something most of you have stumbled upon before, but I thought I should share it here to make it available to others who hasn't seen this before.

This is a 1590BB drilling template from geofex.com:

http://www.geofex.com/FX_images/hmbbtpt.pdf

For a 1590BB is perfect cause he even added some guidelines for optimum hardware placement.

But the cool thing about it, is that if you open this up in a vector program, say Illustrator, you can treat each element in the PDF as an object that you can grab and move wherever you want. Which means, that if you draw a box with your enclosure dimensions, you can just grab however many pots you need, jacks, switches ,etc. and lay them out and use it as your drilling template!

So yeah, just thought this was a cool thing to have around when coming up with a layout concept. I should know, I normally whip out my ruler, paper and pencil and start drawing lines and making measurements all over the place haha

Enjoy!


-Kaleb

How cool is this?! The 'Bean himself in action!

Great stuff Brian, I know these are from 5 years ago, but still! I bet this is fun to remember right? hehe!

Enjoy!


-Kaleb

Can anybody suggest a good, cheap heat gun for shrink sleeving? I've been heating sleeves with the heat my soldering iron irradiates and Im getting annoyed by it. Any suggestions?


Thanks!

-Kaleb

Ok, I've been noticing some people talk about the Lunar Module and I've seen a few built here as well...with the Cosmopolitan coming on the mail in a few days I'm just curious about these two pedals...

So what's the deal about these two? Is a Lunar Module a modified version of the Screwdriver? If so, can somebody post some info about this?

Maybe it would be handy to have another parts list on the documents for the new Cosmo?

Thanks!


-Kaleb

Ok, so I put together this Snack Shack and in Q2 I had a 2N2222a. When I plugged it in it sounded really clean and a little bit overdriven when the knob was all the way up. I then changed it to a NTE199 which is a High Gain, Low Noise transistor with hFE of 400-900 which I expected off the walls fuzz. Definitely sounded a bit more fuzzy but I think there is something wrong cause it still sounds gated. It almost feels like I have something backwards but this is not the case. Having such a low part count it's very easy to check this. The pinout of the NTE is ECB so I was careful to bend the leads and fit it into the PCB. The 2N3904 has the flat side facing the pot. C4 has the positive lead towards the pot and C6 has the plus facing left on the PCB.


Sorry I dont have a picture right now, Im typing this on my phone. I will upload a picture as soon as I can, but in the mean time, can anybody maybe post some voltages off the trannies, or maybe suggest something that I I can check that comes to mind?

Thanks!

-Kaleb

Hey guys!

I'm completing a build for a fellow MadBeaner here and for Q2 he had sent me a 2N2222a...however, when the sound is not really fuzzy at all...sounds a bit clean and I have to turn the knob all the way up to get it "fuzzier"...

(In case you're thinking this, Yes it is installed correctly. It has the common E-B-C pinout which corresponds to the layout and I triple checked its polarity). The only suspicious thing I noticed was the voltage between the Base and Collector which read around .564V (a little low)

Anywho...the hFE for this one looks a little low as well (~100) so I think I might need a different option for Q2 possibly with a higher hFE rating?

What do you think might work best for this circuit? The build is pretty much stock everywhere except for Q2.

Thanks!

-Kaleb

Hey guys! I've been very interested in building this and a friend of mine just sent me a message asking me if I could build one for him, but I would really like to know if somebody can upload a sound clip or video you may have recorded about your build? I know this would be very useful not only for me but for other people interested in this build as well.

I'm pretty sure it sounds really good but I just wanna see how good does it sound! 

Thanks in advance!

-Kaleb

How about it guys?

I love how this pedal sounds...very flexible OD!

Have you thought about this one Bean?

-Kaleb

So I would like to desolder a board completely and just clean off as much of the old soldering as possible to start with a "fresh" PCB...

I' can think how to go around doing this with patience (I have some flux, a desoldering pump and desoldering wick) but I was curious if any of you know the best way to do this?

A nuke approach would be awesome haha 


Thanks guys,

-Kaleb

This is going to be the MOrC project from guitarpcb.com. I haven't received the PCB yet but I just finished laying out the graphics for it and it looks so cool that I got excited and wanted to share it with you guys!  

The enclosure is a 1590B in honey wheat yellow from mammoth. The graphics are just the waterslide decal kind

I'm hoping to receive the PCB next Monday/Tuesday so as soon as I get that I will post the gut shot!

Thanks for looking!

-Kaleb




**Update 04/02/11

Here it is completed!! It was incredibly hard to get it into the 1590B...Specially cause I had some big 1uF WIMA caps in there...Sounds great!! Hope you guys like it!

-Kaleb



Here it is next to the White Rhino (Egodriver )



Here's a gut shot I took at some point:



The finished guts . Had a few solder mishaps here and there but I was so desperate to play that I just cleaned it a little bit and gave up haha...(works perfectly though! )

So I built an Egodriver for a friend a few months ago and he loves it but he wants to use it for bass. I now that what I need to do is change the input and output caps but was wondering if any of you has a good suggestion onto good values for these? Thanks in advance!

-Kaleb

Hey guys! I wanna build a fuzz and I thought this one sounded so good...It's the MeatHead made by D*A*M.

I haven't built a fuzz before (fuzz noob), can any of you maybe tell me if you've built a fuzz that sounds similar to this?

Thanks for reading!

-Kaleb

Hello wise people at MadBean Land...I know this is not a madbean project, but the issue is hopefully something general that maybe one of you may have had this problem before?

The pedal works perfectly with a battery, but as soon as I plug in the DC power supply there's a very bad hum...Now, I checked the following things:

1) it's not the power supply. I changed to another pedal and I got no hum
2) it's not the power outlet. I kinda checked that indirectly on 1) but still, changed outlets, same hum
3) triple checked the wiring. Battery snap to middle tab, 9V send to board on little corner tab, Ground to L shaped opposite corner tab to board grounds.
4) checked the ground connections, soldering joints, bridges, the whole chimichanga
5) checked for any enclosure/surface shorting somewhere. Nope.

At this point I'm only suspecting two things. One, the ground tab on the DC jack may be defective? Or two, maybe I have a bad cap on the output buffer...

I'm open to any of your wise solutions

I don't have pics with me right now but if you guys need some I can post some probably on Monday (I'm out for the weekend )

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

-Kaleb