Topics

Hey everybody - this is a total noob question, but are guitar pots supposed to be audio taper or linear taper or both? Here's my situation: I got a crappy LP Jr copy at a yard sale. The knobs of the pots had been broken clean off. The values are as follows:

Guitar #1: "Talent LP Jr"
Volume: 500kA
Tone: 500kB

I was going to swap out the pots with some from another junkyard guitar (a First Act single-pickup model) and the pots in this guitar were:

Guitar #2: "First Act 5008"
Volume: 500kB
Tone: 500kA

So, here are my questions: Which pots were in the right place? Does it really matter?

Hey everybody,

Here's my "Les Lansing" - I built it stock and it sounds great. It quickly replaced the TS-808 clone on my pedalboard. As for the decal, it's a picture of the Otto Eckart power plant in Lansing, MI. One thing that I really dig about this pedal is how it interacts with my guitar's volume knob. With my Les Paul, it delivers some serious Neil Young "Zuma" tone! 

I started working on this enclosure and populated the board at then end of June. Then I ended up moving to a new place and left this project untouched for three weeks. After I got settled, I dug this out and got all the off-board components wired up and tested it. Everything worked great. I (hastily) installed it in the enclosure so I could use it at rehearsal later that night. However, I then realized that I had flipped the board in a different direction when I was creating the decal for the enclosure so my Balance/Volume/Intensity labels on the enclosure didn't match the actual controls (insert facepalm here). SOOOOOOOO, I then scraped off the old decal and made a new one. Long story short, here's my "Waves Of Sound" tremolo and I absolutely dig it.

Hey everybody, this is my 3rd non-kit build and I haven't encountered this problem before. I'm working on a Double Flush and I think have a power problem. When I first tested it, nothing happened at all. No led, no sound, etc.

However, when I used an alligator clip to join the two +9v terminals on the power jack, the effect worked. (I stumbled on this when I pulled out my DMM to start troubleshooting and the tip of my DMM contacted both +9v terminals.) It's also worth noting that when the effect is powered up, the hum is loud enough to be sort of annoying and the hum pulses with the effect.

So here are my questions:
1) Are these serious problems?
2) Do I just solder a piece of wire between the two +9v terminals?
3) Is there a way to reduce the hum?

Other relevant info: I subbed a 3.9M resistor in R18 because I didn't have a 3.3M. I'm also using a 1776 Effects 3pdt board. (I don't know if this info is relevant or not.)

Any insight would be much appreciated - thanks!

Hey everybody! Here's my Cupcake compressor. I had a botched enclosure (the drilling is about 1/4" off center) and was like, "well, I should put something in there." Everything is stock. This definitely adds some "oomph" to my Tele. I also recorded a short demo. Enjoy!

Outside:


Inside:  


Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FblmCf66goI

Sorry for the blurry pics - they didn't look so bad when I took them with my phone.

Hi everybody,

I have the 3pdt board from 1776 effect and I'm going to use it to keep the wiring neat inside the Double Flush that I'm building. My question is this: since I've already populated the Double Flush board (except for the LED), do I still add R1 on the 3pdt board?

I'm still new to this, so forgive me if this is a really simple question.

I'm sort of new to this and I had a couple questions about the Mangler. I built one over the summer and I want to tinker with it.

1) Can I make the internal trim pot an external control? I know the value, but what type of pot (A/B/C) do I use?

2) Is there some sort of way where I can control the voltage to simulate the sound of a dying battery within the Mangler?

I saw a few demos of certain pedals (Heavy Electronics Radio Havana pedal to be exact) and wondered if I could do the same. Any input is much appreciated. Thanks!

Hey everybody!

This was the pedal that got me interested in building pedals. A year ago, I saw this vintage interview with Jeff Beck and I was like, "Man, that Colorsound Overdriver sounds cool. I wonder where I can find one." So I did some digging on the internet and found that original versions of the pedal were, like, $500 and that the Throbak reproduction was $200-$300. I did a little more research and found this site and a few other DIY sites and thought, "Well, I should probably try building my own CSOD for a fraction of the price."

So, long story short, I did a few kit builds back in the summer (BYOC Octave Fuzz, GGG Phase 45) and worked up to a non-kit Fuzz Face (using Madbean's "Mangler" board). After being successful with those, I started working on the Cherrybomb. I screwed up the cap values on my first order from Smallbear, but eventually got the right values.

The first time I hooked up all the pots and jacks, nothing happened. I let the project sit unfinished for two days. I did some reading, learned how to troubleshoot, and went back and cleaned up my soldering and my wiring. On the second attempt, the pedal fired up right away! Right on!

Here are the pics:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


I like the way it sounds right now, but I had a few questions:
1) The overdrive gets super intense when I turn the "Gain" knob past 12 O'clock. It starts to sound really "splatty" and compressed. Is this normal? Or is there a way to smooth out the sound as I turn up the gain?

2) I used BC109C transistors from Smallbear. Are these transistors sensitive to temperature changes like the germanium transistors in my Mangler?

Finally, here's the Jeff Beck interview that started my new hobby. The picture quality sucks, but it's still pretty cool.

Hi everybody, currently in the process of troubleshooting a Cherrybomb / Colorsound Overdriver. This is my second build.  When I engage the effect, there is a significant volume drop - I have to crank my amp to even hear the effect. What might be causing this problem? Thanks in advance for the help.

Aside from some grounding issues that took a while to solve (pots shorting out against the board, or against the side of the enclosure and being totally baffled), this was really fun.

Since the Mangler is a copy of a Fuzz Face, I decided the enclosure should pay a little homage. Special shoutout to "Mgwhit" who responded to, like 99% of my questions when I was troubleshooting. Thanks!




Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Hi everybody,

I'll preface this post by saying this is my fourth build, but it's my first "non-kit" build that I've attempted. I got the Mangler, I used matched PNP-Ge transistors from Smallbear (and used the Smallbear-supplied resistors instead of the resistor values on the Madbean schematic).

After I assembled the board and went to test it, all I got was a loud buzz. It didn't matter if bypass was on or not. I checked the other elements of my rig (guitar/amp/cable) to make sure they were okay, and they were.

So, based on what I've read on other posts, this means that there's a grounding issue with the Mangler, right? So, I went back and reflowed all my connections and gave it another shot. I also made sure that the pots weren't touching the board. They weren't. I fired it up again and got the same result.

I've included pics - any assistance and insight are much appreciated. Thanks.