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Alright, let's see what I did RoNg this time. Just a few things to get out of the way:

I routed all wire off to the left, to avoid the LFO/clock as much as possible.

The reg looks backwards, but the part I have (ST L78L05CZ) has reversed pins.

The 33uF caps (C26, C27, C35) are tantalum (supposedly bipolar??), but are oriented off lead length (no pole indicators) just in case.

Those friggin Xvive labels are terrible to see in any light, but is a 3007. It and the 3101 were both working when I pulled them from my Pork Barrel.


During calibration I get next to no signal from TP2 (unless I really crank up the gain on my desktop amp), and even when I adjust it to be the clearest, there's still LFO tick.

The 22k trimpots are 20k

When I try to calibrate the clock with my Fluke, I'm barely getting 3 kHz (at least I think I'm using it correctly).

Actually now I'm listening again, it's not self-oscillating, though I'm sure how that would sound on this particular circuit to tell, so at any rate, T1 for feedback doesn't really have a dramatic effect


Apologies if I've forgotten something basic 

When I saw Brian debuting new PT2399 offerings, my interest was piqued. I have a Zero Point SDX my friend Neil built for me ages ago. I love it, but it loves to break loose even without a SLAM I'm sort of getting the hang of the "dwell" function, though whenever I get a demo of it recorded, I'm curious if my LM386L is doing what it should. I mean, on paper it has the same specs as the -3 version...

Regardless, I like this delay a lot! I love that I can really get that endless texture and dial it in with both mix and tone controls to right where I want it. I feel like homebrewtj and I were on the same page as far as concepts go, so hope they don't mind if I share the whole deconstruction / pixelation theme.





I overshot the switch wire lengths, so they're a bit smooshed on this one  : /  Also, can you say "reused switch?"  : P ...rosin residue...ugh





I was struggling to find a single-source for the knurled (built-in-knob-kinda) 9mm pots, so though it doesn't show, the tone knob is actually has a 90˚ stop, which is serendipitously fitting for a tone knob, imo. They're also the taller versions than the ones spec'd in the build documentation, but I don't mind them.

I finally got to use the 1/4W, shorter package resistors from a long-ago Mouser order. I had no idea they came in that package, and when they first arrived I was very confused, since, like with many part descriptions, there wasn't an accurate photo  : P  but they were 1/4W and was glad to have them here ...just in case. IDK, one of those things...

When I had it in the PLA enclosure for build and testing, I was getting this weird thing where the repeat would sort of reset itself, or just stop repeating altogether, and I wondered if I had yet another failed PT2399 (had one in a Magdelay Bay for a friend go wrong). Turns out I had a cold joint on one of the legs. Don't remember the last time that happened, but got it sorted.

Fun fact: the typeface is the same one used on the classic Macintosh FPS series Marathon

I struggled with balancing the control naming and the graphic, but here were are. maybe it would've been better to omit the extra text.

Thanks for looking.

Here it is! THE GRODIEST Odor



From my rather sophomoric ODR-1-like board, The Noblest Odor, I had a not-original idea to pair it with pre-OD boost stage, in the shape of It Just Boosts, my take on the LPB-1. This is a Tayda matte black 1590BB enclosure with a custom design, calling to mind (and borrowing from) Big Daddy Roth's style! Painting out the standard control markings with a punkinsh, flair.

What does it sound like? GRODY! The ODR-1 was heralded as an elegant overdrive, and while it is nice and silky, I wanted the ability to make it dirty on command!

I'm a sloppy guitarist... playing for other players makes me super self-conscious, so focus on the tone, not my meh playing.

I opted for a 4011 in the "standard" range of an OG Fairchild 5088 over the latter. My mystery box 5088s are well over 500 hFE. I mean, maybe it's louder with a 5088, so I socketed it just in case. Usually these boosts are good enough as-is With mauman's addition suggestion to mitigate some heterodyning, powered by a brick I don't get any of that squeal. The wiring is... well you can't see how wacky it is. Since I opted for boost on the left, OD on the right, the jack-to-switch signal path is reversed, looping back on itself, but thankfully there's enough room to hide it all at the bottom between the chassis and the switches.

More on the wiring: my bypass LED would not turn off... and like an amateur, I did everything short of the one thing that would've solved it. Since it came from a standalone build, I had desoldered and transplanted it here...here be tomfoolery. After pulling my hair out, and the LED from the main board to the switch, there was an infinitesimal bit of conductive schmutz across L and GND  Oh well! Here we are and it works!

Thanks for looking

Has anyone found a rhyme or reason for a component tester identifying a device as something it isn't?

I was going through some new NPNs and occasionally it will ID it as a thyristor. No matter what pin config I use in the test, it comes back as a thyristor. Does that suggest that the part in question is in some ways faulty, and would not be good to use in a circuit?

edit:
e.g. I have both 3904 and MPS6512 NPNs showing as Thyristors. Small number, but curious about it all the same.

I might be jumping the gun, but when matmosphere put out a feeler for a second PFUKR fundraiser, I wanted to be a part of it this time. And please don't mistake this as disingenuous or a grab for fake internet points. I just need to get it out, and then I can go back to making silly pedal artwork again.

Having lived among Lithuanians 20 years ago, I grew to love those people; marvel at their successes and rebuilding, and be saddened by their history—parallel to Ukraine, and nearly every other former Soviet "Republic." I've read, heard, and seen what happens to those on the path to and from conflicts, skirmishes, wars, and petty power grabs. Hell, even heard some of their firsthand accounts—harrowing. Now we're seeing it more clearly than we've ever done.

It can happen again. It will keep happening. If war doesn't change, men must change, and so must their symbols.

Even though the quote's source/medium might seem trivial or flippant to some, when I heard that for the first time I felt it hard thinking about the Baltic people—what would happen to them if a raging @#$!wit went on the rampage. And last year I felt it again, wondering what is next, how long...


So here is a symbol: a sunflower.

To the jaded, simply an oxygen-emitting, self-replicating manifestation of chlorophyll and other compounds to make them yellow.

To others, a source of commerce in the form of agriculture.

To Ukrainians— our fellow humans—still fighting, a symbol of defiance and un-killable spirit.


It is not a banner of conquest, of megalomanic zeal, or any other lust of power and influence over fellow humans. It is an embodiment of freedom, however insignificant the casual cynic might see it, try to justify and categorize it. And then I think: what is my symbol? Does it need to change? I can't force the minds of others, but here's hoping and praying that the people's defiant stand will forever shine against the stained blades of the oppressor.

It's said war - war never changes. Men do, through the roads they walk.

Let us wish Godspeed to (and do what we can to help) these souls as they press on their road to win their freedom.


https://imgur.com/a/4UaeZIy

Couple questions about a couple caps on the Fraudhacker

CAPS
1. the 5pF cap (C29) —I swear I ordered some, but didn't—I have some RadioShack grab bag 7pF caps; will those work or should I get marked-5pF caps?

2. the 33uF (C26, C27, C35) caps —I thought I was buying electrolytic caps, but apparently I have tantalums, and apparently those aren't polar? should I go back to the order place and get electros?


REG
the regulator, the 78L05— I have a bunch of the L78L05CZ regs from STM. It looks like just the I and O pins are swapped, so could I just rotate it and use it? I'm not sure if there were any other specs to look at on the original intended part (don't know what specific reg is reference). https://www.st.com/resource/en/datasheet/l78l.pdf


Thanks

[The Sardine Tin]

Here it is: The Sardine Tin

For those who haven't seen the development thread, this is a Univox Super-Fuzz based on a true story adaptation into a 1590B enclosure. The first rev board was ...it had no thought put into it other than "this goes here, that goes there." This revision board is much tighter and much nicer to build.

I was given the name by the bloke to whom this exact pedal will go; named in honor of the late MCA of the Beastie Boys. He rocked his single-pickup J Bass with frequent use of the Super-Fuzz, and the sound is spot on! Mixed with a bit of Glass Hole, it's right there with the studio recording of Gratitude. I'm very pleased with how this one came out, both with the board and the chassis.

Like the name, the design is an homage to MCA's lyric in Hello Nasty's Body Movin' "packed like sardines in a tin." This album was an instant classic, and has had regular rotation in the music collection since I bought it in 1999.

This is the orange sand enclosure with double-white, and a matte finish.









I can't find my flash diffusers so forgive the hard shadows on the photos.

So I'm not wanting to cause a riot, but I'm genuinely interested in whether there is an understood tolerance range for these parts, and if there is, in what context it's applicable.

Biggest case in point: clipping diodes. Now, I've seen there are loads of posts about types, quality, the actual value of Vf, but what I'm mainly interested is the tolerance threshold that exists for overdrives, and even distortion and fuzz circuits. Does the "match" need to be to down the milivolt? or is there some wiggle room? To begin with, a guitar's signal: is it symmetrical? If not, would there need to be a perfectly symmetrical signal clipping? Again, honest questions.

In one's own building world, what is your tolerance level? I've read many build docs that, well, come to think of it, almost every build doc I've read doesn't really touch on it; perhaps it's a known thing that a clipping pair needs its symmetry? ±1 mV? ±3 mV? ±5 mV? ±10 mV? etc. With some of these old germy boys it's quite a task to get several mV-tight matching pairs (or heaven forbid quads) out of batches of specimens. So that's what I'm curious about: where is that line for you?

I'm personally a fan of getting things from the little guy (so to speak), but I've got some Amazon beezosbucks I need to spend and wondered if anyone's had good luck/experience with the kinds of things we buy: be it wire, pots, other passives, etc. I'm inspired by a site where they evaluate stuff from like Harbor Freight and tell you what is good and what isn't to get from them.

E.g., I'm usually wary of buying things like "capacitor assortment" (especially for electrolytic cans), but are MLCCs a decent buy?

Anyhow that's just one example, but if anyone's got some things they've bought and were happy with, I'd appreciate it.

Or if it's better to just spend those funds on something else, that's also good to know!

So I'm nearly ready to assemble my Degenerator (in a PLA enclosure for now), and now I'm wondering about my J201, having had reservations on a part earlier today.

This is the part I bought from DigiKey https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/linear-integrated-systems-inc/J201-TO-92-3L-ROHS/14312366

I didn't look at the thing until today, but this is what's printed on the back. Is that a printing artefact, or did they shop me the wrong part?

J20F doesn't give me much besides car parts, so I thought I'd get a sanity check for this one.

thanks

Just wanted to confirm the install for the NSL opto part before I put iron to solder.




Just want to make sure I've got it right: I have the "dot" on the part on the same side as the dot (opposite the "+") on the board. then the second set of contact leads just loop right back around to the other set of pads, correct?

shanks

I've started building a Killer Rat, board built by jimilee, and sitting on the bench was the last remnants of the last bit of RadioShack stuff in my collection. Got a little melancholic...



Also amazed how much a replacement spool of 0.06 diameter stuff is. But no, definitely not using that on this board! I inherited a spool of Kester 0.02 that's somehow survived—long story, but it involved never finding the actual end of the line, but had a medusa like appearance, cut strands everywhere...



It's better days are now ahead of it!

So to get ahead on a project I'm working on, I decided to get a transistor tester going for me.

I opted first for the $7 Harbor Freight special.


I know you get what you pay for (foreshadowing?), and I don't need it for anything other than hFE measurement, since I have better tools for those other jobs. I have no clue what sort of current is getting sent to the base, because, for example, a 2N3904 is measuring well over the DC current gain spec maximum of 300 (@10mA, per the spec sheet)

I wondered if something was f*@#y, so I looked up a video for using some breadboard to measure current two different ways, then doing some math to get the hFE value. I thought, hey, I'll do this to check the value and see by how much the cheapo meter is off.

I have the same setup on my bench: Same 9V (battery) source, same transistor, same value (470k) resistor, and I'm not getting anywhere near his numbers for current. With and without power to the emitter, I'm getting a mere 1.2uA, compared to his 18.2uA. I double-checked the rails, the resistor, the breadboard path, tried multiple samples of the same transistor, and still not getting anywhere close to the values it should, measured on either of my good meters.

I could try to suss it out, which I'll do only if it doesn't lead to more madness : P  Alternatively, shy of shelling out $100 for one of those Peak tools, is there 1) a way I can determine if my el cheaptastico multimeter is relatively close, or 2) a better tool for the job that's on the lower half of the price of that Peak tool?

Thanks

PS for now I'm really only concerned about Si jobbies; not fussed about germs.

I'm having deja vu  : P  (swear I've asked this before)

So I've made more progress on my revised "Sardine Tin" (super-fuzz) PCB: caught a few errors, and was almost ready to get these made, and I had a minipanic when I started comparing board component bits. I don't know if these are alterations made by various makers, or just an easy flip flop mistake.

I'd appreciate a second set of eyes here.

So here's my schematic: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qp8mtjeofluf0ld/sardine-tin-rev-2.0-schematic.pdf —apologies in advance for the <X| bifurcation. I'm weird and want my schematics to fit on paper sizes, so this one is US Tabloid (17x11) size  : P

Here are the big questions I've got. "?" is for "appears on one schematic, not on another" and the others have specific callouts or diagrams:


Also, sorry for the crop, but they relate 1:1 with my Eagle schematic linked above.

The biggest one is that cap polarity... I think I got confused by the OG schemo and just went with bipolar caps, but I'd like to get the danged thing right this time around.

I've looked at the original schematic and a couple others drawn by other board makers to make the comparisons/cross-checking on the construction.

Anyhow, thanks for the help!

IDK where this goes...

So maybe a year ago I made an impulse purchase on a used bass head to accompany my forlorn Ampeg cab. It played great in the store, but getting it home it had the hum, and I was either too stupid to take it back or it was sales final. Have a Furman conditioner power strip and it's still there. Come to find that my long unused Deluxe-inspired guitar Head also hums. Dinky solid state combo practice amp, no hum, and no other anomalies from other devices.

I'm not really in the mood to pitch the bass head unless it's a total goner. I want to repair or at least diagnose it, since it doesn't appear to be the house wiring. If anyone has the GBE 250C schematic, I'd be much obliged.

I have a feeling it's something on the power board, but having never worked on something like this, I have nothing but that hunch to go off of. Hell, I don't even know how to test it, schematic or not. I'm guessing I'd audio probe it to see where the noise gets into the signal...

Okay epiphany time while composing this message: it's definitely post preamp. I want to say I DI'd it into my DAW (balanced output is right out of the preamp IIRC) and there wasn't any noise, but I'll have to try again just to be sure.

I asked about it on a bass forum, and an actual former GB tech answered. His replies implied that my asking for the schematic would go nowhere, and that shipping to him would be cost prohibitive—oh and he hinted that the only thing worth keeping on that particular was the combo speaker assembly...  go figure. If diy fix is going to cost up to half of what I paid (overpaid more likely), or even up to the price of a decent replacement head, then maybe I do ditch it and go with something else. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[finally]

After a month of talking in different directions with Tayda, a near miss and catastrophic failure* later, it's finally done!



This is taking the things about the Klon I didn't like (including its mystique and cork-sniffing cult) and poking it with a stick, putting it under the knife, and whatever other non-engineer-adjacent procedure to see what happened. After many board designs, premature celebrations, and abject design failures, here we are at revision 1.3e! "Does it sound right?" Don't @#$%ing care. "But you didn't use X diode?!!1!?" Doubly don't @#$%ing care. This board utilizes a 4 position slide switch to go between 4 pairs of clipping diodes, none of which are the anointed ones. This particular setup has (in reverse order from the gutshot): 1N270, 1N60P, BAT46, 1N5817. I haven't tried every suitable clipping pair out there, but so far these are my favorite.

But what's that other board doing in there?



We have a simple Based on a True Story approximation of the LPB-1 boost. This is to add more frontal lobe hair to the signal, since I like having an extra kick in the pants (and the OD level of the other circuit just isn't OD'y enough at times), and it's nice to have it on a switch, to really kick it up. At one point (see abject failure build), these were integrated onto one board, but between inexperience and peace of mind, I've left them separate.







I like the effect the gloss UV has on this design; makes the blood look more bloody at the edges anyway. In a perfect world, I'd want to have several coats of UV gloss at each color separation layer. I had this idea since toying with the name. At one point I had commissioned a friend to do a piece, but between health, family, and work I didn't want to be another time vampire to him. The original concept was going to be a sort of Lich-ified Vlad Dracul coming back from the tomb. My friend has a very cool art style that would have suited that concept:


And here's a shot of the flat artwork of the final product:

The splattering is a vectorization of a kind of moment of frustration during design school: I was doing something with India Ink and it wasn't going where I wanted, so I let a bunch of it pool up on my large paper then dropped one of my heavy art history textbooks on it.

Alright let me address the elephant in the room that you may or may not see. I was not consciously aping off of Madbean's "Kingslayer" name. My brain knew "Sunking" from way back when I started DIY, and then the Imp of more modern times since I've begun again. I saw "kingslayer" I think in the archives, but I didn't put two and two together. I had originally intended to name this "Return of the King" meaning the Sunking, since that (v3) was my very first etch (I'm pretty sure I did it before attempting that massive phaser...) and build that I was happy with.

It's just been that itch I can't scratch for so long, and now I'm finally foregoing the calamine lotion and digging in!

I've struggled between the experience/interface of signal path vs logical wiring on this thing for a while now.



The signal path goes into the small board (opposite side of the box) and then into the main board. It's not as spaghetti as it appears, but it's also not super, perfectly clean. I like it though, so there's something in that, since I have a hard time with most things I create.

Anyhow, hope you enjoy.


edit:
*So the near-failure came from my penchant for wanting things to be tight and not come apart—too tight, it turns out. I over torqued the nut on the gain pot, and rendered it useless. I have a terrible track record with the vacuum desolder station. I had started out with a few old boards I needed to salvage components from, and that didn't go well... I was doing my utmost to save the board, but none of those were going to go anywhere but the recycling box. Thankfully, I was able to replace the dual-ganger losing none of the pad material in the process!

So, I know there's a contact section for them, but has anyone messed up an order and needed to fix it?

Specifically, I submitted a 1590BB, drill, UV print service and then bought all of the things in the store section. Turns out I neglected to order the UV GLOSS item WHICH DOESN'T APPEAR IN THE @#$%ING STORE BUT AS A NON-CLICKABLE LINK IN THE PRINT SERVICE ITEM DESCRIPTION.

Seriously, let me just break for a minute and just say how utterly BROKEN the UX with their eCommerce is. I do UX and UI design for a living, and I could solve the user flow (sadly not the coding work) in under and hour. It's just the worst. SERIOUSLY just put this @#$%ing thing in the main store! Don't hide it behind another product's item page! https://www.taydaelectronics.com/hardware/enclosures/enclosure-uv-printing-service/custom-uv-gloss-layer-service.html JUST PUT IT IN THE STORE. YOU'VE ALREADY PUT THE PRINT SERVICE AND DRILL ITEMS THERE, JUST FINISH THE DAMNED LIST OF $#!@ YOU NEED SLKDFGLSLIDUGYALISDUJGHZLDSKGHZSDLKGJP8OI43WUTLIOSJDGLK
</rant>

Okay, anyway. Has anyone done this same thing and solved the un-purchased GLOSS issue? it's been three days already and not a single person has responded to the support ticket. Should I buy the item on its own? (there's a $5 min, so I'd have to put some superfluous $#!@ in there, too)?

Anyway, I KNOW this isn't Tayda's support center, but thought I'd ask if anyone had run into this problem and what customer support said to remedy the situation.

I attempted this circuit once before and would like to understand a bit (or many, many bits) more about how certain aspects of the circuit are designed so that suitable changes/substitutions can be made possible. My eventual end goal is to have another go at it.

The first hurdle I want to get myself over is understanding a bit more about how the actual stages (all 14 of them) are using the transistors; more specifically, if one wanted to revert to discrete components* for space concerns—I know I could be waaay off here, but here's a stupid test i did around the ladder with 4 stages: monolithic, TO-92, SOT-23, and another with smaller MLCC caps


Just looking at the schematics (since I'm a hack and no proper EE), they don't appear to be under the same prescriptions as something like a Phase 90, so I wondered:

1. since the original calls for the 3086 array (spec sheet here), if I was looking to find a suitable sub, what characteristics should I be most concerned about when matching to a discrete component? I'm all for doing the legwork, but I don't even know what to compare :S

2. Again, since the original asks for these monolithic jobbies, am I going to plan on matching for pairs? quads? more? I've read that BJTs are a bit easier to match than the JFETs of the Phase 90-like circuits, but figured I'd ask.

3. is this part of the exercise stupid and should I own up to the reality that this thing is monstrous and should resign myself to having to source and pony up for some 3086/46 chips, or just build something else?  : P

I ask, because if a comparably functioning/characteristic BJT can be found and the only real expense is time in matching them, I could see that as more viable than shelling out $10 / 14-DIP array, since there are small amounts of real estate gains to be had, especially if one goes with SOT-23 pieces. E.g., again I have no idea what I'm looking to compare, but the MPSA18 is only pennies in some places and *I could get ~80 for the price of a single CA3086, loads of headroom to find matches.

Anyway, thanks for the advice/pointers.


edit, oops, forgot to include the actual circuit in question; upper right:

Well, maybe biggest DIY project @#$%up   : P

So, back when I was first getting into DIY, I did the whole "go big or go home" thing pretty early on and thought I'd share that experience. Maybe it's therapeutic, or maybe it's a sign that I'm getting too ambitious again  :|  either way, here it is!

tl;dr a phaser board project failed spectacularly and cost a lot of time and money

I decided that rather than do something simple, like etch a DOD250 or a Rat, nah, nah, let's do a @#$%ing 14-stage phaser even though you can't read a schematic or know hardly anything about electronics at all...

I sadly don't have any photos of the final result left over, but I did it all, big ol' copper board, cleaned up the creator's GIFs to something print-resolution (because I'm weird and obsessive like that, being a designer), found all of the components, sourced slider pots, went through multiple rounds of part purchases, the works. Got it all together and the damned thing didn't work at all.

I had messaged someone who had successfully made one and we exchanged emails for a time, and he even sent me a modified version of the board he'd done.

Poked a bit and bought a few replacement parts, even had an enclosure powder coated and milled, aaaaannnd it still didn't work. I think that's when I gave up DIY (until just recently).

Fast forward nearly 10 years, and I somehow thrifted my box of DIY bits along the way, including the completed, if faulty, board and the (now rather much more so) expensive NPN array chips. Decisions, am I right?

I still can't let this go, and more to just brute force this all into my brain, I'm starting to bring the late Jurgen Haible's schematic into Eagle and in looking for whatever was left on my old workstation, I found THIS. It was my non-Eagle attempt at scaling, aligning, labeling, and otherwise prepping for the next stage of this project that never happened...


https://www.dropbox.com/s/gnh4pjlsem22w8r/phaser-pcb-vector-layout.pdf?dl=0
I did this in Adobe Illustrator, and is by no means a proper layout, but it was better than a pixelated GIF I was working from. With the other person's help, I was able to get it here, but completely forgot I even had that goal to even ATTEMPT to make another one. Would've been a better jumping off point, but then I saw the price of those NPN arrays now...and that I had put the board in the donation box... yikes.


The redux of this is going to be a longer-term thing, as I'm a hack and will need to better understand how things are done. I'm looking to replace the array portions with a more affordable part, and I'm not expecting anything but an uphill battle but what the hell, I'll climb. I'm looking at this more as an exercise than a "HELL YEAH I'M GONNA MAKE ANOTHER ONE AND IT'S GONNA BE OUT IN A MONTH!" sort of avaricious declaration.

I'll have to learn, but I'm hoping this circuit can be done by scrapping the AC, leaning on 12VDC, which given my naivete and inexperience might turn out to be quite a job—IDEK if this thing can run without a -12V rail or not.


Anyhow, thought I'd share my most costly @#$%up in terms of money and time invested.

Friend from the UK sent me a newer BOSS pedal which only worked on battery power. I think I found the reason:

https://i.imgur.com/dnx1MOR.mp4

works on an adapter when the board isn't getting drawn like a bow...
Definitely going to redo the barrel jack soldering and I might also remove those front ground(?) contacts if I can get away with it.

Between the remote bit inside, and the connectors, it's a lot of force pushing on that PCB.