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having been busy with my own projects, I almost forgot, how rewarding it can be to build a pedal in a day from scratch, when somebody else has done almost all the work for you, including mod options, drill templates etc. So, I had this PCB lying around for probably a year or so and as it was raining today, I decided to give it a try with some components I had lying around. Graphics still to come...

I decided to to the following mods: 
- Modify Q (wider) with 6.8nF / 100nF
- Use a vintage JRC4558D for IC 2 (serial 6201 - I don't believe in mojo, but this one sounds good, and as I had it...)
- TL072IP for IC1
- Reduced minimum gain (R23 = 1k)
- 100kA for volume pot
- 10mm blue LED
- Second clipping section: BAT41 and 1N914

It sounds nice - many sounds on tap, sometimes it sounds almost like the the clean sound is blended into the overdriven sound. Not a high-gain thing, but great for bluesy tones or even a boost with the option to EQ to the resonant frequency of your guitar...

Not sure, if I ever posted this one here, it probably got lost in the forum crash... A zendrive clone squeezed in a 1590a including a battery. It requires a small additional vero (top of the enclosure, in shrink tube), I have some PCBs left, documentation attached. PM me, if you are interested. NOT AN EASY BUILD!

Do we need this? Cannot stop thinking about it!

This is "Taprecise", an Arduino-based tap tempo control for PT 2399 based delays, that can be automatically calibrated to compensate any tolerance in the required digital pots (up to +/-30%). Calibration takes 2-3 minutes and only needs to be done once. After that, you get "what you tap is what you get". Features:

• Absolut precise tap-tempo control
• Rotary encoders for delay time fine tuning, modulation depth and speed
• Footswitches for tap tempo, preset, subdivision
• Mini switche for modulation on/off
• Subdivision for 1/8, dotted 8th, 1/3 triplets
• Two user-definable presets (can be stored in standalone mode, of course)
• Connection to Delay requires a simple stereo jack, which also powers the tap-tempo-unit
• Open source code to adjust code to user preferences (uploadable via accessible USB-Port on enclosure side)
• Fits in a 1590B

I assume, that this can be used for dual PT2399-Delays as well (see discussion here: http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=22253.msg222337#msg222337), but this still needs to be tested (by someone, who has a dual PT2399 delay ). Once I have put my delay (a deep blue delay) and Taprecise in two 1590Bs, I will offer this as a group buy (and also release latest documentation and updated code).

Developing taprecise took more than half a year with a lot of discussions with many users here - thank you for your input. I cancelled some features I had foreseen in the past (e.g. "strum tempo", which worked, but required too many components/space) and added some (e.g. the "preset" feature).

Group buy link: http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=22682.0

Here are some preview images:

Board by brenja, description and guts will follow. Fantastic sound!

Hey there,

I am almost done with the design of an arduino nano based tap tempo control board with modulation. Control of a single PT2399 delay works perfect, also modulation works quite nicely. Modulation depth is controlled via a second digital pot. I programmed a calibration routine for the whole setup, so tapped tempo and resulting delay will be very precise, disregarding the 30% tolerances that digital pots come with. With this being said, I think that the setup should be able to work for multiple PT2399 delays like the MBP Deathclaw as well. Can somebody confirm this?

Quick explanation of the schematic (excerpt) below:
T2 is fed with an oscillating signal, therefore pin 7 of the MCP41010 is fed with an oscialting resistance against ground. The digitally controlled resistance of the MCP41010 "mixes" the oscillating signal with a fixed ground signal from Pin 5/6. This "mix" is fed to the deathclaw resistors (basically a "shaking ground" :-)).
MCP41050 again controls the two BC550s in the deathclaw schematic, controlling the average delay time (which again varies with the "shaking ground" around that value).

I think that compared to other approaches (http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=8053.0), this should work, as I have control over the MCP settings via the arduino.

I have a general question: Obviously being obsessed with squeezed build, I was wandering, what tools you guys use for drill templates for your own layouts. I usually spend an afternoon with calipers, components and powerpoint ;-). Anything more sophisticated (maybe 3D with a library for pots, switches, jacks etc.) around?

Most people will say, that this amp (a Marshall Jubilee 25/50) is perfect as it is, but I always missed a couple of things:

- A reverb (footswitchable, with LED)
- A footswitch for the channel with LED

So, I filled a 1590B with two relays, a 1776 Rub-A-Dub-Reverb and upcycled an old footswitch (had that with my first ENGL-Amp, more than 25 yrs ago ;-)). It works fantastic, not the most fancy thing I built, but probably the most useful. The footswitch requires no batteries and is connected with a standard TRS stereo 1/4" cable. With no footswitch attached, I can switch the reverb on/off with the little switch on the enclosure and I can change the channel as usual with the push/pull pot the amp came with.

I will add a slave power outlet in the rear of the amp, so it switches on automatically when I switch on the amp.

This is slowly coming together. I had bad luck with the enclosure twice - it broke where I drilled the last hole (last picture, bottom left) and it had a "belly", so the toner for the lion did not stick to the enclosure (I realized before etching and covered that area with tape). Anyway, first time I did a (partly) reverse etch. This one will be treated hard, so I use it as it is.

The PCB is my take on a tillman booster, ROG Condor Cab Sim, a ROG ruby amp, a MXR MicroAmp, and a mixer all in one. I will use it to practice with headphones, blend in backing tracks, slave-power other effects, blend two cell phones for small parties, record with cab sim, drive a 1x12" cabinet (actually gets quite loud!) etc. It will work with a battery as well. The footswitch can shut off one channel (e.g. if I blend in a metronome and want to mute it temporarily).

If you dig it, I still have sample PCBs and a build documentation available...

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This took longer than expected; a wah is a simple thing, but the impact of almost any component in there so important, it just takes a lot of breadboarding, ordering, comparing, tuning, playing,... Given that you are rewarded with YOUR wah (me for sure!) and given the importance of a wah wah in many styles of music it is absolutely worth the money, time and effort, IMHO.

This is MY Wah Wah:

Features:

• True bypass (relay switched with LED indicator) - I chose the relay switching mainly, because it is almost impossible to find switches that don't "click" mechanically (not electrically) when you just touch them (without switching) with the pedal, especially for the heel positions. The momentary switches are almost silent...
• Heel Switch for two different "Q" presets (3k3 or 59k3k (56k+3k3) for R7, relay switched with LED indicator). I have a moderate, very clean and funky wah with the 3k3 selected and an aggressive (yet not too aggressive) wah sound to cut through distorted sounds as well. Hendrix through Vai, if you wish. It is all in there, selecting these was the most crucial part.
• Three wah voicings (10, 15, 22nF for C5, C6, C7)
• Doubles as a volume pedal (you need to cut between C2 and the inductor and make that connection switchable (see image below). Also, you need to connect "Whack A" and the connection between C5 and R5 with 220nF and 4k7 in series (as done in the Mr. CryBaby wah wah). I realized this with a 3P4T rotary switch (3 wah Voicings, 4th position is volume pedal option) rather than the suggested 4P3T rotary switch (which you would use for just the wah voicings)).
• Boost (can be bypassed with a switch)
• Wah can be bypassed as well with a second switch - the pedal will work as a switchable boost
• Stack of dimes inductor from Arteffect pedals
• Carbon comp resistors (they just look nice)
• Hot Potz II pot (These are really excellent!)
• Hand-selected caps including tropical fish replicas from arteffect :-)
• Stock transistors (compared them to Timbo's 2n2925, but liked the stock ones better - really a matter of taste!)

I am trying to wire up the boost part of a Weener Wah II to have the option to

A) switch the boost on (or bypass it) and
B) when the boost is active, have another switch to select whether it will only be active when the wah is engaged or also in wah bypass mode.

The idea of B) is to use the weener as the only pedal in front of a single-channel amp that asks for some extra boost even when the wah is not active (permanent boost).

I thought that the attaced image would be the solution, unfortunately I did not see, that for mode B) the guitar signal is directly connected to the output of the wah section of the Weener II, which has some impact (slight Wah effect, filter etc.) on the guitar signal.

Any Ideas? To make things more complicated, I am using a 1776 Finish Line instead of a "real" 3PDT (which I could than use to break the connection between Wah Out and Boost in in Bypass mode and skip the idea of an indicator LED).

I had many wahs and envelope filters in the past and I think it is time to build my ultimate wah. For me, the ideal wah wah...

...has a switchable clean and a dirty mode
...has a wide, yet adjustable frequency range for both modes (e.g. like the parapedal)
...allows for Q finetuning for both modes

...doubles an adjustable envelop filter / follower mode (gain/peak/volume) - no fancy up/down, LP/HP/BP or Hi/Low selector like the "Naughty Fish" provides - I would be happy with the corresponding settings "UP-LP-LOW"

...can be played in a "stuck wah" mode (i.e. the pedal stays in the position that you select for a specific sound - some Morleys like the bad horsie don't have that option in favor of an "auto on" mode once you step on the pedal)

...doubles as volume pedal or pedal-controlled boost pedal. This will only be used for swellinng effects, NOT for a permanent volume setting (otherwise it would be impossible to use the wah when playing with a volume setting other than "max"). Wah will be used before drive/distortion, so this is where naturally this volume pedal will be located. This is not my preferred place in the signal chain, I usually use a volume pedal in the fx loop (before delay/reverb/looper etc.) for constant drive level. For this pedal build, I can live with the required pre-drive position, though. Range for volume function will be fixed from "0" to equity gain (input=output).

...has a (relative) small footprint for my small board (my big one has a seperate volume pedal and envelope filter and a morley on it - more flexible, but also a lot of space and weight)
...is not scratchy (i.e. uses LED/LDR or an Anderton mod)


That being said, I will need the following controls:

Footswitches:
On/Off
Volume/Wah
Auto-Mode On/Off
Clean/Dirty mode (just for the manual mode, not for auto-mode)

Trimpots (ideally accessible with a screwdriver from the outside):
Hi-Range Clean
Low-Range Clean
Q Clean
Hi-Range Dirty
Low-Range Dirty
Q Dirty

Pots (for envelope filter):
Gain (envelope filter)
Peak (envelope filter)
Volume (envelope filter)

This might appear crazy, but I think, that this is doable and I am eager to build this. It will take some time, though.

For now, I am thinking of a combination of

a "Naughty Fish" (stripped down to the one sound I dig)
a vox/crybaby inductor based wah (for clean) and
a parapedal based (inductorless) wah for dirty sounds and
a morley based volume control

To control Volume/dirty filter/clean filter (depending on mode), I will try to use LEDs/LDRs with a Morley-like approach (with a screen between the the LED and the LDR). Therfore, I will use a morley-enclosure that does not automatically return to the heel position (e.g. a pwo, little alligator). As an alternative, I am thinking of a standard crybaby with an external 1590b or whatever for switches and controls...

Any thoughts welcome!

Hi,

I have build a couple of projects and always ordered the components from the BOM... Often enough, I had to order a second time, because something was missing, broken or did not fit (=wait and shipping costs). So I am planning on upgrading my (very small) collection of components. My question: Which components and which values (and probably how many of them) would you recommend. Any links to links (preferrably in Germany or at least Europe) are welcome. I am thinking of a list like this:

Foil Capacitors: 10x1nF, 10x1,8nF, 5x2,7nF,...
Ceramic Capacitors: ...
Electrolytic Capacitors: ...
Resistors: ...
Pots: ...
Trim Pots: ...
Audio Jacks and Plugs: ...
DC Jacks and Plugs: ...
Switches: ...
...

Updated Thread here: http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=24134.msg235710#msg235710

Who said, you cannot put a battery, a power supply jack, three switchcraft jacks, a footswitch and a LED in a 1590a? My take on an A-B-Switch. It takes some milling, though. I add the drill template I used for this build, should anybody want to build one as well...

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Just finished this one. Easy build, awesome sound, once set up with the trim pots, it does not "click" (disregarding what you might read elsewhere).

Hi there,

I built an Ego Driver, which is great, except for one thing: It has a subtle sound that comes and goes in addition to the wanted sound (sorry for not being able to describe it any better). It is a bit like a rattling string. You can hear it best with the second chord in the demo (it comes back at the end of the chord). Hear it?

Some further information: It is not a rattling string :-). There is no other effect in the chain. The ego driver is powered from an 18 Volts supply (from a madbean fat pants). I swapped the op-amp for a TL072 (as I had that lying around), I can confirm that the problem is NOT the op-amp. 

Any ideas?

Recent builds for my new Pedalboard:

Funky Buddha (Naughty Fish), Sonic Stomp (Bloviator, still need to get smaller buttons) and Orange Squeezer (Cupcake). They all sound awesome, although I only found one (really nice) setting on the Funky Buddha... The pedal with the Ant on it is a Fatpants with an Egodriver (OCD Clone). It sits on top of a Multicore-Box (Usually, one multicore is going to the amp for In/Send/Return and two stereo footswitch cables - nice and clean). The multicore box has an input and output buffer (Klon Buffer) built in it. The one with the T-Model on it is the amp switch (either for the Marshall on the picture or for an Engl Ironball). The space between Delay and Funky Buddha is reserved for a MusicPCB Tap Tempo Tremolo, I will be building next. Power supply cables are separate from audio cables (dead quiet), everything is put on the board using 3M Dual Lock (great, if you plan to leave the boxes on forever, not so good, if you are still swapping...).

Looking at the board, I guess I need a polytune mini rather than my old Korg Tuner :-)