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I've been running all my boards in black for a few years now. It looks the best and is most consistent with color. Often red, blue, etc run in different batches can be different shades from one another. I don't care for yellow and I hate white ones because they contrast badly with flux.

So I was thinking of going back to plain old boring green. The reason is it's much easier to follow the traces on the boards that way. Black is very hard to pick out with my aging eyes. So, maybe it's better to go with the color that's most beneficial to actual builders?

One other possible reason. I read recently about the different ways solder mask color is achieved and there was a claim that the materials used for black could become conductive in the wrong situation. I don't know the truth of that but I personally have had a couple cases where I picked up voltages on boards where none should exist. And this has only happened in the last year or so. I can't attribute it to anything in particular but it's for sure caused me to rethink how I have the boards made.

Between beard pulling and procrastinating I wasn't too sure if it would ever happen. But it finally did!

Also, this will be the last release before an across the board price hike for mbp. Just a heads up. It's been like ten years since I've done a major price adjustment and the time has come (in a few weeks).

If you are hunting for NOS MN3005 here's your chance. Synthcube has a small lot. IMO, they are overpriced a $49 each (I think $35 maybe $40 is more reasonable) but we are probably past the days of spending $100 and pulling 2 genuine NOS off an old pedal.

I bought two of them. I tested them against 4 brand new Xvive RI in a delay circuit. The 4 Xvive all pretty much swapped out with a fixed input bias point. However, the two MN3005 had to be adjusted slightly from the Xvive to pass delay. That leads me to believe they could indeed be the real deal (not that implying synthcube isn't legit in their claim - it's just fakes do happen and these aren't cheap). FWIW.

https://synthcube.com/cart/mn3005-bucket-brigade-delay-analog-ic

[$2250]

Donations were made this morning. I've prepared a summary (in pic and pdf form) which is attached to this post.

We raised $2250 all in. This is an incredible amount for just four days! $2k was donated to the Global Giving initiative (they are at $6M+ now) and $250 was donated to the IFAW for all the animals in need in UKR. Links to those are in the pdf.

Thanks so much everyone! We did good 

I posted this on Instagram a week or so ago but I don't think I mentioned it on the forum. There's a new mbp sticker which has been going out in all orders over the last week. These are the same super high quality vinyl ones like I did a few years ago. I'm giving them away with every order but when I get down to the last 100 I'll put some up for sale so I can fund the next batch.

Also, I want to acknowledge that this was funded in part by a very generous donation I was given several weeks ago. I won't name names, but this person has been very supportive and I want everyone to know I can do this kind of thing because of that. So, thank you!

For anyone who wonders: "Build All the Things" doesn't mean 'buy' all the madbeanpedals stuff. It's more about a mindset of taking on challenges for their own worth without worrying about the results too much. At least, that's how I interpret it

It appears the USPS service disruption has ended so I can resume shipping to Australia and New Zealand customers. Finally!

Update -at least via GlobalPost which is what I use now. May not be the case directly through USPS.

Starting today, March 1st through Sat. March 5th, I will be running a non-sale sale. Why? Because 150% of the proceeds will be going to the Ukrainian Relief fund. Whatever dollar amount I receive in sales through the 5th will be donated and matched 50% on top of that by madbeanpedals. I picked this fund out of several options, but if anyone has a suggestion otherwise please feel free to enlighten.

Please consider participating. There are members of the DIY community in Ukraine. They need our assistance. The final proceeds will be donated anonymously but I will provide proof that the donation was made to anyone who wants it.

(ps I'll put one caveat - I'll have to limit my matching funds to $1k b/c anything more than that would probably wreck me right now. But, up to that!)

I've divided by zero and apparently my segments are falling apart. Not sure what it means, but avenge me just in case.

I'm needing voltage readings on three pins (trying to figure out a build issue and whether or not it is PCB related or something else). They correspond to IC1A pins 3 through 1 (the SIL op-amp). I've highlighted them in the red box in the image below. Many thanks in advance.

I haven't bought much gear in the last couple years. Last year my only instrument acquisition was a used Baritone acoustic (pretty fun to fool around on). I found this used Danelectro '59NOS for a good deal. It's got a couple minor chips and scratches but nothing that bothers me. The main thing I was looking for is a completely different tone to my other guitars. The lipstick pickups are on the weaker side but I like weak-ish single coils sometimes. Interesting thing is it sounds like the middle position is wired in series because there is a big volume jump there.

Overall, really liking it. It was cheap, it's easy to play and it's got its own sound. It will need a bit of setup work. It came with 10's and the action is too low and neck is too straight. In another week when it's fully acclimated to the Tenn climate, I'll put 11's on it, give it a little more neck relief and raise the action a bit. The low E string saddle needs a little rounding over but I've done that before.

Anyway, pretty solid and cheap guitar if you are looking for something different. Looks cool with the copper/sparkle finish!

[youtube width=640]EHK5fBm1YWk[/youtube]

We lost a member of the DIY community and a longtime member here- Mike Scheurer aka haveyouseenhim.

Mike came to us all the way back in 2013. He was really active for a couple of years then kind of dropped off. He stayed fairly active on DIYSB which is where I saw the news. He also had a great sense of humor and contributed a lot to the vibe of this forum early on. Here are some good threads of his:

Cleverbot
Granny's Klon
Sunburst Stompbox

You can find his obit here: https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/23876518/michael-l-scheurer

So long, Mike. And thanks for putting so much of yourself out there for us to enjoy.

All the VFE projects are available again although in limited stock for the moment. I will have more stock available in a couple of weeks as well as some individual VFE switching boards available for purchase for those that need them.

I posted this on Instagram b/c I thought it was funny and very telling of how I've spent the last several years. I spent all of Sunday recovering hardware from old prototypes, abandoned projects, etc. This pic is about 60% of what I got. I think in the end it was like 200+ pots and maybe 50+ switches. The FR-300 desoldering gun and my heat gun made pretty quick work of it although it was like a 6 or 7 hour session!

I still have 2.5 boxes full of old boards still waiting for parts recovery. Mostly transistors and caps (I'm sure a bunch of J201 and tone of Panasonic and AVX caps). Not worth it for resistors.

..a digital microscope to me. Many smds will be focused in its lens, I hope. Also, I have a hard time reading codes even with my glasses AND a magnifying glass these days!

The release had to be scaled back to meet the deadline but there's plenty of great new stuff. The FuzzyBritches giveaway has also started. These will be included automatically with all orders $10 and over (ex. shipping). Also, there are more Protorigs in stock. There are four more projects that will come soon after the holiday is over.

Happy Holidays to the mbp and DIY community!

I had a recent birthday (no, please do not wish me a happy birthday I hate them) and I just wanted to share this most excellent assortment of gifts for which I specifically told my wife not to go through any trouble!

Finally, after two failed attempts a proper replacement set of tuners for my broke down SGJ
A "silent plug" 1/4" cable
A cute tiny Donner power supply which I've been needing for my all DIY pedalboard because I am too lazy to build a power supply
Tequila
And most dad-important: awesome socks

I've decided to stick around for another year!

Decided to finish the year with a bang. I'm going to drop everything at once along with the last 2021 Giveaway (FuzzyBritches). Shooting for Dec. 15th.

Archibald - BK Butler Tube Driver (TM)
Batwing - FSH1 (TM) (envelope section)
Blue Steel - Boss BD-2 (TM)
Burly Bear - Ibanez FZ7 (TM) Fuzz
Charlatan - EHX The Worm (TM)
Eggsploder - Ampeg Scrambler (TM)
Meatqlaw - Colorsound Power Boost (TM)
Polytrog - EHX Polyphase (TM)
SludgeHammer - SansAmp Bass Driver (TM)
Soothsayer - Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone (TM)
Wet Bar - Ibanez MF5 (TM) Overdrive
FuzzyBritches - Jordan Bosstone (TM) - GIVEAWAY

I've been without a scope for a few years and I'm at the point where one would really help in a lot of situations. So, Hantek DSO2D10 it is. I really wanted to get one of the Siglent 4-channel (since that would mean probably never wanting to upgrade) but at $500 it's just out of my price range. This one may not be the greatest, but it seemed to have okay reviews and was half the price of the other. Plus it does have some kind of waveform generator on it and that might be handy. USB waveform capture might also help with showing certain results in build docs, too.

Has more lights than the old Tektronix I had before. So that's nice.

I've been using these lately on the back of 16mm pots as an alternative to the dust covers. They turn out to be the perfect size for clearance on boards. At less than $.03 each and they are tiny!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073SVKFYJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1