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http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/index.html

Ordering is up. I'll have the docs up Thursday.

I might have to "close shop" for a week 

Not to be misogynistic, because I know there are at least a couple of female members here, but I'm curious about those of us who are fortunate enough to be married/co-habitate and what your partner thinks about your hobby/obsession. My wife has finally come to respect how much time I put into pedal stuff, but it was a long time coming. She still has no idea what I do, really, but she likes the pedals (or 'boxes', as she calls them) I make. But beyond that, she has absolutely zero interest in it so I don't really discuss it with her very much (beyond a cursory explanation of what I'm working on). Anyone here have a partner that actually engages with you in your hobby in some way? Or, do you like having it just be "your thing"?

The Aristocrat and Pork Barrel boards are finally in stock! Two new projects will also be released this week: the Retrograde (Tycobrahe Octavia) and the Rump Roast (Carmen Ghia pedal port--sounds totally killer). Third, international shipping has been LOWERED to $2.25 for two boards and $3 for three or more boards. Finally, tinning for handmade boards is back! For the foreseeable future, all handmade boards will be pre-tinned at no additional cost. It's one of those 'value added services', or something.

Here's my Sunking with the newly revised board. Came out great! I used BAT41 for the clipping diodes in this one. I like the way they sound in this circuit. Very gainy, but also warm. I haven't compared this to the previous build side-by-side yet, but it does seem to have a bit more volume on tap. Anyway, a comparison will reveal if this is really the case.

Fabbed boards:
Aristocrat, Pork Barrel: Oct. 1st
Sunking, Zombii, Mysterioso, Cupcake, Mudbunny: Oct. 7th
Road Rage2, Macheen, Boomstick, Wolfshirt: Oct. 15th

New projects:
Double Flush Tremolo, Stage Fright Phaser, Weener Wah, VelcroVibe: Oct. 15th - Oct. 30th
Blockhead Delay: hopefully by the end of Oct.

The second pedal related dream this week:

My wife and I were having structural issues with the foundation of our house. We hired some engineers to come in and assess the problem. For some reason, Zachary Vex was on the engineering team. He was wearing the fishing hat he had on in the Fuzz DVD. I got really nervous because I didn't want him to see my clones of some of the zVex pedals I had in the shop. The dream didn't go any further, but was very vivid!

The new FatPants boards are in, and available for order!

Also, the ordering issues from the projects page have been addressed and should be fixed now. You might need to re-fresh the projects page to see the update (you should see a little update blurb right under the navigation links). Somehow the button codes got out of sync with Paypal, but each one has now been tested.

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/index.html
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/FatPants/docs/FatPants_ver.2.pdf

Here are some pics from my shop at the new place. Still a work in progress, but I'm definitely loving the space.

The builds station:


Testing station:


The 'command center':


The jamming station:


Relax....I bought this 1950's sofa from a guy in Austin. He produced a couple of Sting albums, apparently. Tucker Creedy, I think.


Trying to figure out what to do with all this:


Still got some unpacking to do:


Guitars to build:


Unpacking, and drums to restore:

A couple of folks have emailed me saying they are having problems ordering from the site. I've made a few code updates today to address the issues, but I would like to know if anyone is still having problems as of 09.13 10:00pm CST.

In lieu of the mega video tutorial set I'm going to crank out about all things stompboxes, I'd like to do a few quick and easy written tutorials to get some content on the "Learn" page. Is there anything you guys want to see demonstrated or have an explanation of? It could be anything that is a sort-of tip or shortcut, etc.

The new projects page has been uploaded, along with the release of the five newly manufactured boards. I've tweaked the page into more of a category style, which I think helps organize things a little better. Also, I've added "archive" downloads that contains many of the older versions of the projects.

The five new boards available are for the Slambox, EgoDriver, Serendipity, Sabertooth and the Darkside. Each project has a new document with both the layouts for the fabbed boards, and for the single sided design. So, now you only need one document. A couple of the single sided designs were tweaked in minor ways, too.

Please let me know if you find anything that's broken. I think I've got everything tested, but I've been at this for a couple of days, so yeah...I'm a little burned

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/index.html

Here's my Darkside using the new PCB. I modded it according to this post in the Mods section:http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=355.0 using a 500kC drive pot with a 680pF Silver Mica. Sounds very good, although I think I will also replace the stock 10kA vol pot with 100k. Right now there are 1N60 clipping diodes, which I think I will also replace with BAT41. I socketed those for easy swapping.

The label is etched PCB....very nice alternative to traditional methods

I'm a little behind schedule due to the holiday but I should have the new boards ready to order in a couple of days. I'm hoping to make some website changes to coincide with this, but we'll see how that goes.

Anyone interested in a Univibe project? That fits in a 125B?

Okay, I done goofed. An error in the output section of the Sunking was pointed out to me by a fellow FSB member. Luckily, it is pretty minor and an easy fix. There are three resistors that need to be removed from the board, and put on the switch. Also, two wires will need to be moved to different pads due to the missing resistors. Attached below is a diagram on how to make the correction.

My sincere apologies on this oversight. While it is not a huge mistake, it is one that escaped me for some time, nonetheless. I have not compared the corrected version to the original, but I am currently finishing up the prototype for the revised Sunking board, so hopefully I can provide some insight on whether or not there is any difference, tone-wise.

Corrected project doc: http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/Sunking/docs/Sunking_D_ver2.pdf

Diagram:

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Hey guys,

I've just submitted the new version of the FatPants for manufacturing today, and thought I would give you all a little preview of the changes. I've made several modifications to the design which I think take it to the next level! Attached below are the schematic and layout.

Here are the changes:
Added 'Fat' control - 10kB variable resistor in series with a 470R resistor for added gain control
Added T1 - a trimpot for making biasing changes in the transistor
Changed Q1 to J201 - not pictured in the schem, but I found that a J201 adds a little more 'bite'
Changed volume pot to 100k and output resistor to 47k. This does two things: makes the output a little hotter, and lowers the overall output impedance from the original design.
Added 17v tap on the board so you can pull the voltage off the charge pump in case you are making a dual pedal with the FatPants and want to use 17v for your other FX
Also, I'm recommending a TC1044 for the charge pump. I've had very solid results with it, and you can also use up to 12v input on it if you want to bump the voltage up even higher.

I hope to get this built up in a few days to do some demos so you guys can get an idea of what the changes sound like ~and also show off my new box labeling technique  !

Oh yeah---these boards will be blue!



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I've been trying to get my hands on a used Ringtone for a while, but so far no luck. I'm looking for the older version.....the one with the Random/Step switch, not the Tap Tempo. If anyone has a lead, I would be most grateful!

I think I will have some fun!!



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