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As promised, here is fix for ver.1 of the Deadringer. When I constructed the original schematic, I inadvertently reversed the order of some things, and had at least one portion routed incorrectly. Additionally, there were three incorrect values listed. My apologies for these errors. I was too hasty in releasing it, and while I thought I had worked it out correctly (I did prototype the build, of course) it appears I wasn't paying enough attention.

The value corrections are as follows:

C9 = 10n (orig. 1n)
C4 = 51pF (orig. 100pF)
R15  = 150k (orig. 510k)

Of these three value changes, C9 is the most critical. If you have a ver.1 board, you can probably get away with only changing this value. But, you can change all three, too, if you want to take the time.

Following is a diagram that I believe corrects the wiring situation. My test results with the version 1 build seem to confirm this. The Flat Mids mode is subtle, however this is due to having the incorrect value for C9 (it shold be 10n, not 1n) on my build. When placing another higher valued cap along with C9, the change was much more pronounced.

A brief explanation of how all these clipping choices work: the mos/sil switch (SPDT) does exactly as it indicates. It changes between the Mosfet and Silicon diode clipping in the feedback loop of the opamp. The top position of the 3-way DPDT lets you select compression cut, flat mids and vintage mode. In CC mode, the diodes are actually disconnected, meaning that clipping comes directly via the opamp - not the diodes. This is a much harsher type of clipping, although it can sound very open when the gain is dialed back.

In FM mode, C9 and R13 are placed in parallel with the tone control, thereby altering the frequency roll-off point. It essentially serves to counteract the tone control to make it less severe. Finally, in VIN mode, you have the traditional clipping of a gerenic TS: diode clipping, and the regular active first order tone control.

The Boost mode simply puts a 1M variable resistor in series with the drive control, thereby increasing the overall gain and 'scorching' the diodes a bit more. It has the most impact when the drive control is around half-way or less - this is where you will find the biggest difference in the added gain. In this sense, it's not a boost at all, but rather a "more" option.

On the wiring diagram, you will need to connect the S1, S2 and S4 pads to an On-On-On dpdt (available from smallbear) and run one additional wire from the DPDT to the 3PDT used for the 'boost' option. This should correct the previous wiring/routing errors. S3 should not be connected to anything.

One additional note: looking at a few pics of the insides of the latest FD-2 version, I noticed there is a small change with the clipping setup. It looks like Fuller altered the back-to-back 1N4005/1n914 diodes. The newest change appears to be swapping the 1n914 for two 1n4005 in series. So, following the Deadringer schematic, you would leave D1 the same, but in place of D2 you would solder two more 1n4005's in series. This preserves the asymmetrical type clipping of the previous version, but increases the overall forward voltage with the two new diodes in series. Hence, his description of a more 'open' sound. So, this is technically an additional correction to both ver.1 AND ver.2 of the Deadringer.

Sorry for the long winded post - I thought some of this additional info might shed some light on the design of the pedal. Diagram is attached below.

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Releasing today:

Wolfshirt - based on the Foxx Tone Machine - killer fuzz/octave nonsense!
Aristocrat - updated to ver. 3.5 - revised for small footprint, new dip switches
Deadringer - updated to ver. 2 (available this evening) - corrections to switch error in ver 1 and 1.5 - much smaller layout

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

Later this week:

Cherrybomb - Colorsound Overdriver - with some interesting mojo parts!
Daytripper (possibly) - Vox Night Train pedal port

Also, announcing the madbeanpedals Summer Build-Off Competition. Fun for all! Prizes, prizes! Check the link for more info and put on your thinking caps.

Possible temporary store closure: We are moving on the 19th. I haven't decided exactly how to handle the 4 or 5 days downtime in terms of doing orders. I'll make an announcement in another day or two once I've decided how best to handle it.

Folks,

I've been getting a few emails from some companies requesting that I remove their name from the website. I've gone ahead and done this for most of the projects, in anticipation of any future requests. While this may lead to some confusion, it is most likely unavoidable to some degree. I've done everything I can to be as descriptive as possible as to what's what. And, for the time being, the project documents themselves still name the actual design it's based upon. Just to re-iterate: these are DIY projects that are in no way affiliated with or serve as a replacement for any existing commercial product by any manufacturer. And, this forum is the only place you can expect to receive (happily) any response to questions regarding my projects or products.

If anyone has specific questions, or needs clarification, please feel free to PM me here in the forum.

Thanks!

Anyone interested in a friendly build-off competition? With prizes, of course. Just gauging interest. Sound off

In the wiring diagrams for the projects I use a certain labeling convention for the DC jacks and battery. It's come to my attention that this is confusing some people, so I will try to clarify.

Standard Boss type plugs deliver a center negative tip. In my diagrams I've labeled the DC jacks as +9v on the "tip". This is probably not the best way to do it. To me, I've always associated the "tip" of the actual jack as delivering +9v, which is probably just a little meme I constructed to avoid confusing myself. However, using this convention could make it appear as though connecting the jacks/battery as I picture it would lead to a short. This is not the case: the diagrams are correct, but the naming is kinda bad.

For example:


In this example, I've labeled the DC Jack as having a 'tip', 'ring' and 'sleeve'. The 'tip' delivers +9v to the board and the sleeve acts as ground. The 'ring' is connected to +9v on the battery, and the negative lead of the battery is connected to the ring on the input jack. This set-up delivers +9v to the board, even though it is confusing on my part to label the jack as the 'tip'. When the 2.1mm plug is inserted, the power supply operates to deliver the necessary voltage to the board. When the plug is removed, the battery delivers the power. If the input jack is unplugged, the battery is then disconnected.

To clarify further, please refer to the diagram of the DC jack listed on the smallbear website.
http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=93

In Steve's diagram, he labels the tabs "To battery+", "To board+", and "To board - and battery -". The correspondence is as follows:

Me ----- Steve

"Tip" = "To board+"
"Ring" "To battery+"
"Sleeve" = "To board - and battery -"

Hopefully this resolves the issue!

All current orders will have shipped by Tuesday, June 1st. I will be dropping all domestic orders on Monday, and international ones Tuesday (Monday is a USPS holiday).

The store will re-open on Mon. May 31st. Orders for June may take up to ten calendar days to turn-around, although I will do my best to keep shipping times as reasonable and quick as possible.

Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me over the past several weeks. I made a pretty big mistake taking on orders when I had so much to accomplish in my personal life regarding our home renovations, getting to market, etc. I've definitely learned a lesson about my personal limitations! In the future, I will plan more carefully for the times when I know this kind of conflict will exist. On a positive note, we accepted an offer on our house within a week of going on the market, and we are waiting for the final details to plan our relocation sometime at the end of June. If necessary, I will give ample warning if the store needs to be closed during that time.

Planned project releases this week: Deadringer update, the 'Wolfshirt' and the 'Tilt'. More on those last two in a couple of days.

The wiring diagram for the FatPants was missing a wire from the GND pad on the board to the switch. This has been corrected.

I'm steadily getting caught up on all the orders. I made/shipped roughly 100 boards last week and I've got a little less than that to get out this week. If you haven't gotten shipping notice yet, you will within the next couple of days. I will re-open the store the day I get the remaining orders in the mail, which likely will be before June 1st if everything goes well.

Aquaboy boards are back in stock and will be available when the store re-opens. I also have a handful of prototypes in for some new manufactured boards. Not saying what they are, but I think people will be excited when the time comes



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Here's my build of the upcoming Deadringer revision. So far everything is checking out. I will have the revised documents and info up at the end of the week.

The Aquaboy boards will be back in stock in around the end of the month. The next batch will be the exact same layout, but will come in green solder mask this time.

It's been brought to my attention that there is a typo in the schem for the Slow Loris and the Thumper. R4 should be 47R, not 47k. I've made corrections to the project documents to reflect this.

Shipping times have increased quite a bit these last weeks. We are down to about the last 72 hours of home repairs and renovations before our house goes on the market. While I expected to ship a large batch of orders last Thursday, it just wasn't possible. I appreciate everyone's patience once again: very soon this will be over and I can concentrate more fully on madbeanpedals.

If you have not received shipping notification on your order, please be patient. I will have it out A.S.A.P.

There may be a couple of periods of store closure in the coming weeks. Once our house is on the market I'll be fairly limited in how much of a mess I can make here! I may close the store for a week, and spend that time on getting all the new projects ready for release.

The store will definitely close for at least a week when we move from Austin to Tennessee. That will be (hopefully) within the next six weeks. I will try to give as much advanced warning as possible.

Over the next couple of months there will be many, many new projects released as well as a few new manufactured boards.

The Chunk Chunk (Dr.Boogey) and Faultline (Catalinbread SFT) are now available on the projects page.

The Chunk Chunk is a face melter. You may want to join a Black Metal band after building it. The Faultline is also a fairly high gain distortion, with plenty of character and versatility.

PCB artwork is included in the docs.

R36 in the parts list of the Aquaboy should be 47k5, not 47k. If you have already built it using a 47k, don't worry about it. The difference will be negligible. The project document has been updated with this change.

A couple of people have asked me for the Landgraff MoD on a single board (previously only available on the dual circuit Thumper), so here it is: the Slow Loris, named after possibly the coolest mammal on earth. Or is it a marsupial? Dunno..it's kinda of like a weird racoon thing. Oh, and the effect sounds good, too. Maybe not as fun as tickling a non-rabid racoon.

The Snack Shack is a D.A.M. Meathead, which is a very simple but very sweet sounding overdrive/fuzz kind of thing. I know a number of people have built clones of this so I thought I would try it out. So far, I like it. It is ripe for modding, too.

Both projects are available for purchase as PCB's and the PCB artwork is included with the docs, too.

I've spent most of the last two days updated all the projects to their latest versions. I believe I have everything covered for all versions that have shipped. Also, all the new updates have PCB artwork, wiring diagrams and drilling templates included. There are still some more to do, but I'm going to hold off on those so I can tie up some loose ends, and get some new projects released.

Anyway, check the Projects page for all the new goodies. The newest versions are highlighted in green.

The Darkside 1.5 doc erroneously had the SUS pot listed as 470kA in the components list. It should actually be 47kA.

Updated doc: http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/Darkside/docs/Darkside_ver1.5.pdf

Someone posted a nice little tutorial on dyeing PCB's using Sharpies over at diystompboxes.com. After trying out a few experiments, I came up with something a little more interesting than flat solid colors.



It even works on enclosures, although without primer on it the colors are rather dull.

Anyway, it's simple, really. The way I did it was mark down a base layer with a sharpie color, then wet a rag with acetone, apply another color sharpie directly to the rag then dab the rag over the base tone on the PCB. Two or three colors is all it takes!

Here's my first attempt applied to a bum Poindexter PCB (before I tried the method above)

All orders before 3/31 have been shipped. Thanks everyone for their patience and support while we dealt with our little crises here. I'll have orders from 3/31 through today out by Thursday morning.



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I've added a requests board for both projects and tutorials. Feel free to add yours in.