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For the first time, I've painted an enclosure a dark color (deep metallic blue).  I've used waterslide decals efftctively in the past but only on lighter backgrounds, and only with black lettering.  I use laser printer stock from Small Bear, but my printer is only B&W.  I'd really like to use a bright purple or orange on this background and have it stand out -- can anybody suggest how I can do that?  Is there a resource you use or know about that could help create a logo for me that could slide onto the enclosure the same way but with bright colors?

I'm preparing to build up this project, and have a bunch of different caps on hand: those brownish-orangish Panasonic types, some 50V dipped ceramic types, and of course a bunch of greenies.  I'd appreciate any thoughts on what each of these types might do for this circuit, or which types to avoid (and, if possible, why). 

I've used greenies in Fuzz Faces and TB Mk II's and they sound good; and I've used dipped ceramics in Rams Head Muff builds and they also sound good.  But I've only ever seen the "higher" quality Panasonic types in the MK III builds...so I just want to make sure I don't make a mistake if the latter is the preferred type to use...

I wired up an ethced Zombii board and the thing sounds fantastic.  BUT -- the way the pots are situated, it leaves the bottom of the PCB too low in the enclosure, and I can't get a battery to fit (I'm using a pre-drilled 1590b from Pedal Parts Plus, as I **suck** at drilling).  Any suggestions on how I can do this differently?  I have another etched board that I'd be keen to populate and fit into the enclosure if I can manage to find a workaround...

I have a Peacekeeper PCB I've been waiting to build up, but find that at the moment I don't have quite enough J201's to use.  Is it possible to substitute some 2N5457's one one of the gain stages, perhaps the second to last (the "double" one)?  If so, would I have to adjust the 10M resistor on that stage?

I'm planning on building up a Zombii project, and am trying to use the lowest leakage, lowest noise transistors I can.  At the moment, this is what I've got:

For Q1, either a BC550B or a BC549B (both with HFe around 550)
For Q2/Q3, either:
-  a set of 2N1378 (85/130 HFe, virtually no leakage)
-  a set of CV7355 (80/125, very low leakage)
- a set of 2N404 (90/130, virtually no leakage)

I'm assuming that any of my choices for the Q2/Q3 positions will be fine, though I would be curious as to why any of you might favor one choice over another. 

The real question I have is for the Q1 device, which will be quite a bit higher gain than the usual 2N3904 in this position.  To compensate for that, would you recommend lowering the 220K resistor across the B/C of Q1 a bit...to, say, 180K?  Or is this not really so important?

Finally...the volume control on the stock Fuzz Factory is, as we all know, weird, since it is extremely loud already when the pot is up at the 9:00 position.  would lowering the 470R resistor to 390R or even 330R help with this, or would this lower value introduce some problems in how the other parts of the circuit interact?

"Thunder/Lightning/Lawyers" -- a little known B-side by Warren Zevon...

I just looked at the pedalPCB project.  The changes are SO slight.  I mean, I figured there'd be some minor changes but THAT minor? 

Yet still, the effect is very nice.  It's a very pleasing sound and determining which components to change to get it probably took some time and strategy.

The switch of R11 from 1M to 521K I am assuming creates some asymmetry in the third MOSFET, am I correct?

Do you think that the TYPE of caps in this circuit might make an audible difference?  That is, multilayer ceramic vs. WIMA or Poly, etc., in specific places?

So from what I've seen and heard, I'm liking the new ZVex dirtbox that remulates the '59 Bassman tone.  In the video demos, Vex suggests that the topology of the circuit would be very similar to the Box of Rock -- anybody have a guess as to what components would be altered or removed/added in order to get the circuit to behave more like a driven Fender Tweed?  I wonder if it's as simple as that, or if there are some additional maneuvers involved in the production of this device that the BOR didn't have.

I'm about to build up a K*ng of T*ne project, and I want to have one of the channels as high gain.  But I've never been clear about which side that channel should be...that is, should the standard gain side feed the high gain side, or vice versa?  What do YOU prefer, and why?

Also -- I was perusing another forum, and someone suggested what seemed like a useful mod: changing the 10K resistor in the IC1 feedback loop to 56K, and then using a 50K drive pot.  According to the poster, this yielded a far more useful drive control where the entire sweep of the pot functions essentially like the final 1/2 of the normal drive control, yielding useful OD in every position from low to high.  I'd like to adapt this for the high-gain side of the pedal as well...in that case, would I:

1) keep the 56K resistor substitution in place and just use a 100K drive pot (as opposed to the 250K pot in the "usual" high gain channel of this pedal)?  or, if this leaves me with *less* drive than the 250K pot would provide...

2) keep the 56K in place and use the 250K drive pot?  Or...

3) up the 56K to something a bit higher and use the 250K drive pot?

My understanding is that the 56K sets the minimum drive amount, and then higher pot value would then add to that.   So -- and please correct me if I'm wrong -- keeping the 56K would keep the same minimum drive level irrespective of the highest level of drive set by the value of the drive pot...

I've just discovered this great circuit by Mictester on FSB, and want to give it a go.  But I'm wondering if there's a way to add a threshold control to this circuit...I've found that feature useful on other circuits and I'd like to figure out where it could be incorporated into this one.  Any suggestions?

I'm building a Tonebender Mk II project and want to stick a PNP silicon transistor in the Q2 spot.  I know I can simulate leakage by running a resistor between the B and C of the transistor, but what's a good value to do start with in doing that?      Open to any suggestions or ideas regarding the variables involved in making that choice.

I picked up a nice haul of AC125 transistors (don't know the manufacturer, but they're in the TO-1 package).  The problem is that they're all REALLY leaky...like 700ma or even higher.  I was going to use these in some Tonebender circuits but with that leakage I don't think I can.  Any suggestions about where they might actually work??

It's always interesting to see different peoples' approaches. I particularly enjoyed your post, Jon.

For what it's worth, the Camel Toe is a Red Llama into a Green Rhino. The Rhino is essentially a modified Tube Screamer. My personal experience has been that the Red Llama can be quite bright. Placing it before a Tube Screamer would allow you to focus the sound with that circuit's mid bump.

I could see the Blues Breaker at either end of the chain. At the beginning, it could be used to effect the quality of the distortion from the Red Llama. At the end, it could be used for EQ in a more traditional sense. This second option probably makes more since into a clean amp. A Tube Screamer into a clean amp is a pretty uninspiring sound, and putting it and the end of the chain would make its character predominant.

It's best to plan on breadboarding it and see what option sounds best, you might be surprised.

I listened pretty closely to the Camel Toe.  I can see its benefits, but for this project...I think it might not be what the player is looking for.  One of the tones this guy likes is Trey Anastasio's use of two Tubescreamers, one of which is modified for a no mid-bump tone.  He runs that one after the regular TS, so it boosts, EQ's or adds more grit to whatever is coming out of the regular TS.  Since that's a sound that this player likes, I figured it would be best to put the TS type device first (I do some mods so it has a little less of a mid bump, and a bit more low end), then the Blues Breaker, since that comes pretty close to what Anastasio does with his setup.  And since a BB sounds nice into a clean Fender-y amp, it seems well suited to go into the second position if two are running at the same time. 

As for the Llama...yes, it's really bright!  I added a tone control to tame that, and a few other mods which help with noise.  So now it's fairly transparent/clear, but boosts really well on it's own and thus seems well suited to take a signal already affected by a OD.  I mocked all of this up with individual circuits/stompboxes, and the sequence really works nicely.  The real question was, initially, where to put the TS, but I think that since this will be a progressive stacking of gain, having it in the first position (as Jon suggested above) makes the most sense and actually sounded the best when I did the test.

This was a really fun project and when i finish it up, I'll be sure to post some pics.  I appreciate everybody's thoughts on this, which were very helpful.

Jon, from your detailed discussion, and based on what this player wants (and he's going into a mostly clean amp), it seems like the best way to go would be to put the TS-clone first, the BB-clone second, and the Llama last.  That way the TS shapes the tone early, and also has a high degree of gain (I do the high gain mod on it) going into the BB...which strikes me as a more subtle tone shaper.  The Llama, with the drive down, is a nifty boost, and with a touch of drive can make what goes into it interesting (as Zombie suggests).  Thanks guys, very helpful.

Someone asked me to make them a triple overdrive pedal with a Tubescreamer-type circuit, a Red Llama clone, and a Bluesbreaker clone.  I've got the boards and actually excited to tackle the job, but the question remains: which is the best order for these effects to go in series?  Now, I know there's no "best" of anything,  but what's the most flexible, useful combination if this player were to run all three at the same time?  I'm guessing the Llama first (for a fairly clean boost or drive), into the TS (for a bit more honk or mids) into the Bluesbreaker, which should add a bit of shine without too much additional midrange flavoring.  But what would YOU do?