Messages

I have been looking forward to this build for a while. I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. In the end, I can see why so many people like it as a boost. It reminds me of the Menatone Howies I've owned in that once I got used to the sound of them on, I never wanted to turn them off. They sort of honey coated my sound, especially the strats. I made mine buffered bypass, but I might change it. A few other pedals (such as my Tone Bender) sound brittle through the buffered signal. Overall, great fun. I powder coated this, then applied a laser waterslide decal and then clear powdered. Next time, I'll make sure the decal fits the entire top. The outline is more noticeable than I'd expected. The laser paper is great, though. I tried inkjet paper before and it just turned dark brown.

Actually, I think growing your own hops to make your own beer is exactly in line with the pedal making ethic (coming from a complete pedal  noob in myself). A full mash is probably equivalent to etching your own boards. For some people, it's just more rewarding to research the process and create things on your own. I started with basic soldering to replace pickups and soon enough I was buying giant boards of alder, mahogany etc. to build my own guitars. I wish I knew more about pedal science, but I like the creation aspect, similar to making my own pastrami, ribs, beer, mole,  gardening etc.

Get ready for hop harvest year two!!!! Once they are established they really explode. I had Kent Goldings, Cascade and Willamette years ago. The first year was decent (nothing like your excellent harvest), but starting the second year the harvests were huge. My neighbor actually thought I was growing a different green plant and kept leaning over the fence to ask if I was afraid of getting caught and if I wanted him to help me trim it down a bit. He was pretty bummed when he found out they were hops. Then, as a sign of neighborly goodwill, I gave him a few 25oz bottles. He didn't listen when I explained they were bottle conditioned and they exploded in his house in the California summer heat. Good times. Excellent harvest. Be sure to post some pics of the carboys (or perhaps larger equipment) at work.

Hi,
I built two Lunar Blast Tremolos. One works great, the other works fine except the Wave control doesn't do anything. When the Wave pot is turned all the way to the left the pulsing LED shuts off. This is supposed to be the "Choppy" wave. When turned all the way to the right, they sound the same (and all components test the same voltages).  When I turn the wave completely clockwise, the two IC readings are identical on both pedals. However, when the Wave pot is turned all the way off, all the readings for the components are different for the two pedals- especially in IC1 (I've swapped out several chips and it's the same for them all). IC2 readings don't seem to be a problem and they stay the same for each pedal when the wave is off.

IC1 4558 (both pedals, wave turned completely on- clockwise)
1 4.32
2 4.48-4.50
3 3.91
4 0
5 8.45
6 4.33
7 4.33
8 4.32
IC2 TL072(both pedals, Wave turned all the way on- clockwise)
1 4.56
2 4.56
3 4.34
4 0
5 9.12
6 4.56
7 4.56
8  4.35

IC1 4558 Wave turned all the way off on the non-chop functioning Wave pedal
1 2.36
2 6.12
3 2.06-2.14
4 0
5 8.53
6 2.32
7 2.32
8 2.12

These are very far off from the working pedal, which has results about the same for Wave turned on or off. Could it be a faulty Vactrol? Where should I look to fix the chop on the wave. It's hard to tell when they are exactly the same for a smooth wave and then all the values are different when turned the other way with identical parts.

470 K did the trick. It's much better now. The volume can exceed unity by a bit or get below. Thanks for all the help.
Brad

Thanks. I'll start there. Much appreciated.

Thanks. My knowledge of this is limited, but I was wondering if it was possible to increase volume by making changes in the gain stage, not really adding gain. Or perhaps I was looking in the wrong part of the signal and changes could be made to another section to increase volume. Sorry if I was unclear. I'm not looking for more gain, just volume, but I'm not sure where to affect that change. Thanks, and I enjoy all your videos- the Azabache one resulted in my building one myself.

Is the resistor switch a better place to start?

Thanks,
I'll give that a shot.
Brad

Hi, thanks a lot for the positive comments. I didn't alter anything, just wired it right to the pcb. Maybe it is the LED type? I used the Hi-Bright 3mm type for the eye and 5mm for the blue corners. I've used others that were diffused and not as powerful on my first couple of pedals. I bought some boxes of assorted colors off ebay. It was fairly cheap and I don't feel bad if I fry one now and again (because I certainly earn that diode destroyer label).

Hello,
I built this tremolo and it has a volume drop even when the Gain knob is all the way up. Can I change a value in the Gain section to increase how loud this pedal is? When bypassed, the volume is fine.
Thanks,
Brad

I wrote a better description of what I need in another post.

Here is a Pork Barrel that I built. I waited a long time for these to restock, so it was even more of a treat when they became available. I had an old black label Boss CE2 that I loved. This sounds a lot like what I remember. Now I just need to find an Ibanez AD 80 pedal pcb  to replace my long lost pink beauty.

Wow, that is great looking. The design and the choice of effects go great together. I'd love to hear that thing.

That looks great. How do you do the lettering and graphics?