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Never tried socketing a Belton Brick before. I know some find it tacky (ha), but a bit of hot glue wouldn't go amiss in there, too.

Got any sound clips you'd be willing to share?

Beautiful suggestion and already done - just a couple dabs in select spots to make me feel better about my life choices.

I did a very quick demo at my practice space at your request. First minute is hiss-y cause I was explaining what I was using through the iPad mic, but demo starts around 1min and uses a better mic - it's not totally thorough but gives the gist.

https://youtu.be/G6fZVm433W4?is=37XXnqQ45eKnBgBH

I only had a little shure mv-88 connected to my iPad for the demo part, but it did pretty okay. Some vibration in the video cause I just set it on a music stand to film the board.

The only thing that didn't come through was if you have the dry signal all the way down, the verb sounds really cool but is delayed from your actual strum, which could be weird live, but yea.

A lot of stuff is pretty DIY in this video - I 3D printed my pedalboard braces and used 2020 extrusion for the bars. 7 of the 11 "things" on the board were made by me. I made most of the patch cables and my guitar cable. I made and modified the guitar right down to the pots (changed the wafers for custom values, and it's a stereo guitar) and built the amp from a kit.

The pedals: tuner, meris polymoon (the white dual switch below it is just a program recall I made), MB husky boy (on the 90 degree, white, black knobs) MB blue steel (light blue, orange/white knobs, thin stripes), Rat clone (salmon, red knobs - 8 clipping modes and fat selection switch), octa psi (black, black knobs, striped decal covering branding), stereo/dual tremolo (silver, pink/gold knobs, striped decal), MB/VFE Springboard (dark purple, pink knobs), EHX 1440 looper. (The little single button guy in the upper right is a tap tempo for the tremolo).

I'm still learning what pedals work well for my sound at band-level volume, but these seem to be doing the trick.

I'll admit I know little to nothing about reverb, other than I like when it's there and my JTM does not have it. I had a rub-a-dub single knob reverb that I built long ago (1776, I think?) which is still cool but I wanted a little more control with this setup. So if anything seems out of sorts, let me know! lol - cause I wouldn't know otherwise!

Happy weekend folks!

... or you'd think so anyway!

Had a 'time' with the switching board, which cause for a lot of desoldering and wound up just rebuilding that section entirely to get it working. But - it worked!

Built into a 125b and I am very glad for that! Didn't have to worry about height of components or the fact that I hacked the pots using whatever I had (note the very "lovely" perf board adapter at the edge of the board for a 16mm-to-9mm workable situation - the pots are also why there's some wires coming up). I could socket the switching board parts and not worry about the spacing with the belton brick. Ace.

I had to angle all the resistors, which fit perfectly and had no issues getting those into place.

I wasn't (and am still not) convinced my leaf sockets are strong enough to hold that brick for the long haul, so i added some padding to the base to kind of hold it in there. I think the leaf sockets are brilliant, I just think mine are cheap lol.

Enclosure is a monthly drop from love my switches (cherry cola?). Eventually I might fire up the cricut and put some decals on it like the blue steel behind it, but like most of my pedals, I like it looking like a weird toy.

Sounds good and seemingly working well. Pics:

Update: Since I had other VFE switch boards, I just built a new one.

Once I removed the 78L05, the resistance from its output pad to ground was 0, which meant something was shorting to ground somewhere, but I could not (and still cannot) find where it was. Part of me wonders if it was a rogue strand of wire with one of my connector wires to the PCB, but we'll see later when I have more time to test the non-working board again now that I've stripped those off of it.

This meant that the 78L05 was fine (as proven by its use on the now-working new board), as were all of the components and IC chips.

*sigh* - it's messier in there than I like, but I'll still do a build report, if for no other reason the learnings, lol. This one nearly broke me - I've had to troubleshoot before, but never just rebuild it completely. Luckily it works, so I live to tell the story...

An aside: I actually think the switching system is brilliant; similar to something I was trying to build an effects loop program using an Arduino with some transistors, zeners and an optical muting system to power the relays with a bunch of programmed banks for memory - I got it fully working on the breadboard, but getting all of it mounted in the enclosure with the neopixels and LED screen was a bit much (I bit off more than I could chew there - maybe one day I'll finish it). But on a per-pedal basis, I guess I'm just old school - forgive any implied judgment, "get off my lawn!", etc.

Enjoy the weekend, folks!

Some further testing and a bit of copilot help later:

into D1: 9.3v
out d1: 9v
D2: 2.5v
Inductor In: 9v
Inductor Out: 2.5v
resistance across inductor: 24ohm (this is the same in my Distortion3 projects, which work)
C1+: 2.5v
78L05 I: 2.5v
78L05 O: 0v
BS170 D: 8.6v (ish)

During the process, I replaced C1 entirely and swapped the 7662 chip. No luck.

Copilot seems to think it's either a bad D2 (16v zener, which I've already replaced once) or the regulator (78L05, which, of course, I'm out of now). Maybe micro center will have some...

Any other advice here is appreciated. Thanks all!

I had asked something similar before, re: using a normal foot switch, but given this is a split rail situation, just trying to make sense of it all and what filtering is needed.

Hi all!

Not really sure what's going on, but I cannot get my springboard to function - when I put my multimeter to the footswitch, I'm only getting 2v throughout the entire thing after the 5817. I already replaced the diode, used a 2nd VFE chip I had from another project, replaced the tq2-5lv, swapped another switch in, and it just turns on the LED and nothing else. Certainly not getting strong readings at the 5v regulator even though it is heating up.

I've traced all my leads, ensured the parts are all correct, triple checked that there not a ground short somewhere... It's gotta be a bad part in there somewhere, I just don't where or how to find it.

But honestly, I don't love these footswitch systems - there's a lag on my distortion 3's that's JUST enough for me to notice and trip me up, and it goes haywire if I accidentally trigger tap it (easier to do on the momentary switch than a standard 3pdt).

If I wanted to just make this a normal 3pdt footswitch, could I simply just make a daughter board with some power filtering and wire it up normal? I'm not sure how the whole split rail thing works with this board, so hopefully someone can tell me what to do here...

(also, could by my leaf sockets are just weak, but they are not holding this brick in very well - are some stronger than others, or is this thing just a beast to cram into em?).

Hi everyone! Just ordered a Springboard PCB and looking forward to messing with that.

I have most of the parts on hand and just need a few odds and ends, which is where my questions start. I'm hoping to get a one-stop shop sort of thing happening here, but it's looking unlikely UNLESS the following questions can get a little clarity...

- The parts list mentions a 150uf cap, but there's a small disclaimer in the BOM notes that 47u (which I have a decent amount of) would be fine. I just want to verify this is true before I scour mouser. I have a ton of 100u, as well.

- (this is the really dumb question, cause it feels very obvious, but I have to ask) I have 18v Zeners, but it looks like this VFE project asks for 16v - being less familiar with Zeners than I like to admit, I assume I can't sub an 18v here?

I'm throwing this into a 125b, so spacial issues shouldn't affect the build, and I've built a couple VFE boards before so I know some of the quirks there, but any advice for this one going in?

Thanks in advance! This place is the best!

You may need to alternate the orientation of them. take your time and consider the clearance for the adjacent components. There's also resistor kits on Ali that run pretty cheap.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mL7tbuB

I think I'm gonna do the springboard and see how that goes - just ordered the board and I have most of the other parts on-hand (I truly do whatever I can to avoid ordering extra parts - city boy here with city storage; e.g. full storage, hehe).

Thank you to those who replied, btw - very helpful! like I said, I've angled or vertical oriented a part here or there, but never an entire board. The Boss example is a good one (or is it? depending on your opinion of boss pedals, hehe), so thank you all for the tips. :-) This is why I keep coming back to this forum!

Regarding the 1/4W resistors, shouldn't be an issue as long as the leads or solder joints don't cross any adjacent parts/connections. IMO it can definitely look pretty tons of old classic pedals did this—even full vertical—with resistors, diodes, you name it. As long as you have the vertical real estate, it's no biggie.

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I've certainly done it before for a part here and there - but not for an entire board, lol - especially one of these sizes. Didn't know if it would induce radio signals or something with so many leads exposed. Good to know! thank you, as always! :-)

I fully understand this is probably a dumb question, and I searched to see if anyone had mentioned something about it before, but came up short...

I have exactly zero 1/8w resistors, but I have thousands of 1/4w resistors in so many varied values - I know it would not look pretty and I'm okay with that, but would there be a sonic repercussion if I angled some 1/4w in place of the 1/8w resistors in either the springboard or windbag?

Also, help me decide if you will... I have a Meris polymoon, so I'm thinking the windbag might be overkill given its half-delay situation, but if I wanted a good reverb without getting a mercury 7 or something like that, the springboard would be the ticket yea? (I have a couple rub-a-dub DIY etched pedals, which are single knob reverbs and sound great, but I'm looking to get a little more control these days).

Any thoughts? Appreciate the help in advance!

Worth noting: you could easily take the buffers out if you've already gone this far into modding the pedal, but I liked where it landed and didn't wanna push my luck. If you really don't want them even with the effect on...

www.electrosmash.com/boss-ds1-analysis slope game breaks down where the buffers start and stop. Remove those parts and set your in and out wires accordingly.

That's a pretty ambitious DS 1 project, especially keeping the original Boss board and adding true bypass afterward. I like the idea of making C3 selectable instead of committing to a single value. Having stock, darker distortion, and fuzzier lead tones in one pedal seems like a practical use of the extra switch space.

I certainly wouldn't have done anything like this when I started tinkering with pedals, at least successfully - Pretty sure I had to re-solder some wires that twisted themselves out of place during all this, which I'm usually pretty good about avoiding at this stage, but... there we were! hehe.

10 months later this finds itself on and then off my board, cycle repeating every couple months - its articulation with finger picked chords while getting deep into distortion/fuzzy territory is among the best of my entire lot of pedals, but it's also the most prone to feedback (like the original was) if I'm too close to the amp or playing through certain pickups (I have almost all hum bucker/hum canceled pups) - at least moreso than any other pedals I have, so I keep finding myself back to a RAT with either no clipping diodes or LED (this has its own set of fun, which is partly why I wanted to see watt the DS-1 update would do). If I'm into its fuzzier areas I kind of need to have the Blue Steel (BD-2 clone) to really smooth it out, so it's not a perfect solution by any means (but it does sound really good with a boost or overdrive going into it, and the Blue Steel is an excellent circuit and build).

The so-called "synth mods" are useless for me - hard/impossible to control, not really worth the effort to get the switches in... I'm tempted to 3D print fake knobs or something and just remove them and cover the holes up.

Anywho - will likely record with it, but find the RAT is better in a live mix.

Worth noting: you could easily take the buffers out if you've already gone this far into modding the pedal, but I liked where it landed and didn't wanna push my luck. If you really don't want them even with the effect on...

www.electrosmash.com/boss-ds1-analysis breaks down where the buffers start and stop. Remove those parts and set your in and out wires accordingly.

I couldn't help myself and continued to mod this to be true bypass*

Why true bypass* (asterisk)? Well, the in/out buffers are technically still there - I can just bypass them in clean.

How did I do this? I took out the transistors that control the electronic switching (Q6, Q7 and Q8) and jumper'd the outside pins of Q6 and Q7 and left Q8 empty. All of the parts at the bottom of the boss board were for the electronic switching, so I took out everything but the resistors in that part of the circuit for space and to possibly help with any noise. The 3PDT now has PLENTY of space and it worked like a charm. Used madbeans foot switch diagram and it's beautiful (well, it doesn't LOOK beautiful cause it was tight working in there, but you know what I mean. Hehe).

Gut shots below. Any of the cream caps are of my own addition. You can see the LED for clipping near the IC, as well as the jumper at q6. Figuring out the power took me longer than I'd like to admit, but the way the battery was intertwined with the jack and power wasn't what I was used to.

So all in all - I took a pedal I didn't like, modded it to sound better in stock settings, added a "fuzz" switch (which so far is GREAT for leads), made it true bypass and put it into a housing I prefer. Win/win all around. Modding, true bypassing and rehousing these old buggers IS possible.

If you haven't already seen it, you might find this interesting:

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/cd4053/cd4053.htm

Hadn't seen this, no... I'm intrigued! Thanks for sharing!

In quick looking, that chip is outdated/obsolete - TI has a newer version that works with less power (5v vs. 9, but might require extra parts to filter down) and supposedly has faster switching (which, may or may not be an issue with a pop/noise - I could probably also find that old chip without issue at mouser or something compatible).

Found a string where someone created a buffered version of this that worked, so maybe I'll figure out the varied part needs and breadboard a non-buffered version to test. Really I just wanna learn and see what's what...

Should be noted I have no issue with buffers in theory, but even with short cables direct vs. into any Boss pedals I've had/have I can hear a distinct tone color that I'm not super into...

At any rate - thank you for this!

Apologies, all... Seems I'm just bad at internet search - I was searching for Boss electronic switching when I should have been looking for JFET switching.

https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=131642.0
https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?t=28714

*sigh* BUT - I think I might A/B test this switching method a bit just to learn more about it, but it appears to be more effort than not to make it work WITHOUT a buffer. In the DIY stomp boxes link, the very last statement explains (if I'm reading it right) that the buffer brings up the impedance such that the switching can happen reliably without any glitches - without the buffer, getting the right mix of parts is tough when accounting for signal discrepancies in different scenarios it seems.

I'll keep doing my research... sorry for the bother! "Hey Timmy, can you help me print this PDF?" ;-)