The Best of The Best

[selfdestroyer]

Surely that's gotta be a 4 layer board??

Im sure it is, and don't call me Surely. lol

[chromesphere]

Selfy then?

Do that on single sided self etched! lol

[Stomptown]

Im sure it is, and don't call me Surely. lol

Roger, Roger! 

[pickdropper]

On the boutique side of things, it's not uncommon for the builders to be unaware (or uninterested) in common design practice.

Plus, everybody knows it adds mojo to have lousy rats nest wiring.

I'm actually quite interested in learning about common design practices. Do you have any links to info on this?

There is a ton of info out there.  I've read some of it over the years but most of the information I've gleaned (which is far from all-encompassing) has been from two sources:

1) Working with people more experienced and/or smarter than me that explained better approaches to doing things (such as PCB layout and mechanical design).

2) Working in my day job and dealing with practical struggles involved with setting up assembly lines and seeing firsthand that just because it can be built on a bench in the engineering department doesn't mean it can be built on an assembly line.

[jubal81]

This stuff fascinates me more and more. I, too, would love to have an experienced engineer sit down and evaluate circuits bit by bit and explain rationale, like:
"The ideal resistor would be 11K, but that's an odd value and more expensive when you're already paying for 9 other 10K resistors."
Like a walkthrough of making judgements about what is ideal for precision or low noise vs. production realities. I suppose the 'best' design is the one that best matches your goals.

[raulduke]

I agree with Lace on the recent Way Huge stuff.

For overall engineering quality (electronic, mechanical, and pcb design), I think they are the dogs b*llocks!

I really like Subdecay, Earthquaker and Catalinbread stuff too from the boutique market. Really well put together.

I have not tried any Dr Scientist stuff, but the Elements looks like an awesome pedal, both in design, and sound.

[pickdropper]

This stuff fascinates me more and more. I, too, would love to have an experienced engineer sit down and evaluate circuits bit by bit and explain rationale, like:
"The ideal resistor would be 11K, but that's an odd value and more expensive when you're already paying for 9 other 10K resistors."
Like a walkthrough of making judgements about what is ideal for precision or low noise vs. production realities. I suppose the 'best' design is the one that best matches your goals.

I know some really solid circuit designers that aren't guitar players.  They usually look at me cross-eyed when I bring up a distortion or fuzz pedal.  They generally try and avoid those sort of things when designing circuits.  My boss actively makes fun of me about it.  He's a bit of a musician (jazz and classical) so it offends him on multiple levels.   

[Bret608]

While we're on the Dr. Scientist topic, I think it's so cool that when he built his own personal prototype of the new Cosmichorus, he had one the DIY folks that frequent ILF etch him an enclosure. I'd be proud to own one of his pedals. Already glad to have something from Earthquaker in my lineup.

[alanp]

I know some really solid circuit designers that aren't guitar players.  They usually look at me cross-eyed when I bring up a distortion or fuzz pedal.  They generally try and avoid those sort of things when designing circuits.  My boss actively makes fun of me about it.  He's a bit of a musician (jazz and classical) so it offends him on multiple levels.   

Sounds like he needs a Standard Fuzz for Christmas

[culturejam]

While we're on the Dr. Scientist topic, I think it's so cool that when he built his own personal prototype of the new Cosmichorus, he had one the DIY folks that frequent ILF etch him an enclosure. I'd be proud to own one of his pedals. Already glad to have something from Earthquaker in my lineup.

He actually traded me a "blem" Reverberator for one of the Muff clones I built. 

[LaceSensor]

While we're on the Dr. Scientist topic, I think it's so cool that when he built his own personal prototype of the new Cosmichorus, he had one the DIY folks that frequent ILF etch him an enclosure. I'd be proud to own one of his pedals. Already glad to have something from Earthquaker in my lineup.

He actually traded me a "blem" Reverberator for one of the Muff clones I built. 

He traded me a non-blem Cosmichorus v3 for a Doppelganger clone I built. Double 

[pickdropper]

I know some really solid circuit designers that aren't guitar players.  They usually look at me cross-eyed when I bring up a distortion or fuzz pedal.  They generally try and avoid those sort of things when designing circuits.  My boss actively makes fun of me about it.  He's a bit of a musician (jazz and classical) so it offends him on multiple levels.   

Or a Torns Peaker.   
Sounds like he needs a Standard Fuzz for Christmas