Ant Driver (buffered cable) & Beauty Boost

[jubal81]

I came up with an SMD opamp buffer that's small enough to fit in an oversized 1/4" jack. I tried the Tillman FET boost in a cable and didn't like it much. Plus, it was a dead-bug and I have no confidence in that.

I've been using it in a junky prototype setup for a few months and it works beautifully. The circuit takes elements from the Klon and the AMZ super buffer. The dual opamps are in parallel, so this little thing can run a long stretch of cable. I used a two-conductor mic cable, with one wire for signal and one to run power up to the jack at the guitar.

In the pedal is a Beauty Booster from JMK PCBs - really a beauty, warm and sexy sound. I wired it true bypass and used a 2SK170 JFET. Another first on here is that I used an illuminated vandal switch from Seeedstudio, and this is paired with a Finish Line relay module from 1776effects. It's a momentary switch, but it gives a feedback "click." It's different, but I think I like it.

Box is etched, painted and clear-coated.

I'm planning on releasing the Jack Buffer as an open project when I get the documents together. The board is so tiny, 3 of them cost less than $2 from OSHpark. I also have a Mouser BOM ready that includes the big jack I used to house it in. Hopefully should have all that together within the week.

[sonarchotic]

Wow, that's some next level sh't there. Amazing etch and really cool concept! I look forward to giving this a shot.

[lincolnic]

I love the ingenuity here. And that boost is gorgeous, on top of everything else.

[Thomas_H]

It is grand that your project turned out to be long-time satisfactory.
I really like the master-slave approach you do here.
Looks nice and very reliable in an on-stage setup.

The glory is all your. Kudos!

[Jean-Rock]

I love the ingenuity here. And that boost is gorgeous, on top of everything else.

+1
Wonderful!

[Bufferz]

Great idea!

[wgc]

Really cool!

And smd!