Finished, Random Stranger Bass Station!

[Willybomb]

Gudday all, this was a really neat build until I started wiring in the NE-1 and the general power...

NE-1 on vero, Madbean Sprout Haberdasher etch, Really Cheap Compresser on vero, THC Line driver.  Lot of lessons learned about placement - see how I had to grind out the screw hole so I could fit the fuzz footswitch in?  And the power and compressor LEDs are hotglued, due to being soo close to the sidewalls.  I can't turn the nuts...

[muddyfox]

The only mishap I see here is that you didn't have any metal footswitch washers at hand. 

Other than that, a stellar build.

[wgc]

Awesome!

[Droogie]

That is fantastic--what's the finish on the box?

[Willybomb]

It's a clearcoated black etching primer, that's then been laser engraved, and then clearcoated again.

This was due to having to marking the top via lots of little bits of aluminium dust after grinding out the screw home with a dremel.  I rubbed it back a number of times with a cloth and cut/polish compound, but did had little effect, so I was left with doing a couple of clearcoats over the top of the etch.  So.. that's why you see that raised photoshop style embossed finish.

It looks way better in real life, I just can't get a decent photo of it. 

The trophy shop only did one pass.  Next time, I'm thinking I'll get them to mask it with their masking stuff (like low tack tape but different), and get them to do a couple of passes to make sure the etch is into bare metal.  Then, leaving the mask on, I'll paint into the etch and remove the mask after...  Might work.

Or, maybe I'll get a matte clear - it looked totally baddass as a plain matte black primer but it marks too easy, especially if you try and clean it with *anything*.

Metal washers... would look pretty cool.

[thesameage]

So, what do you think of the effects now that you've got them all together? How do they sound?

[Willybomb]

It's pretty good actually. The NE-1 is a great preamp and I recommend it to anyone interested in making a bass pedal.  The compressor in front is pretty warm, and I can see it getting turn on and left on.  The two are a great combination.

The sprout, well... it probably isn't that great a bass fuzz in that it doesn't seem to have a lot of bottom end to it.  It probably needs a few cap substitutions, or even better, a blend knob.  It is, however, very nasty and spitty and sounds great in it's own way on it's own.  I suspect that in a band situation you'd probably find the bass getting swallowed up by the guitars if you used it in a dirty context.  It does cop Hysteria nicely though.  I looked at a couple of other bass fuzz veros, but really didn't want the hassle of a larger circuit with 5 pots (looking at you, wooly mammoth).

As I mentioned, this started out as just the NE-1, then I decided to add a compressor, then I arsed around trying to work out how I was going to do an XLR out until THC announced his line driver PBCs.  And then I though, well, I have 5 sprouts lying around, why not?

I'll enter it in the next competition (whenever that is) if it's eligible, and I'll do a vid demo then.

I would have preferred to leave it without the clearcoat, BTW.  It looks like it has a lot of contrast in the etch here, but it wasn't as distinct in real life.