My LaVache

[shawnee]

My first build report.... I have built around 25 pcbs but absolutely hate boxing these things so it has to be something that I think "this pedal will never come off of my board" before I will box one. I boxed a Fatpants and a Spackler in 1590A enclosures but that's it so far. I will box the boneyard, Chunk Chunk, and a couple of others for sure. Anyway, here is my La Vache. I actually have a 1957 Fender tweed deluxe and this pedal comes pretty close. It has that "sag" like the real deal. When I had the volume and gain maxed it cleans up really well with the guitar's volume knob. I can nail the Rolling Stones Brown Sugar, Jimi Hendrix The Wind Cries Mary, or Stevie Ray Vaughn Cold Shot with the gain maxed depending on the guitar volume setting just like a good fuzz pedal.

I just went with the Lovepedal Les Lius theme because it just looks "right" to me. I went for a 1290 box in transparent gold from Pedal Parts Plus. I just put the boost on a toggle to save some pedal board space. I used the suggested 2N3565 (which sounds way better than the 2N5088), BAT41's for Z1 and Z2 with a germanium 1n34 for Z3. I also used a 100 ohm resistor for R4 to get more gain. I tried lots of diode combinations and settled on these and soldered everything in. I messed up when I boxed it and got the pots backwards so the volume and gain went up by turning the knobs counter clockwise. I had to take it apart and switch the wires to get it right. It works fine now and I am really happy with it. Thanks Brian for giving us such great PCB's and info to build better stuff than we could buy.

[nzCdog]

I like Goooooollllllld!

Great job man, tidy work!

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

Ooooh that looks classic! My buddy has a 59 champ and I know what you mean about sag. There's nothing else like it!

[snz728]

Great I'm adding it to the wish list i was debating between this or the formula #5

[jubal81]

Looks fantastic. Any chance you might do a demo video?

[shawnee]

Thanks for the replies! It really is a cool pedal. It really does sag if you crank the gain on it. I built the Formula No 5 as well and like this one a little better (but it's all opinion because the No 5 sounds great too). I guess I'll have to hook it back up to the test rig and A/B both of them again to be able to describe the difference.

I don't have any way to do video right now but I have a friend who has a pretty decent home recording setup on his computer. I'm trying to get together with him to record some audio clips with this pedal and a couple of others. I should have the Chunk Chunk and a modified Boneyard done soon.

[TNblueshawk]

Looks great man.

[jtn191]

cool, I'm something like 75% done with mine. I think I'll go with your diodes/transistor. I wanted "tweed in a pedal" but I've heard lots between Lius and Form. 5. Maybe I'll just build both

[shawnee]

  I don't think you can wrong with the 2N3565. I obviously like my diodes but you may want to socket them to try different types. The 100 ohms R4 resistor will gaive you more gain if you want it. Please post and let me know how you like the pedal.