Booster!

[jkokura]

Finished a pair of these today. I think if all I had to do was SHO's, and I had the parts, boards and Finished enclosures available, I could probably bang one of these out finished in less than an hour. If you count the time in ordering parts, finishing enclosures, and designing and having graphics printed and applied, plus the clearcoating... Meh. Too much time!

But give me parts, and I'm a whiz! These fired up first try. Also, there's a pic of an overdrive in there. They're actually a part of a set. I've built the overdrive and booster, and there's also a compressor I'm waiting on boards for. Once they're all done, I'm selling them. 6 pedals, 2 sets of 3, 3 different types. I'm going to sell one set as a complete set (all three pedals), and the other three will go to whoever wants them! Anyway, I finished the two boosters today to add to the two overdrives. Pictured below is one of each. Enjoy.





And the Guts.



Jacob

[stevewire]

Very nice looking and also very neatly done.  Did you paint the enclosures yourself or preorder them that way?  If preordered, from where?  I always prefer the input/output on the top side.  It makes for shorter cable runs on my board and you can place your pedals closer together.

[jkokura]

Thanks steve! I appreciate it very much.

I get just about all my enclosures pre painted when I buy them from Pedal Parts Plus. Really great selection, awesome price, fantastic service.

Also, I like them up there because it makes for shorter cable runs also! But really it's about being able to fit as many pedals on my board as possible. I can fit 3 125B's side by side in a space normally used by two boss pedals. Using Lava Cable has also really enabled me to cut down on excess space on my board because the ends are so small.

Oh, and the third pedal is ready - I'm going to post a group shot for everyone to see soon!

Jacob

[jkokura]

Finished the 3rd, so here's the group shot.



Jacob

[gtr2]

A happy family 

[CK1]

Were these original circuits or are they clones?  You mentioned SHOs, so is that my answer for the boosters?

[stevewire]

jkokura,
So you ordered them pre-painted from pedalpartsplus, but do you drill them yourself?  It looks like on their site that all the pre-drilled have the in/outs on the sides.  I have yet to either paint or buy a pre-painted enclosure.  I've done a little drilling, but I get nervous about screwing that up.  I suppose I was nervous the first time I soldered up a pedal.  I guess the solution is to get in there and start doing it myself.

I have all George L on my board and all the rest of the cabling is Lava.  I'd like to one day try the Lava board kits.  Space and positioning are definitely a concern when I think about how I want my enclosures.

[jkokura]

First off, you can check out how this thing sounds here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxvcGrrUb9g!

Second, CK1 these are SHO's, their made on Madbean's board called the Slambox. It's a pretty standard booster. Clean at unity and a little above, but it pushed my vibro champ into overdrive REALLY easily. Check out the video.

Third, Steve I use the pre painted boxes BECAUSE I don't like to do the painting. However, I drill myself. II first do very, very careful measuring after really thinking out my layout. I've not gotten to the place where I can do it from memory, but I used to have a sheet with all my measurement data on where I wanted my holes for some enclosures all written up. Now I just do it simply. I've also used printouts of layouts from when I'm doing my graphics - this can be handy when you want knobs and switches to line up with graphics.

Usually I first mark out my drill spots using pencil or the printed out layout get's taped to the box. Then I use a punch to create a small dent/mark. Then I have used a hand drill with a 1/8" bit for a pilot hole. From there I move to a step bit which helps me get all the holes the right sizes. I am a bit spoiled right now as I'm using my Father in Law's shop space and he has a free standing drill press. I like using the drill press a lot more.

As for wiring, I use the Lava Cables now, though I've used hand made cables using Neutrik ends and Canare cable for a long time. I switched to Lava because the ends are SOOOO much smaller, and I can get a lot more space out of my board. I like to mount my jacks on top of the enclosures because it just makes soooo much more sense. Makes it a little awkward to wire at times, but it certainly gives me more room when I'm using it, so I am fine to sacrifice the extra time in the building process if it makes my life better down the road.

It's good that you think about these things. I really recommend you carefully think about it, because I didn't when I was early on in my building. My early pedals often had out of line holes, terrible mistakes all over the place and crappy messy wiring that was impossible to sort out if it didn't work. Most of all, I recommend finding a way of ensuring your pedal works BEFORE you put it in the box. I almost never did that until recently, and it works a lot better to try before boxing it all up.

Jacob

[stevewire]

Jacob,
I haven't had much problems with my builds not working, but I do need to work on getting my internal wiring a lot neater.

[jkokura]

You don't need to, but it can look more professional! You should post some pics so we can see! Then when you post newer pictures, we can all say things like....

"Man that steve is awesome at his wiring"

And then you'll humbly say things like...

"awww shucks guys! It didn't always used to be that way."

Or...

"Jacob taught me everything I know!"

Okay. So maybe that last one was a fib, or I'm stroking my ego or something... Perhaps I just think I'm funnier than I really am. Yeah, that's it.

Jacob

[stevewire]

hey Jacob,
Thank you for the encouragement.  As soon as I have something worth looking at, I'll post some pictures.  My Rangemaster is sounding pretty nice.  Too bad my Pro Tools stopped working.

Have you ever tried the 1290 enclosures?  I've mostly only built things in the 125Bs.  My concern is getting the DC jack and in/outs in the same spot as we have discussed.  I'd also like to do a slambox in a 1590a, but obviously I'd have to go with a different layout for that.

[jkokura]

Have you ever tried the 1290 enclosures?  I've mostly only built things in the 125Bs.  My concern is getting the DC jack and in/outs in the same spot as we have discussed.  I'd also like to do a slambox in a 1590a, but obviously I'd have to go with a different layout for that.

I haven't tried 1290 enclosures. I have tried to use the 1590B enclosures, but because I like top mounted jacks the 1590's are a no go. The 125B's don't take up more room side to side honestly, and because of the way I like to use Pedaltrains, the added height and depth make no difference to layout on the board, but HUGE benefits with the guts of the pedals.

I've also used 1590a's a couple times. I built a SHO into one, and it works great, but I tried an alternative way of using jacks and it kind looks funky. It might be good to use as an under the pedal board always on for a buffer type of pedal, but I'd never use it. I should put it up on ebay or something for 50 bucks. I'll never work with 1590a's. Because of the way you have to mount the jacks you save 0 space on a pedal board and get NO added benefits. They're unusual, perhaps even special because of the madness of trying to put stuff inside, but there's no added benefit to using one for a gigging musician. Putting 1590a's side by side would make for ridiculousness when trying to turn pedals on or off. HOWEVER: they make excellent toolbox type enclosures - tap tempo boxes with dual outputs, Buffer for under the pedal board, patchbays for routing cables to the edge of a pedal board for easier setup and wiring... Lots of uses for the enclosures, but just no sense in putting a stomp switch and using it regularly. Give me the 125B please!

Jacob