Tube Screamer clone

[miha]

So I finally got around to my first build report, nothing too fancy just a Tube Screamer clone. I etched my own board from the extra projects. It was a pretty smooth build and it was the first time I used the toner transfer for the enclosure, it came out pretty cool. For the unsymmetrical clipping I used 1n4148's and for the symmetrical I used a red LED and a zener diode, which is an interesting combination, it cuts out some of the treble and gives it a smooth overdrive. I also included the fat and brightness mods to give more options to this thing. Overall it's a great sounding pedal with the kind of tone I need.

[spaceboss]

I dig. Toner transfer always has an appealing look to me.

[Sibob]

Very cool, nice one!
Where you fitting that battery though? haha

Si

[Gledison]

Nice etch man! What about the pots? Did u extended the lugs with some wire? From the pic seems a bit fragile, not sure!
Cheers

[miha]

Thanks
Well the battery just fits on top of the pots, I even had to remove the dust caps so that it was just right and when it's closed the bottom lid holds the battery in place. And yes, the pot lugs are extended with the cut off leads from resistors etc. to connect everything and it's pretty sturdy + it holds the whole PCB in place

[selfdestroyer]

Looks great miha. You have a lot of things there I wish I knew when I did my first build.

Here is a quick tip. When you use solid copper wire to extend the pot legs, you can mount and solder the pot on the trace side. Here is the top of one I did.



Then you just solder the copper wire to the pad on the underside. I am sure I am over complicating the description. lol The benifit this this is the board will sit straight and will have better support under the board so it will not short out on the enclosure.

[miha]

Well it's not really my first build, just the first I posted a build report of (with about 4 months delay), but I think I've never used this type of mounting pots before building this in some of the more recent stuff I've done I put the pots the way you suggested and it is much better so thanks for confirming I'm doing things right now

[Diamond]

The enclosure looks nice, but that has to be the absolute worst place for a toggle switch ever man!

[miha]

Well I was planning to put them at the top of the enclosure, above the pots but then I messed up the drilling so I needed a new place to put the switches. Turns out that it's not that bad at all, I haven't stepped on the toggle switch so far *knock on wood*