Current Lover on perfboard plus

[solderfumes]

Everyone's builds look so good!  Mine look terrible as I'm still getting the hang of all of the drilling/painting/labelling.  Still, thought I'd share some pictures of my last build: a modded Current Lover on perfboard plus.

I like to build using perfboard because a) I'm trying to learn as much as I can b) it gives me as much flexibility as possible to implement mods.  For the last 6 or 7 builds I've done, I've been using copper tape to make traces on the back.  It's served me well, but I think it might be time to look at etching my own boards soon!

The plan is to eventually build a matching Collosalus to play with TZF, hence the effects loop.  I borrowed the circuit for the stereo output from the BYOC Analog Flanger: I buffered the output of the Current Lover and fed that into an inverting op amp stage for the R output (the L output is tapped from the buffer directly).  I used the other half of that op amp to invert the phase of the signal going into the BBD, so I can switch between additive and subtractive flanging.  The last major mod was a primitive "manual" control, which is just an external pot in series with the clock trimmer.  Turning this up moves the sound from flange-y to chorus-y (and it totally whacks out the sweep, so, you know, not perfect).

Painting remains a real challenge.  I've had the paint wrinkle on me multiple times.  I'm probably putting too thick of a layer of paint on under the clear coat, and not giving it enough time -- the 48h it says on the can is not cutting it!  I'm not hugely enthused by either Krylon or Rustoleum clear coat anyway, as they're both pretty soft, so I might just abandon it altogether in favour of EnviroTex Lite.  The labels are just printable Avery clear labels, and I was too cheap/lazy to buy the full-sheet labels for a prototype build, so I just used a couple of the 2"x4" labels.  Glad I did, too, since the paint wrinkled so much.

[solderfumes]

(My name is Richard, if you're wondering about the label.)

[nzCdog]

dude that enclosure is really packed!  looks great too, I like the name
i hate painting enclosures myself, last few builds have been either pre-painted or bare aluminium

[Haberdasher]

whew, that is packed haha.  great job!

[gordo]

You, sir, are completely out of your mind. Perfboard!!!???  What an awesome undertaking. Very impressive and that gut shot blew me away. I'd guess that your paint problems are trying to put too many coats on at once or laying it on too heavy. Either way it doesn't get a chance to dry right and stays tacky. You can get around it by baking it in a toaster oven (and use the oven ONLY for that after it's been used for this purpose), or going for much lighter coats and a max of two coats within 24hrs.

[solderfumes]

Yeah, good call on the really thin layers.  In retrospect I think a simple test for whether it's cured enough might be to wait until it stops smelling like paint.

Yes it is unbelievably crowded in my enclosures!  That one is a 1590BBS because I needed to lay the board on top of the jacks.  I built a Mudbunny (also on perf) that had a 4PDT to switch between the Civil War and Green Russian circuits, because I thought that would be easier/more impressive than building two pedals.  It also had switchable clipping diodes, switchable mid scoop, and a power starve control.  Squeezing all of that into a 1590B was an adventure!

[midwayfair]

Outstanding work!

[solderfumes]

Thanks!

Re: paint wrinkling, one thing that worked for me with the Krylon paint was to clear coat immediately after painting (i.e. within a couple of hours) rather than waiting for it to fully dry.  After the clear coat, I applied the label and clear coated again.  This way the clear coat never got to dissolve nearly-cured paint.  I thought I'd try the on-the-can instructions when I switched to Rustoleum, but no dice.  The toaster oven would undoubtedly help, but my girlfriend will kill me if I buy yet another appliance for my increasingly messy apartment!

If I had this build back, I would try and implement a control voltage input for the LFO, having just learned that that's a thing   There's room for one more jack!

[Luke51411]

Wow! Awesome build. That's a big circuit for perf, inspiring really.

[Leevibe]

Super ambitious. Well done!

[lincolnic]

Super impressive work, sir. You're a maniac and I'm looking forward to more.

I built a Mudbunny (also on perf) that had a 4PDT to switch between the Civil War and Green Russian circuits, because I thought that would be easier/more impressive than building two pedals.  It also had switchable clipping diodes, switchable mid scoop, and a power starve control.  Squeezing all of that into a 1590B was an adventure!

Dude, you have to show us this one!

[alanp]

The bar around here is getting to be damn near sky high.

Best bloody Electric Mistress build I've seen yet!

[solderfumes]

I built a Mudbunny (also on perf) that had a 4PDT to switch between the Civil War and Green Russian circuits, because I thought that would be easier/more impressive than building two pedals.  It also had switchable clipping diodes, switchable mid scoop, and a power starve control.  Squeezing all of that into a 1590B was an adventure!

Dude, you have to show us this one!

Here's that Mudbunny, along with a gutshot.  This pedal was the first one I ever tried to paint.  Fun fact: red sharpie runs when you put clear coat on it!  Bonus fun fact: Krylon clear coat sticks to carpet and gets all fuzzy!  Painting is the best!

I also put up a gutshot of the Triangle Mudbunny I made at the same time, which is way neater.  For the Russian Mudbunny, I put sockets in for the 4 components that change between circuits (R23, C2, C5, and C8) and ran wires from them to the 4PDT switch.  That switch was a real bear to fit in there, so I had to do away with the terminal blocks and lie down the electrolytic caps.

As for the name, I just feel like "Big Muff Pi" is kind of juvenile and sexist, so I opted for something a little more, uh, inclusive.  As a society, we in the 21st century can do better, you know?

[solderfumes]

Here's the outside of the Triangle Mudbunny.  I put a second label on top of the first one to keep the Sharpie from running.  This is my favourite of the three circuits for sure.  The flat/fat/scoop mod is something I saw on Kit Rae's Big Muff site, a mod that's used on one of the boutique Muff copies out there (the Mayonaise maybe?).  Eventually I'll get to a Violet Ram's Head, too.

[GrindCustoms]

That is intense!

Props to you for taking up and mostly winning over that challenge!

Rej