First SMD results: Riot with twist and DBD RIOT SOUND CLIP ADDED

[Rootz]

A couple of months ago I started building pedals with a Sweet honey OD on vero. Put it inside a laser etched 1590b enclosure and everything was fine! Well fine... After a couple of days the pedal building itch got the better of me  So I ordered some madbean boards (great stuff!!) and more enclosures and components. 3 months further I had 12 new pedals and had lots of fun building them. Most of the stuff except a CE-2 and DBD is in 1590a enclosures. The DBD is a clone I bought in China.

As of recently I was looking for a new challenge. I already saw the inspiring work of Pickdropper and got hooked on the idea of doing a Riot and DBD clone in SMD and 1590a format. Again Pickdroppers work on the DBD boards he did was very helpful when it comes down to layout, component choices and other tips and tricks. It made the Riot clone I did possible. After hours on youtube for more tips and designing and ordering some boards, it was time to heat up the soldering iron again.

I must say that I was surprised how easy SMD is! I haven't got extremely steady hands, but soldering 0603 resistors was easy enough. I just used very thin solder, flux and a regular soldering station. No need for a microscope yet, but strong reading glasses are highly recommended.

The Riot is finished, the DBD is awaiting a PT2399s and 78l05, both of which are on their way. The Riot is one with a twist. It has active treble and bass controls modeled after the original frequency response when at centre position.

Well, enough talking for today. Here are the pics.

[culturejam]

Most impressive.

[jimilee]

Very impressive


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[matmosphere]

Nice work. That's one of the best debugging tutorials I've read.

[wgc]

Beautiful job, on the layout and the assembly. Love the debug tips.

Glad to see more people doing smd here.

[pickdropper]

That looks very good! [ and somewhat familiar   ;-) ]

Congrats on a really nice build.

[Rootz]

A very big thank you all!! Fun thing is, you guys are the direct source of inspiration and knowledge that led to this result. I followed most of your tips and tricks and they work perfectly.

You are right Pickdropper. The DBD design looks very, very, very similar to yours. For convenience I thought, for a first SMD project, it would be a good idea to do a design that's known to work.

Strange thing is, I finished the Riot before the DBD so my proven first build will actually be the second one.

The Riot needs some more work. The last op amp stage is inverting active tone stage with a little gain (3 dB). It did it that way after reading some comments about the lack of volume of the Uproar. That probably had more to do with a mistake in the first Riot schematics.

As is, the last stage still clips the signal from the I think. Ltspice seems to suggest so. I'm having some trouble to redesign the last stage for unity gain with the same, rather bass heavy frequency response. I tend to like the sound as it is, it's a hell of a screamer, but it's not as raw sounding as I would like. Bass doesn't get flubby to much, but isn't as defined as if like either. Maybe that's what a Riot is supposed to sound like?

I should probably do a vid or sound file of the Riot and hear what you think of it. Time to figure out how to hook up my old Saphire pro LE to my Mac and get that done.

[selfdestroyer]

Wow , that came out awesome. Great control layout also for a 1590A.

Cody

[Rootz]

Wow , that came out awesome. Great control layout also for a 1590A.

Cody

Thanks Cody! This layout turned out pretty good, all knobs are easily adjusted and the toggle switch is flipped easily. A next step will be more post, five to be exact. It looks like some Chinese micro pedal builders like Mooer use 7 mm board mounted pots. I know they exist, but have yet to find them. I'd like a Lunar Module by Sreddy. Great builder and even better pedal, have not heard a fuzz of him I didn't like.

I also love the Band of Gypsies Fuzz. Just don't like those big enclosures. Dunlop selling  something like mini while still being triple the footprint of a 1590a. Haven't found a reliable schematic yet, other than the Octavia without transformer and diodes.

So if anyone knows a good supplier of 7 mm pots, please chime in.

And I really think this forum should have a SMD pinned topic or section. Seems like lots of people are keeping away from SMD for the wrong reasons, like I did. Maybe, I don't know. Info seems so widely spread now. I know, it's off topic (in my own topic  )

[wgc]

You know, I had briefly toyed with the idea of starting an smd forum for stomp boxes.

Facebook might be a better format, since there's not many of us here.

Ultimately I don't think I have the time or personality to make it work on my own. But I would support a dedicated section.

[pickdropper]

You are right Pickdropper. The DBD design looks very, very, very similar to yours. For convenience I thought, for a first SMD project, it would be a good idea to do a design that's known to work.

It's not a problem at all.  I hope it didn't come across that way.  Serious congrats on getting your feet wet with SMD layouts.  It's a ton of fun.

[Rootz]

Oh no it didn't Pickdropper! Well, I was thinking it would be inappropriate to sell some boards (I have two left of the three) or publish the layout in oshpark of the BDB without your permission.

Still, Wgc, a SMD topic with tips, tricks and sources of more info would be useful. Would also be a nice place for a showcase of some of your (all of you) SMD builds.

Such a pity that the coming week is packed with work (exceptionally fine on other levels of course), so I don't expect much building or designing...


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[Rootz]

Look what came with the mail today! Fresh pt2399s chips from Mammoth and much quicker that expected.



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[Rootz]

As (half) promised, a bit of me f-ing up Spanish castle magic. Recording didn't go as smooth as I wanted. I use an old Focusrite Saffire LE into an 2014 iMac. There are occasionally some glitches in the sound. Can't seem to find the cause of it.

Pedalboard --> Trainwreck Rocket combo with open back 1x12 EVM12L --> Røde NT1a --> Saffire LE --> Garageband. Some stereo delay added in Garageband. Solo's are boosted with a EP-booster (bright boost off) after the Riot. Enjoy (at least I hope so, playing is a little rusty during my bands summer break).

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/bas-kooij-168216693/scm2[/soundcloud]

[wgc]

Sounds good

Somewhere there's a big write up and a video I did posted here, with misc comments posted here and there.

Chuckbuick's got some nice tips he wrote up too.