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Slow Loris consumes an 8Ball...

Started by jurfin, October 18, 2016, 06:58:21 PM

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jurfin

I had a busy weekend! These are my 9th and 10th pedal builds, and I'm happy to report that these are the best sounding pedals I have built to date. I see many more Madbean boards in my future!

The only Bluesbreaker variant I ever played was a King of Tone I had bought a few years ago. I waited for years to get it and really wanted to love it, but it just didn't do it for me. I have changed guitars and amps since then, so perhaps that's part of it, but I must say, the 8Ball delivers where the King of Tone left me wanting. It is full and vibrant sounding, with just enough of it's own character to add a little something special to the amp. I really, really like this overdrive  :D

As a side note, I'm wondering if anyone has used an on/off/on with the 8Ball for a diode lift mode? If anyone has tried it or has an opinion, I'd appreciate any insight you could give. It gets pretty clean as it is, especially in the LED mode, but if a diode lift would work and make it louder and cleaner still, I would be very interested in trying it out.

I have played a bunch of Rats and Rat clones, and while I loved them all, the Slow Loris takes the cake, without a doubt. The Sweep knob really opens up the tone shaping possibilities, giving a whole new spectrum to work with. I find this incredibly useful for dialing down some of that inherent "Ratiness" that I could never really get away from on every Rat that ever existed. The filter knob has a more usable sweep than any Rat I can recall. It is gradual and sweet sounding throughout it's range. I used an on/off/on switch rather than the on/on that the BOM called for. I have had several Rats with a diode lift setting before, and I never thought it sounded all that good. I have no idea what's different about this one, but I think it sounds absolutely awesome. This pedal covers everything from cutting low gain drive to bloated, overloaded fuzz, and sounds phenomenal doing all of it. I have been searching for the perfect Rat for me for some time now, and I think I found it in the Slow Loris. Big thanks to Madbean for making that happen!





These jacks are going to take some getting used to. I think they are made for PCB mounts. Oops...







I intend to re-do the text on this one. I did a bit of a sloppy job because I was impatient and wanted to play!



My bench is a terrible, terrible mess. Don't judge me  :-[


m-Kresol

I build pedals to hide my lousy playing.

My projects are labeled Quantum Effects. My shared OSH park projects: https://oshpark.com/profiles/m-Kresol
My build docs and tutorials

playpunk

awesome. I love the simplicity, too.
"my legend grows" - playpunk

lincolnic

Your wiring on that 8Ball is how I want all my builds to look.

jurfin

Quote from: lincolnic on October 19, 2016, 03:56:39 AM
Your wiring on that 8Ball is how I want all my builds to look.

That's very kind of you! You probably don't need the help, but if you're interested in advice this is what I'd recommend.

I've found the most useful tools for getting the wire straight like that to be a pair of long needle nose pliers, and a small flathead jewelers screwdriver. You can use the pliers to bend right angle corners in the wire, and you can also use the flat, long part of them to squeeze the wire straight, if that makes sense. The screwdriver is useful for pushing the wires into the right place, and comes in really handy where the wires start, under the PCB, and around the footswitch. Also lots of patience  ;)


playpunk

In order to get a diode lift setting on the 8 ball you would need a different switching scheme completely. Right now the DPDT gives the builder the choice at having the 4148's in the feedback loop of the opamp (soft clipping) OR the Led's to ground (hard clipping). the DPDT changes the circuit.

The easiest way to do it would be to put in another DPDT (on/on/on) switch, and have it wired so that in one orientation their is LED switching, one is diode lift, and one is 1n4001's.

Check out this thread for more:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=103127.0

You could also set up a multi clip selector like the one Ben (rullywow) put up on Oshpark.
"my legend grows" - playpunk

jurfin

Quote from: playpunk on October 19, 2016, 09:10:08 PM
In order to get a diode lift setting on the 8 ball you would need a different switching scheme completely. Right now the DPDT gives the builder the choice at having the 4148's in the feedback loop of the opamp (soft clipping) OR the Led's to ground (hard clipping). the DPDT changes the circuit.

The easiest way to do it would be to put in another DPDT (on/on/on) switch, and have it wired so that in one orientation their is LED switching, one is diode lift, and one is 1n4001's.

Check out this thread for more:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=103127.0

You could also set up a multi clip selector like the one Ben (rullywow) put up on Oshpark.

Thanks very much for that! Good thing I didn't just throw in a different switch like I was thinking about...

I'm looking in to your suggestions now. If anyone has played an 8Ball or other BB with a diode lift, I'd be curious to hear if you think it would be worth the trouble.

Boba7

Quote from: playpunk on October 19, 2016, 09:10:08 PM
In order to get a diode lift setting on the 8 ball you would need a different switching scheme completely. Right now the DPDT gives the builder the choice at having the 4148's in the feedback loop of the opamp (soft clipping) OR the Led's to ground (hard clipping). the DPDT changes the circuit.

The easiest way to do it would be to put in another DPDT (on/on/on) switch, and have it wired so that in one orientation their is LED switching, one is diode lift, and one is 1n4001's.

Couldn't you just replace the DPDT on/on with a DPDT on/off/on directly on the board?

I really like those two pedals, simple and nice, and I like your choice of knobs. And nice wiring too!!

Leevibe

Looking good man. You have a bright future in pedal building! Keep it up!!

jurfin

Quote from: Leevibe on October 20, 2016, 02:20:47 PM
Looking good man. You have a bright future in pedal building! Keep it up!!

That's an awfully nice thing to say. Thank you! On a side note, I made an electrolytic explode for this first time last night. I felt like a real pro when that happened  ;)

Quote from: Boba7 on October 20, 2016, 09:48:17 AM
Couldn't you just replace the DPDT on/on with a DPDT on/off/on directly on the board?

I really like those two pedals, simple and nice, and I like your choice of knobs. And nice wiring too!!

That would be great if it was that simple... Maybe we should take a vote, as I really have no idea. Also thanks, I love those giant aluminum knobs! I was kind of thinking that they were sort of like a modern nod to the old Rat knobs or something.


playpunk

I think the "off" in the middle would take the opamp out of the circuit. I haven't looked at it in a while though


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"my legend grows" - playpunk