Reworked/optimized builds

[Marshall Arts]

<edit>Most of us have them: Beat-up or not-well-done but loved pedals from the past... and at some point in time, we have to revise what we did to prevent our love from dying or to reanimate it. Let's document our before/after efforts right here. I start with my 2012 build ,,The Ant".</edit>

My first homegrown pedal (after soldering in commercial pedals for years) was a combination of an MB Ego Driver (Fulltone OCD Clone) and a MB Fat Pants Booster (2012 edition, Echoplex Preamp). I built it in 2012 and had to replace the ego driver somewhen, because it broke (I fed it with 18V from the Fat Pants charge pump and I assume some electrolytic failed...). As the ego driver was no longer available from MB, I bough the new PCB at another shop, which unfortunately did not have PCB-mounted pots (offboard wiring madness), so I squeezed everything in using stiff wire and zip ties and shrink tube to attach to the old connections and hold the PCBs in place. I had used an fx order switch and a battery clip when I build it, and all that wiring kept me away from... well... rebwiring it... until it failed some days ago.

This pedal was and is my workhorse, offering a wide range of tones and options. I wanted it back, and I wanted it back in the old enclosure with the off-center holes (had no drill press at that point of time and did not know how to use paper templates and center punch) and it's dings and dongs and aged colors (inkjet waterslide decal). I skipped the order switch and the battery, here is a before and after gut shot:



...this is, what it looked like after I ripped everything out. In the original build, I used whatever I had... stiff wire, thick wire, random colors... the stiff wire also damaged the PCB (pad came off, but I could use another one...):



... and this is, what it looks like now from the outside. Works again, will stay with me.


Extra shot ;-)

[soldersqueeze]

Very, very nice work. Inspiring- I think many of us have great sounding pedals which were built a while back and deserve some work.

[Marshall Arts]

Very, very nice work. Inspiring- I think many of us have great sounding pedals which were built a while back and deserve some work.

Thread Topic? :-)

[Marshall Arts]

Honestly... we have all the beautiful build reports of brand new pedals, but shouldn't there be a picture-thread about really beat-up pedals or failed builds as well?

[WormBoy]

Honestly... we have all the beautiful build reports of brand new pedals, but shouldn't there be a picture-thread about really beat-up pedals or failed builds as well?

Nice idea, I have a few that would fall in those categories 

[Adam_DIY]

Honestly... we have all the beautiful build reports of brand new pedals, but shouldn't there be a picture-thread about really beat-up pedals or failed builds as well?

Nice idea, I have a few that would fall in those categories 

Yup.  Inspired by this idea I fished out my first pedal a vero son of clay jones.  I've had problems with the switch for ages and it's always been a bit noisy so I think I'll fix it up and post the results.  Should we add these to this thread or start a new one?

[Marshall Arts]

Let's collect these right here. Changed topic (better suggestions welcome) and first post.