First three builds!

[TheDude]

Hey guys

Recently completed my first three builds just in time for my "building season" to wind down. I'm a coach so my year is pretty well scheduled out ahead of time - bonus to anyone who can guess what sport. Anyway, after struggling with a Fretwire.com build last fall it was a huge relief to have these work out. I've populated and tested 5 in total, just waiting to get my enclosure back from my friend who painted one, and my Classic Trem isn't tremming, so I'm guessing my last week will be spent troubleshooting that guy.

First in is a GPCB Mastodon. I had this guy assembled and rockin, but figured I'd try to clean up the wiring... BAD idea as I think I fried a few of the eyelets a bit as the pedal only works well at certain levels of each pot. Still an awesome tone, particularly for a desert/stoner rock sound. Good news is I have another PCB on hand so I'll have another shot at it next year.

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Hand painted this, as are all in my 2017 series. Was looking to go for a small-run boutique look this year.

And gut shot:



Next up was a JMK 5-Knob Fuzz. I started off with a pair of 2N3906s In Q1 & Q3 based on someone else's post here, and boy I was not ready for that level of oscillation. Tested out a few different transistors in Q3 and settled on a 2N4403, getting me a great vintage fuzz sound along the lines of Inna-Gada-Da-Vida or Godzilla. Again hand painted.

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Gut Shot:



And lastly, a JMK Engineer's Thumb. I love how seamlessly this seemed to enter my signal chain. Will be close to an always on pedal for me I'm feeling.

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Gut Shot:



Hoping to have my Little Angel chorus boxed up in a day or two, and get the Classic Trem going. Thanks for looking guys!

[jubal81]

That's some impressive stuff. Especially love the look of that fuzz!

For the life of me, I don't get why Barry puts the switch on the PCB, then has all those pots wired off-board ...

[TheDude]

That's some impressive stuff. Especially love the look of that fuzz!

For the life of me, I don't get why Barry puts the switch on the PCB, then has all those pots wired off-board ...

Thanks! I based the design off of my favorite Hendrix poster : https://i.pinimg.com/originals/29/92/c9/2992c91e852baa1697c7c95a12ab28c2.gif

The Mastodon is pretty cramped I must admit, but I'm not sure if I could fit it in a sideways 1590b otherwise. Was a good learning experience though!

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[Coda-effects]

Nice painting skills over there! I am quite fan of the fuzz as well, but the mastodon is really cool looking too.
Good job!

[TheDude]

Nice painting skills over there! I am quite fan of the fuzz as well, but the mastodon is really cool looking too.
Good job!

Appreciate it! Never been to great with creating visual art so I'm pretty proud of how these turned out.

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[diablochris6]

The artwork/painting is great! Glad these worked out for you.

[TheDude]

The artwork/painting is great! Glad these worked out for you.

Thanks! They've been really fun to use so far. Already brainstorming next year's designs.

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[selfdestroyer]

Looks damn good! Keep the builds coming.

[zelix]

Wow awesome work. I hope I can make some great pedals like this in the near future.  I just ordered a JMK 5-Knob Fuzz PCB from just the look of your pedal alone. 

Hopefully it will turn out as nice as yours.

Cheers,
Z

[dropanchor812]

Great job!  Aesthetics are hard to nail (for me anyways) and yours are great even for an experienced builder.  Keep 'em coming!

[LaceSensor]

nice artwork and good job considering you're new to the game

[TheDude]

Thanks for all the love guys! Still room for improvement, particularly in my offboard wiring, but hey, for my first series I'm quite happy.

Wow awesome work. I hope I can make some great pedals like this in the near future.  I just ordered a JMK 5-Knob Fuzz PCB from just the look of your pedal alone. 

Hopefully it will turn out as nice as yours.

Cheers,
Z

I thought it was a pretty easy build, so you should definitely have a lot of fun with it.


Just posted another build too, a Little Angel chorus heck it out!
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=26935.0

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