A couple of builds

[mjg]

Two builds that I've finished up - both boards from Nucleon FX. 

First one is the Celeritas compressor, based on the Diamond compressor.  I've used the CoolAudio VTL5C3 vactrol in this build, and it seems to work fine with this circuit.  I also ended up putting in a small board with a voltage doubler, to make the effect run at 18 volts, to remove a bit of the distortion when the compression first kicks in.

Drilling the enclosure on this one turned into an exercise in stupidity. I wasn't wearing gloves, and was holding the enclosure while drilling. The drill bit stuck, which turned the enclosure into a spinning blade of death... and took a chunk out of my finger. It also ripped a bit out of the hole it was drilling, so one of the side jacks is on an angle.





Next one is the Solstice drive.  I like the sound from this one.  Lots of options to sculpt the tone. 

I couldn't decide whether to bias the input stage as a buffer, or to give a bit more of a boost, so I ended up putting in an extra switch to change the bias on the fly. Probably didn't need it in the end, but I do like options.

I was happy with the waterslide decal on this one - I got the graphics to line up pretty well with the knobs and switches.  I drilled the holes first, then stuck the enclosure on the scanner, which gave me a template for doing the graphics. 

I then managed to drop a sharp knife on it when cutting out the holes after applying the decal.  It left a bit of a mark near the In jack. 

Covered the decal with some yellow acrylic, which looks really odd in the photos but much better IRL. 

[Ekimneets]

Oh man the spinning blade of death thing. I've got 1000-year-old graduated drill bit from when I used to install stereos that is like butter. It was snap on. Well I got a new or one off amazon/ebay that is much wider and it digs in. Unfortunately it also digs in your hands so I totally get that.


Typo'd from my iphone

[Ekimneets]

Btw, your builds are very nice.


Typo'd from my iphone

[cooder]

Most excellent builds and yes that finger story hurts just by reading it... hope it heals well!
Cool graphics on both and yes nice acrylic faceplate... !

[EBK]

I like those smooth knobs on the Solstice.  Where did you get those?

[mjg]

These are the knobs you are looking for: https://au.rs-online.com/web/p/potentiometer-knobs/0499977/

(RS Australia, but they sell under different names in Europe and Americas)

[mjg]

Most excellent builds and yes that finger story hurts just by reading it... hope it heals well!
Cool graphics on both and yes nice acrylic faceplate... !

Thanks.  It was merely a flesh wound.  I was more worried about the wonky jack installation.   

[matmosphere]

The comps graphic is great, but that Solstice is a very elegant design. Is it printed on water slide? Or etched in the acrylic? Either way it looks great.

A couple of thin washers should help out with the jack. I've certainly made that mistake  a couple times myself.

[jjjimi84]

Looks great, i love the elephant. Super cool

[oip]

both look great, love the effect of the acrylic too

[mjg]

The comps graphic is great, but that Solstice is a very elegant design. Is it printed on water slide? Or etched in the acrylic? Either way it looks great.

A couple of thin washers should help out with the jack. I've certainly made that mistake  a couple times myself.

Thanks, I'll try the washer trick.

The graphics were water slide onto the enclosure, with acrylic on top.  The acrylic is being held on by the switches. 

With the graphics, I was going for a sort of "Fifth Element" kind of vibe.  Added circles and triangles until it looked too much, then removed a few. 

[alanp]

Phwoar, Burr-Brown opamp!

Verra nice work on the rest, too