The Sardine Tin (#1) | [Univox Super-Fuzz-like]

[jessenator]

Here it is: The Sardine Tin

For those who haven't seen the development thread, this is a Univox Super-Fuzz based on a true story adaptation into a 1590B enclosure. The first rev board was ...it had no thought put into it other than "this goes here, that goes there." This revision board is much tighter and much nicer to build.

I was given the name by the bloke to whom this exact pedal will go; named in honor of the late MCA of the Beastie Boys. He rocked his single-pickup J Bass with frequent use of the Super-Fuzz, and the sound is spot on! Mixed with a bit of Glass Hole, it's right there with the studio recording of Gratitude. I'm very pleased with how this one came out, both with the board and the chassis.

Like the name, the design is an homage to MCA's lyric in Hello Nasty's Body Movin' "packed like sardines in a tin." This album was an instant classic, and has had regular rotation in the music collection since I bought it in 1999.

This is the orange sand enclosure with double-white, and a matte finish.









I can't find my flash diffusers so forgive the hard shadows on the photos.

[jimilee]

Very clever. Great work.


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[dawson]

I completely missed the development thread so this is a lot to take in all at once-



Massive steaming pile of inspired job-well-done here!
I should probably comment on your layout design but I can't get past how groovy that damn border looks.

[Bret608]

That is a beauty! And I love the Super Fuzz. What did you end up with for transistors and gains?

[Thewintersoldier]

I love the superfuzz and this is a cool looking pedal. Great job on the end results after all that development.

[blackhatboojum]

Nicely done!

[jessenator]

Very clever. Great work.

Thanks, Jimi!

I completely missed the development thread so this is a lot to take in all at once-

bubbles.gif

Massive steaming pile of inspired job-well-done here!
I should probably comment on your layout design but I can't get past how groovy that damn border looks.

Thank you. I love borders haha. I have several other projects in the works, almost all with borders in one form or another. It really helps because we can't do full hydro dip (yet!), and there's a definite boundary to the controls and art that isn't abrupt. I say that, and then I have something in the pipeline that violates my own rule.

That is a beauty! And I love the Super Fuzz. What did you end up with for transistors and gains?

Thanks! For this one... I lost the paper, but I'll do my best to recall: I wanted to follow some docs I've seen out there. I actually have enough NPNs now, measured and cataloged (I have a problem...), that I was able to match everything. I ditched the 5088s and opted for 3904s and 3903s for this build.

For the top three gain NPNs, I have ~170, for the matching pair I have ~120 (or 140, IDR), and the low lone one I have 84 (or thereabouts).

That said, I was chatting with mauman and while the Peak Atlas (which I assume is what most original parts were tested with) measures transistor hFE at 2.5mA, and as best I can tell (collector current through multimeter) my MK-168 measures at ~6mA, so my values are going to be about 10–20% higher. Thing is, I have an okay-ish meter with proper resolution (mA) but the refresh speed is abysmal. And I have a very nice meter, which has the refresh speed, but only measures in whole amps, and only barely shows the mA decimal place, so I don't know of it's rounding up or down...

I love the superfuzz and this is a cool looking pedal. Great job on the end results after all that development.

Thanks, Chris!

Nicely done!

Thank you! I'm quite pleased with it all.

[WonkoTheSane]

How do those machine pin sockets work for you? I always have awful luck with them and find them almost totally useless.

[jessenator]

How do those machine pin sockets work for you?

Poorly

I think I'm doing it, because I'm scared of something; be it damaging the transistor, or wanting to change shit later on.

The 3+ strings of them aren't terrible to solder, but the pairs for things like Ge clipping diodes (again, another thing I'm scared of: damaging the germanium bits since the melting point is so low), they're a $#@!ing nightmare; at least with my fumbling fingers in tight spaces.

Were I smarter man, I'd do the sockets first so I can get at them at any angle. I have less of a chance melting them soldering resistors (really the only thing I do from the top).

all that said, IME you get single digits of in-and-out before the shit doesn't stay in. Cutting the transistors short (but not too much so) helps kinda wedge them in, but it's ...guh.

For things like DIP ICs, I use the leaf spring type sockets. Hell, if they sold those in 4-DIP, I'd buy them. They've got 4-DIP machined, but only 6-DIP sprung ones, unless you're that guy on reddit who wants the same thing I do and just chops them

[WonkoTheSane]

I hear you there. The machine pin ones were always awful and I don't know why people recommend them. The leaf ones have much more contact with the pins too.

They used to make 4 pin ones, but not anymore it seems. I'll search around and see if I can find some.

[jjjimi84]

How dare you have hard shadows on these incredible pictures! Truly outstanding! Any chance of hearing a few bits of it?

[jessenator]

How dare you have hard shadows on these incredible pictures! Truly outstanding! Any chance of hearing a few bits of it?

Thank you, you're far too kind.

I'm very self conscious about sound, and with my Deluxe clone and GB250 both humming, all that's left is a Line6 practice amp. I made a short, potato (phone) quality clip with Glass Hole following the fuzz for my friend to whom this is going https://www.dropbox.com/s/1i8k5cbdjkagoam/gratitude.mp3?dl=0

Idk maybe I'll record some today on the gb250 regardless...

[jessenator]

I was too lazy (read: exceptionally tired from this week) to set up recording in a decent manner downstairs, so you get a tiny desk concert amp demo; unedited, all one take.

This is my Paranormal Offset Tele going into it then to the 386 amp on my desk (I'm going to build a hopefully working Tube Cricket amp soon) with camera mic, so there might be some extra compression and perhaps some clipping. I'm in C♯ . I start with both pickups, and I think I call out most changes.

[jessenator]

blah! you have to really struggle to see the knob positions oh well. Next time!

[selfdestroyer]

I love the simplicity of your artwork for this, it looks amazing!

I love the Univox Super-Fuzz and attempted to make one a couple times but never liked how the transistors played together. It's so damn picky if I remember right. I need to revisit this circuit. Thanks for the inspiration.