First build of any kind, ever-- Slow Loris:

[stevenrun]

I just recently got interested in building guitar effects and discovered this site. I ordered a couple boards, and then went to work hunting down all of the other various components.

This is the first electronics project I have ever built that actually functions. I didn't realize how cramped the inside of this enclosure was going to be until I started realizing... hey, I need to make room for the jacks, and the 3PST switch... Oh the battery!. Oh crap, now I guess I'll stuff these LEDs here... shoot... I have no idea where this DC jack is going to go. It's omitted for now. I think I found a good spot at the top edge of the box, but it will take some surgery and re-wiring.

my 47uf capacitor I got from Mammoth is a... mammoth. It's huge. I didn't have another one at home to swap out, so I can't even put the bottom on right now . I'm going to rip that off the board today and attach a smaller one.

I started building this at about 8:00 last night, and basically finished around 1:30 this morning. I didn't get much chance to stretch it's legs-- but it certainly seems to work, though I wasn't able to get the LED clipping diodes to light up. I wired them to the top so I can see them, and when I select them the output is definitely louder and harsher than the 1n914s or just the LM308 by itself. Perhaps it was 2:00 in the morning and I didn't want to wake anyone up  

Just wondering if the gain pot is supposed to be able to silence the entire output even if the volume is turned all the way up. I need to really take a closer look at everything to make sure I'm not shorting out any pins to the back of one of the pots or anything silly like that.

In all, I have to say the PCBs from Madbean are of exceptional quality. I'm really glad I did this project, and this will definitely be the first of many. This is fun, and I really want to start learning how all of this actually works so I can start making my own designs.

[Bluestrat]

Hey, welcome to the club Watch out, it's addictive!!!

[DutchMF]

Cool, a new addict! Let us know how it sounds man! And yes, that is one freakin' big capacitor..... Would be nice to do a build with a couple of them and let them stick through the enclosure!

Paul

[gtr2]

congrats!

Josh

[Bret608]

Hey, I see how you wired up the LEDs--smooth move for a first build! Looks easier than I had imagined; then again I haven't built anything with LED clipping yet!

[jkokura]

What I love about these kinds of threads is how encouraging it is. Just about anyone can get into this hobby - you don't need a tonne of experience or skills. You learn a lot during your first build, and builds get progressively better as people do them.

Thanks for joining in and sharing!

Jacob

[eldanko]

Well done man!  Blows away my first build 

[stevenrun]

Haha, I AM a diode destroyer.  I nuked the LED clipping diodes somehow. Pisibky while re-soldering the pads on the switch? Maybe I got a little too carried away with the heat.  I swapped the big 47uf electro cap for a much smaller (physically) part and touched up a few iffy joints.


I'm tempted to socket them and try some spare led Christmas bulbs in there.

[stevenrun]

So basically, no matter how "almost-dead" your 9V battery is, use a resistor when testing an LED

New LEDs are in and glow.

My amp is a modeling amp (Vox VT15) so there are a ton of different amp sounds to pick from. Looking for the right combo, but I nailed the tone for the intro to "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground."

This is to much fun.

[nzCdog]

Great job!  You drilled that sucker really well for your first build! (Gawsh my first was a lol in that dept)
Well done man... looking forward to your next build reports