Zero Point SDX; Hammond Factory Finish

[JakeFuzz]

Well this was a long build. I had a Tayda 1590BB etched up for this and screwed up the jack drill holes at the last minute. This is a very tight build. The jacks need to clear the two footswitches which ended up closer together than I would have liked. The other enclosure will just have to become a test box or something with tons of controls!

This is a factory finished Hammond enclosure that I picked up yesterday at a local store. This is the most durable feeling finish I have seen; I wish they weren't so much more expensive than normal or I would build a whole set of pedals out of these. I originally had violet mini-chicken heads to go on this but the knobs are too close together for them to fit without interference. I had to search through my pile of knobs and found these little Davies clones in an assortment of black and white; I used what I had and made a tuxedo scheme. I will probably end up replacing these with the 1/2" aluminum knobs on my next SB order. All the caps are MLC's and the resistors are mostly 1/8 watt CF's. These were ordered together with my 1590a orders.

It sounds epic! Had a missed solder joint at first which opened the feedback loop but it was an easy fix. The filtering is great. I really like the tape and analog modes especially. The modulation is very musical and can do some weird warbly stuff at the extremes. The ghost feature is really cool; I just leave it on but it does add another layer of depth to the effect. I am not quite sure what the path does yet so more on that later; it seems to me right now that it removes some of the filtering in the shimmer and tape modes. The slam button is just ridiculous; it gets extremely loud very fast. This seems best used with really long delay times and low mix settings as the volume has some time to build. Overall very cool build; well worth the challenge.

[jimilee]

Epic build, no audio?

[MadPostman]

Bad ass. Great build! I can't wait until these boards are back in stock.

Any specific reason you used 1/8 watt resistors? Just because they are smaller?

[Hangingmonkey]

Cool, like the black textured enclosure.
I just finished my sdx today but its unboxed and connected to the test rig. Its late and i have a 2 yr old so ive only tested at quiet volumes but i like what i hear.

About the path, i couldnt hear a difference with it on. I could be wrong about this but from reading the build doc, i got the impression that when on it turns on the 4 modes of the 3p4t switch.   Couldnt hear a difference with the modes but ill test it at proper volumes tmrw.

[JakeFuzz]

Epic build, no audio?

I have been trying to record but my roommate has been studying for some crazy exam all weekend (pfft medical school  , that's easy  ). Ill get one up in the next few days.

Bad ass. Great build! I can't wait until these boards are back in stock.

Any specific reason you used 1/8 watt resistors? Just because they are smaller?

I just piggybacked off the order for  few 1590a builds which all use the smaller resistors and capacitors to save spaced. I didn't want to go and separate 1/4W from 1/8W so I just bought all 1/8W.

About the path, i couldnt hear a difference with it on. I could be wrong about this but from reading the build doc, i got the impression that when on it turns on the 4 modes of the 3p4t switch.   Couldnt hear a difference with the modes but ill test it at proper volumes tmrw.

Ahh yep; that's exactly what it does now that you mention it. I should probably read the docs before I go playing around with things  . I can definitely tell a difference in the modes at decent volume. They seem subtle at first but the different filtering makes a huge difference in how the repeats sit in with your sound. 

[culturejam]

My goodness. 

[pickdropper]

Wow, great job fitting that all in there.

I'm with you on the black matte finish on the Hammond cases.  I got a couple of those for my Andromeda build and the stuff is really tough.  I've bought similar cases from Mammoth and the finish chips fairly easily.  The Hammond seems much tougher.

[JakeFuzz]

Thanks guys! Here is a quick demo (well its actually quite long but quickly recorded). Cant really show it all in one sound clip; there are just way to many sounds to be discovered. This is with the ghost resistors on trimmers and all clipping resistors as OA126's.

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/jakefuzz/zpsd2[/soundcloud]

I'm with you on the black matte finish on the Hammond cases.  I got a couple of those for my Andromeda build and the stuff is really tough.  I've bought similar cases from Mammoth and the finish chips fairly easily.  The Hammond seems much tougher.

I really wonder what that finish is. It almost seems like it is hard anodized or something. Super tough. I'd love to figure it out so I can try and make something similar  

[gtr2]

Sweet.  Thanks for the clip as well!

Josh

[Ettore_M]

Really nice clip! You got really great sound!  From what I hear, that's a Strat you're playing with, right??
You got great tones with the ZPSDX, btw!  It's a must build, and I hope I find money soon to build this beast!
Thanks for the clip!

Hector

[madbean]

I probably did not explain Path very well in the build doc. What it does is create a signal path between the delay output and dry/wet mixer that bypasses the filtering. This means your first repeat is essentially unfiltered. However, that first repeat DOES go through the filtering and gets sent back to the delay input. So, the overall effect is to lessen the degree to which the filtering acts at during the very first half dozen repeats or so. See the illustration below.

To hear it: try setting it to Tape, set the Delay around 500ms and FDBK to long repeats but before it self -oscillates. Now listen to Path on and off. Pay particular attention to the difference in tone in the first half dozen or so repeats. It's subtle, but definitely there.

[midwayfair]

Excellent clip, Paul. Always like your playing. I could listen to you "noodle" all day.

all clipping resistors as OA126's.

hah, I'm starting to think splitting one shipment with me isn't going to leave you enough of these!

[jimilee]

Man you coud put a drum loop behind that and a bass,make about 8 more tracks,and I'd buy that album. Nice clip!

[JakeFuzz]

Thanks everyone! I agree this is a must build. Just too many good and wild sounds to play with.

From what I hear, that's a Strat you're playing with, right??

Yes! Good ears. Sorry I forgot to mention the setup was a Strat with CS69 pickups straight into a Twin Reverb with a Cannabis Rex (reverb all the way down) recorded with a Blue Snowball USB condenser mic. It had that snappy Strat tone that i love last night probably was the new strings.

I probably did not explain Path very well in the build doc. What it does is create a signal path between the delay output and dry/wet mixer that bypasses the filtering. This means your first repeat is essentially unfiltered. However, that first repeat DOES go through the filtering and gets sent back to the delay input. So, the overall effect is to lessen the degree to which the filtering acts at during the very first half dozen repeats or so. See the illustration below.

To hear it: try setting it to Tape, set the Delay around 500ms and FDBK to long repeats but before it self -oscillates. Now listen to Path on and off. Pay particular attention to the difference in tone in the first half dozen or so repeats. It's subtle, but definitely there.

I went back and did some listening tests it is definitely there. At first I couldn't figure out what it was doing because it made all the modes sound similar. I understand now. Ill play around with longer repeats to hear the far repeat filtering.

Excellent clip, Paul. Always like your playing. I could listen to you "noodle" all day.
hah, I'm starting to think splitting one shipment with me isn't going to leave you enough of these!

Thanks Jon, I could (and do) listen to your videos all day too! Great stuff. I used up all the OA126's from the first batch and have moved on to a second batch of 50  . I just cannot find a circuit that these sound bad in! I use them in almost everything these days.

Here is a clipping diode secret that a figured out the other day as a side note to anyone who reads this. Remember a while back people were crazy about these great sounding reference diodes (the LM313H) that were discontinued and extremely expensive? I ordered the successor to device which has a similar internal structure; they are called LM385's (and LM285's). They sound very similar if not identical to the 313's and cost less than a dollar a piece! A note that you are actually using the forward breakdown of these devices (0.55 volts) not the 1.22 volt silicon band gap break down these diodes were designed to operate at. 

Man you coud put a drum loop behind that and a bass,make about 8 more tracks,and I'd buy that album. Nice clip!

Haha, I don't know about that!  Thanks for asking for the clip; I probably would have forgotten about it otherwise.   

[neiloler]

Sweet build, and thanks for the demo! It's awesome to hear it in action. I can't wait to scrounge the funds to complete mine!