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PREACH!

Been doing a lot of this lately. An initial buffer to forced inactivity I reckon, or a throwback to how much I used to love building Revell car models. I also collected teapots as a kid, so don't judge.

Say henlo to my little frens.

pedalles.jpg

If this is your first time venturing into tiny parts and solder, I recommend the B.Y.O.C. stuff, predominately because the documentation is the hand holding type. Example here.

There is a great video that will raise your confidence level and skill set here.

The Contact OD, a clone of a JRockett Touch Overdrive was a total failure (my fault), after four other builds. So it can happen. I was interested in the 5532 chip in an OD since you see it in audio consoles doing op-amp duty.

The Tommy is a clone of version 2 with clipping options. Another failure (again, my fault). While it works, sort-of, it is very noisy. The magic is there, but something is wrong in the circuit. I'll have to be happy with my Tim, if PaulC ever finishes with it...

The Unicab is mislabeled. It is a clone of a DSM Omnicab. This. Is. Da. Bomb. If you build one pedal, this should be it. It is an all-analog speaker cabinet simulator using 7072/7074 chips. Runs fine at 12V. Basically a post-preamp active EQ with specific tonal and frequency filters. It goes last in the chain before the Power Amp input. No kit besides the PCB, but I can supply you with a Mouser BOM for most of it. Smallbear is closed for the duration of the lockdown, but there are other parts suppliers out there. I will list some below.

Absolutely buy this from DSM!!! The original is -12dB quieter and has DI and headphone out. If you have been avoiding the gain channel on your TM60, this is the fix. "It absolutely nails that sound" - TGP.  Seriously. It has vast control over the final product. Highly recommended.

The Green Pony is my favorite OD, so far, at least until someone (please) recommends a Lovepedal replacement. I find it useful in two ways. Gain fully clockwise, Volume to match, clipping set to diode-lift. Adds some compression and some dynamically induced hair when hit. Also, the opposite. Gain to zero, volume to match, results in a very clean moderate boost

 I have made two modifications to this pedal:

 - the FET mod to the input buffer which raises the overall gain slightly and adds a "tube-like sparkle" to the mix. The additional parts are included with the kit, but pay attention, the instructions take you through the non-modded component selection prior to introduction of the mods.

-  a bypass capacitor swap, you will have to buy the caps, that reconfigures the three switch positions: thin, normal, fat, to a more useful range. Can provide the reference if s'il vous plais.

The Sonic Tonic is a clone of a BBE maximizer Stomp. WTF!? Where has this pedal been all my life? You can buy a real one on Reverb for less than the parts for this cost, but I didn't know. I was bored and this looked interesting. I like it.

This is waiting in the wings until I figure out if the last two failures after a string of successes is me or the components. I'm betting on me.

Blue Star OD.jpg

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List of suppliers I promised:

Smallbear Electronics Small shop in NYC, hence the closed sign in the window.

B.Y.O.C. He has some nice parts, but his stock can be erratic.

PedalHacker have not used this guy yet. Like any dweeb, I fancy populating a pedal with audio grade components.

Guitar Pedal Parts Have used this guy. Other than inventory, all these guys do pretty well at shipping.

Jack Orman is still around. Has some neat solutions if you looking at buffers, boosters, switchers. Worth a look-see at a Legend's work.

Pot Condoms Practice safe elekfronuking.

DIYRE How many of  you know about this one. They have some sweet little DI-SE, SE-DI kits.

More as I unearth them.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finished this. What a spaghetti mess the wiring turned out to be! PCB is nice and stout with heavy duty pads. Lots of extra pads to allow for easy modding/switching values to key parts of the circuit. Did I mention it was a wiring nightmare?

Blustar.jpg

Despite the wiring challenge, it is the QUIETEST pedal I have. Go figure. A MOSFET driving a JFET into distortion. Zero gain equals zero volume, so it is always "on" gain to some extent, but it still does a credible clean boost.  The switch changes the midrange balance. The "Tone" does not tie to ground and acts more like a "tilt" control, but I intend to label it "Glass" as that's what it seems to add/subtract.

Bluestar.jpg

For tonal comparison, I am no longer looking for a tweed/bassman type pedal. This one is very nice. Video of it in action (not me) here.

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That sounds like a cool pedal!! And you built it yourself!! How awesome is that!! Great Job!!  It look’s like a great job on the assembly too!!! Sometimes you just gotta fly wire’s! Move them around to find the least noise and call it good! 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 7 months later...
On 4/22/2020 at 7:39 PM, JGale said:

SWTWC.jpg

Sooooo....I went looking for someone to build me the above pedal after my clumsy attempt resulted in a nogo situation.

I found this guy and bought his:

My knobs prettier, also I swapped in a 4559 for the 4558...

It is the quietest pedal I have ever encountered outside of the Lehle stuff. A stripped down JRAD Blue Note and .45 Caliber using a single 4559 Opamp.

I like!

BLUCALDRVR.jpg

It turns out he has a shelf-full of pedals he has constructed in the past few years, almost the entire catalog of the larger PCB vendors. He is selling most all of them to make room for another batch of pedals to be constructed. I never knew a hobby could be so intense.

He has listed in his build log several Lovepedal clones that look to be available.

Big Cheese
Eternity Burst Video
JTM
Karl
Jubilee
Vibronaut
Les Luis

 

oooo....I also see a Hudson Broadcast and a GasPedals DumbBell in the list.

He says most all available. Maybe let me know if you are searching for anything.

J.

Edited to Add: I'm having him build this for me: http://www.muzique.com/tech/tweed.htm

A precursor of several stacked-FET pedals extant.

I need an idea for a tribute to Jack Orman for the paintjob. Something like "Ormanizer 3000!" Help?

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3 hours ago, topekatj said:

@JGale

Lemme ask one question: How much coffee do you enjoy on a daily basis?

All of it.  Mr. Gale enjoys ALL THE COFFEE.

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