What’s on *YOUR* workbench?

8892B845-52D3-4F7C-84D8-2F50753A1F29.jpeg First ever pcb made up …

Well that’s a lie,
The first was a version of the baja optical limiter but… yeah LED-LDR issues
The second was a bad layout of this

So this is third. Except it was late at night when I was outputting so forgot two of the traces like an idiot - I’m sure there is a button on Kicad that would automatically tell me, but I’ve not found it - plus the space for the resistors was too small …
Kicad is in one sense totally simple and super easy combined with a baffling component library system.

I bodged the traces I missed IMG_0200.jpeg
 
And ‘cos I made it myself there’s not really a build report needed - it’s based on a smallsound/bigsoundmini
I built it, I used all the FET picking guides suggested for the PedalPCB chop shop / barbershop build, circuit wise very similar - in actuality totally different and sounds so so good - low gain, medium gain and enough fuzz im putting my blue beard clone on the back burner.
Very nice, 1590a with top jacks, naturally IMG_0203.jpeg IMG_0202.jpeg IMG_0201.jpeg
 
Feral Feline said:
Way cool Iron Man.

What font are your stamps and where did you get them?
Click to expand...
They are 2mm metal stamps that were like £8 on ebay

www.ebay.co.uk

9/27/36pc Numbers Alphabet Letters Punches Set Stamp Metal Die Tool Kit Fast P+P | eBay

If you choose Letters, you will get Letters. If you choose Letters + Numbers, you will get Letter and Numbers. Use a stamp holder for safety. If you choose Numbers, you will get Numbers. The size is letter / number size in Height.
www.ebay.co.uk

I also used them for my aion L4 preamp build and I think my learning is the more solid the bit of steel you’re using as an anvil, the better the impression you get. IMG_0107.jpeg
 
Soldered up the Crybaby and the Red Llama/Mosfet boost. I think the Mosfet boost was just shorting out on the enclosure, some tape fixed that up. The LED was also acting up, I changed it first (wrong thing to do, old one also worked and new one is now much brighter but I don't want to mess with it anymore), then I thought the ground wire on the 3PDT was badly soldered, but it turns out the ground wire from the switch to the enclosure was actually stuck and holding there, but not making a contact. Weird, but whatever, resoldered it and the LED now also works. So 2/3 pedals fixed, haven't opened up the Bad Monkey yet.

I did mess around a bit with the Electric Mistress, and it sounds pretty nice but there's a HUGE volume drop. Like 6-9dB or something. There are trimpots (it's based on the Markus W. etched PCB, 9V version) for bias, clock and feedback, but I don't think any of those affect the volume hugely? I think I might just try to get a veeeery small boost PCB with a trimmer and just plug that between the board output and the 3PDT here. But it would preferably have to work at 12V, or even better, both at 9V and 12V. Will have to start looking, the smaller the better, so maybe even SMD would be cool.
 
I managed to find some time over the long weekend to work on some projects that have been lingering. I’m ready to box the Maleficent Mids, Powder Blue and Dream fuzz. Maybe I’ll be able to actually play with two of them by the end of the day.
 
Fama said:
Soldered up the Crybaby and the Red Llama/Mosfet boost. I think the Mosfet boost was just shorting out on the enclosure, some tape fixed that up. The LED was also acting up, I changed it first (wrong thing to do, old one also worked and new one is now much brighter but I don't want to mess with it anymore), then I thought the ground wire on the 3PDT was badly soldered, but it turns out the ground wire from the switch to the enclosure was actually stuck and holding there, but not making a contact. Weird, but whatever, resoldered it and the LED now also works. So 2/3 pedals fixed, haven't opened up the Bad Monkey yet.

I did mess around a bit with the Electric Mistress, and it sounds pretty nice but there's a HUGE volume drop. Like 6-9dB or something. There are trimpots (it's based on the Markus W. etched PCB, 9V version) for bias, clock and feedback, but I don't think any of those affect the volume hugely? I think I might just try to get a veeeery small boost PCB with a trimmer and just plug that between the board output and the 3PDT here. But it would preferably have to work at 12V, or even better, both at 9V and 12V. Will have to start looking, the smaller the better, so maybe even SMD would be cool.
Click to expand...
So the EM had the SAD1024, confirmed? Gutshot, SVP!

A GPCB After Blaster would fix that volume drop.

Nail-polish will fix that bright LED in the Llama.
 
Xmas gift for one of the nieces. MFOS Weird Sound Generator. PCB is simple enough. Aside from those tiny pads. Going to run it into a switchable madbean Degenerator, thenbox it into a repurposed suitcase record player. Has its own amp and speakers and will put a USB rechargeable 18650 pack in it as well. Fully mobile chaos maker.
Wiring with ptfe Teflon solid core from apex jr(love this wire, 10x better than the tayda junk). Going to try and bundle it, but man, first time doing something with this many off board points.
Not easy to make it look good. Probably it for tonight.
IMG_20231126_220318502_HDR.jpg
 
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Harry Klippton said:
I really like that. Do I recall correctly that your daughter helps you design stuff?
Click to expand...
Yes, you are recalling correctly – she helps me out (takes pity on me) about half the time, usually when she thinks I am committing some grievous error of artistic bad taste that she absolutely must put a stop to.

For this pedal, my original design focused a lot more on the astronaut and then she came in, shoved my astronaut up to the top of the pedal and basically everything starting with the logo and going down is what she added.

Mike
 
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