Recent content by mnemonic

The Aiken reactive load box design is a really good one, I would just go with that scheme and tweak values to match what you want it to do simulating it in LTSpice. Lots of seemingly-minor factors have a major effect on the impedence curve, that tgp thread is a good read. Stuff like inductor dc...

Lmao I knew it. I bought one of these used years ago based on guitar forum reviews about how totally different it was from your typical tubescreamer (serves me right really). I thought it just sounded like a standard TS but brighter. I opened it up and traced it out, sorta, but mine is SMD...

Quoted for truth, very important when putting screws in hard wood, makes them go in much more smoothly, much less likely to bind and snap. Especially since most screws used on guitar hardware is not hardened steel. Also always make sure your pilot hole is sufficient, hard wood will crack...

I don’t know if it matters but usually try not to power cycle anything unnecessarily. If it’s gonna be sat there for 10 minutes while I’m doing something else, I’ll just turn the temperature down to the minimum which I think is 100c on mine. I’ll turn it off if I’m leaving the room for more...

I got this one from I think b&m (cheap store here in the U.K.). Rolson 28290 31 pc Precision Screwdriver Set https://amzn.eu/d/gT7ldHs Works very good but the bit holder is not ideal as they will all fall out loose if you turn the box upside down. I kept the little bit of molded plastic...

Looks good, is it working? Make sure to insulate the back of the enclosure so you don’t short anything out when you put the back on.

I remember noticing something similar to this back in college. One my my roommates got a pod XT and when he played it, I thought it sounded really good. Then I tried and it felt and sounded weird, kind of had a ‘rubber band’ feeling, which later I realised was a bit of perceptible latency with...

That might depend on the composition of the flux and what sort of environment it’s in. If the flux stays soft and gummy, or if it gets soft and gummy when warm (and your pcb is in a tube amp or something that gets warm), then it could absorb contaminants in the environment that eventually become...

I have a little pot of flux that I dip wire ends into, makes tinning them easier and quicker. That’s the only time I use flux. What is already in the solder is enough for pcb soldering, pot and switch lugs, etc. Whenever I have to desolder something I just add fresh solder first, then suck it...

Resistor storage is the bane of my existence. I’m jealous of the SMD guys who have 100 of every value in a notebook.

I have a pcb for the sunn beta lead, I bought it ages ago but never got around to building it. I’m sure my doom phase will come back at some point and I’ll make it. I’m not sure which version I have but I assume version 1, as there are traces on the board where the build docs say to cut. I did...

Any 741 will work fine, my original tc integrated pre has a ua741 in it.

I’ve used little sections of tagboard on these pcb pin pots before to attach solid core wire but it was more trouble than it’s worth, so now I just buy whichever pots are available and solder some solid core wire to the pins, like above. Never had a failure but also I’m not selling them nor...

great primer on how tube circuits work. With this info you can pretty much analyse how all tube amps work since they’re all just variations on this theme. Just add more or less stages, more or less interstage filtering, different component values, etc. Now we can look at the JCM800 preamp and...

I’ve been saved by my own cheapness in this regard before, a lot of my pedals I just bought the cheaper solder lug pots and soldered solid core wire to them for pcb mount, so they’re only a quick snip away from salvage.