Chop Shop

[Erik S]

I thought I was going to post the first build report of 2026, but looks like @rwl just beat me to it! I'm always excited to check out a new bird-pedal though, so that's cool.

I also had a note to shout out @rwl and @temol for some helpful posts I read while putting this chop shop together re: jfet selection and biasing instructions.

Based on a few different posts my notes were:

Look for
Q1 Idss 600-800 uA
Q2 Idss 400-600 uA

Then
Set Sag knob for max voltage at pin 1 of the pot (square pad) and adjust trimmers for 6v at the test points.

Worked for me, and sounds great.

Happy New Year!

 

[drgonzo1969]

@rwl may have beat you to first build report of the year, and he wins at birds... but you win for best wiring so far in 2026! Nice!

 

[Erik S]

Plus an extra bird-related shoutout to @rwl for recommending the bird based tabletop game Wingspan. Played my first full game last night for New Years. I lost pretty bad, but it’s a great game.

 

[Harry Klippton]

But what do you think of it??

 

[drgonzo1969]

Plus an extra bird-related shoutout to @rwl for recommending the bird based tabletop game Wingspan. Played my first full game last night for New Years. I lost pretty bad, but it’s a great game.

I also looked Wingspan up after he posted about it. Looked pretty cool. I might grab it if I ever find some friends to play it with haha

 

[Erik S]

But what do you think of it??

The core sound is great. Sounds real good turned down cleanish, but fuzzy if you dig in. Seems to cover a good gain range for me, and has some nice character.

I would have guessed the sag control was going to be more extreme, but I also haven’t watched any demos yet or spent a lot of time with it. It’s definitely doing something, but no broken mis-biased sounds really.

Compared to the FF ~900 I did recently this is pretty tame and a little easier to use.

The tone switch is a little funny. Down seems to cut a tiny bit of high end - I had to switch to the bridge pickup to even hear what it was doing. Up cuts an obvious amount of highs, but sounded muffled and I didn’t like it. Sounds good in the middle though.

 

[W8ST ARTS]

I thought I was going to post the first build report of 2026, but looks like @rwl just beat me to it! I'm always excited to check out a new bird-pedal though, so that's cool.

I also had a note to shout out @rwl and @temol for some helpful posts I read while putting this chop shop together re: jfet selection and biasing instructions.

Based on a few different posts my notes were:

Look for
Q1 Idss 600-800 uA
Q2 Idss 400-600 uA

Then
Set Sag knob for max voltage at pin 1 of the pot (square pad) and adjust trimmers for 6v at the test points.

Worked for me, and sounds great.

Happy New Year!




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The aesthetic is great, and that nameplate...nailed it lol, but seriously, where does one get something like that fabricated?

 

[Erik S]

The aesthetic is great, and that nameplate...nailed it lol, but seriously, where does one get something like that fabricated?

Thanks!

I actually looked into getting some similar machine-tag name plates fabricated for a different project and it was super expensive for small quantities.

The ones I use on pedals I make at home using a toner transfer and acid/ peroxide etch.

I learned how that works from this video, and I still use pretty much the same process.

 

[HamishR]

I've been called anal on this forum for my wiring by many - even myself. But you take clinical to the next level. Love the riveted plate and even the colour of the enclosure too.

Have you ever wondered about rotating the out jack 180 degrees so that the ground is next to the in jack's ground? Then the out wire could be a nice straight run. I do it that way even though it ruins the symmetry of the jacks.

Maybe jack manufacturers could make right side jacks and left side jacks? It would help us symmetry OCD.

 

[Erik S]

Thanks @HamishR!

I have thought about flipping that jack, but something about having all the lugs on the same level wins out I guess.

You might be on to something with that left-handed jack idea. I’d buy em.

I just went back and looked through some of your builds. Wiring up a PCB is one thing, but those super clean vero builds are on a whole other level! I have a process worked out for these PPCB boards, and I do it the same way every time, but vero seems like a whole new set of problem solving every time. If I ever get through my stack of PCBs I hope to get into some more of that.