I've been lurking on this site for quite a while so by way of an introduction, here's a couple of RAT pedals that I built during the Virus That Must Not Be Named party. They started life as GGG boards. General Guitar Gadgets makes good PCBs (they are tough and spacious) though I like the symmetry of PedalPCB boards best. I've never played through a real RAT pedal before so had no idea what to expect. But I still thought I'd play around with these two just for fun. I got LM308s from Jameco and I'm just going to assume that they are the authentic deal. I wouldn't know it if they weren't though.
The one on the right is a can style IC, green chicklets and tantalums in the signal path and has the LED up by the controls. I did a lot of research on this pedal before building it and so tried to anticipate all the components that could be swapped out and modded, and in those locations I put sockets in. If you look closely you can see them pretty much everywhere.
These two sites were a big help.
www.electrosmash.com
Both are 1590b boxes and the only unique thing to say about them was that I managed to get the input jacks on the top (which is preferable on a pedal board). Unfortunately I just couldn't squeeze the power jack between them no matter how much I tried. I like the low profile of these small boxes but I think the taller 125b's are just easier to work with.
Surprisingly, both of these fired right up. I have to say, I love those switch PCBs because that's one area where I screw up them most. They are pretty perfect for an idiot like myself since they take a lot of the thinking out of the equation.
The art is just waterslide decals. You can see the screw up on the left (water was a bit too hot and it chipped away while I was moving it around). The corner radius on the right pedal is not correct, but close enough for a hobbyist. My method is to print the decals reversed onto the waterslide paper and cut them to size and then shoot with a couple coats of lacquer. This will also seal the edges so water can't get in under the lacquer later. I also put some distilled vinegar in the water to help the decals flatten out a bit. When I place them upside down the ink is sealed in. Then I shoot the whole thing with several coats of lacquer and in the case of the pedal on the left, I wet sanded flush. The pedal on the right is one large decal, the one on the left is two decals (controls and stomp switch art.).
The left hand pedal has all the can-style IC, CC resistors and chicklets in the signal path. It sounds smoother to my ears, it is slightly different. But that could just be confirmation bias.
This was the first pedal I built, a GGG SD-1. And I love this pedal. I used a free font to simulate the BOSS lettering, it's not perfect but, again, close enough to get the message across. This is six different waterslides that were then shot with at least 10 coats of clear and wet sanded and buffed to finish. Lot of work and probably not worth it, but it looks pretty cool.
I'm done with waterslides though since it limits the color of the pedals themselves. I desperately need to find a way to print or produce white lettering so if anyone has ideas, that would be much appreciated. Anyway, its a fun and frustrating hobby.
The one on the right is a can style IC, green chicklets and tantalums in the signal path and has the LED up by the controls. I did a lot of research on this pedal before building it and so tried to anticipate all the components that could be swapped out and modded, and in those locations I put sockets in. If you look closely you can see them pretty much everywhere.
These two sites were a big help.
ElectroSmash - ProCo Rat Analysis
Pro Co Rat Schematic, Power Supply Stage, Clipper Amplifier, Voltage Gain, Low/High Pass Filtering, LM308 Op-Amp Selection, Diode Clipping, Tone Control, Output Stage, Pro Co Rat Frequency Response, Resources
Both are 1590b boxes and the only unique thing to say about them was that I managed to get the input jacks on the top (which is preferable on a pedal board). Unfortunately I just couldn't squeeze the power jack between them no matter how much I tried. I like the low profile of these small boxes but I think the taller 125b's are just easier to work with.
Surprisingly, both of these fired right up. I have to say, I love those switch PCBs because that's one area where I screw up them most. They are pretty perfect for an idiot like myself since they take a lot of the thinking out of the equation.
The art is just waterslide decals. You can see the screw up on the left (water was a bit too hot and it chipped away while I was moving it around). The corner radius on the right pedal is not correct, but close enough for a hobbyist. My method is to print the decals reversed onto the waterslide paper and cut them to size and then shoot with a couple coats of lacquer. This will also seal the edges so water can't get in under the lacquer later. I also put some distilled vinegar in the water to help the decals flatten out a bit. When I place them upside down the ink is sealed in. Then I shoot the whole thing with several coats of lacquer and in the case of the pedal on the left, I wet sanded flush. The pedal on the right is one large decal, the one on the left is two decals (controls and stomp switch art.).
The left hand pedal has all the can-style IC, CC resistors and chicklets in the signal path. It sounds smoother to my ears, it is slightly different. But that could just be confirmation bias.
This was the first pedal I built, a GGG SD-1. And I love this pedal. I used a free font to simulate the BOSS lettering, it's not perfect but, again, close enough to get the message across. This is six different waterslides that were then shot with at least 10 coats of clear and wet sanded and buffed to finish. Lot of work and probably not worth it, but it looks pretty cool.
I'm done with waterslides though since it limits the color of the pedals themselves. I desperately need to find a way to print or produce white lettering so if anyone has ideas, that would be much appreciated. Anyway, its a fun and frustrating hobby.
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