A fresh Cheesemonger! Posted w/ an in-mix test

junderwood

Active member
Taking a freshly built Cheesemonger fuzz pedal out for a spin in a mix to see how it works. So far I like it, but it does have a bit of a low output issue I think. Anybody mod these to address that? I'm pretty sure I got all the components right :unsure:...

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I'm slowly getting a little better at bonking letters/numbers into the aluminum cases. This is my favorite aesthetic - I love the rough and ready industrial vibe (which I totally swear I was doing before I knew Fairfield was doing it :ROFLMAO:). A trick that's helped me is to use a rubber or felt pad underneath little block of steel I use as an anvil on the other side. Something about increasing the contact time by absorbing some of the shock of the hammer blow makes a better indentation. I also recently purchased an arbor press to try to get much better/accurate impressions but I haven't been able to get enough torque on it yet. Would also be really curious how other people do this if anyone has found success in getting accurate and repeatable punching.

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In order to clear the interior of the led mount I had to solder the pots way up on their tippytoes, but it all worked out perfectly. I absolutely love building PedalPCB projects - they're always super well laid out and well made.

Here's the link to the in-mix test (An especially *cheesy* partial cover of Wolfmother's already cheesy 'Woman'):
Settings in-song are as you see them in the photo. Pedal is in full cheese mode.
Signal chain: Guitar (Kiesel Leia w/ Lollar alnico pole p90s) > Bogner Harlow V1 > Tayda EP Booster clone > PedalPCB Cheesemonger > Kemper

Guitars amateurishly double-tracked w/ Tone Junkie 'Super Dark Magic' and 'Spanky' profiles. Created with Reason 12
 
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At what volume setting are you seeing unity? I think that could be compared to another's build quite easily.
 
At what volume setting are you seeing unity? I think that could be compared to another's build quite easily.
Hard to tell w/ the fuzz, but I think unity happens at about 9 to 9.5 out of 10, if that makes sense. Maybe that's just the way the circuit works?
 
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I'm far from an expert but that doesn't seem like a design feature. Slight consideration for various pup / cable combinations, I'd guess ~3.75-6.25 for unity range seems reasonable. You could have a component out of tolerance I suppose.
 
Taking a freshly built Cheesemonger fuzz pedal out for a spin in a mix to see how it works. So far I like it, but it does have a bit of a low output issue I think. Anybody mod these to address that? I'm pretty sure I got all the components right :unsure:...

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View attachment 19220

I'm slowly getting a little better at bonking letters/numbers into the aluminum cases. This is my favorite aesthetic - I love the rough and ready industrial vibe (which I totally swear I was doing before I knew Fairfield was doing it :ROFLMAO:). A trick that's helped me is to use a rubber or felt pad underneath little block of steel I use as an anvil on the other side. Something about increasing the contact time by absorbing some of the shock of the hammer blow makes a better indentation. I also recently purchased an arbor press to try to get much better/accurate impressions but I haven't been able to get enough torque on it yet. Would also be really curious how other people do this if anyone has found success in getting accurate and repeatable punching.

View attachment 19221

In order to clear the interior of the led mount I had to solder the pots way up on their tippytoes, but it all worked out perfectly. I absolutely love building PedalPCB projects - they're always super well laid out and well made.

Here's the link to the in-mix test (An especially *cheesy* partial cover of Wolfmother's already cheesy 'Woman'):
Settings in-song are as you see them in the photo. Pedal is in full cheese mode.
Signal chain: Guitar (Kiesel Leia w/ Lollar alnico pole p90s) > Bogner Harlow V1 > Tayda EP Booster clone > PedalPCB Cheesemonger > Kemper

Guitars amateurishly double-tracked w/ Tone Junkie 'Super Dark Magic' and 'Spanky' profiles. Created with Reason 12
Looks great! Nice work!!
 
A trick that's helped me is to use a rubber or felt pad underneath little block of steel I use as an anvil on the other side. Something about increasing the contact time by absorbing some of the shock of the hammer blow makes a better indentation.
fwiw I think you’re right about that. I’ve actually found the best anvil I’ve used to be a vulcanized rubber mallet head held in a workmate. I think having just a little bit of springiness to allow follow through really helps the impressions strike cleanly and avoid chatter or double-impressions
 
The originals are notoriously low output. If the PPCB version is a direct clone of the original, then I wouldn't be surprised if it barely hits unity.
 
Thank you! I'd love to figure out the volume problem, but otherwise this is a real fun pedal. 🤘
Have you tried adjusting the trimmer to see if it is killing your output volume?

Farndurk use to clamp a bar across the top so he could set the flat side of the stamp against it to keep the letters square and straight.
I would glue a strip of rubber so it doesn't scar the face of the pedal.
 
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