Black Water Drive Station (3-in-1 dirt machine!)

coltonius

Well-known member
Well hello there.. Again. I thought I'd share another build I just finished because that is what we do here. :cool:

A friend of mine who is visually impaired asked that I make him a 3-in-1, so several of the layout choices were made based on his needs. I think it turned out awesome!

The effects:
EQD Arrows (Effectslayouts Lawn Darts PCB) > Prince of Tone (Pauper PCB) > Zendrive (Mahayana PCB) > switchable K-style buffer (Delyk CornyKlone PCB)

The affects:
- Arrows is a really good 'neutral' boost. It's transparent and loud! It's great at pushing overdrives and amps alike.
- The PoT is a great "transparent" overdrive / light distortion. The Presence trimmer and Turbo/Lo-Mids DIPs were relocated to the outside to accommodate my buddy's needs. To me, they are rather subtle and best left inside for most applications.
- The Zendrive is.. well, it's a darn good Zendrive. This one features an OPA2604 opamp and a High/Low gain toggle which changes the range of the Gain pot!
- I also included a switchable output buffer in case he needs to run long cables. K-style buffers are my favorite, as they seem to be generally neutral when engaged!

The Glamour Shot:
IMG_7530.jpg


I may not have the best graphic design skills around here (the waves are a vinyl decal), but I am mighty confident in my ability to lay out a pedal in a classy and symmetrical way..
 
That looks cool!
I was thinking about a triple build too, with some kind of fuzz, a boost with EQ and a Benson preamp... I have always wondered: no issues with noise when powering multiple circuits using a single supply? No ground loops? Thanks!
 
That looks cool!
I was thinking about a triple build too, with some kind of fuzz, a boost with EQ and a Benson preamp... I have always wondered: no issues with noise when powering multiple circuits using a single supply? No ground loops? Thanks!
The only adjustment I had to make was the In/Output impedance on the middle (PoT) because it had a really bad popping. After various troubleshooting methods revealed no culprit I threw up a Hail Mary and it took the popping from a 10 down to a 2- which I'd consider normal.

No ground loops or other noise issues; I tried to be intentional about wiring so that power and signal either ran around the outside or crossed signal wires at a 90° angle. In the past I've had to use shielded wiring for signal wires (especially from jacks to footswitches) but it wasn't necessary this time around!

guuuuuuts! show us yer guuuuuuuuuuuuts! ;)
I'd be happy to share them if I had them, but I was in such a hurry to bounce it out the door after testing that I forgot to take it back apart and get a shot of the innards.

Please forgive me; I will not make this mistake again!

1608225708551.gif
 
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