DEMO Blue Sheep (a szukalski board) - Demo added

[MichaelW]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

So @szukalski has been going to town lately with doing his own PCB layouts. He sent me the Gerber files for his "Blue Sheep" board and I placed an order with JLCPCB.

I also goofed the order.....those faceplates were supposed to be white....I guess I missed a checkbox hahaha.......


Also check out these breakout boards he made JUST for me heh.....awesome stuff!


Anyway, just buttoned it up this afternoon. It's a modified Blues Driver of sorts with opamp gain stages.
Sounds pretty cool, I'll work on getting a demo up of it.

I embraced the green, and went with the Mint colored enclosure with the faceplate.




Thanks @szukalski, bring it on man! Let's see some more Gerber files.......

 

[Paradox916]

Very cool man, even if your blue sheep is green! I have to ask what’s your count on builds this year?

 

[benny_profane]

YOU DIDNT EVEN USE THE BREAKOUT BOARD!!

Those should last you a couple weeks at least!

Edit: beautiful build as always. Great collaboration on the project!

 

[MichaelW]

YOU DIDNT EVEN USE THE BREAKOUT BOARD!!

Those should last you a couple weeks at least!

Wrong side.....he designed the breakout to have the led on the right side which is my preference, but his faceplates had the whole on the left. Heh...

 

[Harry Klippton]

Got any pics of the enclosure before the faceplate? And is that a rattlecan job? I meant to look for something that colorish and forgot

 

[Deperduci]

I'd double check the tracing, but nothing says you SHOULD have to put qa switch in a particular way... wouldn't it end up just mirrored and a little twist on the wires?

 

[benny_profane]

Got any pics of the enclosure before the faceplate? And is that a rattlecan job? I meant to look for something that colorish and forgot

Tayda has a new pastel green / mint color that is quite close to that (if it’s not actually a tayda box).

 

[Harry Klippton]

Tayda has a new pastel green / mint color that is quite close to that.

I just found it and added one to my cart. That's exactly what I had in mind

 

[MichaelW]

Got any pics of the enclosure before the faceplate? And is that a rattlecan job? I meant to look for something that colorish and forgot

That's a Tayda Mint Green, or so the label says. I'm blue-green color blind, so it looks like cream to me hahaha

 

[benny_profane]

I just found it and added one to my cart. That's exactly what I had in mind

SURF.

 

[szukalski]

Looking nice! Yeah, I have a preference for LEDs on the other side.. I love the mint green!

 

[steviejr92]

Dude i think that green looks awesome! Great build as always!

@szukalski you make one beautiful circuit

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

Rad build! Can’t wait to hear a demo— the blues driver is my favorite of the “normal” overdrive circuits

 

[Feral Feline]

Looks great!

Perfect shade of green for the colour-blind.


It's the end of an era, an MW build that has labels!

Yes, I know Mike's had faceplate builds before.

 

[MichaelW]

Demo of the Blue Sheep.

After chatting with @szukalski he said this wasn't really designed to be a standalone overdrive but rather to push a gainy amp.

So again, like the Diplomat demo, I'm starting off with a clean amp to show what the pedal alone sounds like. It's got some cool settings and sounds in it, but also a few less than flattering sounds as well. Doesn't sound too much like a Blues Driver.

But then I'm switching to a crunchy amp setting and this pedal is the BALLS! Love what it does pushing an amp.

First appearance of my new P90 Goldtop with the Wolftone Mean and Meaner P90 set. Sounds freaking awesome!

 

[szukalski]

Nice demo, though you are hitting your levels and getting a bit of digital distortion in the crunchy half.

(Repeating what I mentioned in DM for others who may visit). The Blue Sheep is one which needs to be used in the right ways. It is two levels of opamps without any transistors or diode clipping, so you are using opamp clipping which can be a bit harsh for my ears when on it's own.

The original has a dual pot for the pre (boost) and gain stages, but I found it more versatile to split them. You can fine tune the boost hitting the gain stage and get some more useful tones, but at the end of the day it pairs better with something breaking up, preferably not op-amp based (tubes or JFETS are good choices). Get a tube amp breaking up and this can push it over without adding too much colouration.

It may not be a pedal which always stays on your board, but it can be a useful tone shaper.

 

[MichaelW]

Nice demo, though you are hitting your levels and getting a bit of digital distortion in the crunchy half.

(Repeating what I mentioned in DM for others who may visit). The Blue Sheep is one which needs to be used in the right ways. It is two levels of opamps without any transistors or diode clipping, so you are using opamp clipping which can be a bit harsh for my ears when on it's own.

The original has a dual pot for the pre (boost) and gain stages, but I found it more versatile to split them. You can fine tune the boost hitting the gain stage and get some more useful tones, but at the end of the day it pairs better with something breaking up, preferably not op-amp based (tubes or JFETS are good choices). Get a tube amp breaking up and this can push it over without adding too much colouration.

It may not be a pedal which always stays on your board, but it can be a useful tone shaper.

I think splitting the pre-gain out is brilliant. Lots more tonal options even using it to goose the amp. I was showing a little bit of that in the demo. Great job Dave!!

 

[andare]

Didn't we just have a thread about not throwing shade (of green) on other members? What are you guys doing?!

This is pretty dope. I hope I'll be able to design my own breakout boards in 10 years or so.

Nice job everyone!

 

[HamishR]

A Blue Sheep in a green enclosure? What are you? Colourblind??

Oh. Sorry.