Bring out yer Diptrace

[vigilante398]

Alright, I'm too proud of this to not share. It's not Diptrace, but it's still a PCB It's a custom build for a friend, so it has a bunch of stuff that I wouldn't normally do.

• two-channel solid-state bass preamp
• 27V from charge pump
• D.I. transformer with balanced XLR out
• 1/4" dry passthrough
• IR loader (only holds 1 IR at this point, but I'm working on it) with IR bypass switch

If my model is to be trusted it will fit in a 1590XX. The boards are going to be stupid expensive (relatively speaking) so fingers crossed this one works.

 

[Bio77]

Due to the bad influence of others on this forum, pushing me to explore this more, here is something I finished up today. It is a 2 BBD delay, giving 600ms of delay time in a 1590A. This has a charge pump to drive the BBD's at 15V, and I added a switch to tap into the first BBD, hopefully giving a sort of rhythmic delay.
View attachment 24988

I'm not sure how you implemented the switch, but it might be cool to use a 3008 in one of the positions, if that's possible. It would cut your max delay time down to 450 ms, but with the switch you would get waltz like repeats similar to the Sagan.

 

[dan.schumaker]

I'm not sure how you implemented the switch, but it might be cool to use a 3008 in one of the positions, if that's possible. It would cut your max delay time down to 450 ms, but with the switch you would get waltz like repeats similar to the Sagan.

Thats a really cool idea! I think I have an extra 3008 around here, I might have to check that out when they get here.

 

[slacjs]

What libraries are people using?

 

[Big Monk]

What libraries are people using?

I use the Rullywow library.

 

[Bio77]

Thats a really cool idea! I think I have an extra 3008 around here, I might have to check that out when they get here.

Cool! I'd love to hear how it works out.

Here's my latest. It's a MBP Deathclaw delay with 3 PT2399s and modulation. The ghost switch comes off the first or the second delay chip.

 

[Grubb]

What libraries are people using?

Combination of Rullywow and my own, which is mostly edited Rullywow parts plus things I've needed to import.

 

[JamieJ]

That is a super tight looking layout @Bio77
It looks great!

 

[Bio77]

That is a super tight looking layout @Bio77
It looks great!

Thanks! This was the most complicated one I've done, so far. I planned to use the space between the PT2399s as routes for the power, but I forgot that since they are SMD I would need via to connect to the back copper layer for the signal traces. It was a nail biter in a couple of spots, but I got everything crammed in. We'll see if it works, this weekend

 

[Big Monk]

 

[JamieJ]

I'm interested to go down the SMD route and there's been loads of inspiration here recently so this is my 4 clipping options rat pedal and JFET boost circuit. Also, does anyone have any good tips for SMD layout? I find I struggle way more than with through hole designs.

 

[Bio77]

I'm interested to go down the SMD route and there's been loads of inspiration here recently so this is my 4 clipping options rat pedal and JFET boost circuit. Also, does anyone have any good tips for SMD layout? I find I struggle way more than with through hole designs.

View attachment 25304

That looks pretty good, where's the struggle?

 

[Grubb]

Here's a fabricated board for my Rat clone, which has some clipping options added to the circuit and some bass control. Pretty sure I lifted the bass knob idea from a thread on this forum
I'm really happy with the boards from JLCPCB.

 

[dan.schumaker]

I'm interested to go down the SMD route and there's been loads of inspiration here recently so this is my 4 clipping options rat pedal and JFET boost circuit. Also, does anyone have any good tips for SMD layout? I find I struggle way more than with through hole designs.

SMD can be a whole different beast. Its like going back to single sided layouts. No good tips here, just keep at it, the more you do it, the more and more it makes sense.

 

[vigilante398]

does anyone have any good tips for SMD layout?

A lot of the tips for through-hole boards apply just as much for SMD,

1. parts placement is key. Group components based on function for easy routing. If you're spending more time on routing than you are on placement, then your placement isn't good enough. Good placement makes routing easy, bad placement makes routing difficult or impossible.
2. it's common to want to squish everything together because they're small, but you need to make sure you leave space for routing between and around components. This is especially important if you're going to be hand-soldering them as you need room to get the iron in and you don't want to be accidentally bumping other components. I have an added mechanical layer in my SMD footprints with a border around them for minimum required spacing to make sure I don't put things too close together
3. don't be afraid of vias. They're not always necessary on through-hole designs, but on SMD designs they're necessary. The design I posted above has 167 vias.
4. tent your vias. Good practice in through-hole as well, but especially in SMD where you may have vias close to solder pads, tenting vias ensures you won't accidentally get solder bridges between pads and vias.

I'm sure there are more, but those are the first ones that come to mind.

 

[Big Monk]

Here is where I landed with the final layout on my "The Fuzz":



It has a lot in common with it's initial inspiration, the Dunlop JHF1. I'm not settled 100% on values just yet but structurally this will be it.

 

[flemming]

Here is where I landed with the final layout on my "The Fuzz":

Any reason for not using a copper pour for GND?

 

[Big Monk]

Any reason for not using a copper pour for GND?

I removed it so the pictures would be clearer.

 

[Grubb]

I removed it so the pictures would be clearer.

Yeah I do similar, set it to "unpoured" so that I can see things well. Also handy when checking the 3D model.

 

[Grubb]

So I borked up a build I am working on using one of my own boards. When it didn't work I started troubleshooting, but my troubleshooting turned up no clues. In going back to my Diptrace files and the original schematic I was working from, I can see that I accidentally left out a 1K resistor going from Vref to a net of capacitors. To fix this pedal, I will need to physically connect the Vref net to one of the caps via an offboard 1K resistor. Can anyone recommend a good way of attaching/soldering an offboard resistor? Preferably under the PCB