Bring out yer Diptrace

[Big Monk]

Revised Monk Vibe!



Huge shout out to @PedalPCB for showing me how to use DipTrace properly the past few days and answering all my stupid questions. This is the most involved circuit I've ever created in Diptrace.

Also, huge shoutout to @Chuck D. Bones for designing the modernized opamp preamp for this and also answering all my moronic questions!

Thanks guys!

 

[Passinwind]

More KiCAD jobs on the way:

Variable resonance variable frequency LPF for bass, mandolin, and acoustic guitar applications, both onboard and in pedals:



Matching Bass/Mids board:



Shipped from JLCPCB a few days ago, should be here next week. Both these layouts are well vetted, unlike most of the ones I've had done at JLC. These are meant for hand soldering, hence all the through hole caps. A byproduct of that is capability of running on 18V if desired, whereas many of the SMD film caps I use are only rated at 16V. Both boards measure 1.56" x 1.16", which allows vertical mounting in Jazz Basses and the like.

 

[finebyfine]

Not sure how I missed this thread! I am wild addicted to Diptrace lately, trace routing is more fun to me than a lot of games.

I have a board for JC Maillet's "Super Full-Wave Octaver" showing up soon. Fell in love after breadboarding it.



I don't have any decent build photos but I did a few Escobedo circuits last month too that ruled. Tripple Fuzz, Digital Octaver, Octup Blender. Wish the last two layouts were a bit cleaner but c'est la vie. Also just caught that one of the 5817s is labeled 1N5817 and one is just labeled 5817 on the blender

 

[vigilante398]

These are meant for hand soldering

Yuck, I hate hand soldering.

 

[Big Monk]

Yuck, I hate hand soldering.

No matter how hard and fast I rub my hands together, the solder never melts so I gave it up.

 

[Passinwind]

Yuck, I hate hand soldering.

I hear you man. It's taken me several years to figure out how to minimize the pain and if I only do a couple of boards a week it's no big deal anymore. Before his shop fire my luthier buddy was going to put a reflow oven and pick and place machine in his new shop, but I'm not holding my breath on that action now.

 

[Big Monk]

A little shuffling around and I think she's done:

 

[finebyfine]

Anyone have suggestions on how to make this layout a little more polished? This is for an Ampeg Scrambler. I've done like 3 or 4 iterations and orders of this board that all sound great but I still am not satisfied with the layout. VCC is highlighted, ground plane is hidden. Trace overlap on the topmost pad of the trimpot was fixed after the screenshot

 

[Big Monk]

Anyone have suggestions on how to make this layout a little more polished? This is for an Ampeg Scrambler. I've done like 3 or 4 iterations and orders of this board that all sound great but I still am not satisfied with the layout. VCC is highlighted, ground plane is hidden. Trace overlap on the topmost pad of the trimpot was fixed after the screenshot

View attachment 29592

Polished how? It looks really nice from where I'm sitting. Scrambler is my next DipTrace project as well.

 

[finebyfine]

Polished how? It looks really nice from where I'm sitting. Scrambler is my next DipTrace project as well.

I want it more symmetrical lol

 

[Robert]

Symmetry will drive you 1NsAn3.

 

[Big Monk]

Symmetry will drive you 1NsAn3.

I think our PMs over the last 3 days flesh that out!

 

[Robert]

Here's what I've been working on.... I'm tired, time to go wait for DHL.

 

[Big Monk]

I want it more symmetrical lol

I’m starting this one next to pass the time before parts for “The Fuzz” come in. I’ll play around a bit.

Are you using the Aion schematic?

 

[finebyfine]

I’m starting this one next to pass the time before parts for “The Fuzz” come in. I’ll play around a bit.

Are you using the Aion schematic?

More or less, yeah. Maybe a couple of different values. The unused diodes are removed - especially because it's one of the trickier sections to lay out. I also removed the boost switch so it's just always on - I get that he did that for authenticity's sake but imo there's no reason to turn it off. The extra emitter pads for the Darlington's like he did is an absolute necessity, I have every conceivable pinout of MPSA13/14 laying around somehow.

I've toyed with the idea of breaking the Darlington's out to individual transistors to play around more with transistor options - and as I'm writing that I think that'll be fun a thing to do today

Here's what I've been working on.... I'm tired, time to go wait for DHL.

You're a fucking artist

 

[Big Monk]

More or less, yeah. Maybe a couple of different values. The unused diodes are removed - especially because it's one of the trickier sections to lay out. I also removed the boost switch so it's just always on - I get that he did that for authenticity's sake but imo there's no reason to turn it off. The extra emitter pads for the Darlington's like he did is an absolute necessity, I have every conceivable pinout of MPSA13/14 laying around somehow.

I've toyed with the idea of breaking the Darlington's out to individual transistors to play around more with transistor options - and as I'm writing that I think that'll be fun a thing to do today

I've got the schematic whipped up. I have it on good authority from research that the extra diodes are in fact part of the sound and that making discrete Darlingtons out of BC series or 2N5088 transistors is better for biasing, more options, etc.

I'll post what I come up with

 

[finebyfine]

I've got the schematic whipped up. I have it on good authority from research that the extra diodes are in fact part of the sound and that making discrete Darlingtons out of BC series or 2N5088 transistors is better for biasing, more options, etc.

I'll post what I come up with

I vaguely remember liking it better without the unused diodes populated but while I'm getting more wild with this revision it looks like I may as well throw them back in.

Trying to research the circuit came up pretty scant for me, do you have any sources you'd be willing to share? It and the Super Fuzz are probably my favorite effect circuits I've ever encountered.

I've talked with a few people who worked for Ampeg when it was owned by St. Louis Music (1985-2005) and did manufacturing here but they weren't doing the Scrambler then AFAIK. I only even recently put it together that Dan Armstrong actually worked for Ampeg, even though I knew the Green Ringer was his teardown of the Scrambler.

 

[Robert]

You're a fucking artist

Let's make sure it works before we start making all sorts of crazy claims.

 

[jeffwhitfield]

Let's make sure it works before we start making all sorts of crazy claims.

Most of the great artists are crazy so there's that.

 

[Big Monk]

I vaguely remember liking it better without the unused diodes populated but while I'm getting more wild with this revision it looks like I may as well throw them back in.

Trying to research the circuit came up pretty scant for me, do you have any sources you'd be willing to share? It and the Super Fuzz are probably my favorite effect circuits I've ever encountered.

I've talked with a few people who worked for Ampeg when it was owned by St. Louis Music (1985-2005) and did manufacturing here but they weren't doing the Scrambler then AFAIK. I only even recently put it together that Dan Armstrong actually worked for Ampeg, even though I knew the Green Ringer was his teardown of the Scrambler.

I certainly don't have any insider information but the various forum postings i researched on it had many people agreeing that the extra diodes affect the tone with the Texture turned up.

As far as discrete transistors vs. Darlingtons, it seems many people reported less extreme gating in the stock circuit with discrete pairs instead. I'm gonna throw trim pots on all the collector connections that connect directly to VA just to have that flexibility.