Buddy’s Box ‘o Metal

BuddytheReow

Breadboard Baker
As a metalhead im kind of excited about this one. An HM2 and HM3 in the same box! The hm3 is a stripboard layout, but it will still be pretty sweet. With my new work schedule and spring projects fast approaching this will take a while to finish. Stay tuned….
 

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Even when I’m at work I still think about my projects. Decided on my lunch break to start my stripboard layout at my desk in the office. Would love to bring a soldering iron but I think security might be called…
 

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UPDATE

Finally finished the HM3 and….kinda disappointed 😔. I tried swapping out all the ICs and BJTs and get no change sonically. Oh, I should also mention that I used a 2.2uf cap instead of a 1.5 which beefed up the bass gyrator, but the problem was with the distorted tone itself. It sounds more like a fuzz pedal than anything else. It just didn’t sound brutal enough to be worthy of a Box o Chainsaws enclosure!

Sigh….

I have high hopes for a Tyrian distortion coming in the mail in a few days. Sound clips sound pretty good. I’ve already got a Sanguine distortion as a stand-alone so we shall see what happens.
 

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The wife is sick. Not COVID, just a cold. What does that mean? Why, basement time of course!!!

Finally finished the promethium (HM2) board with stock components. Thanks @Harry Klippton for the 1.5uf cap!!

Fired up the first time which is always a great feeling. However, I knew the sound I was looking for so I dimed all the pots before testing. Omg the squeals this thing produced (in a bad way)! I read somewhere that a buffer before the circuit helps tremendously. Luckily my tuner has a switchable buffer and calmed the promethium back to a workable state. This means I need to add one in my enclosure either before the whole circuit set or just before the promethium. Next on my list is the Tyrian to audition.
 

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Finally finished up the Tyrian board (had to wait for a Tayda order; didn’t have extra on/off/on switches). I only got to spend about 5 minutes with it before I had to go to work this morning. This thing is pretty gnarly! EQ is incredibly responsive and the gain is pretty heavy (you CAN clean it up to a medium OD by dialing back the gain and guitar volume). I’m gonna spend some more time playing on this circuit to see if this is indeed Buddy’s Box o’ Metal!!
 

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Spent a good half hour with the Tyrian and I'm really happy with the circuit so I think I'll box it up along with the Promethium. The promethium needs a buffer in front of it to reduce the squealing to zero so I think I'll just build a Klon buffer inside the box out of vero. Drill templates to come shortly. I've been kicking around an idea or two for the enclosure art, but this may take some time to figure out what I want.
 
Looks like a wire monster came through here. Can you tell how much free time I have? Yes, I know they’re all too long but that’s ok. It’s easier to trim it that out a new wire in lol
 

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Since these are PCBs and not stripboard I’m trying to work on neatness, taking my time, and enjoying the build process. I still need to build an input buffer and may work on that during my lunch break today since I am wfh.
 

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So, I was playing around with this over the weekend...and...I'm a bit disappointed. The Tyrian side is pretty sweet, although a little bass heavy (could be fixed by dialing down the volume knob like I did with my Sanguine. The Promethium side doesn't sound good at all. It sounds fizzy, like it's hitting the BJT rails in a bad way or being "pinched".

Sigh....

I took out the buffer (quick fix) and it helped a little, but not enough to sound like a good chainsaw. Hmmm...I was thinking about it last night and the only thing I did differently on the board was install tantalum 1uf caps instead of the box ones (polarity is involved here) to fit the space. When I get a couple of minutes free time I'll take a stab at it. Fingers crossed I can get my Swedish chainsaws.
 
Would that be C10/C12? I think I’d go MLCC.

This brings up a question I have for bigger brains (meaning anyone)…let’s take C10 as an example;

Is it possible for the ”more negative” direction to shift under normal operation (from the perspective of the C10)?
 
D4, D5, and C11 form a DC clamper. Because D4 and D5 will always be slightly unmatched, even in the world of Fig, C11 can charge to a DC voltage which may be positive or negative depending on which way the mismatch favors. D6 and D7 will keep that voltage below their forward voltage threshold so it should always be lower than (negative with respect to) pin 7 of IC1.2, but theoretically the possibility is there.
 
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