Chimera Preamp (son of ben)

Funnel

Well-known member
This pedal lives up to the hype. This was my first SMD project! I used it to build up to building an FV-1. Though, I think SMD transistors are more challenging to solder by hand, as they're so small and shift easily. Anyways, this went together fairly easily. I took my time with the j201's and checked continuity between the SMD transistor and its through hole counterpart. I also checked continuity between the transistors and the resistors that they go to to make sure that the soldering was adequate. When I installed the Q1 trimmer I forgot to adjust it 2k. Luckily, I found a thread that told me how to fix my mistake without desoldering the trimmer.

Before I decided I was going to do faceplates for this I had bought knobs. So, when I decided to order form @amplifyfun I looked over the faceplate selection and decided that I preferred the orange on white look. This was the first design that I did. I wanted it to be simple and have a border. I grabbed the knob surrounds files from @dmnCrawler and used the 9v and input/output arrows from them. Those files came in handy over the course of this process. The problem I'm having with making my pedals look presentable is I want to show them all off on my board, but I really don't need four dirt pedals...
 

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I love the way the front looks! Isn't it such a killer pedal?
I'm about to attempt my first SMD build myself pretty soon here, any tips for that process?
 
I'm about to attempt my first SMD build myself pretty soon here, any tips for that process?
There’s far more qualified people to ask. But I would suggest taking it slow, use tweezers to position the piece. I found it beneficial to Tim one pad so that I could place and solder the component. Check continuity. I wish I had something to magnify the board whether that be a pair of glasses or one of those helping hands things. I used my phone and zoomed in to check solder joints. It wasn’t as daunting as I thought it would be.

It is a great pedal. I still have to play around with it more to really put it through its paces.I am really happy with how the faceplate turned out. Also designing the faceplate was not as daunting as I thought it would be. I’m not artsy but I had a lot of fun pretending to be.
 
I love the way the front looks! Isn't it such a killer pedal?
I'm about to attempt my first SMD build myself pretty soon here, any tips for that process?
Tweezers, fine solder (0.020" works great), flux pen to wet the pads, good lighting and a tip you're comfortable with (I like a bevel tip for component, and a chisel for drag soldering, YMMV). I put a dab of solder on a pad, then heat it while placing the component, then do the other pads. If you take your time, there's no sorcery to it.
 
Yah I took one look at the SMB pads and ran the other way hahahah! I just finished my SOB build last week, as a matter of fact, I was playing it working on a demo track for it when I saw this post! I've been getting some really great sounds out of it with a slight bit of compression then using a boost pedal to tighten it up. It sits really nicely in a mix. Hopefully I can get something posted in the next couple of days. What a great little pedal!
 
Wait what’s the deal with the 2K trimmer? I just started building this today and already soldered most components on the board (including SMD transistors).

Nice graphics! I like the orange a lot!
 
Thanks! The faceplate turned out really well. The one trimmer should be adjusted to 2k. I found a thread that outlined how to adjust to 2k when you’ve already installed the components. If I had the pedal handy I would just measure the voltage of q1 but it’s on a friends pedalboard currently
 
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