jessenator
Well-known member
I've done many, what I term, dirty builds. Most of them are 3D-printed fitment tests. I've done a few competent builds, where there's aluminum (or PLA), paint, label maker or hand-painted lettering. But this one is my first quality-first build (I don't have the cajones to self-apply "professional" to myself). I'm more designer than engineer.
<Brief History Time>
This started some time ago when a friend asked me to build them a "better klone." They weren't impressed with my tweaks to an existing board (to be fair it wasn't much), so I decided to jump into the unknown and learn PCB design around March and see where it led me.
</Brief History Time>
After a few failed attempts at other effect board layouts (and $$ down the drain), I wanted to take my time and do right by myself, and cut no corners. I picked the klone project and tried to embed myself in it. After losing track of different board versions, fumbling with names, and a heavy case of subconscious plagiarism, I settled on Death to the King (which is still subconsciously rippy offy— sorry, Bean)
Under the surface of wanting to learn PCB layout, my feeling of "better" in relationship to "klone" was this: it's been done to death—everyone has one." Additionally, in my "research" into the pedal, its history, its fandom, mystique, commentary inside and out, I got stuck on the point of anything surrounding it being a u t h e n t i c
I wanted to flip a mild middle finger, or maybe a slightly milder eastern european fig gesture, at the concept of "the one and only is the only one good enough" as well as the cult surrounding that concept. So here it is, mild though it may be: the klone according to me : P
I don't like the 1N34A sound
*gasps*
And I want to have multiple options, so here's a slide selector
*more gasps*
I don't find it drive-y enough, so here's a switched boost stage before the input signal.
*reeeeEEEEEEE*
Okay, this is all in my head, but whatever. It's not the original—at all, and that's what I wanted. I wanted a sound, and that's what I got. And, full disclosure, I'm not waging a crusade on any individual who likes the original for what it is. It's not personally my cup of tea, in its vanilla form, and wanted to expand it. If I say the original is no good at all, I'm no better than anyone saying "you can't build it like that" to me.
That's why we do what we do!
The board with through several iterations, including one incredibly epic failure, which resulted in a screech loud enough to wake the dead. The most recent board revision is 1.3e. I was able to condense rev 1.2 into a smaller board,
And since I've been trying to do more designs, I also did a (roughly) pot-foorprint-sized boost board as well. I took inspiration from a mini board drawing on CodaEffects' blog from a while back, but I couldn't find it on the shop currently or on the wayback, so apologies if that offends. The current rev (1.2c) is nice and compact with enough room for supply pads and my obsession with power filtering.
The artwork went through a few iterations, with me mostly waffling on how graphic I wanted to make it. Originally it was intended to have a really cool commissioned illustration done by a friend of mine, but with life taking a priority, we decided to defer that commission for another time. I went about tweaking a typeface I enjoy into something resembling an arcane text, a gothic (speaking typographically) royal decree of execution. Anyway enough of my arty farty BS. I'm happy with how it turned out, both graphically and technically.
And the artwork by itself
The original illustration concept was a Lich-ified Vlad the Impaler. Here's my friend's art style, which I absolutely love:
As mentioned earlier in the Tayda UV Service thread, I only encountered issues on the user experience side of things. The setup to the art is what it is: I'm covering all the bases and delivering as simple a file as I can. The instructions just need to be designed/laid out better
They have the option to add a second hit of white for an additional fee. I wonder if I could do multiple layers of UV varnish as well… Have each "layer" of blood sort of stack up. Oh well, ideas for the future.
I have a couple of other projects in my queue, and if they turn out as well as this one, I'll keep making more.
thumb:
<Brief History Time>
This started some time ago when a friend asked me to build them a "better klone." They weren't impressed with my tweaks to an existing board (to be fair it wasn't much), so I decided to jump into the unknown and learn PCB design around March and see where it led me.
</Brief History Time>
After a few failed attempts at other effect board layouts (and $$ down the drain), I wanted to take my time and do right by myself, and cut no corners. I picked the klone project and tried to embed myself in it. After losing track of different board versions, fumbling with names, and a heavy case of subconscious plagiarism, I settled on Death to the King (which is still subconsciously rippy offy— sorry, Bean)
Under the surface of wanting to learn PCB layout, my feeling of "better" in relationship to "klone" was this: it's been done to death—everyone has one." Additionally, in my "research" into the pedal, its history, its fandom, mystique, commentary inside and out, I got stuck on the point of anything surrounding it being a u t h e n t i c
I wanted to flip a mild middle finger, or maybe a slightly milder eastern european fig gesture, at the concept of "the one and only is the only one good enough" as well as the cult surrounding that concept. So here it is, mild though it may be: the klone according to me : P
I don't like the 1N34A sound
*gasps*
And I want to have multiple options, so here's a slide selector
*more gasps*
I don't find it drive-y enough, so here's a switched boost stage before the input signal.
*reeeeEEEEEEE*
Okay, this is all in my head, but whatever. It's not the original—at all, and that's what I wanted. I wanted a sound, and that's what I got. And, full disclosure, I'm not waging a crusade on any individual who likes the original for what it is. It's not personally my cup of tea, in its vanilla form, and wanted to expand it. If I say the original is no good at all, I'm no better than anyone saying "you can't build it like that" to me.
That's why we do what we do!The board with through several iterations, including one incredibly epic failure, which resulted in a screech loud enough to wake the dead. The most recent board revision is 1.3e. I was able to condense rev 1.2 into a smaller board,
And since I've been trying to do more designs, I also did a (roughly) pot-foorprint-sized boost board as well. I took inspiration from a mini board drawing on CodaEffects' blog from a while back, but I couldn't find it on the shop currently or on the wayback, so apologies if that offends. The current rev (1.2c) is nice and compact with enough room for supply pads and my obsession with power filtering.
The artwork went through a few iterations, with me mostly waffling on how graphic I wanted to make it. Originally it was intended to have a really cool commissioned illustration done by a friend of mine, but with life taking a priority, we decided to defer that commission for another time. I went about tweaking a typeface I enjoy into something resembling an arcane text, a gothic (speaking typographically) royal decree of execution. Anyway enough of my arty farty BS. I'm happy with how it turned out, both graphically and technically.
And the artwork by itself
The original illustration concept was a Lich-ified Vlad the Impaler. Here's my friend's art style, which I absolutely love:
As mentioned earlier in the Tayda UV Service thread, I only encountered issues on the user experience side of things. The setup to the art is what it is: I'm covering all the bases and delivering as simple a file as I can. The instructions just need to be designed/laid out better
They have the option to add a second hit of white for an additional fee. I wonder if I could do multiple layers of UV varnish as well… Have each "layer" of blood sort of stack up. Oh well, ideas for the future.
I have a couple of other projects in my queue, and if they turn out as well as this one, I'll keep making more.
thumb:
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