Satch Boogie
New member
My first ever pedal build. I've had the PCB sat in a drawer for about 18 months, and I've been following posts on this amazing forum for nigh on two years now. My wife says I'm a world class procrastinator. She's not wrong.
I've had a couple of Tchula pedals over the years, and it was always a favourite of mine. I'm now largely a digital user (was Line6 Helix, now Fractal FM9) so I'd sold off my numerous pedals and I've not bought one in years. I miss the interaction though, and rather than spend a small fortune again on pedals, which are frankly wasted with my lack of playing talent, I've embarked on the build my own route.
The name is an homage to Josh Smith who is probably the most widely recognised user of the Tchula pedal over the years, and I've given it a brand of Scissors Paper Rock or SPR depending on the space available to identify it as my handiwork. I didn't want to blatantly copy the Tchula's look. As expected, I made a few mistakes along the way, especially since bar some repairs to guitar wiring I've never done anything like this before. Thank you to those who suggested some things to check when I posted in the Troubleshooting forum.
I've had a couple of Tchula pedals over the years, and it was always a favourite of mine. I'm now largely a digital user (was Line6 Helix, now Fractal FM9) so I'd sold off my numerous pedals and I've not bought one in years. I miss the interaction though, and rather than spend a small fortune again on pedals, which are frankly wasted with my lack of playing talent, I've embarked on the build my own route.
![Just Joshin' V1 Pedal.jpg Just Joshin' V1 Pedal.jpg](https://forum.pedalpcb.com/data/attachments/80/80389-00dfe920f23bd5948f019a2cdbc2f2e8.jpg)
![Just Joshin V1 Gutshot.jpg Just Joshin V1 Gutshot.jpg](https://forum.pedalpcb.com/data/attachments/80/80390-d8a64a497b2d18d9edcd21ed4781bfe3.jpg)
The name is an homage to Josh Smith who is probably the most widely recognised user of the Tchula pedal over the years, and I've given it a brand of Scissors Paper Rock or SPR depending on the space available to identify it as my handiwork. I didn't want to blatantly copy the Tchula's look. As expected, I made a few mistakes along the way, especially since bar some repairs to guitar wiring I've never done anything like this before. Thank you to those who suggested some things to check when I posted in the Troubleshooting forum.
- I missed one component off my order, so that had to be ordered separately.
- I'd also ordered stereo jacks and not mono, they would have worked but I got hold of some mono jacks just to keep things simpler on a first build.
- The holes in the enclosure allowed every component to fit, except the power plug. So I purchased a reemer to enlarge the hole. Easy fix.
- The holes for the boost control and LED's only just allowed enough room for the footswitches to be put in place, so I'll move them up fractionally next time.
- Somehow, despite checking multiple times, I got the labelling for the bypass and boost footswitches backwards. Doh. So mad at myself for that. Other than that, I'm really happy with how the finish turned out. Figuring out how to get the UV printing layers correct was a learning curve, some YouTube tutorials were invaluable.
- The iron I'd used for the inital build was a cheap $10 thing, which pretty much melted itself during the build. I've invested in a decent soldering station, which has made a world of difference. So worth the money and will last for many, many years.
- When I first plugged the completed pedal in, the bypass completly cut the signal. Resoldered a couple of joints, to resolve that. But then the boost channel did nothing other than turn the LED on. Some more resoldering required.
- Then nothing was working, it appeared that I'd made things worse. I couldn't figure out what I'd done. Of course it would have helped if I'd checked that the pedal power supply was turned on. I'll chalk that up to having a senior moment.