FERAL's imPERFect LAYOUTS

[Feral Feline]

Thought I'd start a thread to share my layouts, get feedback on them, and hopefully have some fun.
This sub-forum seemed the logical place to knot the thread.

I use DIYLC for my perf-layouts (though I have Eagle) because I spent an inordinate amount of time learning how to use DIYLC and it's where I'm comfortable now — for the moment. Tried getting up to speed on Eagle a few times, but... maybe later.

I originally started doing perf layouts mainly because I wanted to build stuff that wasn't available on PCB and prefer perf to vero, another reason was I didn't think I had the skills or knowledge to lay out PCBs. However...
Now I'm getting back into perf layouts for some of those same original reasons, but also as a dojo to train up and prepare for laying out my own PCBs.
Ready or not here I come, PCB fabricators.


So, for the first thread-entry I've spent the last few days tinkering with a clean blend for @jrhevron and myself. Here's the first draught:




The perf above was put together based on the schematic in this PDF:

http://www.rutgerockhorst.com/nucleonfx/documentation/fusion.pdf

In turn, Fusion's based on Jubal81's Schooner.


Instigated to lay this one out by posts in this thread:

J

TUTORIAL Thread 'Why Your Clean Blends Suck ... or "How to (Clean) Blend"'

Feb 16, 2024

Since there have been a couple of threads on the topic of "I want to do this pedal but with a clean blend" and "I want to blend two circuits" and I don't want to repeat myself all the time, here is a bit about clean blends. I have zero electronics background, am a self-taught pedal nerd and won't be able to answer ALL technical questions they arise. I am more of a f*ck-around-and-figure-it-out guy who loves to keep things reasonably simple, but also loves if things are engineered nicely.

So that being said, this is how to blend...

1. Buff n Blend

The...

• jesuscrisp
• Replies: 11
• Forum: The Test Kitchen

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I chose to go for some added gain to the clean-blend, but haven't worked out the exact values yet. The PDF says

"If the effect you’re blending is running above unity signal levels, it can be difficult to blend in the clean signal in a desired ratio. To remedy this you can boost the cleans by adjusting R2 and R3. The gain is calculated as . So R2 = R3 = 47kΩ gives a (voltage) gain of 2. Change R2 to 22kΩ will give gain of roughly 4."

I don't quite get what a gain of "4" means. Four times the voltage? Increase of 4dB? What does this compare to?
Nucleon's designer mentioned the same thing in a DIYSB thread, username ROCKHORST:

Idea for a clean blend circuit - feedback wanted - Page 2

Idea for a clean blend circuit - feedback wanted - Page 2

www.diystompboxes.com

Any advice on sorting out the clean's GAIN would be welcomed.


INVERSION
Another feature of the circuit in the PDF is it can be built to invert the phase of the wet-signal.
I thought it'd be more utilitarian to have both inverting and non-inverting available at the flip of a switch, so I worked that out.
I've included a mockup of the switch with the perf layout, 'cause it helped me determine whether or not it was feasible to switch between inverting/non-inverting so it might help others, too. That switch took some time to figure out, but as is usually the case it was more straightforward than I thought.

The main layout itself positions the two pots and switch such that it should fit a 3-knob PedalPCB template with a little wiggling.
One pot's legs are oriented vertically and the other's horizontally, to give better support to anchoring the perf and avoid possible strain on solder joints that all pot-legs on the same axis are susceptible to. Bonus: it's more compact than having the pots side by side.

The control layout would look something like this, with the bypass LED:

✹

​

That's about it, for now. Wasn't able to sleep last night, so once again posting half drunk from sleep-deprivation — I'll never learn.
I'm sure there will be errors in this post I'll have to fix later.


Thanks to Nucleon's Rutger Rockhorst for working up this clean-blend in the first place.

NEXT UP...
...I'll post a booffster: Just prior to the Nucleon Clean Blend, I mashed together Jerry Garcias Tiger Preamp with Mr Noir's Boosty Tigress.

 

[Feral Feline]

Well, I'm still stuck in Somnia, so I might as well post the next imPERFection confection; Meet the...

BLACK
BENGAL
BOUFSTER!


As mentioned above, this is JG's preamp-buffer that was stuffed into his Tiger geetar, fed by a Mr Black Boost Tiger.
It is only now, that I realise I wish I'd stuck the BUFFER in FRONT of the BOOST. Why?
Because maybe the boost will push the Buffer into ugly distortion? I don't know.

There are two layouts below, but electronically both are the same-same, each containing the Buffer and the Boost.
So what's the diff?
The one with jacks and related accoutrement has the boost on the left and the buffer on the right.
The smaller layout is ... plus petite, mes chers, and has the buffer on the left of the boost.

I've not included the RefDes 'cause I haven't consolidated a schematic of the two circuits yet, having worked up the layout(s) from their own separate electron roadmaps.


I really should've done this in 2022, Year of the Tiger.







So, I may revisit this with a proper schematic and a new layout that puts the booster AFTER the buffer.
Meanwhile, if you choose to build this imPERFect Boufster, I'd breadboard it before committing it to perfboard, an asylum, or Hairy Kerry.


Thanks to ...
the Demigod of DIYLC,
Dave aka Storyboardist for the lovely DIYLC-thingamabobdoohickies so I didn't have to agonise over a relative sea of component capsizes,
Doug Irwin for making Tiger and John Cutler its preamp-buffer, and whoever made that circ public,
Mr Deville for kindly sharing his Boost Tiger schematic to the DIY community (His schem matches the trace!).

Special Thanks also to Robert, and you, my PPCB brethren and sistren, for providing inspiration and for reading this.



Now, if you want my advice building this, go ...
HERE,
HERE,
and
HERE
and you're as good as golden.

IF you absolutely must have the Tiger-pre in the mix, do just that up on perf, but not on vero, and sandwich it with the above replacing the middle "HERE" .








HERE, = Black Tiger Boost
HERE, = Kliché Buffer
and
HERE = 3PDT Breakout w/ buffer-sw

 

[Nostradoomus]

 

[VanWhy]

This is cool stuff. Thanks for posting this @Feral Feline. I've been looking to try perfboard after doing a handful of stripboard. Probably not the best place to ask this but can you recommend some quality perfboard to buy?

 

[Feral Feline]

I can, but I'm not sure you could find it on your own — Ap Lui Street's street-market stalls do a good job of hiding the store-fronts ... you'd never spot the store for the stalls.

It's best to have someone who already knows where it is take you there, nightmare to find on your own.

If you must lone-wolf it, I recommend going by MTR; take exit A2 and go across the street kitty-corner, turn right. Take the sidewalk immediately in front of the stores behind the stalls, if you stay out on the street between the stalls, you'll miss it for sure. It's about 1/3 the way down the street on the left-hand side... Pic will help:

This is the view after coming out of MTR Exit A2,
See the green enclosed-balcony in the upper right of the pic? The entrance to the shop is street level just below and about 6 shops (not stalls) beyond that.


This is where I got most of my perf:

That's just the entrance, you have to go in and up a flight of stairs to get to the goodies.

There's a few other shops where I got perf, maybe even a bit cheaper, but this is probably the biggest shop and has a good selection of caps, transistors, diodes, switches, etc, too — great selection of instrument and mic cable, spools of Belden, Sommer and Canare etc so get as much or little as you need, but alas no Mogami. I tended to do most of my shopping there when I couldn't get what I wanted from Tayda.

WECL is the English name of the shop, but the English-side of WECL's website... needs sprucing up. I've tried to order online, but without any success.

Man I miss that street. Nothing like it here. Nothing like it in all of Canada.
I'm running low on perf, but won't be back in Hong Kong until about a year from now... I could take you there, then.

 

[Feral Feline]

This is cool stuff. Thanks for posting this @Feral Feline. I've been looking to try perfboard after doing a handful of stripboard. Probably not the best place to ask this but can you recommend some quality perfboard to buy?

Probably not the best place because I don't know, but should be a good place because the thread's all about PERF; but not the best place 'cause I gave you a smarty-pants answer above. 'Tis all true, though, just not my own pics.
TTBOMR, I've never bought perf online, mostly at that shop and a few other HK shops.

What I do recommend is make sure you're getting fibreglass or similar boards, because I got some cheap phenolic-perf and over time it warped to hell — so if you build a circuit on phenolic, there's a good chance you'll get some cold solder-joints eventually as the board starts to curl up.

The downside of the fibreglass is of course it's harder to cut to size and you should wear a mask and eye-protection and gloves — those little microscopic glass-fibres are evil when set loose into the atmosphere.

 

[VanWhy]

Probably not the best place because I don't know, but should be a good place because the thread's all about PERF; but not the best place 'cause I gave you a smarty-pants answer above. 'Tis all true, though, just not my own pics.
TTBOMR, I've never bought perf online, mostly at that shop and a few other HK shops.

What I do recommend is make sure you're getting fibreglass or similar boards, because I got some cheap phenolic-perf and over time it warped to hell — so if you build a circuit on phenolic, there's a good chance you'll get some cold solder-joints eventually as the board starts to curl up.

The downside of the fibreglass is of course it's harder to cut to size and you should wear a mask and eye-protection and gloves — those little microscopic glass-fibres are evil when set loose into the atmosphere.

Right on. Apologies if we took the thread off the rails. I don't want to take away from the excellent layouts you are putting out there.

 

[Ginsly]

A) Bookmarked! I've done more stripboard, but I really dig perf too.

B) Speaking of board materials - how do you tell? No clue if this Tayda vero is one or the other, for instance...