Fuzzy PPCB Cream Pie for my SCHMORG

[dawson]

So, I check out this forum fairly often, and I kept reading all sorts of shining recommendations for this Frantone Cream Puff clone that's a fuzz circuit which apparently handles bass notes really well. It's super low parts-count and I trust the folks who were praising the circuit so I decided to build one up:

Anyhow, you were all TOTALLY RIGHT.
This thing sounds incredible with my baritone but I think I'm going to attempt forcibly loaning it to our bass player who is in desperate need of some hair on his tone- or possibly cream on his puff, as it were..

I do my graphics in Photoshop and etch the plates with ferric chloride.

If you're wondering WTF is wrong with this guy who thinks it's okay to build upside-down pedals with no pants on, this thread may answer a question or two:
SCHMORG

 

[Harry Klippton]

Killed it. AGAIN.

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

Always killer! Love it!

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

Fran schmorg! Badass!

 

[szukalski]

Fran! Awesome.
Etching! Brilliant.
Copper tape for earth.. great idea!
Parallel capacitor snuggling.. oddly arousing!

 

[Paradox916]

Nice job! Your etching on this is immaculate!

 

[giovanni]

Is the wire to the plate there for grounding? And do I see that the pot are insulated from the plate?

 

[dawson]

Thanks for looking, every body-
I highly recommend this circuit. Just look at that PCB layout FFS, it's a minimalistic masterpiece!

Fran! Awesome.
Etching! Brilliant.
Copper tape for earth.. great idea!
Parallel capacitor snuggling.. oddly arousing!

Oh, to live the wild and erotic life of a young ceramic capacitor..
They have ALL the fun.

Nice job! Your etching on this is immaculate!

Thanks!
There's still plenty of room for improvement- I upgraded my iron but I'm still getting the hang of the new one so I'm hoping for cleaner/stronger transfers in the future.

Is the wire to the plate there for grounding? And do I see that the pot are insulated from the plate?

So..grounding..is much easier when each pedal is in its' own enclosure and using shielded patch cables to connect them all.
I use the copper tape to connect the PCB ground to the faceplate, then I have a daisy chain that connects all of the grounds together:

(not a great picture, but the green wire is the grounding "daisy chain" in the prototype SCHMORG)

Is there a better way to do it?
Certainly, but I haven't thought of it yet..

Is there a worse way to do it?
Yes, I've tried MANY.
*Getting everything grounded properly is one of the SCHMORG's biggest dilemmas.

The POTs aren't actually "insulated" from the faceplate like they may appear- that's just a little 2mm spacer I use to recess the knobs a little.

 

[dawson]

All boxed up and ready for dude to try on bass at band practice tomorrow:

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

 

[giovanni]

Thanks for looking, every body-
I highly recommend this circuit. Just look at that PCB layout FFS, it's a minimalistic masterpiece!



Oh, to live the wild and erotic life of a young ceramic capacitor..
They have ALL the fun.



Thanks!
There's still plenty of room for improvement- I upgraded my iron but I'm still getting the hang of the new one so I'm hoping for cleaner/stronger transfers in the future.



So..grounding..is much easier when each pedal is in its' own enclosure and using shielded patch cables to connect them all.
I use the copper tape to connect the PCB ground to the faceplate, then I have a daisy chain that connects all of the grounds together:

(not a great picture, but the green wire is the grounding "daisy chain" in the prototype SCHMORG)

Is there a better way to do it?
Certainly, but I haven't thought of it yet..

Is there a worse way to do it?
Yes, I've tried MANY.
*Getting everything grounded properly is one of the SCHMORG's biggest dilemmas.

The POTs aren't actually "insulated" from the faceplate like they may appear- that's just a little 2mm spacer I use to recess the knobs a little.

do you not get ground loops with the daisy chain? I would think star grounding would work best in this case? I also have no idea how to make this work best!

 

[dawson]

do you not get ground loops with the daisy chain? I would think star grounding would work best in this case? I also have no idea how to make this work best!

I can't say I know what a ground loop is and I've never heard of this "star grounding" but I'll certainly be googling it later- thanks for the recommendation.

I really wish I could claim to know more about even the most general of electronics..
My grounding strategy so far has just been trying whatever I can think of, and when my amp' stops saying "BZZZZZZZTH," I call it "good."

*I really need to re-do the grounding on my Dung Beetle-I don't remember exactly how I rigged it. but whenever I turn it on, it goes "POP!" super loud..

 

[HamishR]

I don't think you're that weird. None of my pedals wear pants. That would be weird.

Star grounding is just connecting all the grounds in one place. In theory it's a good idea, in practise less so. Maybe in a pedal? In an amp definitely no.

If done properly daisy chaining grounds won't cause loops to happen but may cause some hum. But in general I can't say I have too many grounding issues in pedals.

Anyway, I totally agree with the OP - the Cream Puff sounds great! It's a very civilised sounding fuzz with a great vocal kinda tone.