Jump Drive (LPD Sixty8) - Revisited

I was just kidding, I'm a pack rat too. I find stuff in my garage from like 30 years ago all the time.....I can't even throw away those little cheap Allen wrenches that come with cheap pressboard furniture that let's you assemble them....I have a bucket full of them....because "you never know.....":)
I find stuff in my garage I saved because I thought it would be useful later. 20 years later I don't even know what they're for. I can't throw them away now though, because I thought they were important enough to keep for 20 years.
 
I'd be very interested in how yours turns out. In the demo videos it DOES sound more "open" than the Falk but in my rig it's the exact opposite.

I even auditioned it outside my chain, just guitar->pedal-> interface. Sounds.....well, like a Tube Screamer:) If yours turns out as good as David's then I may buy a second board and try it again. I'm not seeing any resistor value or cap value errors in mine though. I did validate resistors before stuffing them but I did NOT validate the caps.....got lazy. Maybe I have a bum cap that's way out of spec, who knows....
I just populated the Jump Drive PCB and had to use some combinations of caps and resistors to build it, but these were close to the values mentioned.
I used RC4558P opamps and OA1182 germanium diodes with a Uf around 359mV. To me this pedal behaves to what I’m hearing in the demos, there’s a singing quality with some pushed sustain to it with a mid focus and somewhat reduced lows. In demos comparing it to the Box of rock I‘ve heard about the feel of this pedal and to me it indeed has a nice feel/touch to play.
Not sure what went wrong with yours but I’m going to box it for sure. ;)
 
Michael—do you know if the primer you used was compatible with the paint? When paint doesnt dry (and if it’s still tacky after a week, that’s a problem…) that’s almost always the cause. Even if both were Krylon; the larger companies make several lines of paint and primers, and a lot of times they are not compatible with each other, the usual symptom being multi week tackiness. Seriously, if after two weeks it’s still not cured, clean it off to bare metal and start over.
 
Michael—do you know if the primer you used was compatible with the paint? When paint doesnt dry (and if it’s still tacky after a week, that’s a problem…) that’s almost always the cause. Even if both were Krylon; the larger companies make several lines of paint and primers, and a lot of times they are not compatible with each other, the usual symptom being multi week tackiness. Seriously, if after two weeks it’s still not cured, clean it off to bare metal and start over.
Yah, I've given that some thought. I think it's actually a Krylon primer (and I'm almost at the end of it). It seems to work well with all the other paints I've tried. But I think I will start trying to get everything the same brand going forward.

I'm getting the hang of painting enclosures and rather enjoy it now. I've also been working out a system of "plugging" old unused or mistakes, re-sanding and painting them. (Have an orbital sander helps a lot! heh......
 
Yah, I've given that some thought. I think it's actually a Krylon primer (and I'm almost at the end of it). It seems to work well with all the other paints I've tried. But I think I will start trying to get everything the same brand going forward.

I'm getting the hang of painting enclosures and rather enjoy it now. I've also been working out a system of "plugging" old unused or mistakes, re-sanding and painting them. (Have an orbital sander helps a lot! heh......
Even though it’s a Krylon primer, it may not be from the same series as the color coat; I had all sorts of issues with students’ projects that had similar issues. Sometimes the paint would look good while wet and then begin to take on a cottage cheese appearance as it dried, sometimes it just didn’t dry, sometimes it crazed… In my spray booth we also had set primers for certain lacquers.

For plugging holes, bondo is the tried and true, and probably the easiest material to use. I’d recommend a small can of higher quality bondo; if you keep the can closed, and are careful with not contaminating it with hardener, it will last for years. This is my favorite. Needs ventilation, do not breathe the polyester! C1453137-7368-4C17-A144-A69983E897F7.jpeg
 
JB Weld is one of the strongest epoxy's available, Truckers use it when their centre diff housings start getting rust holes in the top from exposure to years of dirt and moisture.
Check out a youtuber called '' Project Farm '', He tests nearly every known product available to man!
 
Even though it’s a Krylon primer, it may not be from the same series as the color coat; I had all sorts of issues with students’ projects that had similar issues. Sometimes the paint would look good while wet and then begin to take on a cottage cheese appearance as it dried, sometimes it just didn’t dry, sometimes it crazed… In my spray booth we also had set primers for certain lacquers.

For plugging holes, bondo is the tried and true, and probably the easiest material to use. I’d recommend a small can of higher quality bondo; if you keep the can closed, and are careful with not contaminating it with hardener, it will last for years. This is my favorite. Needs ventilation, do not breathe the polyester!View attachment 34725
Just got back from Home Depot with some new colors woohoo!

The problem with bondo is that it's mainly cosmetic. I need something that's drillable without crumbling. Can't beat JB Weld "Steel" or MarineTex for that. I'm working a way to do it that's less messy. I'm doing one today and will document my current process.
 
Just got back from Home Depot with some new colors woohoo!

The problem with bondo is that it's mainly cosmetic. I need something that's drillable without crumbling. Can't beat JB Weld "Steel" or MarineTex for that. I'm working a way to do it that's less messy. I'm doing one today and will document my current process.
I hear you, and when @music6000 suggested JBWeld, I think that makes sense. I still tend to think like a machinist, and with sharp tooling, a fine grained bondo like the Evercoat is fine. (This would be for holes under maybe 3/4 inch.) Putty, cure, sand flush and rebore, all in an hour. But JB is amazing. Pro tip—put some masking tape inside the box before you smear the JB on.
 
Just got back from Home Depot with some new colors woohoo!

The problem with bondo is that it's mainly cosmetic. I need something that's drillable without crumbling. Can't beat JB Weld "Steel" or MarineTex for that. I'm working a way to do it that's less messy. I'm doing one today and will document my current process.
This is what I use if I can’t find googly eyes to cover the hole.
 
I hear you, and when @music6000 suggested JBWeld, I think that makes sense. I still tend to think like a machinist, and with sharp tooling, a fine grained bondo like the Evercoat is fine. (This would be for holes under maybe 3/4 inch.) Putty, cure, sand flush and rebore, all in an hour. But JB is amazing. Pro tip—put some masking tape inside the box before you smear the JB on.
That's exactly what I did, I'll post a PSA/tutorial of my process, just painted one of my efforts today for the Tellurian drive. (Sarno Earth Drive). I'm hoping it's cured enough to handle by tomorrow afternoon.
 
Speaking of the Jump Drive, @music6000 turned me onto some ITT Ge diodes that are supposed to be the chiznits.

I've currently got Bat41's in it for clippers but I think I'm going to pull it apart and redo the enclosure finish with one of the new paints I got. Still not happy with the tackiness of the finish. While I'm at it also do a little Ge diode tasting, I've got a bunch coming from the recent SmallBear sale...including some glass radial ones......
 
Update:

After chatting a bit with @harmaes offline about the Ge diodes he used in his build and with the new Ge's that @music6000 recently turned me onto, I decided to revisit the Jump Drive.

In my OP, you can tell I was a little underwhelmed by the pedal. So couple of things I probably should stop doing.....

1) Read marketing ad copy.....and buying into the superlatives heh. The LPD website mentioned that this pedal was inspired by a 68 Plexi so I was expecting a "Marshall-in-a-box" that sounds like a 68 plexi, which I still don't think this sounds anything like.

2) Because of #1 above, when I first fired it up after testing voltages at my bench, I pulled out all my MIAB builds and started immediately comparing them, instead of just spending some time with the pedal on its own before diving into that.

So lessons learned. I ordered an array of Ge Diodes during the SmallBear sale, as mentioned in my Tellurian build report Ge diode taste testing.

Smallbear is usually not the quickest shipping for me, I was expecting at least a week to two before getting the order (I got them in 48 hours...:oops:)
so I decided to take my Jump Drive build apart and repaint the enclosure. In my OP I also mentioned that I used a "hammered finish" paint that doesn't like to dry for some reason. It stays soft, a bit tacky and easy to scuff. So I decided to sand it all back off down to bare metal and start over while waiting for the diodes.

I painted this enclosure over 3 weeks ago, when I went to sand off the finish it was STILL soft and gooey. So it still hadn't completely cured.
I guess I'm not using that color paint anymore. I put a new coat of primer and used probably my favorite of the new batch of colors I got.
It's called "Burnished Amber". I love the color but more than that, I love that it dries completely in a couple of hours and leaves no fingerprints and seems pretty durable.

Here's the re-painted enclosure:

IMG_3824.JPG

Ok, so for the Ge diode testing it was pretty much the same protocol as with the Tellurian. I started out with the ITT Red Band Ge Diodes. Actually the same set that I first tested in my Tellurian. They measured in the mid 300's in my tester. They sounded great! They sounded better than the Russian G223's I had initially tried in the pedal before swapping them out for first BA282's then settling on BAT41's.

I know I've been raving a bit about these ITT diodes but they really do sound better (to me) than any of the NOS Russian variety I've been using up to this point.

BUT.....like the Tellurian, they did not stay in the pedal. I tested a few other diodes and once again it was the Phillips/Mullard OA9's that sounded the best. Just something about these Mullard diodes, the OA9 and the CV7364's that sound sooooo good. I mentioned this in my Tellurian build but there's like a flute-like hollowness to them that I've never heard in a clipping diode before. Kinda like the difference between a Humbucker and a P90. Just a super cool sound. It's a little scary how much I'm liking these diodes. I looked around and they don't seem to be very commonly available. Smallbear is the only place I've seen them so far. And at $1.45/ea it's a steal. I've paid that much for crappy 1n34A's from a certain diode vender who shall remain un-named...(hack hack hack).

Anyway, I'm really enjoying this pedal a lot more now, still dialing some sounds and trying some different guitars. Right now I'm playing my PRS Vela through it and the big fat single coil has a beautiful vocal quality with the gain pushed around to 2 o-clock.
After a couple weeks, some fresh ears, and coming to it and treating it as a very nice overdrive pedal, which it is! makes all the difference:)

If you'd have asked me a couple weeks ago if I thought that the brand of the Ge diodes would that much difference I would have emphatically said "no, it's all about the forward voltage.....". Well, I'm wrong. Which kinda opens up a whole can of worms for me now...trying not to fall down the "mojo Ge diode rabbit hole".....hahahaha.

Edit: The new diodes, I need to figure out a better way to place them.....

IMG_3825.JPG
 
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I hate to suggest it, because I know how meticulous you are, but maybe the paint needs to be mixed for longer? I've had issues before with paint needing to be mixed extremely thoroughly otherwise it won't cure. I suspect I had an older can of paint...
 
I hate to suggest it, because I know how meticulous you are, but maybe the paint needs to be mixed for longer? I've had issues before with paint needing to be mixed extremely thoroughly otherwise it won't cure. I suspect I had an older can of paint...
This is an old post from last year but I agree with what you say.
I always turn the can upside down & shake the crap out of it & always do a test run on some scrap metal or tin to make sure its well mixed.
I always clean the Nozzle with thinners before each spray job!
 
This is an old post from last year but I agree with what you say.
I always turn the can upside down & shake the crap out of it & always do a test run on some scrap metal or tin to make sure its well mixed.
I always clean the Nozzle with thinners before each spray job!
I'll send you guys the can of paint in question.....it simply won't cure. Maybe I got a dud can? heh
 
As for rattle can hammertone style paint, I've been having a ton of success with Rust-Oleum. I didn't wait for the layers to dry either. Primed, let that dry, then added first light later of Rust-Oleum, about 1min later another light later. After the 2nd layer, I could watch the paint forming, which was really cool. They only had a few bland colors at the hardware store, but the copper one I bought looks awesome! bdc36f6a-e7eb-4617-a388-361bf754303b.jpeg
 
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