"Moist Boy", my Low Tide Modulator (Fairfield Circuitry Shallow Water)

[tablebeast]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

Build #2 of 12ish. Moist Boy is a Shallow Water clone. This build was complicated for sure and wiring in the SMD 2SK208 transistor at the input was a first for me, but it went smoothly. Pedal sized PCBs are already way tinier than the tube amps I'm used to working on, but the surface mount stuff is ALL for the birds. Next time I'll source a through hole part, no matter what!

All the through-hole stuff was well spaced and labeled. I worked slow and it looks like it went together like its supposed to. Much like the Super Het I posted yesterday, I don't detect anything obviously wrong with its operation, but its a weirdo, so making sure that whats coming out is exactly right will take a little while to get used to. So far, so good. Now to dial in the trim pots. I preset them right in the middle of their travel to start.

My only critique on this one is the missing schematic on the documentation. I'm hoping it gets posted soon because this thing seems ripe for mods...

Thanks to Robert for making this available. I love pretty much everything that Fairfield Circuitry makes, and particularly, the 20% More Slew Limiting Distortion would be a killer add to pedalPCB's arsenal! In my humble opinion.

 

[genXslacker]

I'm really digging the art on the switch side. Puts me in the mind of Georges Seurat.

The "Moist Boy" moniker makes me wonder if you've been combing through the Epstein Files to find pedal names.

 

[Robert]

https://docs.pedalpcb.com/project/LowTide-Schematic-PedalPCB.pdf

 

[tablebeast]

I'm really digging the art on the switch side. Puts me in the mind of Georges Seurat.

The "Moist Boy" moniker makes me wonder if you've been combing through the Epstein Files to find pedal names.

I can see that with the little colored dots. It has more to do with these little acrylic paint markers I’m using than anything else. Never in my life did I think my stuff would be compared to Seurat! I’m humbled by that. Truly. I’m just futzing around here.

During a literature class from my youth we had a lesson on the beauty of certain phrases. While “Cellar Door” is agreed by many to be the most beautiful English two word phrase (I think?), my class agreed that “Moist Boy” was the grossest two word phrase we could think up. With the other moisture related names, Low Tide and Shallow Water, I just wanted the grossest “wet themed” name.

 

[tablebeast]

https://docs.pedalpcb.com/project/LowTide-Schematic-PedalPCB.pdf

Sweeeeeeet!

 

[genXslacker]

I just wanted the grossest “wet themed” name.

I can relate. Some of my pedal names are "Old Cabbage," "Navel Stench," "Flatus," and "Syphilitic Vagina".

 

[tablebeast]

I can relate. Some of my pedal names are "Old Cabbage," "Navel Stench," "Flatus," and "Syphilitic Vagina".

I hope you’re serious. Those are awesome names. No one is stealing any of those pedals and getting away with it!

 

[Nostradoomus]

unless they’re playing GISM covers with them, then they might

 

[genXslacker]

I hope you’re serious. Those are awesome names. No one is stealing any of those pedals and getting away with it!

Some of them are in my build reports.

 

[tablebeast]

Some of them are in my build reports.

Right off the bat, I noticed on your Flatus build that you didn't connect the ground on the board to your output jack. Were you getting a ground loop? Is that connection only meant for isolated jacks that don't ground to the case?

 

[tablebeast]

unless they’re playing GISM covers with them, then they might

Folks will still know where they came from is my point! With "Moist Boy" just wanted something unique that no one else had used, and that could summon a funky drawing in my head. Plus when people see it in my studio I want them to be like, "what the eff is THAT?"

 

[andare]

I can relate. Some of my pedal names are "Old Cabbage," "Navel Stench," "Flatus," and "Syphilitic Vagina".

Done a Swampass Filter yet?

 

[andare]

I would totally buy a pedal called Moist Boy.
I'd buy a cake called Moist Boy too.

 

[tablebeast]

Done a Swampass Filter yet?

Is that a real thing? "Swampass" might be a good name for the Referee EQ I'm building.

I would totally buy a pedal called Moist Boy.
I'd buy a cake called Moist Boy too.

I figured some people would REALLY like it, but most people would just be like "eww, is that thing wet?"

 

[genXslacker]

Right off the bat, I noticed on your Flatus build that you didn't connect the ground on the board to your output jack. Were you getting a ground loop? Is that connection only meant for isolated jacks that don't ground to the case?

Aluminum enclosures are plenty conductive enough that the output jack grounds through attachment to the enclosure, so long as there's no insulator, e.g., paint or powder coat, to break the connection. Just tighten their hex nuts down nice and snug, and there are no issues. Also, I frequently use Stompbox Parts jacks, which have little spikey probes on them that poke through any paint or powder coat to get a solid electrical connection into the enclosure's aluminum. If you look around, you'll see that I'm far from the only person who considers wiring the output jack to ground optional.

I'm not an EE, I'm a dipshit with a soldering iron, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. But I have learned from studying the comments of actually knowledgeable folks, like @Chuck D. Bones, that the concerns I used to have about ground loops in pedals were misplaced. My understanding is that any ground loops within a pedal are likely to be too small to cause I problem. I stopped worrying about them many pedals ago, and sure enough, I've had no problems.

 

[genXslacker]

Done a Swampass Filter yet?

I haven't, but that's just my style, and I may add that to my very long list of names-in-waiting.

 

[Nostradoomus]

you should listen to moistboyz when you build it

 

[genXslacker]

you should listen to moistboyz when you build it

I didn't know they existed, but on the strength of the title, I checked out "I Don't Give a Fuck Where the Eagle Flies," and it's definitely listenable music. GISM, on the other hand, is not for me.

 

[Nostradoomus]

I didn't know they existed, but on the strength of the title, I checked out "I Don't Give a Fuck Where the Eagle Flies," and it's definitely listenable music. GISM, on the other hand, is not for me.

I don’t think GISM is for anyone

 

[genXslacker]

I don’t think GISM is for anyone

Middle-school edgelords, maybe.