Fingolfen
Well-known member
- Build Rating
Guess who has some time off for the holiday???? 
Here's one I've been working on for a while but finally got done (with major help from Steggi in her holiday finest) - the PedalPCB Duo-Phase.
The first part of this build was straightforward, if involved, as I was just populating the PCB. The Duo-Phase has two copies of the same circuit on the board - with few extra components in the middle. The biggest challenge is the sheer volume of components - nearly 100 resistors, almost 40 capacitors, and 15 integrated circuits! Although this is a vintage pedal, I stuck with newer components, so the resistors are all 1% metal film 1/4W (mostly Yageo), the film capacitors are a mix of Kemet and Panasonic, and the ICs are all new production TL072IP and TC1044SCPA - all of which are socketed. The biggest challenge comes in building the six stage optical phasor circuits. Unlike my previous multi-stage optical phasor build (the AionFX Quadratron clone of the Lovetone Doppelganger) which has four separate depth/rate LEDs, each side of the Bi-Phase has six stages coming off of one depth/rate LED. That means you have to carefully position six LDRs (light dependent resistors) around each LED. It also means you pretty much have to test the pedal while it is enclosed or in a very dark room!
Once the PCB was populated, I decided to modify my build process a bit for the jacks as this pedal has an option that I'd never used before. My previous combo pedal build (a Lovetone Cheese Source clone) uses a single set of input / output jacks because I decided to incorporate an order reverser. One version of this pedal just uses a single input and single output jack, but there is the option to have the pedal split. In other words, both "sides" have their own input and output jacks. It did, however, require my sourcing the correct switched input jack so I could use the pedal in single in / single out configuration without having to run a patch cable from one side to another. Since this was my first time using that particular 1/4" jack, I went ahead and built up the jacks, tested them, and then attached their ground wires to the PCB. The upshot of this order of operations is I'm able to shorten the ground connections from the jacks to the board, so I may start doing this on any pedal where I'm actually grounding the jacks to the board (as opposed to a star ground on the input).
I ran the input / output wires to the ends of the enclosure. Some modulation pedals tend to pick up noise from op-amps or the modulation circuitry, and I wanted to make sure the signal coming out of the unit was as clean as possible. Because I'd pre-wired the jacks, I was able to minimize the lengths of the wires while still being able to wrap all of the connections in heat shrink tubing. The end result being perhaps one of my cleanest wiring jobs ever.
For the enclosure, I decided to draw inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci - so instead of Steampunk, I sort of have "Da Vinci-punk." The text all uses a font that emulates da Vinci's handwriting. One side mirrors the other, and I decided to throw in that detail because da Vinci himself actually always wrote backwards.
The trimmer pots on the PCB are there to help you adjust the brightness at full on and dimness at full off on the LEDs. It didn't take much tweaking to get them dialed in, and once I had the enclosure suitably dark the sound of the pedal is absolutely amazing. The only drawback I see is the pedal is a bit large, but I'm sure it will see use on my board as the dual in/out jacks provide a lot of flexibility.
My build rating on this is an enthusiastic five stars. The only curveball in assembly was I used 470nF film capacitors which needed a little more space, but as they were all among resistors, it was trivial to raise them to a point to easily fit in the enclosure. Everything is nicely lined up which makes soldering all of the components easier, and the SOUND of the completed unit is nothing short of amazing.
A bit more at the blog (mostly preamble): https://steggostudios.blogspot.com/2022/12/not-just-phase-mu-tron-bi-phase-clone.html
Edit - Update - I did end up moving to move the B side wires to the middle of the enclosure as I did have a slight LFO tick that wasn't noticeable until I cranked up a compressor pedal downstream of it. Fortunately it served as a good diagnostic tool and now there's absolutely zero tick!
Here's one I've been working on for a while but finally got done (with major help from Steggi in her holiday finest) - the PedalPCB Duo-Phase.
The first part of this build was straightforward, if involved, as I was just populating the PCB. The Duo-Phase has two copies of the same circuit on the board - with few extra components in the middle. The biggest challenge is the sheer volume of components - nearly 100 resistors, almost 40 capacitors, and 15 integrated circuits! Although this is a vintage pedal, I stuck with newer components, so the resistors are all 1% metal film 1/4W (mostly Yageo), the film capacitors are a mix of Kemet and Panasonic, and the ICs are all new production TL072IP and TC1044SCPA - all of which are socketed. The biggest challenge comes in building the six stage optical phasor circuits. Unlike my previous multi-stage optical phasor build (the AionFX Quadratron clone of the Lovetone Doppelganger) which has four separate depth/rate LEDs, each side of the Bi-Phase has six stages coming off of one depth/rate LED. That means you have to carefully position six LDRs (light dependent resistors) around each LED. It also means you pretty much have to test the pedal while it is enclosed or in a very dark room!
Once the PCB was populated, I decided to modify my build process a bit for the jacks as this pedal has an option that I'd never used before. My previous combo pedal build (a Lovetone Cheese Source clone) uses a single set of input / output jacks because I decided to incorporate an order reverser. One version of this pedal just uses a single input and single output jack, but there is the option to have the pedal split. In other words, both "sides" have their own input and output jacks. It did, however, require my sourcing the correct switched input jack so I could use the pedal in single in / single out configuration without having to run a patch cable from one side to another. Since this was my first time using that particular 1/4" jack, I went ahead and built up the jacks, tested them, and then attached their ground wires to the PCB. The upshot of this order of operations is I'm able to shorten the ground connections from the jacks to the board, so I may start doing this on any pedal where I'm actually grounding the jacks to the board (as opposed to a star ground on the input).
I ran the input / output wires to the ends of the enclosure. Some modulation pedals tend to pick up noise from op-amps or the modulation circuitry, and I wanted to make sure the signal coming out of the unit was as clean as possible. Because I'd pre-wired the jacks, I was able to minimize the lengths of the wires while still being able to wrap all of the connections in heat shrink tubing. The end result being perhaps one of my cleanest wiring jobs ever.
For the enclosure, I decided to draw inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci - so instead of Steampunk, I sort of have "Da Vinci-punk." The text all uses a font that emulates da Vinci's handwriting. One side mirrors the other, and I decided to throw in that detail because da Vinci himself actually always wrote backwards.
The trimmer pots on the PCB are there to help you adjust the brightness at full on and dimness at full off on the LEDs. It didn't take much tweaking to get them dialed in, and once I had the enclosure suitably dark the sound of the pedal is absolutely amazing. The only drawback I see is the pedal is a bit large, but I'm sure it will see use on my board as the dual in/out jacks provide a lot of flexibility.
My build rating on this is an enthusiastic five stars. The only curveball in assembly was I used 470nF film capacitors which needed a little more space, but as they were all among resistors, it was trivial to raise them to a point to easily fit in the enclosure. Everything is nicely lined up which makes soldering all of the components easier, and the SOUND of the completed unit is nothing short of amazing.
A bit more at the blog (mostly preamble): https://steggostudios.blogspot.com/2022/12/not-just-phase-mu-tron-bi-phase-clone.html
Edit - Update - I did end up moving to move the B side wires to the middle of the enclosure as I did have a slight LFO tick that wasn't noticeable until I cranked up a compressor pedal downstream of it. Fortunately it served as a good diagnostic tool and now there's absolutely zero tick!
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