PCB Sources and Success Rate?

Fingolfen said:
Which ones did you try? I saw the new Helicopter party board doesn't work if you include the rate LED... which seems like a major goof...
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Only one I was able to get to work on my end was a Fuzztone '69 board. Tried to put together the Revvolution boards (three clones of Revv pedals). Was only able to get one to work...even then I wasn't confident it was even working right. Major problems with that set. Got a Black Mirror VII that I can't get to work right. Just wild that so many of the ones that have failed are all PCBGM boards.
 
anyone have luck with the pcbguitarmania tremolo factory? It's conveniently the only board of theirs that I'm interested in that isn't available as a better board elsewhere (now that the Madbean stage fright and polytrog are back, I don't need to be tempted by PCBGM's flawed pcbs of this circuits), and I really really really don't feel like coming up with my own layout to etch for a seek trem or two.
 
Robert said:
There is at least one issue with that Tight Metal schematic.


Don't do it. Give me a couple weeks. :ROFLMAO:
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Would you share what that issue is? Ordered 2 boards back when I built it. I still have the other. I’ve got pretty comfortable with reading schematics just fine, but I’m still a beginner when it comes to the theory of why it all works.
 
Bricksnbeatles said:
anyone have luck with the pcbguitarmania tremolo factory? It's conveniently the only board of theirs that I'm interested in that isn't available as a better board elsewhere (now that the Madbean stage fright and polytrog are back, I don't need to be tempted by PCBGM's flawed pcbs of this circuits), and I really really really don't feel like coming up with my own layout to etch for a seek trem or two.
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I'm currently trying to build a Tremolo factory. It's been erm.. challenging. First the kit I got (Musikding) was missing a capacitor because I guess the circuit changed and Musikding wasn't updated I guess. I contacted Musikding and they were very cool about sending me the missing part.

A bigger issue though is that it simply does not fit in the enclosure! I chose the pre drilled option from Musikding as there are a lot of percisely placed holes required for this one, which requires more accuracy than I'm confident I can create with a hand drill.. And I'm pretty sure Musikding followed the drilling diagram closely. But once the pots and switches are mounted on the board it's then too high off the enclosure and too close to the edge to allow the audio and power jack sockets to be installed!

I did get it built anyway (hey I'm stubborn.. ) and it does work (with the power jack socket sticking half way out thanks to an extra nut working as a spacer.. ) but the audio jacks simply won't fit, I'll have to move them down to the sides beside the foot switches.. but those are spread out just enough to prevent them fitting there too.. so I'd have to drill 4 new holes and move the switches much closer together to allow the jacks to fit.

It does actually work now.. but the sequence leds work backwards to what you'd expect - right to left. I can live with that but one more issue is that the status LED never switches off.. I'm using the 'EZ 3pdt' board that came with the kit and the led connection seems to be connected correctly. I've used one of those switch boards before on another PCB Mania - a Hot Waffle, which was straightforward and works great.

One thing that I'm a little worried about is that my board is listed as v1.1 and I can only find build docs on the site for V1.0 and V1.2.. I hope mine wasn't an experiment that didn't quite work!

So, for me I've built 2, one (the Hot Waffle) works great but that was pretty simple circuit, the Tremolo Factory almost works but doesn't fit in it's enclosure!
 
Horganovski said:
I'm currently trying to build a Tremolo factory. It's been erm.. challenging. First the kit I got (Musikding) was missing a capacitor because I guess the circuit changed and Musikding wasn't updated I guess. I contacted Musikding and they were very cool about sending me the missing part.

A bigger issue though is that it simply does not fit in the enclosure! I chose the pre drilled option from Musikding as there are a lot of percisely placed holes required for this one, which requires more accuracy than I'm confident I can create with a hand drill.. And I'm pretty sure Musikding followed the drilling diagram closely. But once the pots and switches are mounted on the board it's then too high off the enclosure and too close to the edge to allow the audio and power jack sockets to be installed!

I did get it built anyway (hey I'm stubborn.. ) and it does work (with the power jack socket sticking half way out thanks to an extra nut working as a spacer.. ) but the audio jacks simply won't fit, I'll have to move them down to the sides beside the foot switches.. but those are spread out just enough to prevent them fitting there too.. so I'd have to drill 4 new holes and move the switches much closer together to allow the jacks to fit.

It does actually work now.. but the sequence leds work backwards to what you'd expect - right to left. I can live with that but one more issue is that the status LED never switches off.. I'm using the 'EZ 3pdt' board that came with the kit and the led connection seems to be connected correctly. I've used one of those switch boards before on another PCB Mania - a Hot Waffle, which was straightforward and works great.

One thing that I'm a little worried about is that my board is listed as v1.1 and I can only find build docs on the site for V1.0 and V1.2.. I hope mine wasn't an experiment that didn't quite work!

So, for me I've built 2, one (the Hot Waffle) works great but that was pretty simple circuit, the Tremolo Factory almost works but doesn't fit in it's enclosure!
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Thanks for the info! Thankfully @PedalPCB pretty promptly made started on the synchrotrem and synchrowah after I suggested them, and they have been successfully built by multiple people, so if you can’t get the tremolo factory working for you, there’s a better PCB here that you can give it a try with!
 
Thanks! Good to know there alternatives. I'm close enough with the Tremolo Factory to have something working, just trying to figure out how to hack the switch so that it turns the LED off.. the best I've manged so far is to have it reversed - ie the LED is on when the effect is bypassed and vice versa!
 
Bricksnbeatles said:
Thanks for the info! Thankfully @PedalPCB pretty promptly made started on the synchrotrem and synchrowah after I suggested them, and they have been successfully built by multiple people, so if you can’t get the tremolo factory working for you, there’s a better PCB here that you can give it a try with!
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But the RINGTONE, where is the RINGTONE!?🥺
 
Here's what I ended up with for my Tremolo Factory.. it works but a little unconventional in that the audio cables are hard wired as I could not find a way to fit the audio jacks that wouldn't involve drilling several new holes and having the two foot switches really close together. Hey it works, but I'm not sure I'll purchase another kit from this builder.
 

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I wish I would have searched the forum regarding this earlier. Mania is exactly how to describe my behavior during PCB Guitar Mania's black Friday sale, as I bought a few of their boards and (from what I'm learning here) now fear now that I may have wasted my money. I do have hope for a couple I was excited about that people here on the forum have had success with (the Soldado and Sunn Beta Lead).

I have 3 successful builds now. A PedalPcb (VHS), Guitarpcb (3XChamp), and Fuzzdog (One Knob Fuzz). All were fun, straightforward builds and they all sound great, particularly the fuzz and the VHS. I'd recommend all 3 of these sources thus far, but I agree with what's been said above: If I can get it here at PedalPcb, I don't think i need to look anywhere else.

I do have a couple Effects Layouts builds I'm going to do and have some others on deck from all the aforementioned companies. Have some Moonn boards on the way...I guess mania is how I'd describe what this hobby has become for me 🤪
 
Lately I've only been buying PedalPCB. Mainly because this place has PCBs for what I want to build, and they're usually more accurate to the original than everyone else except maybe Aion. I like Aion but sometimes the boards are huge and I don't really need the break-out board. I've had great success with Fuzzdog but have been spoilt by PedalPCB's pedal choices and accuracy.
 
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