[PedalPCB] Son of Chimera Benson Preamp

[szukalski]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

I bit the bullet and went the Tayda UV route. Still a learning curve to scale, text is too close to knobs, border is too close to the edge, etc. but I am happy with the results thus far.

Tuning the pedal took a while, bias was right but I just no growl out of it. Turns out to be the J201s which I got from GuitarPCB a while back. Just haven't had any of them work well in any of my builds. Swapped them out for another supplier and things are heard as expected.

Lovely pedal, I can see why it's popular!

Finally moving beyond the mediocre, thanks to the usual suspects.. now I need to think about a photo booth.

 

[MichaelW]

Those knobs look awesome! Ugh I have some J201's from GuitarPCB. I thought they were supposed to be legit compared to "that other "hacker" source". Sigh....I might just buy some SMD one's from PPCB since they're back in stock on the site.

edit: Sigh one last hurrah for the PedalPCB 20% coupon code....I've lost track of how many times I've hit that since @PedalPCB put it up Ordered some SMD J201's and teeny SOT adapter boards. Yeehaw, SMD soldering here I come!

 

[szukalski]

They could well be legit, but I have never had any luck with getting gain out of them.

I have a bunch of SMDs but I need to change the iron tip, I use the big chisel edge one and it's challenging with the fiddly stuff.

 

[ADAOCE]

Nice build! I’ve used the j201s from guitarpcb and they were fine but it’s totally reasonable to get some duds.

 

[spi]

I measured some j201s and 2n5457s I recently ordered from GuitarPCBs. For me, the j201s appear to be in spec, but the 2n5457s are pretty out of spec.

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

Womp womp, I found my way into both bogus 5457 and j201 last year. Bought a bunch of adapters and smd versions and have had no duds. I know my j201 are mouser, can't rememberwhere the others came from. The presoldered 5457 from aion were also all fine when I went that route.

 

[szukalski]

Yeah, my experience with SMDs has been good so far no matter where I've sourced them.

Fake ICs are taking off right now..

 

[fig]

Those knobs look awesome! Ugh I have some J201's from GuitarPCB. I thought they were supposed to be legit compared to "that other "hacker" source". Sigh....I might just buy some SMD one's from PPCB since they're back in stock on the site.

edit: Sigh one last hurrah for the PedalPCB 20% coupon code....I've lost track of how many times I've hit that since @PedalPCB put it up Ordered some SMD J201's and teeny SOT adapter boards. Yeehaw, SMD soldering here I come!

From what I have been able to determine, they are both selling ”legit” J201s that are out-of-spec. I noticed this to be true right after both restocked around the same time, possibly from the same supplier? I do have a few dozen “good ones”, but it’s a gamble to source anymore. Aside from the added cost of pin headers and adapter-boards, surface mount is the way to go.

 

[fig]

Here I am driveling on about transistors in a build report….what a jerk right? Apologies @szukalski !

I think it looks fantastic sir!

 

[szukalski]

I would argue that components are infinitely more important than the builds they help create!

Look at the leads on that PNP!

 

[Big Monk]

@szukalski Are those mini oxblood pointers?

 

[Robert]

It does look like it, who was looking for those recently?

 

[szukalski]

It does look like it, who was looking for those recently?

I think it was @Bricksnbeatles , it was that exchange which prompted me to look at them.

Are those mini oxblood pointers?

Yup, I am a sucker for red wine and it suited the theme.

He has graphics

Credit where credit is due, you're one of the ones prompting the raising of the bar..

 

[Big Monk]

Yup, I am a sucker for red wine and it suited the theme.

Where did you find those?

 

[szukalski]

Where did you find those?

Tayda. They're a tight fit, but get on eventually.

 

[szukalski]

wiring is better, soldering cleaner, caps straighter, graphics...we might have a real builder here now.

Getting there I hope. Now I am slowing down and taking my time to plan out builds instead of going for volume to learn.

 

[Paradox916]

Clean build man, graphics are hard to nail, I’m still struggling with that one too.

 

[szukalski]

 

[szukalski]

Clean build man, graphics are hard to nail, I’m still struggling with that one too.

I have a template I have been using in Inkscape before doing the export to PDF in Affinity Designer.

Images are stock vectors I get from various places.

The main challenges are ensuring that everything is vectorised, and that any background overlap is removed. Oh, and the design itself..

 

[Paradox916]

There is definitely a steep learning curve to vector programs, I started with Inkscape but with help from an elusive group of cohorts I moved to affinity and finally starting to get the hang of it but still have a long way to go.