swyse
Well-known member
- Build Rating
I actually ended up on this site and signed up because I wanted to see a picture i found while on google images a while back. I ended up here again a few years after signing up from googling something and ending up on a post and after checking out some more posts I decided to start posting, but I had never actually done a pedalpcb project. I started with vero layouts from tagboard then from there started tweaking and learned how to design PCBs myself so I didn't really think much about buying PCBs from anyone. One day I was looking at the forum and I saw @fig had generously posted a gift code and I took a look at the projects, but I didn't really think there was anything I needed enough to justify using the code. I saw a post a bit later with someone saying the pendulum has an almost phaser sound and from the great phaser thread @MichaelW did I found out I really liked lower stage phaser sounds. I ended up checking out a demo and when Fig shared another code I thought it would be something I would actually use so I sprung and grabbed a PCB.
For the build I grabbed some things I normally wouldn't go for. I sprung for the more retro looking knobs and hammered finish enclosure, I just thought it should be a little extra special and a good excuse to try out some things. It took a bit to arrive due to being included with other enclosures in a bigger order. I actually love how the hammered finish is on these and will definitely consider using it again.
As for the actual building, I approached it the same way that I do with my own PCBs, which I learned from my vero days.
I start off with resistors and diodes, which I hope everyone here does as well, it makes things much easier. I also put everything in at once and solder one leg of each in, trim, adjust placement if necessary, and then solder the other leg in. I found that the board's pad size made it so there wasn't a lot of wiggle room so I didn't have to do much component adjusting.
I had a hard time deciding on 5mm vs 3mm LEDs, but ended up going with 3mm. because I didn't want the extra height on the LDR.
I do the caps in a few stages due to their height differences, I really liked on the board how all the resistors were packed together.
Here is how I did my LDRs, I bend them using needlenose pliers and they end up being about 11mm tall like the caps I used.
This is a little trick I picked up on instagram from a builder, I put the pots in and then squeeze the pins just a little so it can't fall out. You can barely see the angle on the outer pins. I always solder my pots in place in the enclosure. I know people say to rock it before you box it, but I haven't had enough issues to feel like that's justified for me so I just solder it inside the enclosure to limit stress on the joints.
Here are the guts, I use pre stripped wires from LMS and a seller on Ebay (LMS is better) and this does make it sometimes a bit awkward because the wires will be longer than needed, as seen on the jack grounds and power jack. Also my toggle ended up being rotated, but this was to make the nut on the outside sit better so it was a sacrifice I was willing to make. My 3pdt boards I had made are too tight and more or less press fit, so I don't have to solder them for them to work, I still do for peace of mind though.
I went with a dress nut I had laying around that I never ended up using. I also went with just one LED, a 5mm press fit that I've talked about on here before. Using the anode pad from the flashing LED and the cathode pad from the bypass LED I was able to combine their functions. I thought the build docs labels of rate, depth, and volume weren't bad, but I went with Frequency, Intensity and Gain for mine. Other mods I did include using a 100k pot for the frequency control and a log taper for the gain control, I think the log gain control is a great addition and I think linear would have been touchy although I didn't try it and the 100k for frequency is probably unnecessary as the slower speeds weren't as useful as I expected, but I don't think the added range is a bad thing at all, I find it easy to dial in a speed I like. I tried my hand at hand painting for the very first time with this one, having no traditional art skills made this part difficult but I'm reasonably happy with the result!
Heres a quick demo to show the final product!
For the build I grabbed some things I normally wouldn't go for. I sprung for the more retro looking knobs and hammered finish enclosure, I just thought it should be a little extra special and a good excuse to try out some things. It took a bit to arrive due to being included with other enclosures in a bigger order. I actually love how the hammered finish is on these and will definitely consider using it again.
As for the actual building, I approached it the same way that I do with my own PCBs, which I learned from my vero days.
I start off with resistors and diodes, which I hope everyone here does as well, it makes things much easier. I also put everything in at once and solder one leg of each in, trim, adjust placement if necessary, and then solder the other leg in. I found that the board's pad size made it so there wasn't a lot of wiggle room so I didn't have to do much component adjusting.
I had a hard time deciding on 5mm vs 3mm LEDs, but ended up going with 3mm. because I didn't want the extra height on the LDR.
I do the caps in a few stages due to their height differences, I really liked on the board how all the resistors were packed together.
Here is how I did my LDRs, I bend them using needlenose pliers and they end up being about 11mm tall like the caps I used.
This is a little trick I picked up on instagram from a builder, I put the pots in and then squeeze the pins just a little so it can't fall out. You can barely see the angle on the outer pins. I always solder my pots in place in the enclosure. I know people say to rock it before you box it, but I haven't had enough issues to feel like that's justified for me so I just solder it inside the enclosure to limit stress on the joints.
Here are the guts, I use pre stripped wires from LMS and a seller on Ebay (LMS is better) and this does make it sometimes a bit awkward because the wires will be longer than needed, as seen on the jack grounds and power jack. Also my toggle ended up being rotated, but this was to make the nut on the outside sit better so it was a sacrifice I was willing to make. My 3pdt boards I had made are too tight and more or less press fit, so I don't have to solder them for them to work, I still do for peace of mind though.
I went with a dress nut I had laying around that I never ended up using. I also went with just one LED, a 5mm press fit that I've talked about on here before. Using the anode pad from the flashing LED and the cathode pad from the bypass LED I was able to combine their functions. I thought the build docs labels of rate, depth, and volume weren't bad, but I went with Frequency, Intensity and Gain for mine. Other mods I did include using a 100k pot for the frequency control and a log taper for the gain control, I think the log gain control is a great addition and I think linear would have been touchy although I didn't try it and the 100k for frequency is probably unnecessary as the slower speeds weren't as useful as I expected, but I don't think the added range is a bad thing at all, I find it easy to dial in a speed I like. I tried my hand at hand painting for the very first time with this one, having no traditional art skills made this part difficult but I'm reasonably happy with the result!
Heres a quick demo to show the final product!
) The Pendulum was my first non-overdrive build ever.
