DEMO Pendulum build, my first pedalpcb build, thanks Fig!

This post contains an audio or video demo

swyse

Well-known member
Build Rating
5.00 star(s)
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. 1668113517695.png

1668113528202.png
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.

1668113664063.png
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.
1668113755226.png
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.
1668113859184.png
1668113879603.png
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.
1668113970927.png
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.
1668114123337.png
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.
1668114340540.png
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!
 
What a build report dude! Love reading the experience made me feel like i was there with you building it! Love the addage of the demo right off the bat shows you really took your time and wanted it to be special which in my opinion paid off cause damn this is pretty awesome. Your pedal is amazing not only in function but the build itself love how cleanly you put it together! I especially like the way you have the LDRs oriented! Great build dude would love to see more from you!
 
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Sounds and looks awesome! I've never seen LDR's arranged that way but it makes absolute sense given that's where the intensity is brightest!

Also TOTALLY dig the Link Wray licks! Love it.

Hmm, the only issue I have with mine is the volume, it's a loud sucker. I wonder if your Audio Taper pot mod would help that?
 
You're very welcome. Thanks for sharing this and for the build tips!

It looks and sounds great! :love:

I especially like the [F]requency [I ]ntensity [G]ain labels....catchy!
Thanks! I was inspired by something...
What a build report dude! Love reading the experience made me feel like i was there with you building it! Love the addage of the demo right off the bat shows you really took your time and wanted it to be special which in my opinion paid off cause damn this is pretty awesome. Your pedal is amazing not only in function but the build itself love how cleanly you put it together! I especially like the way you have the LDRs oriented! Great build dude would love to see more from you!
I totally know what you mean, I get that feeling when I see a big build report, it's nice to live vicariously through other's builds that I wouldn't personally do haha. Thanks for the kind words, hopefully I can post more in depth build reports in the future!
Sounds and looks awesome! I've never seen LDR's arranged that way but it makes absolute sense given that's where the intensity is brightest!

Also TOTALLY dig the Link Wray licks! Love it.

Hmm, the only issue I have with mine is the volume, it's a loud sucker. I wonder if your Audio Taper pot mod would help that?
I don't know if it was my idea or not for the LDRs! I have always done them this way though and it seems to work out great. That Link Wray riff is an all time great! I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking I've gotta learn it. With log taper on mine, unity is still about 9 o'clock, you could use it as a boost if you drop the depth/intensity knob to 0 haha. The volume pot is in the negative feedback loop so if yours is like mine you could reduce the pot to b50k or a50k and that would probably make it feel less loud!
 
Thanks! I was inspired by something...

I totally know what you mean, I get that feeling when I see a big build report, it's nice to live vicariously through other's builds that I wouldn't personally do haha. Thanks for the kind words, hopefully I can post more in depth build reports in the future!

I don't know if it was my idea or not for the LDRs! I have always done them this way though and it seems to work out great. That Link Wray riff is an all time great! I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking I've gotta learn it. With log taper on mine, unity is still about 9 o'clock, you could use it as a boost if you drop the depth/intensity knob to 0 haha. The volume pot is in the negative feedback loop so if yours is like mine you could reduce the pot to b50k or a50k and that would probably make it feel less loud!
I haven't messed with my Pendulum in a while except for adjusting the LDR distances as an experiment. I gotta dig it out again and play it some more and see if I'm remembering the gain levels correctly. I've been toying with the idea of building the double. (Because @fig said so....:)) The Pendulum was my first non-overdrive build ever.

Man, "Rumble" is just beyond cool, the "real" birth of rock n roll imo....
I love how Jimmy Page spins it and plays air guitar to it in the movie "It Might Get Loud".

 
I haven't messed with my Pendulum in a while except for adjusting the LDR distances as an experiment. I gotta dig it out again and play it some more and see if I'm remembering the gain levels correctly. I've been toying with the idea of building the double. (Because @fig said so....:)) The Pendulum was my first non-overdrive build ever.

Man, "Rumble" is just beyond cool, the "real" birth of rock n roll imo....
I love how Jimmy Page spins it and plays air guitar to it in the movie "It Might Get Loud".

The double sounds like a whole lotta fun! What LDR did you go for? Mines the KE-10720. I’ve thought about this circuit a bit and I think it would be possible to do some really cool mods to it. I think you could do a foot switch to switch between two speeds and depths like a univibe and I bet you could make a switch to go between harmonic tremolo and normal tremolo.


I think I actually might have heard rumble for the first time in that movie, I should give it another watch some time, it’s a classic!
 
The double sounds like a whole lotta fun! What LDR did you go for? Mines the KE-10720. I’ve thought about this circuit a bit and I think it would be possible to do some really cool mods to it. I think you could do a foot switch to switch between two speeds and depths like a univibe and I bet you could make a switch to go between harmonic tremolo and normal tremolo.


I think I actually might have heard rumble for the first time in that movie, I should give it another watch some time, it’s a classic!
I'm pretty sure I used GL5516's or whatever the BOM called for. I'd have to go check my notes, but as I recall I didn't stray from the BOM.
 
I haven't messed with my Pendulum in a while except for adjusting the LDR distances as an experiment. I gotta dig it out again and play it some more and see if I'm remembering the gain levels correctly. I've been toying with the idea of building the double. (Because @fig said so....:)) The Pendulum was my first non-overdrive build ever.

Man, "Rumble" is just beyond cool, the "real" birth of rock n roll imo....
I love how Jimmy Page spins it and plays air guitar to it in the movie "It Might Get Loud".

I love how menacing it is while still being all major chords (IIRC).


Also, proof that everyone needs a Tremolo!
 
This is pretty funny, just as we're talking about an ancient obscure (to most younger folks) old proto-rock tune, I get this in my email......

 
This is pretty funny, just as we're talking about an ancient obscure (to most younger folks) old proto-rock tune, I get this in my email......

What a coincidence, it's funny how that happens. This is an interesting ad because it doesn't really focus on the product, it's more about the music, but still made me want one haha.
 
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. View attachment 35715

View attachment 35716
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.

View attachment 35717
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.
View attachment 35718
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.
View attachment 35719
View attachment 35720
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.
View attachment 35721
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.
View attachment 35722
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.
View attachment 35724
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!
now that's a build report! awesome man! I have a board for this one somewhere in my very organized workbench for months, I'll take some time to finish it, sounds great!
 
now that's a build report! awesome man! I have a board for this one somewhere in my very organized workbench for months, I'll take some time to finish it, sounds great!
Thanks man! I think this one is definitely worth building if you happen to find it on your very organized workbench haha. I just spent a whole day basically cleaning and organizing my workspace and it was definitely worth it.
 
So that's Rhonda Smith on bass, but who was on drums... Anika Nilles? Hadn't heard of Nilles before this vid.

Sorry for the derail.


Clean bench, you say Swyse? What's a clean bench?
A clean bench is just a fleeting dream, I built another pedal and now it's just a mess again haha.
 
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