gtfields13
Active member
- Build Rating
Just about a month ago, @MichaelW was kind enough to send me one of his extra SheepyLove GS808, laid out by @szukalski.
When I got back from vacation, I looked over the board and put it an order for the components that I didn't have on hand (a 51pF capacitor and W-taper potentiometer - never knew those existed before this PCB)
Having cleared my active builds this week - even though I have to troubleshoot my Keeley Compressor (AionFX Aurora Deluxe), I decided that I was going to crank out this pedal today once I had finished my Saturday errands. I had a case ready for my Terrier Review v2 which has the same 3-hole pattern and available as a temporary home until I come up with something worthy. Sheep dog maybe. Screaming sheep dog...
This is the first time I've "speed run" a build from start to fully finished in one go (with breaks to eat dinner and make chicken soup (in that order)). Everything worked out perfectly! I only made one cosmetic mistake during soldering that I turned into a lifted pad, but fortunately not on the side of the board with the component's trace. All in all, I am kinda proud of the progress that my assembly skills have made.
After I finished the connector harnesses, I hooked it up, gave it some quick noodling, and then took it back to the workbench to finish and close it up. I want to add that I really appreciate the layout dimension and connect choices that @szukalski made. As you can see the connectors fit perfectly, but just barely, and I was able to use a JST XH to connect the power to the board so I could use the narrow innie-style power jack but can still remove it from the case when I want to relocate this to its permanent home. This is also my first build using the 2nd revision of my breakout board for the Neutrik NMJ-style audio jacks (with the chrome-nose style that I like), and it looks like these fit better than the first version.
But how does it sound? I figured I should play with it a bit before posting a report. I have never had or tried a Tube Screamer, so my point of comparisons are the Big Muffin, Rat, Fuzz Face, and Guv'nor, that I have built this year. After I was done, I took it for a spin for maybe 30 minutes.
I am not convinced that I like the bare GS808 sound better than a Muff (for heavy fuzz) or the Rat (for treble), and its definitely a totally different sound than the Fuzz Face. I think it does a decent job of keeping the pickup-selection (3-Lace pickup strat) colors coming through, and the tone selection adds more color. Like the Muff, though, I found I liked it a bit more when I put it after my Klon-clone. Makes me think that I need to have a couple more related drive or overdrives to work with. I didn't try to pair it with my new Hawk booster, but I also think the Hawk is generally intended to live at the end of the effect chain.
The last thing I tried, which I really liked, was running the signal from the Klon to the GS808 and then to my new phaser. I feel like the phaser gives the distortion some life, or maybe (other way around) having the broader sound of distortion heading into the phaser makes the phasing really jump out.
At the end of the day, I look forward to getting to my TS-derived PCB completed to compare with this. I also appreciate the communal spirit here, where @MichaelW was open to shipping a PCB to a complete stranger. I hope that I am starting to give back some, as well.
When I got back from vacation, I looked over the board and put it an order for the components that I didn't have on hand (a 51pF capacitor and W-taper potentiometer - never knew those existed before this PCB)
Having cleared my active builds this week - even though I have to troubleshoot my Keeley Compressor (AionFX Aurora Deluxe), I decided that I was going to crank out this pedal today once I had finished my Saturday errands. I had a case ready for my Terrier Review v2 which has the same 3-hole pattern and available as a temporary home until I come up with something worthy. Sheep dog maybe. Screaming sheep dog...
This is the first time I've "speed run" a build from start to fully finished in one go (with breaks to eat dinner and make chicken soup (in that order)). Everything worked out perfectly! I only made one cosmetic mistake during soldering that I turned into a lifted pad, but fortunately not on the side of the board with the component's trace. All in all, I am kinda proud of the progress that my assembly skills have made.
After I finished the connector harnesses, I hooked it up, gave it some quick noodling, and then took it back to the workbench to finish and close it up. I want to add that I really appreciate the layout dimension and connect choices that @szukalski made. As you can see the connectors fit perfectly, but just barely, and I was able to use a JST XH to connect the power to the board so I could use the narrow innie-style power jack but can still remove it from the case when I want to relocate this to its permanent home. This is also my first build using the 2nd revision of my breakout board for the Neutrik NMJ-style audio jacks (with the chrome-nose style that I like), and it looks like these fit better than the first version.
But how does it sound? I figured I should play with it a bit before posting a report. I have never had or tried a Tube Screamer, so my point of comparisons are the Big Muffin, Rat, Fuzz Face, and Guv'nor, that I have built this year. After I was done, I took it for a spin for maybe 30 minutes.
I am not convinced that I like the bare GS808 sound better than a Muff (for heavy fuzz) or the Rat (for treble), and its definitely a totally different sound than the Fuzz Face. I think it does a decent job of keeping the pickup-selection (3-Lace pickup strat) colors coming through, and the tone selection adds more color. Like the Muff, though, I found I liked it a bit more when I put it after my Klon-clone. Makes me think that I need to have a couple more related drive or overdrives to work with. I didn't try to pair it with my new Hawk booster, but I also think the Hawk is generally intended to live at the end of the effect chain.
The last thing I tried, which I really liked, was running the signal from the Klon to the GS808 and then to my new phaser. I feel like the phaser gives the distortion some life, or maybe (other way around) having the broader sound of distortion heading into the phaser makes the phasing really jump out.
At the end of the day, I look forward to getting to my TS-derived PCB completed to compare with this. I also appreciate the communal spirit here, where @MichaelW was open to shipping a PCB to a complete stranger. I hope that I am starting to give back some, as well.
what does the second opamp do, is half of each opamp used asa buffer?