TH Black Eye (Soldano GTO) prototype build

vigilante398 said:
A little while ago in the "Must Build" thread I mentioned my love for the Soldano GTO and was asked if there were any PCBs out there in the world for it. I don't usually work in through-hole, but I decided to take a swing at it. Usually I make a little daughter board for the tube sockets so they can mount at a right angle to the main PCB, but mounting the whole PCB vertically in the chassis like this makes it way easier to build. I'll try to get it boxed up later this month so I can see how it fits, but first I wanted to hear how it sounds. Tayda ran out of the 22nF high voltage caps I planned to use so there's one random yellow film cap, but other than that I'm pleased with the look.

Also I'm pleased that aside from the tube sockets and the ribbon cable, every single part on this board can be purchased cheap from Tayda.

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That looks tiiigght and fun!! I’d definitely try that out!
 
THeHammer82 said:
Any updates on the buffer board?
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Kind of. The manufacturer insisted something was wrong with my files and that it wasn't something on their end, so I'm going to have to eat the loss and order again. I'm planning to triple-check my files and reorder soon.

I did go back and play with the AMZ amplike buffer, which I have 100 of lying around, and it completely fixed the squeal in a misbehaving build I had, but it was a different layout than this Black Eye. I do have a misbehaving Black Eye that I want to try this buffer in to see if it helps. I'll try to get that checked out this weekend to see if it helps enough to be worth sending out to others to try.
 
Super quick update: the AMZ buffer I have sitting around did not help at all, but the order has been placed for more Cornish buffer boards (making absolute certain to use the file from the first order, not the second) and they should be here before the end of the year. I will of course keep everyone posted.

Also for the future I'm trying out a new layout with the tubes mounted on daughter boards on headers so the main PCB is horizontal in the enclosure, which gives a lot more room for placement and routing. The prototype for that board will come in the same order as the Cornish buffers, so another thing for me to keep you posted on.
 
vigilante398 said:
Super quick update: the AMZ buffer I have sitting around did not help at all, but the order has been placed for more Cornish buffer boards (making absolute certain to use the file from the first order, not the second) and they should be here before the end of the year. I will of course keep everyone posted.

Also for the future I'm trying out a new layout with the tubes mounted on daughter boards on headers so the main PCB is horizontal in the enclosure, which gives a lot more room for placement and routing. The prototype for that board will come in the same order as the Cornish buffers, so another thing for me to keep you posted on.
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Thanks for the update and I hope you had a Merry Christmas!
 
So the good news is I have a new layout for Black Eye that was laid out more carefully such that it does not need a buffer in front and operates without squealing even with the gain dimed.

The bad news is my third order of Cornish buffer PCBs are not working. I'm going to start over with the design and try to make it work. The revised Black Eye PCB will be a great option for the future, but I still want to get a fix available for those that already have boards, especially since the new layout is different enough that the enclosures will not be compatible between the two.
 
vigilante398 said:
So the good news is I have a new layout for Black Eye that was laid out more carefully such that it does not need a buffer in front and operates without squealing even with the gain dimed.

The bad news is my third order of Cornish buffer PCBs are not working. I'm going to start over with the design and try to make it work. The revised Black Eye PCB will be a great option for the future, but I still want to get a fix available for those that already have boards, especially since the new layout is different enough that the enclosures will not be compatible between the two.
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Thank you for sticking to it. I speak for my self but most likely all of us that it means a lot that you are going through the cost and time to make things right for your customers. I can see why Robert granted you Verified Vendor status.
 
I walked into this with the mindset that I was basically a beta tester and that there could possibly be some issues. What really matters is that are you determined to find a suitable fix for us early adopters (who pretty much begged you to make this pedal while saying “shut up and take my money” lol.
 
And I appreciate everyone's patience as I work on it. I have a PCB order going out tomorrow that I'm going to add a couple more buffer designs to, hopefully at least one of them will end up working out. I'm at the point now where I'm continuing this 40% to take care of the people that bought boards already and 60% spite because IT'S SUPPOSED TO WORK.
 
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I GOT IT.

I got my latest PCB order in today including my two buffer designs, and I just threw one into a previously misbehaving Black Eye build and boom, no oscillation. I took it slow on this order so I only have 5 of them (1 of which is now in a pedal), but I'll get an order placed tomorrow for a bunch more so I can get them out to everyone that needs them. Now that the Chinese New Year break is over it shouldn't take a super long time, but maybe 2 weeks or so from order to delivery. I will of course keep everyone posted.

Bear in mind that this will only be to fix the previously sold Black Eye boards. I've already redesigned the DIY Black Eye board so that main PCB mounts horizontally in the enclosure and the tubes are mounted on daughter boards with headers (very much like my typical builds) so the build will be a little more complicated, but the components are spaced out a bit more as I have more room. Also I decided not to take any chances on these and I made them 4-layer boards, so there is an internal ground plane and split power plane between the two signal layers. The result is that not only does it not oscillate even at full gain, but it's also less noisy in general.

The only downside there is the cost, so the boards will be a couple dollars more than the previous PCBs were, but it is a much better design overall and I'm much more proud of it.
 
Bricksnbeatles said:
@vigilante398 do the new boards have the same drill & vent layout as the V1 boards?
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Unfortunately it does not. When I was doing the new layout I tried to force it into the previous version's drill layout and I couldn't make it work. It's a scratch layout, so it will not fit into the previous enclosures. Thus the big push for a working buffer board to fix all the previous versions out there.

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Mmkay, I put another of the buffer boards into another oscillating build and it took care of that one too, so the latest buffer is good to go. I'm putting a PCB order together today (as I do more often than I probably should) and I'll get a bunch of them on order so I can get them out into the world. The only catch with them is that the wire from the input jack needs to go directly to the footswitch PCB, the trace on the main PCB goes too close to output traces so it oscillates even with the buffer. I'll get this all written up with pictures for reference before the buffers get here.
 
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