falco_femoralis
Well-known member
Hi all, today I put together this Twill Deluxe. I built a Dielectric Boost a while back but I was looking for something similar I could put in a 1590B and came across this. This is a similar makeup in that it's an electra, but there's a toggle switch for different clipping diodes, and one of the modes is supposed to be the same as the Tchula circuit. I've built a bunch of 1590G stuff in the past and I have a good idea of what fits and what doesn't, and I felt I could get this to fit in a G.
Here's where we started
Normally when I drill an enclosure I get my measurements by placing the knobs etc on top of the enclosure and marking them out, but with these G builds you really have to go one step at a time to maximize the available space. So I started with the fEETswitch. I needed them to be all the way into the corners of the enclosure. Then I drilled for the in/out jacks, again all the way in the corners and tucked up against the top of the enclosure. After that I worked my way in and drilled for the pots, and then the toggle switch and indicator light, and lastly the power jack. There's very little room for error but if there is anything amiss with the drilling I can fix it by going step by step, so I drill the smallest hole I can with the step bit and reassess after every step. Here's all the holes drilled out and I'm starting to get an idea of in what order the parts need to be assembled.
You can get an idea how big the circuit board is compared to the enclosure. I marked the pots because it's going to get weird
Now we're starting to put some parts in. Check out the clearance for the power jack. I later came back and put heat shrink on the leads. The order of operation was: shorten the audio jack leads, solder their wires, install them, then install the feetswitch.
I had to install the PCB upside down from how it's meant to be due to the G's shallow enclosure, which meant when wiring for the pots and feetswitch I had to work their wires around so they could reach to the opposite ends of the board - I wanted the controls to come out exactly like the original. When I make things this way I have a general idea of what I can make work, and then I have to figure out the details every step of the way
This is similar to the last pit but slightly more organized
Here's the wiring for the LED. It's a common anode bicolor red/blue that will indicate for each foot switch. I originally had low profile electro caps but these actually fit better. The caps tuck into the space between the solder pads and the housing of the potentiometers. Later on I changed the wiring trying to troubleshoot a noise, thinking the 9v power for the LED running next to the caps was a not so great idea, but altering the location didn't fix the noise so I don't think the change was necessary. The toggle switch is what secures the board to the enclosure. There is just enough space vertically for the pots to fit. I used vertically arranged 1/8w resistors for the LEDs because I was concerned with space.
Here I'm doing the footswitch wiring. My plan with this was to do all the off board wiring starting from each component, and then feed them all into the circuit board one at a time. I make every wire long and then trim them to fit to reduce the amount of space they take up inside the enclosure.
The other switch as well. These again have to cross over to the connections on the board opposite from each other, as the board is reversed
@##@%#$^!@!@#
Okay. Deep breath. This built took a long time because it wasn't just assembly - I had to figure out how to assemble it. It's like those sliding tile puzzles that have one free space and you have to slide the tiles around until it forms a picture
So the first thing was going to be the back row as the wires were the tighest back there. First I soldered a ground wire for the two audio jacks to the board, then put it aside. Then the power pos/neg went in. After that I did the wires for the 1k pot (left side in this pic) - cutting them to length, stripping them and putting them in. I wrapped the wires around the pot and hot glued them in to keep the mess down. Then I did the 100k pot wires, but I messed up and cut the red and green too short. So that meant I had to take the pot out and redo those wires. Awesome. This pic is after sorting that out. I also ran the audio in wire tucked above the pots (yellow wire in the pic)
Then the footswitch wires. First I soldered in the audio wires, then I ran the board wires one at a time, starting with the main switch, to the furthest solder pad, then working my way back in. Same with the other side. I looped them around like this because this was the one part of the enclosure that had some extra room, and I needed the slack to be able to take the pedal apart without unsoldering anything
This is the board in. I forgot to mention that the only way the board fits is if I loosen both feetswitch first and then insert the board, then tighten the feetswitch again. It's essentially a press fit. Anyway now that everythings in place I have to take it back apart because the pedal makes a weird staticky noise when off. It's weird - when I turn the vol knob on the guitar up or down you can hear it like it's a dirty pot, and the switch makes noise as well. But only when the pedal is off. If I unplug the pedal this doesn't happen, so I figured DC was making its way into the circuit somewhere.
I changed up the LED wiring from earlier, thinking it was too close to one of the filter caps, but it made no change. Then I noticed that the indicator light was just barely on with the pedal off, but only when an audio cable was plugged in to either jack. I messed around with my finger on the solder points of the LED and found I could get both sides to light up just by touching the neg side with my thumb - the capacitance of my body or something (idk) was passing enough electricity to ground them an illuminate each one. So then I thought - the only place where the audio signal (being that the LED only does the dim light thing when an audio cable is plugged in) meets ground is at the main footswitch. I played around with some of the wires here and sure enough, redoing the yellow one at the bottom corner and placing it further inboard fixed the problem.
Here's the alt way I ran the LED wires. Hot glue to keep it sane
And here we are. I've had these knobs for a long time, and they were perfect for this
Channel 2 is blue so they make purple when both are on. I figured this would look cool with the gold paint
As per contest rules, here is a vid
Here's a bit about how I paint my enclosures - First I clean them by scrubbing them with iso alcohol and paper towels until the paper towel comes up clean, then I tape and glue them to these holders I made for them so I can get a nice even consistent spray coating with the primer I like to use, rustoleum white "Bonding primer." 4 or 5 coats of that, starting with very light mist coats and ending by putting it on pretty thick.
Then I usually paint them with Liquitex Acrylic paint and a brush - I like to think about a color that has something to do with the pedal - either the same color as the original, or something else I'm vibing, or how I think it should look. I like to go on the pedal half mixed so you can a variety of colors once its blended. It's a very "in the moment" thing and I forget how to do it every time. Sometimes they don't come out good and I have to wash it off and start over. I've learned not to go for a color unless I'm absolutely sure it's what I want to do. After that's had a few days to dry they go back out to the garage and I clear coat them. Actually in reality this whole process takes two months because life and stuff.
To clear coat them I use water based polyurethane and an HVLP gun. I apply 15 or so thin coats to build up a thick finish over time. I do these in batches because it's kind of a pain to set up. In the summer it's nice because as soon as I'm finished with the last one in the group, the first is already dry and ready for the next coat. The whole process takes about an hour.
I'd like to build a spray booth in my basement so I can do this in the winter, but that's for later. After the pedals have sat for a few days I'm ok drilling and building them but it's really about 3 weeks until they are fully cured.
Here's where we started
Normally when I drill an enclosure I get my measurements by placing the knobs etc on top of the enclosure and marking them out, but with these G builds you really have to go one step at a time to maximize the available space. So I started with the fEETswitch. I needed them to be all the way into the corners of the enclosure. Then I drilled for the in/out jacks, again all the way in the corners and tucked up against the top of the enclosure. After that I worked my way in and drilled for the pots, and then the toggle switch and indicator light, and lastly the power jack. There's very little room for error but if there is anything amiss with the drilling I can fix it by going step by step, so I drill the smallest hole I can with the step bit and reassess after every step. Here's all the holes drilled out and I'm starting to get an idea of in what order the parts need to be assembled.
You can get an idea how big the circuit board is compared to the enclosure. I marked the pots because it's going to get weird
Now we're starting to put some parts in. Check out the clearance for the power jack. I later came back and put heat shrink on the leads. The order of operation was: shorten the audio jack leads, solder their wires, install them, then install the feetswitch.
I had to install the PCB upside down from how it's meant to be due to the G's shallow enclosure, which meant when wiring for the pots and feetswitch I had to work their wires around so they could reach to the opposite ends of the board - I wanted the controls to come out exactly like the original. When I make things this way I have a general idea of what I can make work, and then I have to figure out the details every step of the way
This is similar to the last pit but slightly more organized
Here's the wiring for the LED. It's a common anode bicolor red/blue that will indicate for each foot switch. I originally had low profile electro caps but these actually fit better. The caps tuck into the space between the solder pads and the housing of the potentiometers. Later on I changed the wiring trying to troubleshoot a noise, thinking the 9v power for the LED running next to the caps was a not so great idea, but altering the location didn't fix the noise so I don't think the change was necessary. The toggle switch is what secures the board to the enclosure. There is just enough space vertically for the pots to fit. I used vertically arranged 1/8w resistors for the LEDs because I was concerned with space.
Here I'm doing the footswitch wiring. My plan with this was to do all the off board wiring starting from each component, and then feed them all into the circuit board one at a time. I make every wire long and then trim them to fit to reduce the amount of space they take up inside the enclosure.
The other switch as well. These again have to cross over to the connections on the board opposite from each other, as the board is reversed
@##@%#$^!@!@#
Okay. Deep breath. This built took a long time because it wasn't just assembly - I had to figure out how to assemble it. It's like those sliding tile puzzles that have one free space and you have to slide the tiles around until it forms a picture
So the first thing was going to be the back row as the wires were the tighest back there. First I soldered a ground wire for the two audio jacks to the board, then put it aside. Then the power pos/neg went in. After that I did the wires for the 1k pot (left side in this pic) - cutting them to length, stripping them and putting them in. I wrapped the wires around the pot and hot glued them in to keep the mess down. Then I did the 100k pot wires, but I messed up and cut the red and green too short. So that meant I had to take the pot out and redo those wires. Awesome. This pic is after sorting that out. I also ran the audio in wire tucked above the pots (yellow wire in the pic)
Then the footswitch wires. First I soldered in the audio wires, then I ran the board wires one at a time, starting with the main switch, to the furthest solder pad, then working my way back in. Same with the other side. I looped them around like this because this was the one part of the enclosure that had some extra room, and I needed the slack to be able to take the pedal apart without unsoldering anything
This is the board in. I forgot to mention that the only way the board fits is if I loosen both feetswitch first and then insert the board, then tighten the feetswitch again. It's essentially a press fit. Anyway now that everythings in place I have to take it back apart because the pedal makes a weird staticky noise when off. It's weird - when I turn the vol knob on the guitar up or down you can hear it like it's a dirty pot, and the switch makes noise as well. But only when the pedal is off. If I unplug the pedal this doesn't happen, so I figured DC was making its way into the circuit somewhere.
I changed up the LED wiring from earlier, thinking it was too close to one of the filter caps, but it made no change. Then I noticed that the indicator light was just barely on with the pedal off, but only when an audio cable was plugged in to either jack. I messed around with my finger on the solder points of the LED and found I could get both sides to light up just by touching the neg side with my thumb - the capacitance of my body or something (idk) was passing enough electricity to ground them an illuminate each one. So then I thought - the only place where the audio signal (being that the LED only does the dim light thing when an audio cable is plugged in) meets ground is at the main footswitch. I played around with some of the wires here and sure enough, redoing the yellow one at the bottom corner and placing it further inboard fixed the problem.
Here's the alt way I ran the LED wires. Hot glue to keep it sane
And here we are. I've had these knobs for a long time, and they were perfect for this
Channel 2 is blue so they make purple when both are on. I figured this would look cool with the gold paint
As per contest rules, here is a vid
Here's a bit about how I paint my enclosures - First I clean them by scrubbing them with iso alcohol and paper towels until the paper towel comes up clean, then I tape and glue them to these holders I made for them so I can get a nice even consistent spray coating with the primer I like to use, rustoleum white "Bonding primer." 4 or 5 coats of that, starting with very light mist coats and ending by putting it on pretty thick.
Then I usually paint them with Liquitex Acrylic paint and a brush - I like to think about a color that has something to do with the pedal - either the same color as the original, or something else I'm vibing, or how I think it should look. I like to go on the pedal half mixed so you can a variety of colors once its blended. It's a very "in the moment" thing and I forget how to do it every time. Sometimes they don't come out good and I have to wash it off and start over. I've learned not to go for a color unless I'm absolutely sure it's what I want to do. After that's had a few days to dry they go back out to the garage and I clear coat them. Actually in reality this whole process takes two months because life and stuff.
To clear coat them I use water based polyurethane and an HVLP gun. I apply 15 or so thin coats to build up a thick finish over time. I do these in batches because it's kind of a pain to set up. In the summer it's nice because as soon as I'm finished with the last one in the group, the first is already dry and ready for the next coat. The whole process takes about an hour.
I'd like to build a spray booth in my basement so I can do this in the winter, but that's for later. After the pedals have sat for a few days I'm ok drilling and building them but it's really about 3 weeks until they are fully cured.
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