Way Huge Red Llama 25th Anniversary (Vero)

[jwyles90]

Hey all! I finished this build a while back actually, but much to my chagrin, the tone section was virtually nonexistent when I first tested it out. Between life, school, and not having much time to build in general it took me a bit to find an opportunity to really sit down and try to fix it. Turns out the capacitor on the tone section was wonky, so once I was able to replace that it worked as advertised (although it's a fairly subtle sweep to begin with).

Overall though I really love how this pedal sounds. It's got this really warm and kinda saturated quality to the overdrive itself. Even with the gain rolled back a bit it still keeps a good bit of grit to it. With the gain all the way up it almost gets into fuzz territory, which is always fun. As far as the build itself, vero is still somewhat new to me. I'd like to tidy up my wiring as I do more of it. This one definitely isn't the messiest vero build I've done but it's still got a lot of room for improvement. Any vero wiring tips, or vero tips in general, would be much appreciated!

 

[HamishR]

Wow - that enclosure looks killer! I like the colour matching knobs. I've been meaning to try that circuit too.

When I first got into Vero I didn't like how wires could just go anywhere. I wanted rules, dammit! I got int building pedals from building amps, and there are many "rules" in amp building if you want to reduce noise, avoid oscillations, etc. Most of these don't seem to apply in pedals because the currents involved are so low, but oscillation can still happen.

So my solution was to put long wires like switch-to-jack wires tucked into the corner of the box, away from the board. It is neat, repeatable and is a start. I make sure all pots are lined up as accurately as possible. Having a drill press helps enormously, and I usually clamp a piece of wood as a fence to hold the enclosure against while drilling to keep the holes lined up. I have a 1" wide piece of wood to put between the fence and the enclosure to quickly space the second row of holes if necessary.

Then when it comes to installing the board I place it in the enclosure where I want it every time I add a wire. Having soldered the wire to the board I'll take the wire, run it from the board to where it will attach to a pot or whatever and cut to length. So every wire coming from the board is no longer than necessary, meaning less waste and a tidier interior. It also makes troubleshooting a lot easier. I use yellow wires for the gain pots, blue for in and out and white for tone controls. You can obviously use what you like but colour coding helps keep things clear in your head while building and trouble shooting. I also usually draw my own layouts because I like to have the wiring coming off the board close to where it will end up off the board - ie gain wiring close to the gain pot, etc.

Here's what I mean:



This is just how I do it. There are a gazilion ways to do this which is part of the fun. This is what works for me! There are many other ways to do it.

 

[szukalski]

Awesome enclosure. That's killer!

 

[jwyles90]

Wow - that enclosure looks killer! I like the colour matching knobs. I've been meaning to try that circuit too.

When I first got into Vero I didn't like how wires could just go anywhere. I wanted rules, dammit! I got int building pedals from building amps, and there are many "rules" in amp building if you want to reduce noise, avoid oscillations, etc. Most of these don't seem to apply in pedals because the currents involved are so low, but oscillation can still happen.

So my solution was to put long wires like switch-to-jack wires tucked into the corner of the box, away from the board. It is neat, repeatable and is a start. I make sure all pots are lined up as accurately as possible. Having a drill press helps enormously, and I usually clamp a piece of wood as a fence to hold the enclosure against while drilling to keep the holes lined up. I have a 1" wide piece of wood to put between the fence and the enclosure to quickly space the second row of holes if necessary.

Then when it comes to installing the board I place it in the enclosure where I want it every time I add a wire. Having soldered the wire to the board I'll take the wire, run it from the board to where it will attach to a pot or whatever and cut to length. So every wire coming from the board is no longer than necessary, meaning less waste and a tidier interior. It also makes troubleshooting a lot easier. I use yellow wires for the gain pots, blue for in and out and white for tone controls. You can obviously use what you like but colour coding helps keep things clear in your head while building and trouble shooting. I also usually draw my own layouts because I like to have the wiring coming off the board close to where it will end up off the board - ie gain wiring close to the gain pot, etc.

Here's what I mean:

View attachment 49975

This is just how I do it. There are a gazilion ways to do this which is part of the fun. This is what works for me! There are many other ways to do it.

Man that looks so clean. Thanks for the tips, I'll definitely give that a shot! All the wiring is definitely my least favorite part of vero building, so anything I can do to make that process a little more streamlined and tidy is helpful.

What're you doing with your LED there? Seems like a great way to clean that part up as well.

 

[jwyles90]

Awesome enclosure. That's killer!

Thank you! A friend of mine is a graphic designer and randomly sent me that design a while back because they thought it would look cool on a pedal. They were right!

 

[HamishR]

I love the switches with the LED as the white washer. I love minimalism and enjoy it when parts can have more than one function. In this pedal the "white washer" on the left glows red when the switch is pressed and the right one glows green. Port and starboard.