Erik S
Well-known member
I put this together about a month ago, but it didn’t work initially, and then in the process of fixing all my mistakes I wasn’t sure it was "done" and it never got a build report. Now I've got a few to catch up on, so I guess I'm calling it done.
Looking back at the dates on the photos I drilled the enclosure for this almost 6 months ago. Mistake #1 was slipping with my step drill and over sizing the hole for the toggle. I machined a brass bushing to take up the slack and fit it with a dress nut. Pretty pleased with how that came out.
Mistake #2 was in component ordering. I think I had read other build reports on these and should have known better, but I rolled the dice on some ebay 2n6027s and got burned. If I remember right I think it passed sound but didn't tremo-lize. I placed a frustrated late-night Mouser order for a few central branded ones, and those were of course good.
Mistake #3 was a resistor value. Classic multiplier error. I think I was putting the board together late at night and wasn't very focused. Pretty easy fix, but I used one of these cool wired LEDs from AES and when I realized I was going to have to desolder both the DC jack and the LED to get the board out I was extra bummed. I ended up snipping the resistor out from the top side, plucking the legs out with pliers and the iron, then pre-snipping the new resistor and installing it from the top-side. First time I ever tried that and it seemed to work pretty good. Could also be a good trick for a component swap that's trapped behind a pot.
I guess technically mistake #4 was that LED. It's got an internal resistor, which I didn't plan for, and I populated the on-board CLR. The result is kinda dim, but I'm okay with it. I'd rather have it dim than superbright any day.
I didn't catch mistake #5 until after I had played with the pedal for a while, and it took me a while to decide not to fix it. The toggle is supposed to be on/off/on for three speed ranges. Fortunately the missing middle-mode is ludicrous speed/ ringmod-y sounds that I don't care about enough to pull the board. If I very carefully wiggle the toggle to the middle I can find a dead spot where I can hear what it should sound like and it's pretty weird.
First impressions are that choppy tremolo is not my favorite. I sold off a Sproing Deluxe to a friend, and I was hoping this was going to fill that hole for me. It's grown on me some since, but I'm still going to build another Sproing.
Looking back at the dates on the photos I drilled the enclosure for this almost 6 months ago. Mistake #1 was slipping with my step drill and over sizing the hole for the toggle. I machined a brass bushing to take up the slack and fit it with a dress nut. Pretty pleased with how that came out.
Mistake #2 was in component ordering. I think I had read other build reports on these and should have known better, but I rolled the dice on some ebay 2n6027s and got burned. If I remember right I think it passed sound but didn't tremo-lize. I placed a frustrated late-night Mouser order for a few central branded ones, and those were of course good.
Mistake #3 was a resistor value. Classic multiplier error. I think I was putting the board together late at night and wasn't very focused. Pretty easy fix, but I used one of these cool wired LEDs from AES and when I realized I was going to have to desolder both the DC jack and the LED to get the board out I was extra bummed. I ended up snipping the resistor out from the top side, plucking the legs out with pliers and the iron, then pre-snipping the new resistor and installing it from the top-side. First time I ever tried that and it seemed to work pretty good. Could also be a good trick for a component swap that's trapped behind a pot.
I guess technically mistake #4 was that LED. It's got an internal resistor, which I didn't plan for, and I populated the on-board CLR. The result is kinda dim, but I'm okay with it. I'd rather have it dim than superbright any day.
I didn't catch mistake #5 until after I had played with the pedal for a while, and it took me a while to decide not to fix it. The toggle is supposed to be on/off/on for three speed ranges. Fortunately the missing middle-mode is ludicrous speed/ ringmod-y sounds that I don't care about enough to pull the board. If I very carefully wiggle the toggle to the middle I can find a dead spot where I can hear what it should sound like and it's pretty weird.
First impressions are that choppy tremolo is not my favorite. I sold off a Sproing Deluxe to a friend, and I was hoping this was going to fill that hole for me. It's grown on me some since, but I'm still going to build another Sproing.
