Thursday, February 26, 2015

And another ones down!!!

Hello,
     Mike again, just letting you all know that I finished another build! Two in such a short time?!?! what a success! This is a Madbeans Kracken. I wanted an envelope filter and figured this was a good place to start. The circuit is a modified Mutron Micro V. The additions were two pots so you can adjust the Attack and Decay. I built this pretty close to Brian's specs. No fancy mods or outrageous switching options. All in all a fantastic sounding pedal. Building this also gave me the chance to test the other CA3080 chips I had in stock (all good ones). The switch board is a 1776effects Opto-Tron optical bypass board. This switch option uses a DPDT switch with an opto coupler to reduce bypass noise and tone "suck-age". I't also been a pretty big discussion on the forum about how much some people don't like the "China blue" 3PDT switches. So, I thought i would give the optical bypass a try in a pedal for me. It's good, and I think I'll use it in a few other builds. Anyways here are some pictures of the Kracken.




 

 



IT'S SO ANGRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Thanks for reading guys and gals. I'll post a shitty demo when I record it.

-Mike-

Friday, February 20, 2015

DVERB!!!

    So I finally finished the DVerb For Darren. I called it the dverb because its...well for Darren?! Well here is a little info on the curcuit. The schematic is a 1776 effects design. The layout was done by Jon Patton (midwayfair on the MBF). He had also suggested a couple mods to bring the dry signal up a little closer to unity. The 3PDT board I used is one that was designed by Rej at GrindCustoms. I used this because it had the pull down resistors on the board which made it easier to eliminate the popping of the switch when it was pressed. This was a VERY tight fit and it took a lot of measuring and test fitting to get it in to the 1590A. This is the first enclosure etch I have done and I think it came out pretty good. This is also the first reverb pedal I built. Lots of springy cathedral goodness in this singal knob pedal. Well without any more delay...here it is!










And yes I HAD to use the BIGGEST FUCKING TRIUMPHANT KNOB I HAD!!!!. Just seemed fitting. Here is a quick video I did too.




Well I hope you enjoyed the show! Thanks for reading.

-Mike-

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Been Busy...

Hello Everyone,
     I have been very busy lately. With the recent home purchase and the 46577 feet of snow we got I've been kinda poking a projects here and there. Here are some projects I've been working on.

Reverb for Darren

- Board is done, tested, and sounding awesome!
- Enclosure is etched, painted, and drilled (I finished the clear coat last night)
- Waiting for final assembly and Demo.

Here is a picture of the board



High Gain Distortion For Matt

- Board is made, populated and waiting to be tested
- The enclosure has a decal on it and been clear coated. Also waiting to be drilled
- Waiting for final assembly and test

Picture of board



Madbeans Kracken for me

- Board is Populated, Tested and complete. Sounds great and enveolpe-y
- Art is done and laid out on the enclosure. The enclosure is painted, drilled, and needs clear coat
- Needs Final assembly and test

Picture of the artwork



Development HELL

I have been in the process of designing a ringmod from John Hollis's Frobnicator schematic. I have had to redesign the board a few times and correct a few mistakes. I think I might finally have it. Over the weekend I etched the latest version of the board and last night i populated it. I will try and test it tonight and verify that it works. This is a ringmod / tremolo and it should be very cool if it works. Here is a picture of the layout. I will post a picture of the board I etched later tonight.

Ringolo (old) Layout



That's it for now. I'll post more in a day or two. Thanks.

-Mike-