Hoof

...And i'm back! Here is a clone of the EQD Hoof. I did this as a trade to my friend Evan. He gave me all the AWESOME Spawn figures before. His original hoof died and was broke due to COVID-19 and him being out of work. He did find a couple more spawn figures and what can I say...I'm a sucker for spawn stuff! So I built him a new Hoof pedal. This is almost a exact copy. I used some 2n2222 Transistors for this build, I think they sound a bit better. This wasn't my cleanest wiring job but hey, they can't all be perfect! Anyways here are a couple pictures. I didn't shoot a video but we all know what a modified muff sounds like. Enjoy!
-Mike-

2 builds for Bruce

Hello All,
Here are a couple builds I just finished for my friend Bruce in Pray For Sound. The Admirer is a Hamlet Delay with a momentary feedback switch. The trimpot in the base plate controls when the oscillation starts  after pressing the switch. Hats of to Jon (midwayfair) for making a truly beautiful sounds delay. I absolutley love this circuit.
The second is a Sunn model T preamp. The PCB was developed by Benoit at Coda Effects. Super fun and very MASSIVE sounding. Thanks for looking.

Wave Machine

Hello again!
     I finished one of the many projects sitting on my bench. This is a clone of the Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe. This was used most commonly by Led Zeppelin and Jimmy Hendrix. This thing is a BEAST. Tons of options and controls. I'll go through them briefly.

Speed:
This controls the speed of the modulation. There is an internal trim pot that can adjust the max speed and there is also an option to have an external expression pedal jack wired up. I opted to not have this.

Range:
This is a 6 position rotary switch. It goes from "classic" to "pulse". There are 3 positions for each mode. They resemble Soft, Medium, and Hard. They also increase with the turn of the switch.

Effect:
This simply changes from Chorus, Vibrato, and Tremolo

Symmetry:
This changes the sweep of the modulation across the sign waves.

Intensity:
I feel this is a little self explanatory...it sets the intensity of the effect.

Vol:
This sets the output volume of the effect.

Bias:
This alters the center of the sweep frequency and in tremolo mode sets the depth of the sign wave. It almost acts like a blend knob.

Mod:
This is a voicing mod. It is a 3 position rotary switch that changes capacitor sets within the effect. This give you the option to have a multitude of tones for each effect.


The PCB was designed by Brenja on the Madbeans forum. He also designed the Mod board. I acid etched and painted the Enclosure and did the artwork too. This pedal is a modulation monster and I plan on holding onto one of the 2 I have built. This was tons of fun and despite its size it was fairly easy. It fired right up and worked the first time.

Any ways here are some pictures. I'll try and get a video up soon. Thanks for reading!

Time to play "Catch Up"

Alright, so after the mahem of the lats build I took about a week and a half off from building. Now I'm gonna box up a few projects that I have sitting on my bench. Pretty sure I have 5 or 6 projects that are ready to be boxed. I remember building a bunch before Matt (the crazy multi build I just did) got in touch with me. I think I even have artwork for some of them too. Here is the list of stuff waiting to be completed.

Tap Tempo Tremolo
Analog Delay (DM 2 work a like)
Voodoo Vibe clone,
Dead Astrnaught TremShifter
Shoe Gazer clones (2 of them)
Fuzz Factory Clone
Wampler Pinnacle Clone

So as you can see I have my hands pretty full for a couple weeks. I should blow through these pretty quick though. Most of them have been built and tested, They just need an enclosure and some art work. I might try and do a couple of face plates for the "fancier" builds (analog delay and voodoo vibe). Or maybe and etched enclosure here and there. We shall see. Thanks for reading!

-Mike-

Let the Madness Ensue...

Hello Again,
     Now let me first say that this was probably the most complicated build that I have ever done. There are 3 effects plus a order switch and an FX / blend option in this. It was very hard to wrap my head around but in the end I nailed it!! Here is the breakdown of the pedal.

**Main Circuit**

The main tone of this is based on the DBA Sound Saw. What this is, is a two channel frequency filter circuit. The bypass switch turns it on and the filter switch switches between the two channels. Channel one high lights the lows and allows more of a bass-y boost. Channel two accents the highs and mids giving the tone a cutting edge. There is a volume and filter knob for each channel.

**Fuzz Tone**

The fuzz section of this is modeled after the DBA Harmonic Transformer. This fuzz is EVIL! I love it. It is controlled by 1 knob and 2 toggle switches. In this built you'll notice that there are 3 toggle switches for the fuzz, the 3rd switch is simply an on / off option. The knob controls the over all fuzz volume. The switch on the left is the on / off, the switch in the middle is the sign wave switch (changes from triangle to square wave), and the switch on the right is an intensity switch. 

**Delay / Reverb Tone**

This is one of my favorite delay / reverb designs, the circuit is a Madbeans Moodring. This reverb is great and the delay is simple and easy to dial in. This has no on / off switch but the "Ring" knob essentially acts like an on / off. all the way to tho the left is off and all the way to the right is "muffin maker"! 

**Extra Options**

-Blend-

You'll notice that there are 2 extra jacks on the side of the enclosure. These allow you to add another effect and blend it into this circuit. The top jack is the send and the bottom is the return. The blend is panned from left to right. Left is no added effect and right is full effect volume (set on external effect) added to this circuit. 

-Order Toggle Switch-

There is also an effect order switch built into this as well. What this does is puts the fuzz in front or behind the reverb. This gives you a multitude of options. putting the fuzz in front of the effect will give you the "wall of sound" type of effect that a lot of guitarists go for.

So needless to say there was a lot to take in to consideration when building this. The enclosure was designed and etch by Dan at ADD Effects. He and I have worked together on several builds now and I don't see us stopping any time soon. Well that's all I have for now. Here are some pictures for you. I will get the videos posted soon. Thanks for reading.

Videos are coming soon!!!

-Mike-

VIDEO TIME!!!

Paging Grodan Freeman...Dr. Freeman?!

     This my friends is the BLACK MESA! The layout and design of the board was done by Madbeans Pedals. The circuit is designed around the gain stage of the Mesa Triple Rectifier. This, as you can see, was a complex build. There are quite a few parts and lots of things that could go wrong. So because I built this for a friend I decided to treat it as an "attention to detail" build. This was very fun and challenging at the same time. After the frustration on the Uproar I need this to go smooth. That's not to say that this didn't have it's own challenges. The decal took 3 attempts. On the fourth it worked. The fourth came out the "best", as you can see it came out wavy. I suspect it's because I used cool water instead of warm when applying the decal. This caused some of the edges to not adhere to the metal and allowed the clear coat to get under the decal.
     The circuit, overall, is VERY cool! The board is designed with a "boost" option. It's hard for me to call it a boost. I consider it more like a switchable contour setting. It does boost the signal a bit but not dramatically. Overall, The amount of gain available and the vintage / modern switch make this monster a substantial beast!. It's a great sounding build and this thing has all the tone you could ask for. The switch wiring was a bit difficult and it took a TON of patience and quite a bit of attention to detail. All in all it was a lot of fun. I hope you guys enjoy reading. I'll post a video of it soon. Thanks for checking it out.

 

Video Coming soon.

-Mike-

Lets start a...UPROAR!?!?!?

Hello All,
       Here is a build report for the Uproar I did for a coworker. The Uproar is a clone-ish of the Shur Riot distortion pedal. The board was designed and laid out by MadBeans Pedals. The 3PDT board was given to me by Laurence from BitchesLoveMySwitches. I exclusivly get my enclosures, jacks, and most of my knobs from him. he is THE BEST!! The PRES MOD was also incorporated along with the Clip switch. The PRES MOD cuts the mids and adds a capacitor in series with another to "boost the highs and lows". This gives it more of a "tube" like distortion feel. The Clip switch allows you to choose different clipping diodes to the circuit. There is a combination of LEDs, Germanium diodes, and silicone diodes, to add different textures and warmth to the overall sound. All that is tech talk for "FLIP THESE SWITCHES AND GET YOUR FUCKING FACE MELTED!!" But seriously, this thing has enough gain and volume to keep up with any boosted 5150 or 6505.
     The build overall was very frustrating for me. It was my fault, and that was the more frustrating part. I had the board all together and I was testing in then I noticed the Gain and Vol knobs were working backwards. No biggie, I thought, WRONG! After 2.5 hours wasted on rewiring and audio probing the board meat its death at the rate of anger against a brick wall. I still can't find all the pieces. The second board came out much smoother and went together like a charm. The only oops I had was I accidently wired the 9v from the board to the GND on the 3pdt daughter board. Once again rushing and not paying attention cost me an hour of testing and cussing. But needles to say I got it together and the thing sound FUCKING METAL!!. In the end I am Pleased with the pedal and my coworker loves it.

Time for some pictures! Unfortunately these will have to do, I didn't have a chance to record a demo.

Top view

                          Gut Shot                                                                           Top view

 

Top View

This is a 125B enclosure. I did the paint as a distressed look. I feel like a distortion pedal needs to look a little beat up. The art is done on a water slide decal and the clear coated over with enamel spray clear coat. Thanks for reading. 

-Mike-

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-

Previous Pedal Boards

Hey guys, My wife and I are in the process of buying a house and I don't have a ton of time to build right now. Plus all my stuff is in a box buried among the chaos right now. I thought it would be fun to give you a "filler" post. I am going to post all my different pedal boards over the years (past 6 or 7 years I think). This isn't the first but it's the oldest the I can find a picture of.

Version 1
This was a crappy guitar case I cut in half and put split hinges on. The pedals are as follows.

Top (left to right)
Line 6 Otto Filter, Boss FZ5 Planet Waves PW40.

Bottom (left to right)
Dunlop High Gain Volume, MXR Phase 90, Electro Harmonics Memory Toy, Boss CH1, Boss BF2, Hand Built AB switch (built by me)

Version 1.1

Top (left to right)

MXR Phase 90, Line 6 Otto Filter, Boss FZ 5 Planet Waves PW40. 

Bottom (left to right)

Dunlop High Gain Volume, AKAI Head Rush II, Electro Harmonics Memory Toy, Boss CH1, Boss BF2, Hand Built AB switch (built by me)

Version 2.1

Top (left to right)

AKAI Head Rush II,Boss FZ5, Line 6 Otto Filter, Planet Waves PW40. Hand Built AB switch (built by me)

Bottom (left to right)

Dunlop High Gain Volume, MXR Phase 90, Boss CH1, Boss BF2,  Electro Harmonics Memory Toy, Peavey Amp Switch

Version 2.2

Top (left to right)

AKAI Head Rush II, Line 6 FM4 Filter Modler, Boss FZ5, TC Electronics Poly Tune

Bottom (left to right)

Dunlop High Gain Volume, Boss CH1, MXR Phase 90, Boss BF2, DeltaLab Rock Distortion, Peavey Amp Switch

Version 3.1

Top (left to right) 

Line 6 DL4 Delay Modler, Signal Flex Power Supply,  Line 6 FM4 Filter Modler, 

Middle (left to right) 

Behringer Reverb/delay, Boss NS2, Boss FZ5, ElectroHarmonics #1 Echo, Custom Amp switch

Bottom (left to right)

Dunlop High Gain Volume, MXR Phase 90, Boss BF2, Boss CE5, DeltaLab Rock Distortion, TC Electronics Poly Tune

Version 3.2

Top (left to right) 

Behringer Pitch Shifter, Boss RC2, Boss PS3 Pitch Shifter/Delay, Line 6 DL4 Delay Modler,

Bottom (left to right)

Dunlop High Gain Volume, DeltaLab DD1, Boss CE5, Boss BF2, MXR Phase 90, DeltaLab Rock Distortion, TC Electronics Poly Tune

Version 3.3

Top (left to right) 

Peavey Amp Switch, Behringer Pitch Shifter, Line 6 DL4 Delay Modler,

Bottom (left to right)

Dunlop High Gain Volume, DeltaLab DD1, Boss CE5, Boss BF2, MXR Phase 90, DeltaLab Rock Distortion, TC Electronics Poly Tune

Version 3.3

Top (left to right) 

Ibanez DE7, Behringer Vintage Phaser, Boss DS1

Bottom (left to right)

Ernie Ball Volume, Peavey Amp Switch, TC Electronics Poly Tune

Version 3.4 (Current)

Top (left to right) 

Ibanez DE7, Custom Built Phase 45 Clone (built by me), Boss DS1

Bottom (left to right)

Ernie Ball Volume, Peavey Amp Switch, Custom Built signal buffer (built by me) TC Electronics Poly Tune

Well there you go guys, hope you enjoyed the show!

-Mike-

Updates and things...

Hello Readers,

    So it's been a long time, not really but, I figured I'd give you an update. My Customer Tom (the guy who I built the Elephuzz for) loved his pedal. Just after that was posted my buddy Matt asked for a clone of the Boss ML-2. To that I said "yeah I could do that OR...build you something WAY better!" So I have etched the board and populated it. I have also drilled the enclosure and started painting. He wanted a charcoal color and orange and purple LEDs. As he said "kind of an ode to Portal" the video game. I had the decal all laid out before he told me that and wait till you see what I came up with! it's pretty bitchin'! I'm not gonna spoil the art but here are a couple pictures of the board.

 

I did etch an extra board for myself (the white one on top is for me) and created a switch board as well. Keith on MBPF did a wiring diagram and I decided to make a board for it. More updates on this to come. I'll do a separate write up, as I always do, once I am finished with the build. 

    Second I have been working on my own PCB design. This has been the thorn in my side for a couple of weeks now. I did the design (what I thought would work) and ordered the prototype pack from OSH PARK. Needless to say, once populated it didn't work. I have been trouble shooting and testing this thing for 2-3 weeks now. I have 3 pages of hand written notes, attempted 6 or 7 different things, and even went as far as to redesign the board. I have taken a break here and there from it but, DAMN is it frustrating! I guess that's one of the pains of doing your own desing tho. Maybe i should have started with something a little less painstaking. Perhaps a fuzz or distortion NOT A FUCKING RING MOD. Sorry just venting. More to come on this too.

     While taking a break for the ring mod madness I decided to populate another board and take my mind off it. I went with the "Kracken" by Madbeans. This is a modified version of the Mutron Micro V envelope filter. The Mutron was a one knober, this has controls for "Attack, Decay, and Range" It also features a Hi/Lo frequency switch. This is a GREAT filter! It sounds awesome and was fun and easy to build, I have the art done and the enclosure drilled. Just need to finish painting and apply the decal and clear coat. Here is the artwork I used on the pedal. The LED indicator will be where the eye is.

This will be in a Hammond 1590B enclosure. It will also be a permanent fixture on my board. Can't wait to finish this and post it. 

     Finally, I also finished up a Hamlet Delay. This is a fabricated board by Jon Patton. This has to be one of my favorite PT2399 delays. It's the most analog sounding and cleanest I have built. It does take a little dialing in but it is worth it! The PT2399 delay is often advertised as an "analog" delay...LIES, ALL LIES! They are analog voiced, That is the difference. Any ways no pictures for that yet, I'll post them ASAP. Thanks for reading guys. See you soon.

-Mike-

OD Time!!

This is a build report for  a Madbeans Egghead overdrive. Once again a build I did for my dad. This is a simple Overdrive circuit. The pedal is great but not my cup of tea. My dad needed an OD for his Fender amp so this will fill that need. I used a 3pdt board from guitarpcb with a bi-color LED. Fun and quick to build. Here are some pictures and I will post a video after I record it.

Top View

Top view (on)

GUTS!!!

Thanks for reading.

-Mike-

Mod for a friend

Hey guys, 

    Just catching up here. Last month (4/24/14) my baby girl was born. She is now the light of my life and building and modding has slowed to a turtles pace. That's fine though. It gives me a chance to post a couple of other things that I have done. Like this!

     Here we have a mod I did for Darren. It's a heavily modded Ibanez TS9. I changed the cratchy pots, some of the caps, made the clipping diodes switchable, made the drive resistor switchable, along with a ton of other mods. Here is a picture. I will link the video later. Thanks for reading.