Hurb's Pedal of Mystery - Finished!

aen · Post by **aen** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 7:58 pm

SMART!

Post by **Mike** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 8:06 pm

By far the most complex thing I've ever made.

Post by **Mike** » Sun Jun 29, 2008 3:58 pm

I played with various bypass caps but they colour the equalization of the pedal too much.

With the Octave on there is absolutely tons of volume, and without it I have tweaked the circuit and amplifier stages from the original so that the fuzz sound without octave is louder than the bypassed sound, which isn't the case with the original design. The germanium diodes (which are crucial to the sound) are the governing factor, and prevent me from being able to make it ridiculously loud without the Octave on. I can add a EQ-bypass toggle switch to take the Treble and Bass controls out of the circuit which obviously increases the volume because you're not filtering anything, but sort of defeats the point in having them.

It's of my opinion that we should leave it as is and if you want more volume you can just add some salt afterwards with the Saltbooster. However if come Doogfest you're not happy I can install a SuperHardOn stage in the back end in place of the regular volume to add some output volume increase for you. it's your call.

Post by **Hurb** » Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:09 pm

Mike wrote:I played with various bypass caps but they colour the equalization of the pedal too much.

With the Octave on there is absolutely tons of volume, and without it I have tweaked the circuit and amplifier stages from the original so that the fuzz sound without octave is louder than the bypassed sound, which isn't the case with the original design. The germanium diodes (which are crucial to the sound) are the governing factor, and prevent me from being able to make it ridiculously loud without the Octave on. I can add a EQ-bypass toggle switch to take the Treble and Bass controls out of the circuit which obviously increases the volume because you're not filtering anything, but sort of defeats the point in having them.

It's of my opinion that we should leave it as is and if you want more volume you can just add some salt afterwards with the Saltbooster. However if come Doogfest you're not happy I can install a SuperHardOn stage in the back end in place of the regular volume to add some output volume increase for you. it's your call.

sounds kool mate, much love. I checked the video at nicks and it sounds really kool! gonna check it again on my speakers once its loaded grrrrrr!

cheers blaaaad!

Post by **Mike** » Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:10 pm

No worries. We're going to drill town tomorrow. Population: your case.

Gonna get some sexy metallic blue paint soon too. I'm actually really excited about that.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:30 am

I do like your technique of marking the top of the stripboard. Neat idea.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:35 am

it's the only way I could tell my arse from my elbow with a circuit like this. I was super chuffed it worked first time. I literally did a little fucking dance. I designed the stripboard layout too, whereas normally I'm not ashamed to say I've used existing layouts that have been designed by more experienced builders and tweaked them for whatever modifications I've made to gain structure or tone stacks or whatever.

This one was 100% from scratch, it's bean a real labour of love.

Marking the stripboard helps not only when you're placing components because you know where your rails are all the time and it helps you orientate yourself to the original plan, but also when cutting the traces you can actually see the red ink in the holes that you're meant to cut, evenfrom the copper side, which is brilliant.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:56 pm

I has Rover Caribic Blue

Post by **Doog** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:57 pm

NICE.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:58 pm

I got a mini boner in the shop. I had to hang around the spark plugs until it went away.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:22 pm

Hurb - Question:

Was thinking the other day, do you want the Octave Pedal's status LED to be on all the time regardless of the pedal being on or off to let you know if Octave mode is engaged or not, or do you want me to chain it to the main bypass switch LED, so that it is only illuminated when the the effect is on AND the octave is enabled.

So either this:

Stomping octave switch turns octave and LED on and off regardless of bypass.

OR this:

Stomping octave switch turns octave on and off regardless of bypass, but Octave LED status will only be obvious when pedal is switched on (i.e. if the Octave is on when you turn on the pedal, both LEDs will light, or if the Octave is off when you turnon the pedal, then only the effect LED will light)

I can do it either way no probs, it's up to you mate.

Post by **Hurb** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 4:48 pm

first one! oh that blue looks noice!!

Post by **Mike** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:04 pm

OK Octave LED on and off independent of pedal state it is.

I drilled your case this evening and started to prime it. Sure about everything except the hole for the Octave stomper, It's only a DPDT and I know it's not as wide as the 3PDT needs to be (12mm) so I just did it 10mm for now, stupidly forgot to bring it with me to my folks. Will be dropping off my gear (band practise was tonight) at my house tomorrow lunchtime so if it's not the right size I'll check then and get my Dad to fix it tomorrow night and bring it back Wednesday, I'm pretty confident, but either way your case will be done by Wednesday. I'll probably take me Wednesday to paint it and Thursday to clearcoat. I'll build it over Friday/Sat/Sun and post it Monday I hope. Pictures tomorrow.

Post by **Hurb** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:08 pm

Nice one mate, I can't wait to see the pictures!

Post by **Mike** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:09 pm

It's only primed at the moment, don't want to add colour if it needs to go back in the vice.

You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to spraying teh colour coats. I'm going to do like 5 coats of colour.

Post by **Hurb** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:19 pm

wow! It's gonna be tank proof!

Post by **Mike** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:18 am

Post by **Hurb** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:20 am

Hot!

Is that bypass on the right?

Post by **Mike** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:21 am

Yup, and Octave on teh left.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:10 pm

The Octave footswitch is 12mm after all. My Dad is going to drill it tonight and I'll start colour coats tomorrow hopefully.