Pic of my new sparkleboost!

[robotboy]

Here's a pic of my latest completed build, a fantastic sounding sparkleboost! I did the graphic in Adobe Illustrator and used the dark t-shirt method to do the transfer. There are actually stars inside of the light blue strip, but they're very close in color to the light blue, so my digital camera failed to capture them. I know that the raco boxes are the "cheapie" way to do things, but I've actually had a few people say they like the look because of the DIY aesthetic. Anyhoo, I'm pretty proud of this one, and it's my fifth successful build! BTW, "tiny mountain effects" isn't a real company  :wink: ... just a way of personalizing the pedal. I wouldn't ever rip off dragonfly or any of the other kind folks who share their designs.

[mojotron]

Alright!!! Glad to see someone else using electrical boxes for a higher purpose - I love using them in this configuration.. What has been your experience so far?

I have about 20 effects in electrical boxes like this - I think it's the only way to go if your building stuff for your own use.

Excellent job!! I bet it sounds awesome too!

[radio]

Tremendous layout!

Today is a great "boxxing day"

greetings JME

[kojjum]

Neat design!
Like it alot! Nice clean look!

//jens

[Paul Marossy]

Gee, this is the second j-box build that I have seen that I actually like.  :shock:  (must be the graphics...)

Nice work!  

[robotboy]

Alright!!! Glad to see someone else using electrical boxes for a higher purpose - I love using them in this configuration.. What has been your experience so far?

I have about 20 effects in electrical boxes like this - I think it's the only way to go if your building stuff for your own use.

Excellent job!! I bet it sounds awesome too!

So far the junction boxes have been awesome. I actually got the inspiration from your "showcase" thread, so I thank you for that. I've tried 3 different techniques in terms of decorating the boxes: painting with lazer printer decals for labeling, dark t-shirt transfer and I just did one last weekend that I basecoated with plastikote and had my wife hand-paint with testors enamel hobby paint. Dark t-shirt is my favorite method so far because of the amazing level of detail you can achieve. Add a few coats of clearcoat, and you have a very slick looking pedal. In the town I live in, punk rock is very big, so like I said, a lot of people seem to really like the aesthetic of the junction box for it's rugged look and "burlyness". I've found the raco boxes to be very durable. I actually accidentally dropped the sparkleboost when showing it to someone last night, and it took a hard fall on a concrete floor. I had everything inside JB welded and on standoffs, and the outside was protected with clearcoat and bedliner (as you described). I gave the box a thorough inspection, and there's no visible damage. It still works perfectly, so I guess that qualifies as a pretty rugged box, no? Anyway, I'm building my uglyface tonight, and it will go in a raco box as well. I have a hammond box that's been sitting around, but I haven't felt the need to use it yet. I guess I kind of like the raco look as well...

[Hal]

:-D I love the RACOs too :-D.

[Pedal love]

Very nicely done

[MartyMart]

That looks GREAT !
NIce work,

Marty.

[mojotron]

Alright!!! Glad to see someone else using electrical boxes for a higher purpose ...Excellent job!! I bet it sounds awesome too!

So far the junction boxes have been awesome. ... I've tried 3 different techniques in terms of decorating the boxes: painting with lazer printer decals for labeling, dark t-shirt transfer and I just did one last weekend that I basecoated with plastikote and had my wife hand-paint with testors enamel hobby paint. Dark t-shirt is my favorite method so far because of the amazing level of detail you can achieve. Add a few coats of clearcoat, and you have a very slick looking pedal. ..."burlyness". I've found the raco boxes to be very durable. I actually accidentally dropped the sparkleboost when showing it to someone last night, and it took a hard fall on a concrete floor. I had everything inside JB welded and on standoffs, and the outside was protected with clearcoat and bedliner (as you described). I gave the box a thorough inspection, and there's no visible damage. It still works perfectly, so I guess that qualifies as a pretty rugged box...

Ya.. I use the hammonds only for customer stuff - the hammond enclosures cost 5-10 times as much as the electrical boxes - and, the electrical boxes are super tough, and it is a lot of fun being creative with these - I'm working on hooking 2 together with pipe between them to spread the knobs out a bit more on some of the 8 knob esperiments I have going....

That JB weld idea sounds pretty cool, right now I don't secure the board on the inside, I just line the bottom of the box with the padded stuff my wife lines our kitchen cabinets with (She now wonders where it all went to..  :wink: ) and let the pressure of the wire press the board against the bottom of the box - but I'm always swapping the tops around on my pedal board anyway... I have found that bedliner stuff is great when you want to touch the bottoms up too - that's the part that I have found that gets beat the most.

I don't think the self-etching primer works as well on steel as it does on aluminum hammonds, or at least I need to better prep the surface, but other than that I'm really happy with the jbox - nice and roomy inside too.

I really like your t-shirt transfer work - looks great! - I have some, but when I drill the tops I don't end up with a really flat surface - after totally violating it with a unibit - even if I hammer it out I can't get it completely flat without a bit of work. Which is fine for paint, but I didn't know about the t-shirt transfers... When you use the iron on stuff, do you do something specifically to flatten out the surface or does it really matter for ironing stuff on?

From some of the other threads I got the idea to use epoxy to form a hole where I can use the cheapo metal 9v 2.1mm power jacks - so I've been adding those to the armada of projects - to eliminate batteries - I put in these things right about where you put your LED. I'll post some pictures when I get that done.

[robotboy]

I really like your t-shirt transfer work - looks great! - I have some, but when I drill the tops I don't end up with a really flat surface - after totally violating it with a unibit - even if I hammer it out I can't get it completely flat without a bit of work. Which is fine for paint, but I didn't know about the t-shirt transfers... When you use the iron on stuff, do you do something specifically to flatten out the surface or does it really matter for ironing stuff on?

Initially I was drilling with the raco lids clamped to a piece of plywood underneath, and the lids would tend to bend up as the drill bit went deeper. Now I place the portion of the lid that I'm drilling so that it is just slightly off the plywood with maybe 8" between the lid and the ground. I just clamp the portion I'm not drilling onto the plywood with two cheapo clamps I bought from Lowes for about five bucks. I really don't apply much pressure because I've noticed that if you drill VERY slowly, the unibit will do all the work for you. I also use a center punch and 1/16" pilot holes to make things a little easier. Using this method, the lids don't get bent at all, but even if they were slightly bent, the t-shirt transfer would probably come out fine. It pretty much just melts onto the lid, so it will probably form-fit whatever shape you iron it onto. You should definitely try it. It shouldn't take more than 2 1/2 minutes for the transfer to be very well bonded with the metal on the highest cotton setting on your iron. There are lots of threads on the t-shirt method, but the easiest route to success is to keep the iron moving and really pay attention to the edges. Very little pressure is necessary since the heat of the iron does all the work for you (I'm seeing a pattern here :wink:). After things cool down a bit, take a nice sharp razor blade and slowly work around the edges and drill holes. I've also found some very fine grit sandpaper can help smooth out the edges around the top. Once your done, hit it with a couple coats of clearcoat, and that's it. The only prep I do is the same as you described before. I lightly sand and clean with a little acetone. It's such an easy method, and the results are great!

[onboard]

Man, eveything about that build looks great!!! Nice job. Racos do have a certain Monster Garage look that's the epitome of DIY.

An electrical box and a T-shirt iron-on...who knew?    :wink:

[JimRayden]

I'm hijacking the latest sparkleboost thread to ask: what's the difference between using a booster and using a pickup switch (switching between two pickups with different volumes). Tone?

-----------
Jimbo

[mojotron]

I'm hijacking the latest sparkleboost thread to ask: what's the difference between using a booster and using a pickup switch (switching between two pickups with different volumes). Tone?

-----------
Jimbo

A booster will amplify any signal you send into it - while producing a sound that is identical to the input preserving all the dynamics... or overdriven... and adding some tone control...

And, a hotter pickup will pull more signal out of the strings' movement through a stronger e-m field. This can diminish dynamics as the stronger field comes from more wire in the pickup - and more wire means more inductance. More incuctance means that rapid signal changes are attenuated....

This is why there is a difference between most vintage pickups and their hotter relitives.

So, a boost will allow you to slam the front end of the amp with a big signal or allow you to boost part of the signal to subtlely acsentuate the dynamics..

A hotter pickup is for simply making the signal stronger - which sounds beefyer, sacrificing some dynamics.

You 'can' use a boost with a tone control to achieve a lot of the same things that you get form a hotter pickup - but both methods achieve a different result.

I'm old school, but I play a lot of styles, so if I play metal or even stuff like Wes Montomery - I generally would use PAFs or fat '50s for both - using pedals to make the sound right.

[80k]

awesome
do you have any pics of the insides?  never heard of the sparkle boost until today, and now i'm very intrigued.  I think I will be building one of these soon

[JimRayden]

Ok, mojotron, I think I still didn't get the question answered... why can't I just turn up the amp gain and use the guitar volumes with the pickup switch to tame it?

Is a booster for the case when you have already a fully cranked amp and you want to add even more gain?

---------
Jimbo

[Doug_H]

That looks really great!

Doug

[robotboy]

awesome
do you have any pics of the insides?  never heard of the sparkle boost until today, and now i'm very intrigued.  I think I will be building one of these soon

I should have taken some pics of the inside. I just gave this pedal to my stepdad as his birthday present last night. Anyway, I highly recommend the sparkleboost. I'm building another for myself. Great sounding pedal!

[mojotron]

awesome
do you have any pics of the insides?  never heard of the sparkle boost until today, and now i'm very intrigued.  I think I will be building one of these soon

I should have taken some pics of the inside. I just gave this pedal to my stepdad as his birthday present last night. Anyway, I highly recommend the sparkleboost. I'm building another for myself. Great sounding pedal!

Me too, I've been in 'boosterville' for the last week or so. I built the Fat Boostered and really liked that - lots of control - very much a pre-amp. But, I also started using different boosts in front of different boxes and really liked the way the AMZ MB will slam audio into anything... So I decided what the heck... I'll just build at least one of all of them... I just finished a Rangemaster, which gets kind of a led "zeppelin whole lotta love" sound... The Sparkleboost is next on the list... I'm looking forward to it - heard lots of good things.