Beginning my first project from scratch: wish me luck!

[joelap]

Hey guys, I'm just about to start my first project from scratch.  It's an interpretation of the "Gradlaff Dynamic Overhype" posted here... I dug it up, ordered the parts + extra's off of www.smallbearelec.com, I've got all the parts on the floor beside me.  Basically I'm going to clone the Dynamic, save for a few exceptions.  Here's what I'm going to change / experiment with:

1) First of all I've got 4 Op-Amps: Burr Brown OP2604AP, TI RC4558P, JRC4558D, and a TL072.  I'm going to try each one individually (I've got sockets), then considering trying soldering one op-amp on top of another in parallel.  We'll see what I think works best... I'm just a little worried doing the double-opamp thing, since I'm not very good at desoldering.  I could probably use some advice on how I'd go about desoldering one opamp off of another... I do have desoldering braid, but thats it.
2) I found 4% silver solder at Home Depot, so I figured (as a half-joking idea) to one-up the LDO by have 2% more silver in the solder than they use 
3) I know a lot of people don't like the midrange hump of the tube screamer, but I'm a midrange kinda guy  and sometimes I like that boost n the mids.  For that reason, I'm putting a 2way SPDT switch to switch between tone caps (.22 for flat response, .047 (or was it .47 I ordered?) for the midrange hump.
4) I bought two different types of transistors: 2SC1815-GR and MPSA18.  I'm going to try each in the circuit to see which I prefer.  I've got transistor sockets as well.
5) 6-position switch to switch between clipping diodes.  The 6 positions will be: LED clipping, Asymetrical 1N914, Symmetrical NOS 1S1588 diodes (as on original Tube Screamer), Symmetric Germanium Diodes, Assymetric Germanium Diodes, and finally a diode lift.

I've built a few kit pedals before with great results, but this time I want to do it all myself.  I'm going to draw up a schematic now, maybe you can tell me if my schematic appears to be correct before I start soldering tomorrow?

[Guitar Toad]

Joelap-

How did this turn out?

[joelap]

Confession time.

I finished the whole thing and everything, and made 2 dumb mistakes.  I incorrectly drew the location of the DC adaptor jack so it wouldnt fit with the potentiometers in... and the second mistake was in my HASTE to hear how the thing sounded I actually fired up the pedal without the transistors and chip isntalled... only the sockets!  DUMBEST THING I'VE EVER DONE but guess what?  The bypass completely worked, the LED worked, AND THE EFFECT WAS CLIPPING THE SOUND!!!  I unplugged it when I realized (because I still had the chassis open), put the transistors and chip in and the sound was muffled when on, but fine when bypassed... so I dont know what damage I did but whatever it was stupid.  I did the whole thing on perfboard too.

I'm hoping I can swing a deal with a trade now for a Tube screamer board since its basically the same as the "gradlaff" but with different values, unsolder and try again.  If this deal falls through I'll buy a board from buildyourownclone.com since I cant make my own boards yet.

So I was very happy that the thing worked... but I havent turned it on since.  Maybe I'll try again tonight or tomorrow sometime since I'm on spring break next week and I'll troubleshoot and try again, but either way I need a new chassis and most likely a new board... but we'll see.

[ivan-dj]

and?    does it work? did you finnaly put the transistors and chips in?

i'm interested in that 6-way clipping. if you've done that and it works - speak brother!

thank you