Neovibe build report... finally done (pics)

[blues_mang]

Ok, here's the skinny. My wife got my the GGG Neovibe PCB for Christmas. Since then I've been taking me time gathering the right parts, reading any and all documentation regarding the subject on here and GEOFEX, and carefully building it. I'm happy to say that after 3 months (and no, I didn't actually spend all that time building it), it's done and it's fantastic! Only one minor hiccup (ok, maybe not so minor) was that I fried the first power supply that I used for this because of incorrect adapter jack wiring, but that was easily remedied thanks to the awesome people on this board and most of all, R.G. himself. Overall, as a rather newcomer to DIY effects, I thought it was a pretty easy build. This is about my 20th build or so and I felt I was ready to tackle it. No problems with the bulb and light shield. Seems my only problems were only regarding power, but that was a great learning experience.
Here are some details: For those of you interested, I ended up using the small 1.5V/25ma from Smallbear. It worked exceptionally well with very minimal tweaking needed. Plus the long leads made it a piece of cake to solder in. I made the light shield from a $3 piece of copper I got from a craft store. I was able to actually make 2 from the small sheet, so I have a spare one now. I socketed all the transistors which proved to be useful because at some point while taking all the guts out to get the enclosure powdercoated, I blew Q12 and had to replace it. I also socketed R35 and R36 and tried some different values in there, but ended up with the recommended 100K for the bulb I was using. I used all 2N5088's for the transistors except for the lamp driver, I used a 2N3904.
Now for the extras: I built in a 1790NS enclosure so that I would have lots of room. I have a buddy who owns a powdercoating business, so we started experimenting and he ended up doing this great sunburst effect with sparkles that came out really nice. So nice, that I don't think I'm going to put labels on it. The only other "mod" I did to was add an onboard PEEP (Devi Ever's Photo Eye Expression Pedal). I wired a 4DPT (because I didn't have a 3PDT) to switch between the speed pot and a pair of Cds cells (LDR's). So, now I can flip the switch and as I cover and uncover the eye the speed slows down or speeds up. Works great! Took a little while to get the right combination of Cds's to get the range I wanted. It also has a 3 color changing LED. I opted against the LED that blinks in time to the LFO. That's pretty much it. Here's some pics:

At the top, right to left is the volume knob, and depth knob. The larger knob on the left hand side is the speed knob. Above the speed knob is the Vibrato/Chorus switch with dual color LED. Below the speed knob is the expression switch and photo eye.







Under the hood (light shield):





Thanks everyone for your help and I'm hoping to get some clips put together to post.

-BB

[tehfunk]

Very nice, it's on my to do list... I'm looking forward to the sound clips!

[andrew_k]

HOT! That finish is amazing and the LDR idea is cool. Got any samples of the Peep setup in action?

I finally powered mine up  (minus enclosure) two nights ago after putting it off due to not having a suitable power supply. Wow. The univibe is the reason I got into DIY effects and it's everything I hoped for. I'll tweak a little to see if I can find an even better sound, but it's already excellent. Zero noise, zero distortion, LUSH WARM sounds. Yay

I used the same bulb as you (except I socketed it after blowing the first one by messing with the trim pot ),  2N5089's for everything but the bulb driver and Silonex NSL-7530 photocells. I've got the same enclosure, but I'm hopefully going to get darron to etch it with the help of his new laser. *makes laser sounds*

Congrats!

[Tav]

Nice work, I have also managed to build one and was wondering why you put the LDR facing up, I have placed them facing directly to the lightbulb. 1 mm so they are pretty close. Nevertheless the unit sound nice BUT if I turn down the speed control the Vibe looses some depth and I have to almost crank the intensity pot. I have read that removing D1 and D2 helps a lot but I'm not sure anout this.
Any help?

[~arph]

Nice work, I have also managed to build one and was wondering why you put the LDR facing up, I have placed them facing directly to the lightbulb. 1 mm so they are pretty close. Nevertheless the unit sound nice BUT if I turn down the speed control the Vibe looses some depth and I have to almost crank the intensity pot. I have read that removing D1 and D2 helps a lot but I'm not sure anout this.
Any help?

Yeah use faster LDR's, somewhere in this forum is an LDR shootout that will point you in the right direction, perhaps someone that reads this knows which ones are the best.

[mudmen]

Nice work, I have also managed to build one and was wondering why you put the LDR facing up

Probably because that's how LDRs were mounted in the original units

Here's a nice thread about LDR arrangement. Take a look:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=61005.0

[pravudh]

wow!

[yeeshkul]

Nice work, I have also managed to build one and was wondering why you put the LDR facing up

Probably because that's how LDRs were mounted in the original units

Here's a nice thread about LDR arrangement. Take a look:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=61005.0

It is because of the metal shield reflects the light sufficiently. When a plastic shield is used the photocells should face the bulb.

[blues_mang]

Thanks guys for the kind remarks.

Yeah, I mounted the LDR's facing straight up because I'm using the metal light shield and that's how they were oriented in the original. Seems to work fine.

I've been finally putting it through it's paces tonight and this is a truly fantastic pedal. Like andrew_k said, zero noise, zero distortion... just lush swooshing tone goodness. Having the built in PEEP makes it fun too. By keeping my foot on it, it starts off with like having the speed pot at about 9 o'clock or so and as I slowly lift up my foot it ramps up to about 3/4 turn of the speed pot. It's fun to play fast and rock my foot like a wah and get some pretty funky rhythms going with the speed. I'm glad I took the time to add it. It's tough not to start ripping into "Machine Gun" every time I turn this thing on.

[BubbaKahuna]

Nice clean build and a killer paint job - cool.

You might want to clear coat that copper shield. Copper will darken over time and you might lose a lot of reflected light because of that. Clear coating it will keep it shiny like that for years. Oxidation is why I built mine with an aluminum box. It'll stay the same color and reflectivity for about 250 years. 

Cheers,
- JJ

[yeeshkul]

i didn't put any shield in mine in the end, just bent the photocells and it rocks. there is no ambient light in my box.
soundsample: http://www.hoho.cz/efekty/sounds/MV-MF-anycolour.mp3
the lead is played through a silicon FF.

[pravudh]

hi, i just finish this project after read this topic. 

i finish with  12v/30mA  and BD139 instead 2n3904 for lamp driver. because 2n3904 can't drive some lamp(the lamp that get current over 50mA, i don't know current for those lamp  at first time ) when i touch 2n3904 is get worm so i think that lamp must get
a lot of current. after look at datasheet BD139 can give more power&current . now i can use any lamp without testing.

ps.sorry about language   

[pravudh]

i made LDR cover form cigaret foil 

[yeeshkul]

hehehe, that looks good man!

[blues_mang]

I really don't have to worry about the light shield oxidizing on the inside.... it's lined with aluminum foil to give it better reflective properties.