My beastial multi-effects board. link to photo gallery included!

[studiostud]

Hey guys,

I finished my multi-effects board a while ago but haven't had a chance to share it with you guys yet.  Many of you were invaluable to me during this process with all the extremely helpful advice and troubleshooting help.  So many many thanks!  I am indebted to you all! 

It's called The O.G.




It took about 8 months total from start to finish working mainly on weekends and evenings that I didn't come home exhausted from work.  Most of that time was spent in the planning stages, though. (i.e. design, choosing circuits and then making lists of parts, wiring layout design, pcb design, etc)  The stomp switch circuit was my first attempt at designing a PCB, the rest of the layouts are courtesy of Tonepad and GGG so many thanks to Francisco and JD for providing such an amazing resource! 

Here is a photo gallery that I have created to show the timeline of the creation process from the un-etched copper board to the finished product.  Hope you all enjoy!  I am working on creating some sound clips of the different effects so I'll be certain to let you know when I have something posted. 

http://www.grassrootsaudio.com/gallery/gallery.html


-- Jeff

[80k]

wow that is insane. i love seeing projects like this. Great job! I loved the gut shots.

I've always wanted to make something like this, except using banana plugs to reorder the effects and have ultimate flexibility (ability to stack plugs and run stuff in parallel, or create a feedback loop).

[frequencycentral]

WoW!!

[studiostud]

Thanks!  It was almost as much fun building as it is using!  

[LiquidMetal]

Nicely done! Just out of curiosity - how do you power all these effects?

[mdh]

I love the "Effectus Offensio" alias for the Big Muff.

[ayayay!]

I love it.  It's so fun to see stuff like that.  Is it pretty much how you had envisioned it coming together?

[tranceracer]

Great JOB!   

[frequencycentral]

I keep having to peek at it again! The first thing I thought was that you had re-housed a bunch of pedals. Then it struck me. The way you have done the graphics as if there are a bunch of seperate pedals on a board is genius.

[tommy.genes]

Quite impressive work.

You could use switching jacks to "normalize" your patch bay, meaning the effects would still be connected in a default order when no cables are inserted into the patch bay (aside from the overall IN and OUT jacks, of course). That way, you wouldn't need all those patch cables to be inserted all the time, but the option to change the order or add other external pedals still exists.

I'm also curious that you didn't include an overall board bypass. Did I just miss it?

-- T. G. --

[R O Tiree]

Beautifully done. I really like the 6-pin headers so you can remove circuits quickly and tweak them in your breakout box. That's a really neat idea.

What's your next project? Making another one for someone for $$$$?

[Processaurus]

You're a wonderfully motivated builder, thanks for taking the time to document your project!  The stickers/decals make this the funnest looking Cornish style board I've seen.

[Andi]

I keep having to peek at it again! The first thing I thought was that you had re-housed a bunch of pedals. Then it struck me. The way you have done the graphics as if there are a bunch of seperate pedals on a board is genius.

Aye - that's what struck me too. I am most impressed by this - excellent work.

[studiostud]

I've always wanted to make something like this, except using banana plugs to reorder the effects and have ultimate flexibility (ability to stack plugs and run stuff in parallel, or create a feedback loop).

that's a sweet idea with the banana plugs.  I never though of that.  I'll have to experiment with that sometime down the line.

Nicely done! Just out of curiosity - how do you power all these effects?

the board has a power jack that accepts a 12VDC current from a wallwart adapter and sends it to a power regulator circuit that splits it into (5) 9.5V outputs.  Outputs 1-3 each use a daisy chain to power a section of effects (high gains, modulators, secondary effects/sansamp/headphone amp).  Output 4 is connected to a 9V power output jack that I use for external pedals and/or a tuner. Output 5 is open right now.  Still trying to figure out how to use it to power a USB gooseneck lamp.

I love the "Effectus Offensio" alias for the Big Muff.

indeed.  that was one of my favorites!

Is it pretty much how you had envisioned it coming together?

actually, yeah.  well... sort of.  Once I decided to do a full blown multi-effects board, my vision was pretty close to the actual outcome.  Little things changed along the way like wiring tricks and graphics.  That and the original idea for the enclosure appearance didn't have the wood pieces included.  I added those to help seal it up and give it a more completed professional appearance.  (btw, the wood sides idea came from some of the Beavis Audio stuff so thanks for that!)  What I mean by "sort of" is that it didn't start out as a full blown multi-effects idea.  It started out as a 2in1 effects box with a green ringer and a red ranger.  I was going to paint one half red and one half green and called it the "Christmas Bonus".  Then I found an old car amplifier that I yanked out of my car when I re-did my system and decided to maybe do a little multi-effects thing with a delay and a tremolo and maybe a couple hi gain circuits... then, of course, the enclosure began to get too small for everything I wanted to cram into it.  So I started looking around for something larger.  I found an old piece of non-working rack gear and was going to use that but then I remembered that my mobile recording rack had a retractable shelf for a laptop that I never used so I pulled that out, pulled off the rail hardware and, wah lah, it became the face of the board.  Ended up working beautifully.

The way you have done the graphics as if there are a bunch of seperate pedals on a board is genius.

Thanks!  I can say one tried and true thing I've learned is that there isn't much that can make up for an obsessive degree of anal retentiveness.  Interestingly, I originally didn't make the graphics in illustrator.  I originally found higher res photos of front facing images of the original pedals the circuits are cloning.  I had it that way and even clear coated it.  But the more I looked at it, the more I knew that later on I would always have wished that I had done the graphics in a vector program.  So I broke down and stripped it and re-did them.

You could use switching jacks to "normalize" your patch bay, meaning the effects would still be connected in a default order when no cables are inserted into the patch bay

I actually wanted to do that initially, but didn't know how and was already a bit overwhelmed with the degree of complexity of the project.  Of course now that I know more, I still might go back and re-do if I ever get the time and the courage.

I'm also curious that you didn't include an overall board bypass. Did I just miss it?

You didn't miss it.  I didn't include one.  All the stomp switches/activating toggles are wired for true bypass and I have an IC Buffer pedal that I stick in front of the chain to make sure I'm not tone sucking.  I don't use a lot of multi-effect combinations very often and so I don't mind doing the extra foot work.  Although I suppose if I wanted to, I could use the A/B switcher meant for the tuner as a board bypass and then just route my guitar through the tuner before going into the board.

I really like the 6-pin headers so you can remove circuits quickly and tweak them in your breakout box. That's a really neat idea.

Thanks!  After making several individual pedals, the breakout box idea originally sprouted from the exasperation of troubleshooting circuits without a breadboard.  I had the thought, "why couldn't I make a box with all the 'default' off-board components wired together so all I have to do is connect leads to the PCB and it functions like a fully housed pedal?"  I had alligator clips at first but then my obsessive cleanliness kicked in and the idea was born to use the headers.

What's your next project? Making another one for someone for $$$$?

As much as I would like to make another one of these for someone, I would have to ask a pretty hefty price just because of the time investment.  Even initial cost on my end for all the parts, excluding the enclosure since I had it already, was close to $350-400.  Plus, since those layouts aren't mine, I would want to respect the owners of the copyrights.  However, since I know a lot more now about the actual physical science of the circuits, I'm working on some of my own individual pedals that I'll probably send to market to maybe pick up some side income here and there. 

[Auke Haarsma]

I am extremely impressed after checking your gallery!

Wonderful documentation, full of great ideas!

Very very well done!

[Valoosj]

I am extremely impressed after checking your gallery!

Wonderful documentation, full of great ideas!

Very very well done!

Now if only you would finish yours 

[Chris S]

That is friggin great. I had considered something similar for a while so this is very inspiring certainly puts my tuner / tremolo / fuzz / booster amp switching / DI pedal to shame. Well Done.

[Tony Forestiere]

my obsessive cleanliness

...paid off in spades
Absolutely clean design of the guts, and a whimsical homage to the circuits themselves. It is obvious that the well thought out planning and design stage yielded a stellar execution.

A big doff of the cap

[MoltenVoltage]

The little PCBs on the switches is genius.  Did you think of that?

Tremendous job.

[studiostud]

The little PCBs on the switches is genius.  Did you think of that?

Unfortunately, I can't take complete credit for that.  The idea was adapted from Railhead's stomp switch PCB design.  I just adapted it for my needs.  I actually re-worked that layout recently and made it so I could use a header on it as well.  So now in some of my individual projects, the entire section of wiring between the effect PCB and the stomp switch can be cleanly removed.  I also made a 2nd design that is basically the same, but has an added GND on the header for those few circuits that are finicky about having more than one GND output.

In general, I don't really think the stomp PCB saves time in the building.  In reality, it probably even adds some time when you consider making them with printing/etching/drilling.  But what it does for me is it accomplishes two things: 1) it makes the inside of the box look a lot cleaner and well thought out... and 2) it protects me from destroying switches by poking and prodding the lugs enough to break them.  I can only say that too because I've done it before.