Anybody made a small Boss dimension C PCB?

[Morocotopo]

Well, that. I made the Topopiccione one, I really like that pedal, never heard a better chorus, but the box uses about 3/4 of the pedalboard. Too big. How did Boss made it into their standard box? I came across some pics of the original PCB. They used those opamps that have the pins inline, and the plastic casing is "vertical", so to speak. Is that the secret of the small layout? Might be. Also, single sided PCB! Those engineers really knew how to shrink! I might try to clone the boss layout, maybe with the pics I can.

Or maybe someone has already made this?

[Andre]

I succesfully cloned the original Boss Layout
I can send you the PCB transfer and parts layout.

Here are some pics:

[Taylor]

Yowza.

[Brymus]

I must be turning into a geek, because I think that PCB is beautiful !
Nice job,you must of used UV resist method for that one.

[Morocotopo]

I succesfully cloned the original Boss Layout
I can send you the PCB transfer and parts layout.

My hero!!!!

You just saved me hours of work!!!!

Please send me the files. I´ll PM you with my mail adress.
Were the opamps easy to get in that format (I think it´s SIP, right?)? BA718, if I don´t remember wrong...

[gigimarga]

I succesfully cloned the original Boss Layout
I can send you the PCB transfer and parts layout.
....................

   
Fantastic work Andre!!!
After solderman made the very tight PCB for an ADA Flanger, I thought that Boss DC-3 became the last very complex stompbox without a small PCB...now I see that in a short time I will finished all the effects that I dreamed to clone

Please, can you post here (or send me on gigelmargel at yahoo dot com) the PCB and the layout?

Thanks a lot!

[Andre]

I must be turning into a geek, because I think that PCB is beautiful !
Nice job,you must of used UV resist method for that one.

Thanks, and yes I use UV resist methode.
Drilling the PCB was a pain.
I think I had to drill about 350 holes, but it was worth while.
It is a very nice chorus.
I only replaced the four pushbuttons with a speed and a depth pot.

[Processaurus]

Wow! 

I only replaced the four pushbuttons with a speed and a depth pot.

Interestingly, on my b*hringer clone, the switches aren't exclusive (they don't push out the other buttons), and it sounds like there are 16 combinations of speed and depth.

[deadastronaut]

that is some board there!...wow..

[peps1]

Kudos on that board, from the layout to the etch!

[gigimarga]

Interestingly, on my b*hringer clone, the switches aren't exclusive (they don't push out the other buttons), and it sounds like there are 16 combinations of speed and depth.

How do you think about the quality of the sound in your clone?
For me would be cheaper to buy one and to tweak it, instead of buying a couple of MNs...

[shadowmaster]

I saw 2 music stores selling very reasonably priced used Dimension Cs in Ochanomizu while I was on a business trip to Japan.

I was tempted to buy one but my extreme desire to clone one stopped me from buying it.

On a second thought... I might as well grab one if I ever go back to Japan again and just clone one later.

[Processaurus]

Interestingly, on my b*hringer clone, the switches aren't exclusive (they don't push out the other buttons), and it sounds like there are 16 combinations of speed and depth.

How do you think about the quality of the sound in your clone?
For me would be cheaper to buy one and to tweak it, instead of buying a couple of MNs...

I've never seen a DC-2 in real life, nor fancy myself a chorus man, but the clone does produce a nice tone with minimized wobble, as the dimension c is known for.  Very quiet, actually, which surprised me for a plastic encased pedal with two analog delay clocks running.  Of course it is way cooler to build one!

Side note, Roland's 80's GR-700 guitar synth has a great chorus effect for the synth which is electronically similar to the Dim C, minus the companding.

[Mark Hammer]

Behringer sells an inexpensive clone of the Dimension C (heck, which Boss pedals do they NOT sell a clone of?).  While I am sceptical of their choices of op-amps (unlikely they will fork out for M5218L's), there is no budget or lesser choice of compander or delay chips, so Ican't see the clone as being dramatically worse than the Boss original, soundwise, although its roadworthiness may be another matter.  Given the makeover that Scott Stites has done with it, though, it might be worth picking up a Behringer unit to experiment with and rehouse in a larger enclosure:  http://mypeoplepc.com/members/scottnoanh/birthofasynth/id9.html

[DougH]

The Behringer unit sounds very good. I have read reviews that compared it to the Boss unit and except for the button action, it supposedly sounds indistinguishable, according to some reviewers.

The Behringer plastic enclosure and hardware in general is pretty shoddy though, so if you can make square holes for the buttons, a rehouse is probably a good idea. I have one, and should probably rehouse it, but have not gotten around to it. It's a great sounding "motionless" chorus though- warmer sounding than the detune on my PS5 (which sounds great too BTW).

That's a beautiful look board, Andre!

[Fredenando]

Sorry, I mistook

[gigimarga]

Thx Processaurus, thx Mark Hammer, thx DougH!

It seems to me that's a better ideea to buy a Behringer clone and to tweak it instead of building one from zero

[Andre]

Thx Processaurus, thx Mark Hammer, thx DougH!

It seems to me that's a better ideea to buy a Behringer clone and to tweak it instead of building one from zero

I think you're right because it's a very tough build.
I mentioned earlier that I had to drill about 350 holes, but after checking the partslist I counted more than 500 holes.
The PCB holds over 200 parts and the pads and traces are very small, so if you make some mistake and need to desolder parts, the pcb is easily damaged.
Also some parts like the BA634 will probably be hard to find.

I cloned the DC-2 before the Behringer version was available, but now I'd probably go the easy way and buy the Behringer clone and rehouse it.
On the other hand I'm sort of proud of "my" version of the DC-2:


BTW I also succesfully cloned the Boss CE-2, DM-2 and SG-1 PCB's