Made the "really cheap compressor", help debugging fuzz?

[deadlyshart]

Haha, I don't mind. I mean to be honest once you count all the small things you have to do (and time of course), building these pedals probably aren't cheaper at all. I'm doing it to learn and also for the experience, I like playing on things I made.

[EBK]

Haha, I don't mind. I mean to be honest once you count all the small things you have to do (and time of course), building these pedals probably aren't cheaper at all. I'm doing it to learn and also for the experience, I like playing on things I made.

You're doing it for all the right reasons then.  R.G. quite nicely dispels the building pedals to save money fallacy on his FAQ page: http://www.geofex.com/effxfaq/bldfx.htm

[bloxstompboxes]

Considering you can build many of the pedals we do for around $20 using the same quality components like most manufacturers like Boss does, I think you can do it cheaper than buying them from whatever music shop available to you. Especially, when building vintage effects that would cost hundreds through channels like ebay. Where you might run into issues now is knowing how to do it, doing a quality build on your own, and maybe getting some components if you live in one of these places that has a lot of shipping or tax issues.

The saving fallacy was true back when R.G wrote that on his site, maybe it's still true for some of us. But, the internet has made things cheaper, for most of us at least. It has also given us the information and resources to do things many of us wouldn't have dreamed of doing due to the cost of higher education to get such knowledge, or time spent going to the library and reading all those books. We now have sites like this that puts all the info in one place. And a wonderful place it is at that!

[EBK]

I can't build anything for $20.

Also, although you can build pedals cheaper than you can buy brand name ones, you can't generally build them for cheaper than the price of Chinese knockoffs.

[duck_arse]

deadlyshart - I wasn't saying I was getting radio, it sounded like radio, I thought they was saying things about kipper. and yes, 10mA is not excessive if the led is rated for that or more current. very bright, though, and many many times brighter than the circuit will light it.

when I was testing this circuit, I watched the output level on the hot lug of the volume pot on the scope - when you increase the input signal level, the output increases to a point, then seems to stop increasing. this proves the compression/limiting. and (low) bass notes will compress less, so they will have a greater maximum output level, and may clip. increasing the 100nF feeding the led driver to 150nF or 220nF will allow flatter bass response.

the cap type doesn't matter, as long as the capacitance value is correct, and your voltage rating is enough to keep the smoke in.

I see you have built-in spare pots on your build, nice. but, don't bend those solder pins, they are meant to stand perpendicular to the board. you can cut a little board, solder to the pins, then solder wires between the two boards, OR you can solder resistor leg off-cuts to the pot pins, then solder them to the large board OR you can buy right angle pcb pin pots OR you can carry on and just ignore my ramblings - millions would.

[deadlyshart]

deadlyshart - I wasn't saying I was getting radio, it sounded like radio, I thought they was saying things about kipper. and yes, 10mA is not excessive if the led is rated for that or more current. very bright, though, and many many times brighter than the circuit will light it.

when I was testing this circuit, I watched the output level on the hot lug of the volume pot on the scope - when you increase the input signal level, the output increases to a point, then seems to stop increasing. this proves the compression/limiting. and (low) bass notes will compress less, so they will have a greater maximum output level, and may clip. increasing the 100nF feeding the led driver to 150nF or 220nF will allow flatter bass response.

the cap type doesn't matter, as long as the capacitance value is correct, and your voltage rating is enough to keep the smoke in.

I see you have built-in spare pots on your build, nice. but, don't bend those solder pins, they are meant to stand perpendicular to the board. you can cut a little board, solder to the pins, then solder wires between the two boards, OR you can solder resistor leg off-cuts to the pot pins, then solder them to the large board OR you can buy right angle pcb pin pots OR you can carry on and just ignore my ramblings - millions would.

Thank you for the advice!

So I think I'm doing a similar thing to what you're suggesting here, to verify that it's working (or not). I'm using my function generator to input a sin wave, and then monitoring it with the scope at the pin 1 (first op amp output) in this schematic:



is that right?

Regarding the pots, yeah, it wasn't ideal in this setup... but how do you typically stabilize the board if it's not mechanically connected to the pots? Do you use standoffs or what?

[EBK]

I stabilize my boards with double-stick foam tape.  You can stack it up as high as you need and cut it to any size/shape you want.  Very versatile stuff.  I never rely on a solder joint to hold something in place.

[duck_arse]

yes, that is right, pin 1 is ok. it will have the bias voltage as offset, but otherwise good. and with 2 pots = 6 anchor points, using short wire links wrapped once and soldered to the pot pins, you have plenty of stable for a board this size.