bummer with latest builds

[dubiousss]

so here's my month
usually i go round listening to all the samples i can get my hands on, pick my favorites and order the parts, 10 pedals comes to $100
so the first lot i did where simple and went smoothly (ea-trem, foxx tone machine, double D, distortion+, may queen, thor, big muff, ts9, uno and ross phaser) though the ds1 sounded super harsh and the forumvibe still sits there, my first failure . I'll give all these to friends but keep the tremolo, modded ts9 and the foxx. (ross phaser sounds to precise like digital, nothing like hendrix)
so then my ear was refined a bit and I wanted things a little more unique, so ive managed to build: ross compressor (in love), omnidrive(a little disappointed was expecting something special) box of rock (ok but nothing special), rebote 2.5 (ok i guess but order parts for 3 so might go with rebote 1.0, would like more clarity)
built the bluebox but was disappointed with the tracking (single coils) then heard about rocktave so now i gotta order a compander
built crash sync but found 555 wasn't cmos local store has some for monday tho, will play with uglyface and hysteresis
easyvibe and flatline forgot to order red LED's but i got a bunch of green and orange but a quick trip to the store ill be sorted
zombie chorus and ultra flanger just didn't go, it could have been poor breadboarding but i suspect it could be these nte1641 chips, i got them off ebay making sure it was an american hobby store (been done by hong kong) but this is a real bummer cause i paid a bit for 2 chips, in frustration i reversed positive and negative and then smelt burning so i may have fried them also i searched and read about giving them their own power supply which didn't work either. So I'm bummed cause i don't know how to test if they are real or fried (tried both circuits), and i don't have much recourse for sending them back, and these where the effects i was looking forward to, seeing as these where the only economical pedals for me (small parts count).
the other pedals in my list where dino fuzz, sky ripper, tarpit and the brick but the stores i order from didn't sell pnp GE transistors, i just tried to breadboard the tarpit with 3906's but without the b22 i think its useless. Also the reverse voltage threw me at first but i just pluged it all in backwards and it kind of went. Mouser has a 40$ postage to New Zealand.
these failures on top of my love life are a real bummer for me right now, plus Ive run out of money, no money no honey

will orange LED's work as well as red in the easyvibe?
can i use silicone PNP transistors in place of Ge PNP? Ive got a draw full of silicone now j201s to 3906, I really like the Gagan circuits but do you have to have the GE transistors?
need a common chip to replace nte1641 or 3007, or is there a circuit i could build to replicate them?
is there a common 570 ne571 compander replacement?
any pedals anyone think id be interested in after building all these?

it seems after building the first lot I wanted more, and after building some of these I now want more synth like pedals, I have to stop this madness, I really wanted the meastro synth but couldnt find the chip.

Peace.

[oldrocker]

What are you using to build these?  Etching PCB's, perf or vero?  I have built tons of stuff but if you tried to build all this in a month you have me beat hands down. 
The Easyvibe will work with the different color LED's.  You just adjust the trim pot to compensate.  As for the Zombie and Ultraflanger these are great pedals so I wish you luck with those 2 builds.  The Omnidrive isn't for everyone but it combines several simple fuzzy overdrives into one pedal which is great to learn from. 
Yes I've built both the Rebote 2.5 and the Rebote 1.0 and even though they're both nice I use the 1.0 version more.  It's simple to use and sounds great.  The tracking on my Blue Box works great when I use the neck pick up and roll the guitar tone knob back. 
I have used that IC you mentioned in place of the 3007 in my Ultraflang so that should have worked. 
Anyway maybe slow down a little, take a step back and wait for the parts.  Then work on one project at a time until it's finished and then move to the next.  Too many projects at the same time when they're still in the debug stage can seem daunting.  Try working only 1 or 2 pedals and then move to the next.
BTW so you don't like the DS-1 either?  Man I built the tonepad version using the TL082 op amp no mods and I love it.  Another matter of opinion and not many are on my side I guess.  Anyway good luck and happy pedal  building.

[dubiousss]

yeah it was the winter holidays so id build two a day on perfboard, back at uni now, im gonna retry the ds1, it was my first build so i probably put the in/output to close together, was getting scretchs, and yeah i do do one project at a time, first breadboard then tweak then decide if it goes to perf

[JKowalski]

 


You might be not the kind of person who would enjoy this - i have no idea - but my advice is to SLOW DOWN and learn more. In my opinion, building pedals is alot more fulfilling and benificial if you take the time to understand what you are doing and learn about electronics in the process. When you start to learn in depth how all these things actually work, you have of course improved your general knowledge (always a good thing!) but you have also given yourself the option of succesfully modifying pedals so that you can make them sound perfect to your ears. (and troubleshooting non-working ones, something that might apply to your situation!  ) Even on top of that, is being able to design your own unique and interesting pedals and devices!

The amount of pedals you are building in such a short time is insane to me  

I build one fully completed pedal or other electronic device about every month or less - mainly because I design 90% of them. To me, designing and testing out new ideas and circuits is the most fun part of all of this. Then again, I might be unusual in the fact that I have something else to gain from this - I am 17 at the moment, just about to start my senior year in HS, and I am going for a enormous boost up to high level electronics classes as I enter college.

[newfish]

I salute your enthusiasm!

Where do you find the time for all those builds (and could you please send me some spare time?)

The other guys are right though - you'll learn an awful lot more if you take your time - or build your next DS-1 clone / Fuzz on a breadboard.
Putting together a simple Fuzz / ODriver on a Breadboard will give you a lot more insight into what you've already built - and will give you a good grounding for any projects that don't *quite* sound right, or simply don't work.

A simple audio probe would be extremely helpful if you did this - then you could hear what your guitar sounded like at every stage of the effect - assuming you want to of course... 

If you *are* looking for a next build, you could do a lot worse than build a Sparkleboost with one of your J201s.  I can't remember the last time I played my Telecaster without using mine.  Simple build, minimal parts count and one hell of a tone.

You could even build it on a breadboard and monkey around changing components to see what happens...

Good luck with your builds though.

[Paul Marossy]

Dude, you are burning the candle at both ends! I agree, slow down a bit and learn why you like or don't like something in addition to why things sound good or don't sound good to you. Otherwise you'll be wandering around aimlessly.

I used to listen to a soundclip of something and then immediately want to build it. But many times after I built it, I noticed that it didn't really suit my style. I built a lot of things like that before I figured out what I really wanted and/or needed. It does take some time to figure that all out if you're really into the DIY thing, because there are A LOT of circuits out there to try.

And fast forward to eight years later, after learning a lot of stuff by trial & error and spending quite a lot of time at places like this, I finally built something that I was kind of searching for all along and didn't know it. I just built it on a whim and found out that it's something great for me personally. This is after taking about a two year break from building stuff.

[dubiousss]

yeah you guys are right, i might do a circuits paper at uni next year, but i have learned a lot from what I've done, I do breadboard and run the output to different parts of the circuit (with lots of scratch's to the amp ) (now i use a cap) and im starting to understand about frequency just by hearing the terms people are using (high end rolloff etc), its a bit frustrating for me cause i thought 'oh ill just get a pedal and thatll be that' ha! was i wrong, but things like nand gates and bbd are still a mystery to me, but i did go from nothing to learning how transistors/caps/resistors work though i still dont know about inverting and that stuff, so yeah, anyone know any good ebooks? or for dummies kinda books? all my spare time and money is gone now im studying biochemistry. thanks for the reply guys!