**The DIYStompboxes 10-Year Anniversary Contest Thread**

[Liquitone]

thanks for embedding the video jdansti, the link I put up is just the url. I tried wrapping it using the youtube button in the reply window, and tried copy/pasting the embed link from youtube but somehow kept getting *invalid link*

I was wondering in the contest rules, what counts as new or unseen builds? I feel obliged to disclose that both my entrees are modified and expanded versions of earlier builds.
The Deluxe Stereo Vibe shares a lot of it's layout with the mono vibe in a wah-shell I build around the same time and I posted pictures of that one before entering this contest;
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii220/tsjazynski/Liquitone%20Effects/S6000409_zps116045ae.jpg
The Deluxe Tremolo is, apart from the mode-switch with additional caps and resistors,  almost identical in layout to my standard tremolo;
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii220/tsjazynski/Liquitone%20Effects/tremologuts.png

Thanks for the compliments guys! I haven't replied much to other builds here because I was so occupied with getting these things done in time, but great builds all around! Quite a few with 1950DD's as well.
I love Govmnt Lacky's flanger, sad to see the components hidden under the board in the gut-shot, but it makes total sense building it that way, with the on-board pots and rotary switches.
haveyouseenhim's cheese is brilliant, great use of new technology, a little bit disappointed it doesn't sound cheesy at all, actually it sounds great!
Arph's Sentinel, great looks and sounds, especially like the idea of the sanded down look.
Vallhagens pinking, love the idea of 3 band FET drive. I Love FET based overdrives, and always wanted to build a 3-band boost/drive but without much succes so far. also the idea of your kid doing the artwork is great.
also love deadastronauts Space controll fuzz.

@deadastronaut; It has always been this vegetarian's dream to have a huge picture of a sausage on the wall!!

[deadastronaut]

^ great, now your dream has come true...but you haven't won yet!..

note: i had a word with the judges and  they  100% agree that there should be a runners up meat based framed photo award too.

so that nobody feels left out.  (see rule No: 13.)


this will be posted a week after the competition has ended.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

@deadastronaut; It has always been this vegetarian's dream to have a huge picture of a sausage on the wall!!

HEY... HEY.... HEY!!!

That sausage will be mine sir! 

Oh yes..... it will be mine!!!   

[deadastronaut]

   no way...   ^

[Govmnt_Lacky]

  no way...   ^

Sharing is caring!! 

We can split it! 

[Vallhagen]

...an anagram ...

Ah. anagram. thats a 100 +Points in my book:) ... I like the cute trädgårdsspade and pcb lines too! You use some EAGLE software or similar, or is it just graphics?

Great Circuit Pelle.

Cheerio

[midwayfair]

Rob, I believe you're required to provide a vegetarian alternative.

[deadastronaut]

ok, will do....

[Vallhagen]

Here is my 2nd entry; the Deluxe Tremolo.

...and im impressed again! I just looked through the video, and yea, this thing its not only wonderful inside, its useful too! Great tremolo options.

But still... mostly i am impressed about your very personal design style. the way you have your own niche. Extrmely cool.

Cheers!

[Vallhagen]

Name: THofmann aka Thomas_H :-)
Pedalname: Purity aka All-In-One

This is great too. Almost too much in one ... You really focused on getting something complex and useful here. Pro:)

Cheers

[midwayfair]

The judges have given considerable thought and discussion to what constitutes a layout as required in #6 and #10 of the rules. When the rules were written, the judges did not explicitly state what a layout should consist of. To avoid unfairly disqualifying someone due to an unclear rule, the judges have ruled that a parts placement layout meets the requirements of the rules. This ruling is final and we ask that there be no more discussion of this issue on this thread.

[thofmann]

Name: THofmann aka Thomas_H :-)
Pedalname: Purity aka All-In-One

Some more Soundclips for the All-In-One. (including the already existing ones with a little more explanation)

#1 Feeding a nice tune into AUX-In and using the tonecontrol and the filter switches to demonstrate the abilities. Recorded @ Line-Out
https://soundcloud.com/th-custom-effects/all-in-one-recording-mixing

#2 feeding a pedal demo to AUX-IN and using the Meno/Stereo Headphone switch. Recorded@ headphone-out
https://soundcloud.com/th-custom-effects/headphone-amp-stereo

#3 (new) Using a guitar @Guitar-In and a Delay in the FX-Loop. Turning the Wet/Dry control from 100% dry to 100% wet step by step. recorded @ Line-Out
https://soundcloud.com/th-custom-effects/all-in-one-wet-dry-control

#4 (new) Using a guitar @Guitar In and a Fuzz/Delay combo in the FX loop. Backingtrack comes in via AUX-In. Recording @ Line-Out. Playing is done by the pedal builder himself 
https://soundcloud.com/th-custom-effects/all-in-one-as-a-practicing

[Perrow]

...an anagram ...

Ah. anagram. thats a 100 +Points in my book:) ... I like the cute trädgårdsspade and pcb lines too! You use some EAGLE software or similar, or is it just graphics?

Great Circuit Pelle.

Cheerio

Thanks for the bonus points

I use diylc,  I'll pm you a link to a tutorial I wrote.

[Jdansti]

I was wondering in the contest rules, what counts as new or unseen builds? I feel obliged to disclose that both my entrees are modified and expanded versions of earlier builds.
The Deluxe Stereo Vibe shares a lot of it's layout with the mono vibe in a wah-shell I build around the same time and I posted pictures of that one before entering this contest;
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii220/tsjazynski/Liquitone%20Effects/S6000409_zps116045ae.jpg
The Deluxe Tremolo is, apart from the mode-switch with additional caps and resistors,  almost identical in layout to my standard tremolo;
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii220/tsjazynski/Liquitone%20Effects/tremologuts.png

Thanks for the disclosure, but you're legal. (BTW - I had already looked at your earlier builds to confirm this.  )

"New or unseen builds" means that the physical pedal (circuit board and enclosure) that you submit cannot have been posted on the forum in the past.  For example, you cannot submit a Tube Screamer that you had posted photos of in the past, but you can build a new one for the contest and submit it-even if it looks identical to the original that you had previously posted.  There's a certain amount of honor system involved.  Hope that answers your question. 

[Liquitone]

yep! thanks for the clarification, that's one step closer to having a sausage or perhaps even a tofu-bar on my wall.

thanks vallhagen, the idea behind it was to have useful sounds instead of gimmicky sounds you would hardly use. I have built a dual tremulus lune with 10 knobs on it in the past, it was great fun, but not what I would want to use on stage.
I'm glad people consider me having found a niche, it has developed over the years through a combination of ignorance, stubbornness and improvising to get around limitations; I actually never etched a pcb and went from veroboard straight to turrets cause I didn't want to risk ruining my roommate's kitchen sink, the reason I use letter-stamps was born out of not being able to spray-paint during a very cold winter.

[LucifersTrip]

whew...videos delayed me on this one.

[LucifersTrip]

Atom 'Lytic Triple Barrel Lo-Fi Electret Distortion
(with 3-band EQ)


This one is dedicated to fans of open air recording. I hope I've succeeded in going completely in the opposite direction of the other entrants...

As with my previous builds, my goal was to build something I've never seen in a stompbox, make it as far removed from anything commercially available and make it a complete piece of artwork both inside and out.

This is one of those ideas I came up with late at night hanging with friends, told em about it and was then dared to do it. As usual, they thought I was joking.

I used an LM386 to drive a combination of three speakers (IN the stompbox) and mic them with an electret microphone.

The Process:

The first step was to find three small speakers with completely different tones and ones that encompassed bass, mids & treble, like a lo-fi 3-band equalizer. I went through about fifteen or twenty of all types, sizes and ages. The 1.5" one was pulled from a vintage transistor radio and the other two from kiddie toys from my circuit bending days. Here's the toy that housed the 1" speaker.

Purple freak w/ heart removed

Once I had the speakers, the first problem was finding a decent looking enclosure that was large enough and deep enough to handle all three. A big rectangular box would've been simpler, but I chose a sloped LMB "modular desktop console" that I picked up at a ham/electronics fest. Though not sold as a pedal enclosure, you'll see  DIYers use 'em for TB MKI builds. It's 6" X 4" X 2.5", so deep enough to handle a mounted speaker.

To pick up the sound, I used an electret mic that came with an old computer when video conferencing was first becoming popular.

Electret Mic:


If you're not familiar with an electret, it's basically a small condenser mic that's used in a ton of stuff today:
Electret Mic Wiki

The next part was easily the toughest...positioning the speakers in such a way that all the sound is picked up relatively evenly, doesn't feed back and of course doesn't interfere with the other components. After much experimenting, I determined that the most feedback was caused when the mic was pointing directly at a speaker. So, the configuration I wound up with has all three speakers facing the sides of the mic. To do that and fit them in the enclosure, one speaker had to be facing up and the other two on each side. That way there is no feedback at all.

I built three mounts for those speakers with a combination of plywood and balsa.

Speakers in Mounts:


A long time went into figuring out the best way to mount the mic to make it simple and flexible for adjusting. I originally was going to have it attached to the lid, facing straight down, but that wasn't flexible for tweaking since you can't actually see it at the same time as the speakers. The next idea was to make a boom with thin music wire that could be bent into position with pliers. I almost did that when I realized I still had the original mic stand. I carved it down to a thin strip so it wouldn't interfere with the speakers and mounted it on a hardwood block. This way, I could loosen the screw, rotate it any way I wanted at the mount, then re-tighten. I also can rotate the mic where it's attached at the end of the boom, so I have loads of control for tweaking.

Mic mount:


I initially was going to use a 3-way switch to choose one single speaker at a time; either high, medium or low...but mid-way through the project I realized I could have multiple on at the same time with no problems, so I added a switch for each individual speaker. This way, I had seven possibilities instead of three (!), and I could get ANY combination of high, medium & low (1, 2, 3, 1/2, 1/3, 2/3, 1/2/3)...a lo-fi 3-band EQ!

During breadboarding, I also noticed that altering the resistor on the mic actually acts as kind of a tone control, with lower voltages (10K) giving more of a bassier tone and (30K) producing more treble. Below 10K is very hissy and above 30K, the volume drops way off. So, I went with a 10K limiter with a 20K pot.

I had a couple weeks left, couldn't help myself, so decided to build this point to point using mostly vintage components, including some crazy monster caps, since those types were actually used in old amps...hence, the "triple barrel" (three large caps & three speakers). I always have a blast, and find it a challenge to fit large components into unlikely places. Between the switches worked perfectly for the caps, with the added benefit of the common switch lug wired to "cage" them in.

I "sacrificed" two of my favorite-named Sprague caps, an "Atom 'Lytic" and a "Vitamin Q". I'm not sure of the brand of the third, but like the Atom 'Lytic, it has a cardboard casing.





Comically, each of those caps can cost nearly as much or more than the enclosure....some people are nuts:

Atom 'Lytic FS

Vitamin Q FS

In addition to the caps, I also used a couple vintage 1960's 1% military glass resistors, one vintage 60's speaker (as mentioned earlier, from a transistor radio that was used for germanium harvesting), a jewel from a vintage amp, a couple vintage (late 70's - early 80's) 1/4" jacks, a few 60's terminal strips and lastly, a couple vintage metal knobs from an "autonomic nerve-point finder".

Nerve-Point Finder missing two

Lastly, the main part of the box is painted with a textured paint and the sides are black hammered. The interior is navy blue with black speaker and electret mounts and mic.

Possible mods:

There are so many things that can be done with the speakers, mic and enclosure. Of course, everything makes a difference. The angle of the mic, the proximity of the mic and even the size of the enclosure. I experimented by putting different "lids" over the speakers when miked and each one produced different tones and volume levels. The coolest thing I did was slash a speaker to get a more fuzzy distortion, but I opted out since I didn't know how long the speaker would actually last.

The half with the components:


The half with speakers before the mic was added:






Fully wired with mic and third set of terminal strips for the mic (note that the mic boom was adjusted towards the "high" speaker to make up for it's lower volume):



Schematic:



Layout:



The outside:





In Camouflage:





Controls on bottom:



I only had access to a camera video which has time and memory limits (thus the separation and brevity) and doesn't pick up the full bass range, but hopefully I was able to clearly show the variety of tones:

First, each of the three speakers one at a time, then mic setting full CCW (bass), then full CW (treble):

0:00 Clean
0:09 Speaker 1 (low)
0:30 Speaker 2 (mid)
0:54 Speaker 3 (high)
1:16 Mic CCW (bass)
1:41 Mic CW (treble)

Different combinations of the low-mid-high (left to right) speakers.

0:00 Speaker 1
0:11 Speaker 1-2
0:19 Speaker 1-3
0:28 Speaker 2-3
0:38 Speaker 1-2-3

In retrospect, I  probably should've gone with chords, so I recorded a second video with another camera with better mic, but much lower quality video. Enjoy the lo-fi grain. But in the end,  I probably would've needed a better mic (external) so you could easily hear the high, mid & low separation. Those switches work like a primitive 3-band EQ.

For this I started with all three speakers on, then removed highs & mids, then added them back in a different order:

0:00 Speaker 1-2-3
0:08 Speaker 1-2
0:16 Speaker 1
0:24 Speaker 1-3
0:33 Speaker 1-2-3

I didn't include a gain control since rolling back on the volume cleans up good enough.

0:00 Volume Rolled Back
0:11 Full Volume

For the fun, with a wah & lo-fi camera. Surprisingly, It actually works very good before or after the wah. Appropriately, I busted a string right at the end:

If you go for it, this will most likely not sound like any distortion you have. You'll have control of low, medium and high ranges, coupled with a tone control for any of the seven combinations. It has a completely different nature and sound than any of my numerous distortions. That hollow, lo-fi, miked sound would be tough to duplicate any other way.

[Liquitone]

Talking about thinking way out of the box!! that's pretty amazing and original. I quite like the sound, I bet those wooden speaker mounts help with preventing things getting too tinny. Those glass resistors look pretty awesome!

[jimilee]

Game over! I'm just not gonna bother entering. I found my new hero.

[midwayfair]

Game over! I'm just not gonna bother entering. I found my new hero.

Jimi, please don't say that. There are more prizes than contestants at the moment and I know you're capable of a competitive entry.