Buzzaround build....

[mcknib]

Looks cool,

I like those enclosures are you still selling or have you sold the one's you had up in your other post, where did you get them from?

I'm in Glasgow and have been trying more unusual enclosure types recently.

Going back to the GE diodes Fuzzdog's just started selling 1n34A's at 90p each so not too shabby

http://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Mojo_bits/cat847125_2465704.aspx

The Russian D series are a good option too especially if you're buying from e-bay I've bought a few batches and they've all been very good.

The OA seriies will give you a wee bit of a mojo look I got a couple of OA7's from Doctor Tweek the radial one's which might look cool standing up a little and showing the red dot






Unfortunately his sites been down for a long while  but hopefully he'll open up again soon I used to get 99% of all of my components from Steve.

Great guy to deal with, excellent service and top quality gear.

http://doctortweek.co.uk/epages/f6b73913-c261-421c-ad34-915e1cccc9ce.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/f6b73913-c261-421c-ad34-915e1cccc9ce/Categories/10

Here's another link where Jon (midwayfair) has tested various GE diodes and gives information on how they sound etc well worth a read:

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=5399.0

[digi2t]

Funny. You've pretty much highlighted my 3 issues with this build.

Those pots were a mistake & were supposed to be full-sized & solid shafted (I might still replace them). The ones you pictured look nice. Are they old or new, but made to look old?

The footswitch was a quandary as the wiring diagram I'm referring to has 6 pins but I wanted the LED. Getting my head around wiring it for a 9-pin switch will no doubt cause me some problems.

I initially wanted to mount the PCB at the bottom but thought it'd be a pain in the arse if you had to open it up, what with the wires effectively being attached to both pieces of the enclosure. It'll be easier to service this way & I like the look of those 2 little black screws.

As to the grey coax wire, do you mean the shielded stuff used in the Burns originals? I bought a metre of the stuff 

Those are CTS pots. They're new, but look vintage. They're tougher to find in 100K and 10K values, but Alpha makes a nice 24mm pot as well;



NewOldSounds on EBay has both CTS, and Alpha, but only audio taper in the 10K CTS model.

Here's a diagram for the bypass switch;



Don't forget that the Buzzaround is positive ground, so you'll be feeding -9 to the LED resistor, flip the resistor around from how it's shown on the diagram, and the + will be "ground".

[blackieNYC]

I've got a buzzaround next on the list. I've made a good number of pedals, but no negative ground. I like everything to be on my boss-type negative ground daisy chain so I'm planning on using one of the voltage converters - 1044 or the 7660
I'm aware that the MC1044 can be unhappy if it sees over 10(?) volts. But assuming a working charge pump, is there a downside to doing a fuzz this way?  I've only used them to get a bipolar supply for a modulator.  Is some degree of noise or other fault in performance introduced when powering a fuzz or other high gain circuit?  Really wouldn't want to use a battery exclusively.

[chuckd666]

In my experience, if you make the charge pump/inverter or whatever properly, there's no issue at all.

[PRR]

> would not the schottky 1N34 be a junction diode? and the germanium version would be a point contact type?

"Silicon" is a semiconductor-semiconductor junction.

Schottky is metal–semiconductor junction.

Schottky is, in some sense, half of a two-halves junction. That's why it is lower drop.

True point-contact "junction" is not a simple thing. Nor manufacturable (with passable precision/economy). I suspect "Ge" diodes are true junction diodes, although older ones used a hair-wire to avoid ANY stress on the crystal.

IIRC (maybe not), some of the first Silicon diodes had the hair-wire. While a similar thing was used in Galenium (cat-whisker) and Bell's point-contact transistors, I think the point processing was different.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

mknib - Sorry mate, I sold the enclosures. The blue/black ones were from Mouser. It looks like Farnell sell similar sized Hammonds but I'm not sure if they sell this particular one. Thanks for the links on GEs. I actually just took a punt on a couple of OA95s. I saw some of the radial ones available too but wasn't sure if they'd do the job.

Digi2t - I'm trying to resist the temptation of upgrading the pots. While they certainly look the part, they're around £5 a pop in the UK & I'm trying to keep at least some of the costs down for this pedal (says the guy who just spent £3 on a diode!)

[PorkyPrimeCut]

Incidentally, does anyone know the part number of the GE diode used in the original Burns model?

I see this question was asked before in an older, longer Burns Buzzaround thread but it never quite got answered.

[mcknib]

Porky here's a pic don't know the actual part number but you can see the diode bands pretty good the pic is massive but that's what you want in this case innit? scroll along to the bottom right not 100% it's all original looking at that electro



There are other images of an original unit here:

http://russelltechnologies.co.uk/buzzaround.html

[digi2t]

If we rely on the color bands, then the diodes seems to be a 1N60 (1N + a blue band = 6, and a black band = 0).

[PorkyPrimeCut]

If we rely on the color bands, then the diodes seems to be a 1N60 (1N + a blue band = 6, and a black band = 0).

Thanks for that! I've just been looking at diode colour charts & completely confusing myself! *facepalm*

[PorkyPrimeCut]

OK, some really bad noob questions now (sorry!!!)

Firstly, as I've never used tagboard before, which are the OUPUT and INPUT lugs on the board?

Secondly, I'd been using this diagram as reference....



....but didn't notice the 6-pin footswitch. How straightforward is it to wire in a 3PDT switch?

Also, the 3 lugs on the jack sockets. What's the SLEEVE, RING, TIP order for them?

[digi2t]

OK. This image already incorporated shielded wire, the core in blue, and the shield in gray.

Firstly, as I've never used tagboard before, which are the OUPUT and INPUT lugs on the board?

If you look at this schematic, you should be able to figure out which end is which...

....but didn't notice the 6-pin footswitch. How straightforward is it to wire in a 3PDT switch?

The 6 pin switch is essentially 2/3 of a 9 pin version. Refer to the previous example image that I posted before. You'll use the third section for the LED alone (leaving one pin free).

Also, the 3 lugs on the jack sockets. What's the SLEEVE, RING, TIP order for them?

If the blue wire is your core wire, and grey is your shield, then where the blue lines connect are the tips, with the shields going to the sleeves. The ring (red wire) is used on the input jack for switching. (There you go, just gave you another hint as to where to find the input on the board. Trace away! )

[PorkyPrimeCut]

The 6 pin switch is essentially 2/3 of a 9 pin version. Refer to the previous example image that I posted before. You'll use the third section for the LED alone (leaving one pin free).

Cool. I was hoping this was the case.

If the blue wire is your core wire, and grey is your shield, then where the blue lines connect are the tips, with the shields going to the sleeves. The ring (red wire) is used on the input jack for switching. (There you go, just gave you another hint as to where to find the input on the board. Trace away! )

Ha! Thanks.

I've been trying to ignore the shielding part of the 2 core wire (which is essentially grounding every part of the pedal, it seems) and concentrate on the core wire. It looks more busy & complicated than it actually is.
I'll put my Sherlock Holmes hat on later & see if I can suss this out. I'll be drawing a new diagram (which I'll post) that I can refer to when I wire this thing up.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

OK, how's this looking?

(I think I might've got the LED part wrong).....



EDIT - On second thoughts, I could've got a fair bit wrong. I copied across all the wiring from the 6-pin diagram, including the jumper which is positioned differently on the 3DPT switch you've referenced. Man this is a headache! I tried to have a go with the schematic but I just don't understand them.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

Editing the original diagram might explain how I was thinking (effectively adding an extra vertical row of lugs to make up the 9 pins....



Was I right, close or nowhere near?

[digi2t]

Looks good to me. 

[mcknib]

Found this site for vintage parts UK based not the best to navigate but a nice selection of germanium diodes to choose from I bought one of the 1N60 they had in stock so there's one left.

Postage is 3.50 so I got 19 germanium diodes and 14 caps total cost posted 18.90


http://markhindes.easywebstore.co.uk/1N60-Original-Germanium-Diode_A3V8B.aspx

[PorkyPrimeCut]

Looks good to me. 

Yaaay!!!! That was by far the hardest part of this whole project for me.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

Found this site for vintage parts UK based not the best to navigate but a nice selection of germanium diodes to choose from I bought one of the 1N60 they had in stock so there's one left.

Postage is 3.50 so I got 19 germanium diodes and 14 caps total cost posted 18.90


http://markhindes.easywebstore.co.uk/1N60-Original-Germanium-Diode_A3V8B.aspx

Hey man, that's a great find. Thanks for the link!

I just snagged an assortment of diodes (including 1N60s & some great looking 1N193s)  & a couple of caps too, just in case I end up building more of these buzzarounds.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

Found this site for vintage parts UK based not the best to navigate but a nice selection of germanium diodes to choose from I bought one of the 1N60 they had in stock so there's one left.

Postage is 3.50 so I got 19 germanium diodes and 14 caps total cost posted 18.90


http://markhindes.easywebstore.co.uk/1N60-Original-Germanium-Diode_A3V8B.aspx

Hey man, that's a great find. Thanks for the link!

I just snagged an assortment of diodes (including 1N60s & some great looking 1N193s)  & a couple of caps too, just in case I end up building more of these buzzarounds.

EDIT - I've since tried to find more info on the 1N193s (described on that site as a "GE" diode) but can only see pedal-related stuff about 1N192s. I gather there are different kinds of diodes for circuits. Do you think this one will still be OK? GE stands for Germanium, right?