A box for Mark Hammer's Chaos distortion

Gilles C · May 25, 2006, 08:38:29 PM

I stopped working on guitar effects for a couple of years, but I think I have enough circuits wired and ready to be housed into a Box to wait a few days or weeks before I have to build a new circuit.

So, in the last weeks, I decided to try to find a house for some of the guitar effects I built before I took a break. I may even decide to sell some of them I decdide they sound good enough, but are not my style.

Here is a picture of a box I began to paint last week. The paint looks grainy because I only added a transparent intercoat to protect it while I'm trying to decide which circuit I will put into it. It will get some clear once the lettering is done.

Now, what would fit well with a skull? It's not too heavy, not too straight... Maybe a Tube Reamer. I'll see.

Gilles

markm · May 25, 2006, 09:01:53 PM

Is that airbrushed???
Damn son. that looks fantastic!

Gilles C · May 25, 2006, 10:01:59 PM

Indeed, it's airbrushed.

I did a sunburst job with a cheap airbrush on a box over a year ago and got hooked. So now, I have a better airbrush now ans a ton of paint...

This one:

That one too is waiting for a pcb.

I'm now looking for ideas about designs.

Gilles

Hardtailed · May 25, 2006, 10:04:50 PM

Well, this enclosure screams METAL no matter what you do, so some sort of heavy distortion is a no brainer.

But it would be funny to put a nice little chorus in it

tungngruv · May 25, 2006, 10:25:40 PM

Make Mark Hammers "Chaos" distortion, then mount both of the clipping LED's in the skull's eye's. The LED's will get brighter the harder it distorts and the skulls eye's will glow.

markm · May 25, 2006, 10:50:00 PM

Quote from: tungngruv on May 25, 2006, 10:25:40 PM
Make Mark Hammers "Chaos" distortion, then mount both of the clipping LED's in the skull's eye's. The LED's will get brighter the harder it distorts and the skulls eye's will glow.

Now that would be cool

Gilles C · May 25, 2006, 11:02:26 PM

The problem is... I play Blues (slide guitar).

But one side of me want to rock. I love Johnny Winter, Eric Sardinas and Sunny Landreth slide playing.

Hummm, I have an idea. What effect could I build for it that would still be interesting to a young guitarist that plays metal, but already owns a Boss multi-effect? Someone that plays a Strat in a Marshall and doesn't like Fender amps... I have someone in mind

Thanks,

Added: I took too much time to write my post...we posted almost at the same time. Mark's Chaos Distortion? I'll check that. Are you sure the Leds are getting bright enough? It would be cool... Nice idea.

Gilles

Gilles C · May 26, 2006, 08:39:19 AM

I searched for Mark's Chaos circuit, and was able to find the mods about using leds instead of diodes as in the original circuit.

Now, I saw mentioned that Torchy made a veroboard layout for it, but I was not able to find Torchy's site. I kind of remember it was hosted by someone else, but couldn't find where.

Anybody can help me about this?

Thanks.

Gilles

Sorry... I just found the link in my favorites, hidden sowhere in the lot of them...

http://www.indyguitarist.com/torchy/

markm · May 26, 2006, 08:48:53 AM

Quote from: Gilles C on May 25, 2006, 10:01:59 PM
Indeed, it's airbrushed.

I did a sunburst job with a cheap airbrush on a box over a year ago and got hooked.

Would that be the cheapie Testors kit I've seen around?
I was thinking about giving it a go.
MarkM

Gilles C · May 26, 2006, 10:10:08 AM

If you're talking about the cheap plastic airbrush, that's the kind of airbrush I used the first time for the Sunburst job. I paid $20.00 CAD for mine.

But it's only a bit better than a rattle can. It's not good for details, unless you just want to use stencils for your designs. But if that's what you want to do, it could be a good start. As I said, that's what I used for the first one with cheap craft paint. It depends on what you want to do.

A good enough airbrush is around $45.00-50.00 and you also need some kind of air supply which can cost more than the airbrush itself. But I saw good deals on Ebay.

I started to work on my website again last week after a 2 years break, and I want to add a tutorial about how to use an airbrush for guitar effects. What paint to use, etc...

Here is what I had so far on my website http://www.gtechblues.com

Oh, and here is how I did the Sunburst box. Yo can see the cheap airbrush under the can of Gesso Spray I used as a primer http://www.gtechblues.com/SunburstMaking.html

Gilles

petemoore · May 26, 2006, 10:21:45 AM

WAYY OT
But DIY
Air compressor free'
Old refrigerators air compressor, liberated from the fridge, connects via airhose to a 15'' tire used as airtank, let the compressor build up pressure [these compressors are slow but make good comped air] inside the tubeless tire [some air fittings are necessary to connect the tank/comp/ and then the air output hose.
Quiet, slow, holds air pressure, not recommend for air impact wrenches or high volume needs, perfect for the person with a messy garage who needs a little air now and then, I used to use compressed air to blow the WD40 and dirt from my Kahler tremolo bridge [off the guitar of course], this kept the rollers clean, an oil/air/oil/air cleaning would be done with every string change, it is hard [impossible?] to get grit out of the non-exposed moving parts of that bridge without a little air...really helped things along.

tungngruv · May 26, 2006, 02:26:35 PM

I made this Chaos a while ago using the led's as "eyes".

Gilles C · May 26, 2006, 03:05:50 PM

a

You convinced me. It's the perfect match...

Did you use he mod as per Mark Hammer suggestion in his post, or with a different configuration (LEDs to ground)?

And do they glow enough?

I was almost ready to add a little LED driver circuit to make them glow properly...

Gilles

tungngruv · May 26, 2006, 03:37:04 PM

I just mounted the LED's where the eyes were and wired them into the spot where the 4 x 1N914's are supposed to go. They will be "off" when you aren't playing and the intensity of the red glow will get brighter as you play harder (as it distorts more). This will work with any diode to ground od or distortion ( tube reamer, dod 250, dist. +, tube screamer, etc....). Your pedal will look awesome with the job you have done so far and you wont have to play "metal" to watch the eye's glow if you make a screamer or overdrive!

$uperpuma · May 26, 2006, 04:57:31 PM

we are going to have to start a Skull themed enclosure Picture thread

Gilles C · May 26, 2006, 06:45:45 PM

Instead of just a thread, maybe that a pedal finishing section would be nice...

I always liked Joe Gagan's boxes btw, even if it has nothing to do with this thread...

So, I'll try the LEDs as soon as I wire the veroboard.

Gilles

Gilles C · May 28, 2006, 04:51:30 AM

I'm almost done doing a stripboard layout (on the computer...) to use the new version with the LEDs as suggested by Mark in his post, and I noticed that there was a little mistake on Torchy's layout.

Nothing serious. It's only that there are 2 resistors identified as R11. The one below IC1 should be R13.

Gilles

Gilles C · May 30, 2006, 04:41:48 PM

While waiting to have a Chaos pcb ready to try, I began searching for the best LEDs to use for the circuit, having the higher intensity and the best look.

So here is a test with some LEDs I already had. I'll see what I can buy that could be better.

Gilles

tungngruv · May 30, 2006, 07:52:04 PM

That looks truly awesome. Wait till the intensity increases/decreases while you are playing. Great job.

Gilles C · May 30, 2006, 09:27:56 PM

Thanks.

Indeed, that should be fun to watch

Now, I also have to decide how I will label it. But that's another story. I also have to find the correct knobs.

Gilles

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A box for Mark Hammer's Chaos distortion