millenium bypass

[jlullo]

hey guys.  i'm about to finish wiring up my tonepad tubescreamer today, and am still a litte confused about the millenium bypass.  I downloaded the diagram on this site, and the offboard wiring instructions on the tonepad site, but still have questions.  Should i be mounting the led and resistor to some sort of pcb?  what is the best size resistor to set in front of the led?

[zpyder]

Should i be mounting the led and resistor to some sort of pcb?

You don't have to.  I usually just solder the resistor directly to the LED lead and then directly to +9v.  Switch the ground lead of the LED.

In this image, I switched the 9v for the LED, instead of the ground connection for the LED.  I would not recommend doing it this way - switch the ground.  What you see here was my first build...

what is the best size resistor to set in front of the led?

Generally speaking, between 2.2k and 4.7k work.  But all LED's are different.  Test yours out with a 9v battery and several different resistors.  try it in the dark, in the light, etc.  And keep in mind especially if you're using batteries that the larger the resistor, the less juice the LED will pull, and therefore the longer your battery lasts.

cheers,
zpyder

[jlullo]

do i solder the resitor to the anode or cathode of the led?

[zpyder]

do i solder the resitor to the anode or cathode of the led?

Good question.  I usually put it between +9v and the anode, cathode directly to ground (via switch) and that works, but this may not be the best way

zpyder

[jlullo]

awesome that makes sense... thanks!