Personal Best Project

[R-Man]

Hello people I'm brand new to this site and I'm going to make a tubescreamer.
Its for a school assignment called Personal Best, where you do/make something totally wicked and challenging what you want to do and its encouraged you do something you aren't familiar with.

I AM SO NOT familiar with stompbox construction but i am a good guitarist i love guitar therefore i really want to make the Tubescreamer. (click it)

i was wondering who else might have made this? i just want to know if theres any advice or anything at all you could tell me.
I'd like to keep this thread here so further along i can ask questions to experienced people .

Peace to all,
R-Man.

[$uperpuma]

welcome! thats a cool project! I would start with reading the WIKI and getting an idea as to how each part of the process is done. I'd probably order the circuit board from GGG unless you are wanting to learn to do that right away as well... do a search for Tubescreamer as well, especially if you run intoprobs....chances are, someone has run into that prob before

HAve fun!
-NAte

[calculating_infinity]

http://www.diystompboxes.com/cnews/FAQ.html
http://www.geofex.com/effxfaq/fxfaq.htm
http://www.diystompboxes.com/wiki/
http://www.geofex.com/
http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/TStech/tsxfram.htm

whoo

[oldrocker]

Component wise the only 2 unique features are the two 1uF NP or BP caps and the two .22uf tant used.  I found some 1uF axial NP's when I built mine and I used metal film caps for the tants.  I'm not sure how crucial these four caps are but for what I used I can say it sounds great.  For the 4558's I've use TL072's and (TL082's available at Radio Shack) with decent results.  Are you prefboarding this project?  I did and I've been using it regularly with no problems.  Welcome to the board, good luck and keep us posted.

[R-Man]

oh man your all awesome! thanks for the links and the warm welcome

oldrocker, im sorry  im not sure what you mean by prefboarding... do you mean etching into the PCB? no, i'm going to order the kit which has a ready to soldier PCB.

[GonzoFonts]

R-Man,

Welcome to the board.

I think you have your head on straight when it comes to ordering a kit. Everything is there for you so you don't need to worry about making your own PC board, drilling an enclosure, etc.

The only thing that you may want to do is use a socket for the IC this way you have a minimal chance of damaging it while assembling your kit. IC's are not expensive but if you do damage it while soldering it on the the PC board, it would be difficult to remove it (this comment is based on an assumption that you are new to soldering and the last thing a newbie will want to do is remove an IC from a PC board).

I do not believe the kit comes with a socket but you should be able to pick one (or two) up at your local Radio Shack for just a couple of dollars.

Have fun.

GF

[R-Man]

Your assumptions is correct
The last thing i want to do is damage anything so I will use a socket indeed.

Thanks!

[jlullo]

r man,
you are going to love it. the first thing i ever built was a ts-808, and it's absolutely my favorite.

good luck and welcome!  let us all know how everything is going

jonathan

[oldrocker]

Well once you finish there's a good chance you'll be addicted to stompbox building.    Now you'll need to find an effects pedal building rehab center near you.

[Paul Marossy]

My TS808 clone is still on my pedalboard. I don't think it will ever be off of it. 

[ChrisPtacek]

oldrocker, im sorry  im not sure what you mean by prefboarding... do you mean etching into the PCB? no, i'm going to order the kit which has a ready to soldier PCB.

Perfboard


One of a handful of ways folks around here build/prototype new toys, gizmos, and gadgets.

You're better off building with the PCB because it'll be cleaner and easier, and in the end, you'll probably be happier.  But a perfboard version could win you brownie points for how homemade it would look (and be, frankly.)  Have fun with it!  Should be a blast!

[R-Man]

ohhh alright cool

I'm getting a kit from BYOC as GF suggested to me. There was an issue with the postage and handling costs but i found out that they have a shop in Perth (Western Australia) so I'm gonna have it ordered from there!
this kit's instructions make oh so much more sense and the PCB is better. Plus the acutal result is a smaller pedal it just looks cooler 

[d95err]

Sounds like a great idea to build a pedal as a school project. Starting out with a kit is also a good idea. Building a well-known project that *everyone* in the DIY community has built is also a good idea, since you'll get all the help you could ever need from this forum.

However... *EVERYONE* has a Tube Screamer, it must be one of the most common pedals on a typical effect board. If you build one, you can tell your friends: This is MY Tube Screamer, it sounds exactly like... a Tube Screamer.

Perhaps you should trying something different, something unique to the DIY community. That way you can tell your friends: This is MY pedal, it sounds UNIQUE!

My suggestion would be the BSIAB2 kit from www.generalguitargadgets.com, or the Eighteen kit from www.olcircuits.com. These are fairly well known projects in the DIY community, so you should be able to get proper help if you need it.

[oldrocker]

Back in 1979 when I was in electronics class I had to build a project like you also.  Back then there was no internet and most pedals made then seemed like mystery circuits.  I etched up a board using that old tape stuff used to create the traces back then.  I found an old fuzz pedal circuit in an electronics magazine.  I dug up an old Fuzz Face type ( I don't think it was a FF) empty shell and used parts from the old radios and TV's that we had stored for parts in the back.  I got an A for going the extra mile because I built it from scratch.  Some guys built some Heath Kit projects and even though they were more clean and professional than mine they got B- since according to the teacher they were painting by numbers.  If it was me and decided to build a TS I would at least etch the PCB myself or perfboard one.  It would make more of an impression IMHO.  But it's up to you.  Good luck and most of all have fun.  To me there's nothing more exciting then plugging in and testing a circuit you built for the first time.

[R-Man]

well Personal Best project is anything i mean it isn't an electronics class thing (i don't take electronics  ), they won't be specific on things like whether i etched the PCB

and i'm going to do some modifications to it (haven't decided exactly which but I will) because when i paint it and stuff i want to have R-Man written on it, therefore its also only right that it's different to the original Tubescreamer.

[R-Man]

it has been ordered now i shall receive it in 2 weeks

i have a question, is the switch which you press with your foot the IC as well?

[mattpocket]

No, the switch just re-routes the signal from jack-jack (bypassed) to jack-board-jack (effect on). The IC in your project will most likely be a small black plastic "chip" with several legs on each side... so it looks like a little insect or something!

Sounds like you need to do some research...

Failing that, the kit will come with instructions...

Matt

[morcey2]

it has been ordered now i shall receive it in 2 weeks

If you value your grades, you'll consider a different project.  And it's not good for someone as young as yourself to get involved in anything addictive.  Drugs, alcohol, chicks, and effects are all just paths to misery.  The worst part is that you won't even notice it.  It starts with a tubescreamer or a mosfet boost, but pretty soon someone comes up and says "Try a zombie chorus."  You try it and realise it's pretty cool, but there's a tick in it.  So you start debugging.  That leads to even differenter choruses and flangers.  Pretty soon you've got a twin-sized pedalboard and no where to sleep.  The whole time, your grades are suffering, no one will talk to you because you keep mumbling stuff about "NOS germanium something or other."  After the Fuzz-faces and treble boosters, you fall face-first into tube amps.  At that point, there is no rescuing you.  You have entered the abyss. 

But at least you'll be amongst friends. 

Good luck, you'll have fun.

Matt

[mattpocket]

speaking of which, i really should finish some college work... but on the other hand my random number generator needs finishing...

Matt

[oldrocker]

Hey morcey2 that's pretty funny. Besides the fact I'm too old to be in school, the rest fits me to a tee.