Show me your 1590A enclosures/pedals...

[earthtonesaudio]

As Hetfield would say,

Bat-tuh-REE!

[Scruffie]

As Hetfield would say,

Bat-tuh-REE!

Classic.

[allesz]

Hallo, I am quite new to this forum, but I really like 1590a enclosure builds.
I am pretty proud of this work I made.
The painting is quite bad and the board is messy (it was very hard to fit everithing inside the tiny box... I had to debug a lot );
anyway I think I am the first to put everithing inside this box: battery, led, 9v jack and all the rest.
The effect is a simple overdrive designed by me and based around projects you can find around the diy sites; it works perfectly but I doubt it will be very reliable since it is very crummed inside.
As a first attempt I am very satisfied... I would use a different 9v jack and I think I should make a better board and place better pots and jacks (in order to gain some mm of space). To fit everithing inside I had to modify the bottom cover taking off most of the bottom rim (such a hard work).

[Thomeeque]

[ img ]http://C:\Documents and Settings\alessandro\Desktop\drive1[/ img ]
[ img ]http://C:\Documents and Settings\alessandro\Desktop\drive2[/ img ]
[ img ]http://C:\Documents and Settings\alessandro\Desktop\drive3[/ img ]

Hallo Alessandro, we cannot see pictures from your comuputer's destop, you must upload them somewhere to the web first.. I believe, I've seen guide somewhere around..

T.

[tubelectron]

Hi Alessandro,

anyway I think I am the first to put everithing inside this box: battery, led, 9v jack and all the rest.

If it is a 9V 6F22 standard battery, probably ! And I would like to see how you managed all right then - that's interesting by the way -please send us your pics !

Otherwise see : Reply n° 638 Posted on: March 12, 2011, 07:07:37 AM, that is to say some posts before.

A+!

[Thomeeque]

Otherwise see : Reply n° 638 Posted on: March 12, 2011, 07:07:37 AM, that is to say some posts before.

Just FYI: every reply has a direct link (link "under" it's title), e.g. http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=64752.msg768428#msg768428

[tubelectron]

Ah ! Yes - good useful information Thomeeque - Thanks !

[allesz]

Ok... let's try again.

[allesz]

It seems I finally managed to post pictures. It is quite difficult.
By the way mr. tubelectron... your fuzz is stunning the finish is just wonderful and makes me shy for mine
I see you had to take off some of the botton rim too in order to stuff everything inside.

[tubelectron]

Thanks Alessandro,

Nonetheless, you have integrated a std 9V battery in your 1590A : good performance, indeed !!! Very interesting to see...

I tried to do the same myself, but I concluded that it was not really possible with a more conventional position of the controls of course, unlike yours.
Well, that's why you were forced to sacrifice the aesthetical criteria due to the battery size, no choice... It's a thing I didn't wanted, so that's why I shifted to the 12V A23 battery, to save space in the box for "nicer-conventional" disposition. The A23 is way enough to power a 2-transistor fuzz or overdrive, like ours. Mine absorbs 150µA / 12VDC engaged (led ON).

And yes, like you, I had to remove locally the bottom rim : for the jacks and the battery holder.

I would like to know :

1 - is your input jack cutting battery supply when disconnected and grounding the input (like on any Fx pedal) or is it a simple classic mono jack ?
2 - is your ext. PSU jack cutting int. Batt. supply when connected ( again, like on any FX pedal) ?

A+!

[allesz]

Thank you .
The power jack has no battery switch... I ordered the wrong one: http://www.musikding.de/product_info.php/info/p124_DC-power-jack-2-1mm.htm and had a lot of problems, so I had to use what I found in my local shop;
I think that the best dc jack is this: http://www.musikding.de/product_info.php/info/p663_DC-power-jack-2-1mm-isolated-inside-mount.html it saves a lot of space inside the enclosure (it is not beautifull but...);
The input jack is a stereo one, you can see that the battery wires goes in different directions (I don't like it...), the black wire goes to the input jack. Using the right dc jack would cure this problem (the ones I used took too much space to stand near a stereo jack, so I had to locate it near the (mono) output jack.
By the way, after the first experience I think that by
a) removing all the bottom rim
b) placing the pots a little bit lower (2 or 3 mm)
c) using a 0,8 mm board (mine is like 1,2 mm)
d) making a good double sided pcb (easy for a diyer )
e) mounting the components flat (as I did) and using the smallest component possible (alpha 9mm pots are a godsend ;
You can build a sturdy and wonderfull pedal: only a Diyer can afford all this work, a boutique pedal company would charge too much for this);
right now I am a bit tired for my first effort, but I plan to refine my skills (expecially on painting ) and rebuild this pedal and possibly a tremolo and some more pedal;
You may not like the placing of the knobs and jacks... but it is impossible to do it in a different way. It saves a lot of pedalboard space by the way;
There is place for a third knob too, on the side opposite to the 9v jack, if you need.
In the end it is a prove of real masochism to do something like this, don't you think so?

[tubelectron]

In the end it is a prove of real masochism to do something like this, don't you think so?

Ha ! It's rather a proof of real skillness, instead !

and possibly a tremolo and some more pedal

Interesting too : I am also planning to work on a non-photocell tremolo to be integrated in a 1590A, using FETs. There is also Rob "deadastronaut"'s tiny tremolOOOOetc, which is very compact unit, but with the photocell principle. Is that what you are thinking about ?

Of the same vein, I have to finalize an IC overdrive - I am waiting for the 1590A boxes...

I think I momentarily have a "1590A compactness virus"... Finding the advantages of minimal size stompboxes on stage.

A+!

[Joecool85]

I, for one, am thoroughly impressed!  Nice job!

[allesz]

For shure I got the 1590a compactness virus too, by the way is there some cure? 

Thank you mr. joecool85, I still think the pedal, precisely the board, is a real mess but it can be a start point for me (for shure) and for fellows diyer; if we are skilled or just plain masochist we will find out.

After the first fiasco I built a regular 1590a pedal without battery... but after some time I decided to try finish the one with the battery. I hat to change 9v jack and fix the board you can see (actually the second I made, the first was possibly worst) because I reversed the pot connections.
At least I had to buy some double sided tape (1mm thick) to insulate the solder side from making contact with the jacks.
You can see in the pics some "dirt" on the right of the board, it is the residue from a first attempt to insulate the components from the  back cover with some kind of sponge. Now I just use black electrical tape for this side.
I know I have, and can, do better than this.

[tubelectron]

Hi alessandro,

I know I have, and can, do better than this.

Well, What you've done - if we except the final finishing details of something which would be call a prototype - is already an excellent "compactness task", regarding the fact that you use a standard 9V battery. I wonder if there is another possibility to place that battery differently... I don't think so, but I may be wrong. Otherwise, you can like me shift to the A23 battery, and save huge space to allow you easier integration job in a 1590A. Frankly, I thought that a 1590 wa

[ashcat_lt]

Re:  grinding down the cover.  Are you grinding it down to where it's just flat all the way across, rather than having a lip, or are you actually hollowing it out somehow?  If just flat, did you ever consider just flipping the cover over?

[allesz]

Hallo, I just flattened the lip (but not where screws fit) with a cutter and sandpaper (what a hard work it was).
Flipping the bottom would be a great idea... but you will lose some space for the board: because the bottom of the enclosure is nearly 6mm tall with the lip-rim (wich is about 2 mm) but has also 4mm of space inside.
Real Hammond enclosures seem better (the rim in narrower) and easier to work than eddystone enclosures like mine.

[tubelectron]

Hi & sorry for the keyboard cut... 

Frankly, I thought that a 1590A wasn't a box where a 9V std battery would enter. But I was wrong...
I used the Hammond 1590A box, not the Eddystone, which seems to be slightly smaller than the Hammond. The comparative dimensions can be found at banzaieffects. com :
http://www.banzaimusic.com/Diecast-Aluminum/

A+!

[solderman]

and possibly a tremolo and some more pedal

Interesting too : I am also planning to work on a non-photocell tremolo to be integrated in a 1590A, using FETs. There is also Rob "deadastronaut"'s tiny tremolOOOOetc, which is very compact unit, but with the photocell principle. Is that what you are thinking about ?

Hi
Here is a  non-photocell tremolo  integrated in a 1590A
Its simple but OK. The PCB can be made much more effective than in the PDF. This was one of my first ones.
http://solderman.fatabur.se/Mini_trem/Little%20Read%20Rooster_project_file.pdf

[deadastronaut]

nice one solderman...

looks great, non photocell...good, is there a volume drop compared to bypass though..?..which seems to be a common problem with trems..