Dr. Boogie Build Report

[MicFarlow77]

Hi All,

I have been building enclosures for a while now and I finally decided to actually make one for myself a couple of months ago and with my main sander down with a fractured belt, I actually had time to finish this little gem.

I started with gaussmarkov's layout and then went from there. Since I wanted to be able to route the In and outs to the 3pdt on the actual board, I added those traces. I also added the LED circuit to the 3pdt pcb as well and also pcb mounted all the pots. It took a little effort but I think it was worth it.

So, I started with gaussmarkov's PCB image and traced it out and made accommodations for getting the in's and outs to the middle area back towards the footswitch and I also wanted to be able to use any of the trim pots styles that are available, so I made those mods to the PCB as well. (more about them trim pots below...) The end result is that I have a graphic now that I can edit as I need because there are going to be a few mods to the next one.

First I will be adding in pads for the cap to ground on the 4th jfet and I will also likely be adding in some sort of switch for the bypass caps on at least the first stage, if not the second. I ended up taking out the first one all together and wonder what it would sound like with a few different options on maybe the first or second stages... still up in the air a bit on that.

I also wanted a more conventional (if there is even such a thing) layout for the knobs, so I redid that.

I also got rid of the trim pots and biased it to 1/2 supply across the board. With the trim pots in, this was an extremely noisy build. Took them things out it is got extremely quiet. I will never build a jfet circuit with a trim pot in it if I can help it. So, I will be changing my layout to be a little cleaner there... simply no need for them trim pots any longer.

As for the outside, it is powder coated with a Blue Lapis finish. For the graphics, they are out of Red Foil, so they are very shiny. I wish I could capture the real look of the graphics with my camera, but alas, I am better at building stuff than taking pictures...  (well, a little maybe...)

As for sound.... well, let's just say I am blown away! I took this think to a rather large church (seats 2500) that I used to attend and still have many friends there. We put this into their system, with nothing else.... EQ's set to flat, no compression, no other effect... just the Dr. Boogie..... That pedal rocked! This church's sound system is probably well over 20,00 watts, with 2 line arrays and a full set of sub woofers... the bottom end of this pedal is out of sight... but it is still tight and organic feeling. We ended up drawing a crowd, even with my sucky playing. Dropped D is awesome!

Here are some pics and I will post some sound clips a little later tonight after I get my son to bed.









Here is the bottom plate... made a mod here to hold the battery without having the need for a battery holder... still have to take the bottom off, but I don't mind that.


Here are a couple of gut shots:




I really want to extend a huge THANKS to all those here who have done an immense amount of work towards this circuit and layout! Gaussmarkov, your layouts are awesome and all the threads here on the Dr. Boogie were invaluable! This is an awesome pedal and I think it is a fine example of the quality of folks here and their collective efforts!

Thanks,

Mick

(The new belt came in yesterday, so now it's back to building enclosures!)

[ConanB]

Those are some beautiful entrails! 

[John Lyons]

Wow mick!
Getting pretty industrious there...
The finsih looks nice. Did you powdercoat clear over the foil ?

I would think that the parallel traces of the controls would cause some oscillations.
With the 4 DBs I've made from that layout they have been quiet, maybe a little hiss
at the highest gains.
Separating the in/out wire runs is a good thing to do. Keeping them at opposite side of the enclosure.
With your build you bundle the leads together at the switch which would lead to osc as well.
Obviously they come close at the switch but...

I'm not trying criticize, just thinking out loud here.

john

[MicFarlow77]

Hey Conan and John,

Thanks for the comments.

No powder coat over the foil.... it would melt the toner under the foil while curing.. I tried it already... stinks cause I really wanted to encapsulate those graphics in powder coat.. but, as they are, you can't flake them off... when I redid one for my dad, I had to sand the grahics and powder coat off to redo the graphics.

When I was doing my tweaks to this layout, I initially had some concerns with the pots... especially since I really wanted the layout that I have, but it is at odds with the board layout. In the end though, it is extremely quiet. I used shielded cable for the switch wiring and the in and out are in separate shielded cables, so I also kinda took a gamble there. Were this design not so good to start with, you may well be right that either of these tweaks could lead to oscillations.

In fact, I did have some before I took the trims out. The difference in the noise level with the trims out is hard to even describe... wish I had recorded it.... I cannot imagine that it would not have been a contributing factor to oscillation... course, I honestly have no clue.. just know what I heard with me own ears... :-)

On to a clip or two.... please excuse the sloppy playing on these clips... I just threw them together.... recording setup.... Dr. Boogey straight into my recording interface, which is a Motu 828mkII Firewire deal. Software.. old program called Cool Edit... before Adobe bought them out... No effects... no compression, no tweaks to the tone or sound in any way. In the first clip, the clean is just through the DB in bypassed mode. I did fade in and fade out respectively and also took the liberty of getting rid of hand noise just before the lead break in the first clip (I recorded the clean and lead on separate tracks).... I also ducked the rhythm tracks up under the leads where appropriate... I think I pulled them back about 3db or so to make a little room for the solos...

Gain, 1 O'Clock
Bass, 3 O'Clock
Mid 3 O'Clock
Treble 2 O'Clock
Presence 3 O'Clock
Volume 2 O'Clock... set for unity gain when bypassed.

Also, on these tracks, I did double takes.... panned left and right... rhythm tracks a little more out than the leads....

http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/MicksPics/Clip+1.mp3.html

http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/MicksPics/Clip+2.mp3.html

Tomorrow I will try to get a recording of the noise level of it... just to give the example...

Thanks all,

Mick

[ambulancevoice]

could that be any cleaner!?!??!!

[MicFarlow77]

could that be any cleaner!?!??!!

Hey Alex,

Not sure of your context here....

Playing-wise: Yes, much cleaner... if you listen to those clips in headphones, you can hear ton's of misses in the rhythms and leads....

Noise-wise: Little later in the day, I'll post a clip with the noise level up front. I realized I do not have the case grounded yet, but even then, it's still pretty clean. I did remove the leading edge before the solo breaks due to hand noise on the strings just before the notes hit.... mentioned that earlier.... so, yeah, that noise is missing. The second clip had no trimming at all, it just faded in and out cause it was about twice as long....

The next clip will put the noise level for this pedal on display...

Thanks,

Mick

[raulgrell]

I think he was talking about the box's guts... that's some very neat work there, congrats man!

[audioguy]

WOW thats really cool!! Any chance you can share the PCB layout of the pot board you've got?

[MicFarlow77]

I think he was talking about the box's guts... that's some very neat work there, congrats man!

Hey Raul,

Thanks for the comment.

Yeah, I tried to be as neat as possible. This is such a high gain circuit and based on all the threads here it is clear that neatness really counts, so I wanted it to be clean. It helps that the enclosure is big enough to work in. I have a high appreciation for all those who have built this circuit in anything smaller than what I did. I have seen it done many times here before and there is a ton of fine craftsmanship needed to shoe horn it into a smaller enclosure.

The next one I do will hopefully be even cleaner.... I am thinking that I can get the pots and main PCB combined so that will eliminate all those wires and will help condense the build a little more. If I throw in a couple of switches for bypass caps they will hopefully not require any additional wires.... we will have to see how all that turns out....

Thanks,

Mick

[MicFarlow77]

WOW thats really cool!! Any chance you can share the PCB layout of the pot board you've got?

Hey Audioguy,

Not even a problem! Just PM me an email address and I'll send you what I have... same goes for anyone else... I'll see if I can get a good clean bitmap that I can post in the gallery... that would probably be best.... bear in mind that I added a trace to the PCB edge for the middle lug of the Volume pot. It is the only round pad along the edge, so easy to spot... I also numbered the edge pads.... makes life easier for me....

Thanks,

Mick

[nelson]

That is a great build Mick.

[MicFarlow77]

That is a great build Mick.

Thanks Paul, Glad you like it!

[audioguy]

thanks for the layout!! quick question.... wouldnt it have been easier to swap the locations of the Gain and Volume pot?

[bancika]

Great build man! Do you sell these enclosures?
Tnx

[MicFarlow77]

thanks for the layout!! quick question.... wouldnt it have been easier to swap the locations of the Gain and Volume pot?

Hey Audioguy,

Yep, it would have been a lot easier, but I didn't want the Volume on the left...

Great build man! Do you sell these enclosures?
Tnx

Hey Bancika,

Yes I do... $22.50 USD plus shipping to your part of the world..... (plain enclosure for that price.. no powder coat or anything like that...)

Thanks,

Mick

[bancika]

cool, do you do powder coating?

[Ice-9]

I have to say that looks (and sounds) a fantastic build, and the powder coating really makes the pedal finished. I have to agree that there is no need for trim pots in a fet design which is also what i am working on with my next pedal.

Congrats on a great built.

[MicFarlow77]

cool, do you do powder coating?

Hey Bancika,

Sadly, I am not really setup for production powdercoating just yet... working towards that, but most likely will be next year....

I have to say that looks (and sounds) a fantastic build, and the powder coating really makes the pedal finished. I have to agree that there is no need for trim pots in a fet design which is also what i am working on with my next pedal.

Congrats on a great built.

Thanks for the comments Mick. On this build, I did not use sockets for the biasing resistors, but the next build will. That will make setting the bias point even less time consuming... even though, setting these didn't take long at all... 5-10 minutes per jfet... so not too bad as far as I am concerned... especially when you factor in the difference it made in the noise of the circuit....

Thanks,

Mick

[ambulancevoice]

I think he was talking about the box's guts... that's some very neat work there, congrats man!

that is correct
i should have been more clear sorry
but it was the first thing that struck me

[MicFarlow77]

I think he was talking about the box's guts... that's some very neat work there, congrats man!

that is correct
i should have been more clear sorry
but it was the first thing that struck me

Hey Alex,

Thanks for the comment... For some reason, that perspective escaped me.... no issues though....

Thanks,

Mick