Anybody build their Gristleizer yet, comments on it?

[glops]

Pictures got lost in cyberspace.  Here again.  What a cool circuit!

Thanks Thanks Thanks!!!

Love it!
I guess you solder the pots directly onto the pcb? I'd imagine the knobs would be closer together....

I didn't solder the pots to the PCB, just wires going from the pot pads to the pots.  Thanks, man!

[samE]

hello hello, just wanted to say what a grate community you lot have her, my question is this:regarding the griserlizer project what are the best capacitors to use?. Currently i have ceramic caps in place, however my friend tells me, for audio circuits i should use polyester box caps. so will it sound better with the poly caps? or does it even matter?

[Taylor]

My personal opinion is that it doesn't matter. Other people disagree. In my experience, the difference between 2 caps from the same batch but unmatched will be far larger than the difference between 2 caps of different dielectric material but with the same exact measured value.

Besides the question of whether there is any difference at all, the assumption is that film caps are cleaner or more hi-fi or something along those lines. The Gristleizer, however, is an experimental noise effect, so even if this line of reasoning were true it's debatable that film would actually be better.

Chris Carter (who popularized the effect and gave it its name, in his band Throbbing Gristle) actually bought some of these PCBs from me. I suppose I could ask him whether he thinks film caps matter.  

[glops]

Chris Carter (who popularized the effect and gave it its name, in his band Throbbing Gristle) actually bought some of these PCBs from me. I suppose I could ask him whether he thinks film caps matter.  

That's really cool!  They're really scary...  You have any new stuff in the works, Taylor?  I need to try the OC2.  Bought a couple of tiny giant kits from you but realized that I need "quiet" amps.  I was going to have two of these for testing sounds in parallel in my shop.  Have the speakers so I should probably just do it.  Hopefully, I can keep them at lower volumes since I got a massive complaint from a neighbor and have to keep it really quiet... 

[Taylor]

Yeah, I thought it was pretty neat. I have come into contact with some folks that are relatively well-known, but getting an order from the person who put the effect on the map is pretty cool - like if you sold a Whammy pedal to Tom Morello.  He bought 4 of them - so in my nerdy dreams I imagine he's built one for each member of TG and they're all Gristle-izing away with the board I made.

Re: new stuff, just put the Meat Sphere up on the site. Have some other things but it's just been tricky to find time to build prototypes/tweak designs. I need to update the "coming soon page" or whatever I've called it...

[glops]

I saw the meat sphere thread right after I posted last.  I actually just fixed a mutron 2 yesterday.  I bought it for 80 bucks on ebay about 6 months ago and its just been sitting around.   One of the electros had snap and the pots needed some care.  works great now.  awesome, you have a new project.  I have been buying little doses of prefabbed boards lately.  I enjoy them a lot, but the GR and the Echobase are my keeper favorite non fuzzes.  Thanks for your service, look forward to the future!

[WWWizard]

Hi gang,
I'm fairly new to working with electronics other than simple repairs / circuits etc.. This is my first real build. Exciting but has proved to be challenging.

As expected -- I'm having trouble getting the build to run. I just set it up for my first test and am only hearing my clean single.
No LED action / Volume pot adjustments either.

Wondering where to start troubleshooting? Is there someway via metering I can find out where the problem is?

I did a clean and thorough job soldering and feel like components are properly placed.  (perhaps the rotary is sketchy)

After hooking a 9V power up should the LED automatically light up without any audio signal?

Any help would be really great. My lack of experience might lead to this being a really simple mistake that I have ignorantly overlooked.

The (+) (-) direction only applies to those elements which are polarized and also labelled on the board, correct?

Just want to work through it and see if I can get it running.

[Taylor]

Yes, the LED should light up without regard to audio. Here is the best place to start with debugging pedals:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=29816.0

Especially check the links towards the bottom.

Specifically in regards to the Gristleizer, some important starting places:

1. do you have -9v (note that negative 9 volts, not positive 9 volts) at pin 5 of the MAX1044?

2. Do you have any way to look at the waveform of the LFO (oscilloscope, scope program on your computer)?

[WWWizard]

Thanks Taylor.
Good, helpful resources. I will look over them in more detail.

For now:

I am metering .89V on Pin 5 of the MAX1044.
(I see now on the schematic that it should be -9V)

Yes, I have scope software on my computer -- If I can manage to make it to that point.

Any other significant points to meter/values? Transistors?

Thanks for the prompt response. I've got some reading and reviewing todo.

[Taylor]

Ok, so your MAX1044 isn't doing its job. That's the first thing you should get going.

When I first started building, all of my problems were bad solder joints and wires that were poorly strip and were therefore intermittent. Reflowing all of my joints and getting a proper wire stripper really helped.

[WWWizard]

Do I need to have any wires connected to the IN and OUT sockets to troubleshoot using the maxx1044?
Also would improper rotary wiring affect this reading?

Many thanks again.

[Taylor]

No, it's just making negative voltage out of the positive power so it doesn't do anything with the audio.

The switch is part of the audio section so won't affect the 1044 unless you had a wire or solder bridge from the switch grounding out some part of the 1044 or its surrounding caps.

[fegg]

hi, I'm almost done populating one of taylors boards (nice board it is too) and just realised i dont have a 2n3906 what can i use instead. I have bc558b or will that introduce noise?

[Taylor]

I suspect any general purpose PNP will be fine there, just mind the pinout of course!

[fegg]

ahh thanks Taylor, I was hoping that was the case, I'll socket it and try a few.

[samE]

hi, i am having some trouble with the bypass switch, i am using a 3PDT Toggle switch, and rather then toggling up and down it toggles left and right.

so the toggle here is on at the top and bottom (standard)

example:1
   X
  III
  III
  III
   X

and the toggle here is left and right (the one i am using)
example:2

 III
XIIIX
 III


i have wired the switch using the link on the PDF : http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e101/putzdaddy/offboardwiringfordiy.jpg.
and it does not seem to work.
is there a different method for the two switch's?

any help would be grate thanks.

[Taylor]

I'm a bit confused - what does it mean for a switch to toggle left/right rather than up/down? If you rotate it 90 degrees doesn't it become up/down?

Can you post a link to your switch, or a photo?

[samE]

http://www.taydaelectronics.com/catalog/A-1955.jpg

i will wire it today on its side, maybe that will work.

[Skruffyhound]

Take your DMM, or a bulb and a battery for that matter, and test continuity between the outside poles and the common middle poles as you flip the toggle.
When the toggle is in an up/down position ( moving in the vertical axis) and the toggle is down the middle row and top should have a connection, when the toggle is up the middle and bottom row should have a connection. Test with DMM to check you don't have a faulty switch.


So when the toggle is down poles 1 and 2 are connected, poles 4 and 5 are connected and poles 7 and 8 are connected.
Generally speaking though, the fastest way to understand this is to use a DMM and sit and test it, you'll understand it in five minutes.

[samE]

thank you for your help, i just flipped it on its side and applied the same wiring scheme, works fine now....

so its finally finished my stompbox version, minus the art work..... 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67563147@N03/6207906874/in/photostream


I will finnish the artwork then ill move on to a table top version

and again thanks for all the help.