Your current projects?

[Brossman]

Well, currently,

- Univibe (this guy's gonna be sick - gotta make my own speed pedal... it's just NOT the same w/o it!!)
- Superfuzz clone (gonna chenge up the clipping diodes with a rotary for different clipping, si/ge, etc...)
- Tiny Trem (helping to debug the ticking on that dang 555 chip... )
- EZ80/12AT7-based preamp to drive the front end of my amp (gonna be a nasty bugger... I'm hoping for some natural, squishy compression...)
- finish up that half-assembled Valve-Caster...
- Find a use for those cool submini Pentodes lying around here ( ) somewhere...

[Tony Forestiere]

Sorry to bump, But is is still DIY No pedals installed yet. 


We are learning on this one! Sorry for the huge pics.

[Liquitone]

-Tremelo, a very subtle one using the building-blocks of the univibe. its being road tested atm and the guy testing it seems very happy as he hasn't returned the prototype yet
-A SG Systems 212 guitar amp. my first high voltage project. bought it broken,. 50 euro,s, replaced all the electrolytes and trying to get it work with 6550 tubes instead of the origional 8417's
-A custom 4 channel OD/boost pedal for someone who uses a line6 M13 but wants better control over his drive sounds (will likely go between the modulation and reverb stages, will have to see if he wants to use it in stereo, as that will require a lot of extra circuitry if placed in the loop)
-A smaller version of the germanium-pre i build a while ago (contains a rangemaster and a fuzz face,cause I like being able to switch to a rangemaster while turning off the fuzz at the same time)

[stringsthings]

I have almost completed a clipper-type distortion that uses simulated diodes with variable forward voltage and resistance.

sounds very interesting!  any updates?

[iccaros]

- Find a use for those cool submini Pentodes lying around here ( ) somewhere...

Which ones, I have some 5902's I am looking at creating a class AB push pull from.. Also need to finish my HO build with them...

[amptramp]

I have almost completed a clipper-type distortion that uses simulated diodes with variable forward voltage and resistance.

sounds very interesting!  any updates?

To get an idea of what I am doing, imagine an op amp with a variable voltage applied to the non-inverting input and a signal input taken to the inverting input through a resistor.  Then add a diode from the op amp output to the inverting input.  If the reference voltage on the non-inverting input is positive, the diode cathode is at the op amp output and anode is at the inverting input.  When the signal exceeds the reference voltage on the non-inverting input, the voltage at the inverting input (which is the circuit output) is clamped to the reference voltage.  The gain of the op amp makes the clamp go from off just below the threshold to on at full op amp output current just above (meaning millivolts above) the threshold, so you have a diode with almost zero resistance and no temperature sensitivity.  Add a resistance in series with the input and you have a variable resistance you can select.  Then put it in parallel with one with a negative threshold and the diode facing the other way.  Voilà - you have an ideal clamp with separately adjustable voltage and resistance for positive and negative polarity.

[iccaros]

one project down...

I have a Carvin vintage 16 that I thought would make  a better head than a combo.. As a combo it is way too loud for the little cabinet they put it in, and so it sounds really thin.. so I use an external cab, but its a pain to carry the combo with speaker just to plug it into something else.. Hand build the cab, put on Tolex yesterday and added grills, handle and corner parts this afternoon.

While I had it open, it was a good time to do some adjustments, change out plate load resistors, and cathod biasing of the preamp, add a master volume and remove the volume between gain stages... added negative feedback adjustment and redid the EQ, or simplified it, more Marshall or Fender like.  The outcome is a amp with a little more gain, more clean headroom and now can sit ontop of my 4x12 and rock.. at 15 watts, this thing is loud.. can keep up with any drummer I have ever played with.. so loud I can hear it through the ear plugs..

[Greenmachine]

Great work on that cab.  Love to see some gut shots.

[stringsthings]

To get an idea of what I am doing, imagine an op amp with a variable voltage applied to the non-inverting input and a signal input taken to the inverting input through a resistor.  Then add a diode from the op amp output to the inverting input.  If the reference voltage on the non-inverting input is positive, the diode cathode is at the op amp output and anode is at the inverting input.  When the signal exceeds the reference voltage on the non-inverting input, the voltage at the inverting input (which is the circuit output) is clamped to the reference voltage.  The gain of the op amp makes the clamp go from off just below the threshold to on at full op amp output current just above (meaning millivolts above) the threshold, so you have a diode with almost zero resistance and no temperature sensitivity.  Add a resistance in series with the input and you have a variable resistance you can select.  Then put it in parallel with one with a negative threshold and the diode facing the other way.  Voilà - you have an ideal clamp with separately adjustable voltage and resistance for positive and negative polarity.

very cool ... i quite like the sound of clipped diode distortion ... it will never completely please the tube die-hards ... but IMO, it's a pleasant type of distortion in and of itself ...

diode clippers can also a provide a wonderful front end for a tube distortion stage ...

[newfish]

Couple of Boosters for a local music shop.

Fixing an old Vox Fuzz for man in the shop.

Other than that, I'm actually *practicing* that guitar thing - who'da thought!

[EATyourGuitar]

pimp my fuzz factory

[newfish]

Tuna, Lime and Coriander fishcakes, with Dill Basmati Rice.

Probably with some sort of greenery too.   

Oh, and my mate's 'backup' guitar which doesn't hold tune.

...because a 25.5" scale neck does *not* work on a body designed for a 24.75" one.

Odd that...   

[DC9V]

I've been away from the forum and from DIY FX projects for a year due to unfortunate circumstances. I'm trying to pick up where I left off, and regain what little knowledge of electronics I had aquired, and lost in the meantime... What comforts me is that it doesn't amount to much

As for my current projects, I've just debugged my Compulator, which I had never got to work (yay!), and I'm currently working on:
- Odie (99% completed, just missing a J201 that I somehow lost during that annus horribilis)
- Guv'nor (missing a few components too, and testing mods to the clipping section)
- Tim Escobedo's TMK (just beginning)

Also, when I'm away from my bench I spend some time planning my next builds : at the moment that means adding a tone control to the Peppermill circuit and trying to come up with a PCB layout for the Paralooper/Bassthru that will fit in a 1590B enclosure.

pimp my fuzz factory

Sounds interesting! Would you mind sharing the details of your mods? I've never liked the stock FF much, and I'm sure it could be improved a good deal, but I wouldn't know where to begin; that's why I opteed for the TMK instead.

[frequencycentral]

[PDGoss]

Today, finishing up the Jimmy Page wiring on an Ibanez AG 75; this one was fun, guy wanted a Duncan pup (Pearly Gates) in the neck and a Gibson pup (Classic 57) in the bridge. Damn them color codes!!!! I'm also adding a kill switch and really interested to see how this is going to sound in a Hollow Body.

In Progress/Upcoming

Dr Boogey (Gus M) - Waiting on the correct Pots to arrive from Mouser; my fault. Once those are attached it's debug time.

Cloned BYOC Ping Pong Delay - What a b---- of a pedal to rev eng. I had one hell of a time recreating this thing from internet pics and so forth to build for a friend. I told him if he ever wanted me to build another pedal for him, there better be a schematic, PCB or layout image, project document, or something to go by; or we could sit down at the proto-board and build off something. 98%

Modifying a Sovtek MIG50 - Separating channel 2 and adding the Marshall tone stack and JTM45 gain stage. It's the real thing of what the ROG Thor does. This project is a monster, I've got the Tone Stack almost finished and debugged, but the owner is building a new cabinet to put it in; there's no room to add the new components so I've taken a break from it while he builds that. I sized out the dimensions of the cabinet for him so there will be 4U worth of rack space beneath the head.

Repairing a Fender Supersonic - Already know this is an easy one; heard it on stage the other night and it's a harmonic tube.

Case Mod for an MXR Classic Overdrive - Owner is drawing scroll work and I will be routing out the case, backing it with Lexan and adding LED's to shine through the cutouts. I'm an LED whore.

A Pickup Winder - My son graduated luthier school several months ago and insists that every guitar he builds, everything that can be hand made will be; I really respect that of him.

Reassemble my modified Crybaby - Did a True bypass, mirror painted the interior, added 8 Ultraviolet LED's and a Lexan bottom; as well as additional indicator LED's.

Further out - I've got an order for a Fender RG15 Standalone Reverb Unit. Fortunately I have access to the stamps, dies, metal brake and all that equipment.

[iccaros]

Nice job Rick.. I can't show any of my projects on here 

[ayayay!]

I've had to sit out for the last MONTH due to 3 out of 4 kids, my wife, then myself, becoming violently ill.

I was working on a Guv'nor type thing that uses a BMP tone control.  Loved where I finally got it, but one day I came home to find my 2 1/2 year old had removed every resistor that was socketed.  Luckily I think I saved the values I liked in the TSC, but the gain rolloff and 2nd gain stage resistors were pulled.  Grrr.... Hoping to get back to that tonight as my wife will be working the next 6 evenings. 

Then it's onto one I bought tubes for back in July:  the Valvecaster.   

[Brymus]

Yes my two year old is fascinated with my breadboard too.
He loves pulling out the transistors more than anything else for some reason.

[petemoore]

  Ironed out my OD250 [seriesed instead of parallel the two .1uf caps chosen to build the .047uf with, doh].
   Plugged the opto-reamer into the Mosfetser [opto is was a 3 knob Tube Reamer with +Bass lift Sw +opto-volume output control, which ='s gain boost when driving the Mos'ts'er, which is an opened up TS with the mos-soft clipping diodes, 4 controls], these two are fun to play with.

[nexekho]

My projects?  Current one is my "Woodchopper Distortion" - using some of the tricks I've learnt through playing around with synth designs in Falstad to design (and soon build) a custom distortion pedal, with crest/trough biasing using a pot and two diodes, diode clipping (with switchable asymmetry), then a low pass filter to convert the result into an approximate triangle wave before running through a cap with a resistance to ground to make a DC offset corrector.  All blendable/bypassable, with the DC offset correction adjustable so it can be made to cut waves short, thus making a "chainsaw" wave.  I have no idea what it will actually sound like, and that's the joy of it.  With a lot of tweakable things, there should be at least SOME good sounds I can find.  Here's some examples of waveforms I get out the other end of the simulation testing with a 440Hz sine.
http://i.imgur.com/FHVYB.png