Building the Meat Sphere

[monkeyxx]

wow that's a clever way to wire up that DPDT moog switch!  I couldn't think that fast so I just did a little stripboard daughter board hanging off the switch

the pots come with covers from www.taydaelectronics.com and they have all their pots at only 50 cents each!!!  I love that place I buy all my pots there.  They are in asia, but they ship quicker than some US companies, usually a week or so from order time, and shipping is cheap.  Their ICs and transistors are a good value, too, as well as common resistors and diodes.  I don't think the resistor tolerances are as tight as Xicon but I've built all my pedals with cheap resistors and they all work fine and sound fine so far.  They also have $3 3PDT footswitches and some cheap jacks.  I shop at a lot of places but Tayda is right for these types of things.

If you want to spend extra for your un-covered pots, barry at www.guitarpcb.com sells little black rubber end nipple things he calls them "pot condoms."

the miswired "moog" switch behaved different from what you would have guessed.  at low color settings, it was a nice sound, a different kind of sweeping sound, sounded like the color was set higher than actual though, and if you'd turn the color up past 9 o'clock it would just do this terribly loud self oscillation that hurts your ears, but if you'd turn the volume down, you could tune it with the "intensity" knob, which I think should be renamed "range".  doesn't do that now that I've fixed it.

I really like the "moog" mod and would recommend it as essential to any future builders.  It's a very musical sound, to me it just sounds a little mellower than the regular sweep.  for example I think the radiohead "Paranoid Android" riffs sounded better on Moog mode than regular

I attempted to do a "wet/dry" switch for the "blend" knob, where you could get the "wet" sound from the send/return loop to blend with the filtered sound, rather than the "dry" basic input sound, but I could not for the life of me figure out how to do this with a simple on/on SPDT switch, all I got was distorted messy garbage and no working tones.  any help with a mod like this?


BUILD REPORT

at first I was impressed with the PCB, but then after desoldering a few components only once, some solder pads lifted immediately.  this is not a fantastically durable board.  get it right the first time or you might end up in trouble.  and be careful with any desoldering.  socket the ICs to be safe if there's any question

I am also really sad at the choice of the plastic rotary switches.  with a plastic shaft that close to a foot stomp switch, you are just asking for trouble.  if this ever goes on a pedalboard for me, there is going to be a mandatory "true bypass looper" to keep the switches out of harm's way.  I wouldn't trust this for regular gigging use as is.

I'm really pleased with the whole project overall, though, and these issues can be worked around and negated, but I just wanted to note them.  not having to wire up the rotaries offboard was a huge relief.  I offboard wired the pots though and that wasn't too bad.  And the drilling template posted earlier was a godsend for getting the enclosure done quickly and accurately.

I used superbright water clear 5mm LEDs at first with the radioshack LDRs I used and the sound was harsh and too loud, just weird and wrong.  I substituted 3mm regular old green opaque LEDs and now it sounds like it should.  Just a tip for anyone rolling their own vactrols.  I guess you save a few bucks this way.

[scdesigns]

Just a quick question on the swtiches, will these work well for this build: http://www.banzaimusic.com/Rotary-Switch-3x4-Pins.html

Thanks

[markusw]

Hey monkeyxx,

thanks a lot for all the informations regarding the pot covers! 

Glad you like the "moog switch" 

For your wet/dry mod: I guess you could lift one leg of the blend pot (the one connected to the input buffer) and insert a SPDT switch with pole to the leg of the blend pot, one throw to the empty pad (or the send jack if it's easier) and one throw to the return jack.

Hey scdesigns,

can't tell from the picture how the pins are configured but I guess it should be OK. 

Peace,

Markus

[njkmonty]

could i use  VTL5C1?

its just i have heaps of them? or is their specs not suitable?

[Taylor]

It'll probably work just fine. The slope will be a little different as the max resistance is much higher, and this is in parallel with a fixed resistance.

Because of the tweakability of the envelope follower portion of the circuit, the optos are not super critical IMO.

[gtown_caps_fan]

Thanks. So just jumper lug 1 to lug 2. I appreciate your assistance.

Bruce

no.  lug 2 to lug 3 I believe is the correct "colour pot mod"

You're right. I was thinking that the pots mounted on the component side of the board, but that's not the case. Thanks!

[WhenBoredomPeaks]

Which 10k resistor should i leave off from the pcb if i want to do the Moog mod? I seriously cant find any sensible traces coming from pin 8 which could go to a 10k resistor on the pcb, so i have no clue which 10k res can i leave empty.

[markusw]

Which 10k resistor should i leave off from the pcb if i want to do the Moog mod? I seriously cant find any sensible traces coming from pin 8 which could go to a 10k resistor on the pcb, so i have no clue which 10k res can i leave empty.

Referring to the following image: there is a series of resistors left to the TL074. It's the top 10k you need to leave empty.



The wire to pin 8 connects to the left hand resistor pad, the one to pin 2 to the right hand pad.



Peace,

Markus

[WhenBoredomPeaks]

Which 10k resistor should i leave off from the pcb if i want to do the Moog mod? I seriously cant find any sensible traces coming from pin 8 which could go to a 10k resistor on the pcb, so i have no clue which 10k res can i leave empty.

Referring to the following image: there is a series of resistors left to the TL074. It's the top 10k you need to leave empty.

Thank you! I think i will post a few words about when it gets finished, i have to order some parts from Musikding so it will take some time.

[markusw]

Which 10k resistor should i leave off from the pcb if i want to do the Moog mod? I seriously cant find any sensible traces coming from pin 8 which could go to a 10k resistor on the pcb, so i have no clue which 10k res can i leave empty.

Referring to the following image: there is a series of resistors left to the TL074. It's the top 10k you need to leave empty.

Thank you! I think i will post a few words about when it gets finished, i have to order some parts from Musikding so it will take some time.

Cool! I'm curious to hear your opinion on the moog mod. 
You'll love building it with all the pots and switches PCB mount.
Can't emphasize enough how grateful I am that Taylor did this great PCB layout!

Peace,

Markus

[Dimitree]

hi
my meatball is distorting really much. I think the problem is in the "audio path" and not in the "envelope detection path". The led is indeed following the guitar signal, but the sound is fuzzy and gated. what could be the problem? broken VACTROL, broken switch, or else?
thanks
Dimitri

[samE]

hello, need some help finding a 1790ns box in the uk , anyone know a good place.

many thanks...

[LaceSensor]

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/3439546/?cm_mmc=UK-PPC-0411-_-google-_-3_MRO_MPN-_-hammond%201590bb_Broad&gclid=CPzJj_Wp96sCFUJItAodTC1kOQ

or if you want it powdercoated, Rapid have them. The quality is great.
http://www.rapidonline.com/Tools-Equipment/1590-series-Painted-aluminium-39-Stomp-Box-39-enclosures-200116

[Barcode80]

Those are great, but he mentioned the 1790NS 

It's a different animal. For reference, here is the 1790 on smallbear:

http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=567

[LaceSensor]

Erm...its the same thing.
They are called 1950BBDD or BBXL in the UK...Check the measurements mate.

Edit - hmm not sure why the first link shows a regular BB

anyway, the ones from rapid are the correct spec
145 x 119 x 39
ITs what I used and the drill template was correct. A 1790ns might be 1mm different in any direction but it makes no difference.

Otherwise, Banzai have chinese knock off versions that will work ,but delivery is 8 euro minimum, maybe more

[Barcode80]

Erm...its the same thing.
They are called 1950BBDD or BBXL in the UK...Check the measurements mate.

Edit - hmm not sure why the first link shows a regular BB

anyway, the ones from rapid are the correct spec
145 x 119 x 39
ITs what I used and the drill template was correct. A 1790ns might be 1mm different in any direction but it makes no difference.

Otherwise, Banzai have chinese knock off versions that will work ,but delivery is 8 euro minimum, maybe more

That was why I was confused, both the links you posted went to 1590BB's... 

[LaceSensor]

Erm...its the same thing.
They are called 1950BBDD or BBXL in the UK...Check the measurements mate.

Edit - hmm not sure why the first link shows a regular BB

anyway, the ones from rapid are the correct spec
145 x 119 x 39
ITs what I used and the drill template was correct. A 1790ns might be 1mm different in any direction but it makes no difference.

Otherwise, Banzai have chinese knock off versions that will work ,but delivery is 8 euro minimum, maybe more

That was why I was confused, both the links you posted went to 1590BB's... 

The first one did, not sure why, but the RApid one has all sizes on the same page, just have to scroll down.
The quality of them is really nice too, just quite expensive.

[sgmezei]

Got a bunch of boards from Taylor today with this one included. Can't wait, these boards look AMAZING!

[Hankster]

Mine doesn't work!! I'm frustrated to the point of asking this forum for help. Bypass works fine. I turn on the effect and I get a buzz over everything with no effect at all. Any ideas?

[MarcoMike]

buzz may be grounding related...