Builders Thread

[AgentofOblivion]

2 grounds for 2 meters. In order to bias an amp you need to know B+, cathode current, and have bias adjust. Otherwise u cant do it.

You will have to open up the amp without those to measure cathode current and plate voltage. If so then why bother with external bias adjustments.

The adjustment pots are inside.  Oh, and the front panel comes off very easily because it's attached via velcro.  He just has easy access measuring points externally.  However, not for B+.  I don't know why you need to know B+ to bias the tube.  I thought you needed the current set within a certain operable range, which was essentially the voltage when measuring across a 1 Ohm resistor, but apparently I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.

[dunwichamps]

yea biasing equation is this:

Cathode Current * Plate Voltage <= 0.7 * PMax

PMax for a 6l6 is usually quoted in datasheets as 30W.

Biasing requires a few adjustments, when you increase the cathode current, your decrease plate voltage, which in turns requires more cathode current to satisfy the bias level. However, you will reach an equilibirum after a few adjustments. I never bias to the 70% line, usually a bit colder to 60% or so.

I try to make it extremely easy for users to bias and will not require opening the chassis. User just pops in tubes, brings bias down before start up. Then fires amp up and begins adjusting all from the outside of the amp to properly bias it. I dont want them to stick their fingers inside the amp. Although I design every amp to bleed the voltage off the supply so there is nothing there to shock a user, something could malfunction and voltage could be stored in the amp resulting in potentially fatal shock.

[dunwichamps]

[xayk]

Definitely stealing that dc/input jack ground elegance.

Also this thread is making me have to pick up some turret board and fail at that.

[dunwichamps]

making turrets aint so bad really, just drill holes then press them. I use a press system made by Watts Tube Audio which unfortunately is not currently being sold however there are a few of them around so try to check it out.

[bitter]

I've always been a supporter of clone "stuff", whether musical or not. A lot of times, clones are more affordable and can have features that improve on the original. A good example would be all of the wonderful Marshall killers and big muff variants that have come out. Proper clones should strike out against "evil" manufacturers and support the every-man, like a good revolutionary insurgency, not as a dick move to make some coin.

Marshall, Gibson, DAM = "evil"

BAT = not evil

How'd you get to calling DAM evil? Two person operation hand building pedals sounds like a every-man stuff to me. Waiting lists may be long but the regular prices are pretty spot on imo.

Agree with pretty much everything Dunwich said already, tweaks and improvements is pretty much the name of the game these days but using someone else's name/brand to sell your replica is bullshit.

Moose, I was just being facetious about DAM being evil . MY only issue with them was the wait times and the dicks who tried to profit off of them on the secondary market by blowing the prices sky high. Also, walking into a shop where they had DAM products in the case and being told they weren't for sale really soured me on them, which led me to get something similar made by someone I like better.


EDIT: That reads more douchey than I intended, but I'm serious about it being a joke.

[moose23]

No worries man.

[Mr. Foxen]

This is what I designed and built with the guy playing it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leadtowill/7610407178/in/photostream

[AgentofOblivion]

This is what I designed and built with the guy playing it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leadtowill/7610407178/in/photostream

Woah...  Throw some gain on that bitch and play the brown note.

[I,Galactus]

This is what I designed and built with the guy playing it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leadtowill/7610407178/in/photostream

Applauded for electric Berlioz.

[moose23]

DUB SIREN





PEACH FUZZ REPLICA





TREM LUNE

[The Shocker]

So pedal builders, when you decide to make a new pedal do you look at the circuits online (or in books?) or do you take a pedal you like, study it and tweak it to make it yours?  Or both?  I know riffer will say his pedal is based on another pedal, just wonder what route is taken to get there.

[dunwichamps]

So pedal builders, when you decide to make a new pedal do you look at the circuits online (or in books?) or do you take a pedal you like, study it and tweak it to make it yours?  Or both?  I know riffer will say his pedal is based on another pedal, just wonder what route is taken to get there.

Depends, for a FAC OFF I just took the basic meathead/SiFF and then said lets do this, this, and this, and that worked. The Wizard Fuzz however, I designed more from scratch, stage by stage using a circuit simulator.

[The Shocker]

Just wondering cause I've seen some clones of really rare pedals that I would think would have to come directly from the pedal.

Like the Harmonic Percolator or AnologMan's Astro Tone.

[dunwichamps]

Just wondering cause I've seen some clones of really rare pedals that I would think would have to come directly from the pedal.

Like the Harmonic Percolator or AnologMan's Astro Tone.

if the pedal was never traced or the schematic does not exist, yea people would have to buy it then reverse engineer it.

[The Riffer]

What I've done:

All of my stuff is based on old designs,and as such schematics are available. I use a breadboard, and first try it, see if I think it has any merit..then if I think it should go farther, find a pcb from one of the handful of cats who make pcbs. Most everything is available somewhere..take that and tweek it to my spec, make a "real" pedal out of it. If it seems like a realistic thing to make more of, I have a guy who takes my hand drawn schematic and produces a pcb layout for me, I'll forward that to a prototyping house who can make a small run of proto pcbs. Make a few "final" prototypes, if it still seems cool, then make it a production. I've made a dozen or so that are on the backburner or abandoned. The process I have takes a bit of time, and I have ADD.If something doesn't continue to WOW me, then I keep moving forward. My Revelation is one of those that continually wow me, everytime I plug into one, I say "badass"...
Hope that answers your question..with tangents.

[moose23]

I'm only starting to work on actual production model type things but usually it's find/have something I like that that could do with improvements. I make up something with sockets where I think something can be tweaked then play around with different ideas for improvements until I settle on something I or someone around me has a need for. I also like having a few options available via toggle switches etc. I like to think it's a problem solving type method with people coming to me with something they like but have an issue with and I solve that issue for them..

[dunwichamps]

[/img]

[moose23]

Looks amazing dude. Love the white chassis and the two tone knobs.

[dunwichamps]

Looks amazing dude. Love the white chassis and the two tone knobs.

thanks, white is a first and im cautious about marking that shit up. It jives well with the knobs and the whole feel.

[Pissy]

I got a problem.

Washburn HB-30, which is a 335 copy.

Retaining but on the input jack has been loose, and I couldn't get the jack to stay put in order to tighten it. Now the nut split off somehow, and the jack is really close to getting pushed back into the body.

Any tricks for getting the jack to bite down given the lack of access?

[Pissy]

Ok, so now it's pushed up in there good. It saw my needle nose pliers and scooted back in like a cold dick.

Dammit.

[Mr. Foxen]

Cautiously poke a jack in it to get a grip is how I'd generally do it, if it goes inside, its take a pickup out and borrow a kid from next door to poke it back through. but the more cunning way involves using some silicon rubber fuel hose I have for replacing pickup springs, put a length of that into it, and poke a skewer into itso it expands enough to grip the socket, and use that to get it out. Tryin this would basically fail due to lapse of concentration and go back to plan 1b.

[Pissy]

Ok, zen and carefully shaped coat-hangers got the jack poking back out and now I'm back at the point where I need to grip it to tighten. I have some small tubing that I can try.  Thanks.

[moose23]

Custom built Dobsky Fuzz using 2n5089s instead of the BC549s I normally use.
Three way clipping switches; first stage is Silicon/lift/LED and second stage is silicon/LED/Germanium.