Raga's pedal builds

[ragamuffin]

Researching fuzz circuits for my jazzzmaster build inspired GAS to build some pedals! I ordered pcbs from PedalPCB for the Simulcast (Hudson Broadcast), Titania2 (Spaceman Effects Titan II fuzz), and Crunch Captain Deluxe (MI Audio Super Crunch Box v2). I ordered the bulk of the components from Tayda Electronics, and bought some transistors with the right specs for the the Simulcast and Titan II from a guy on the PedalPCB forum.

The un-drilled enclosures, pcbs, and transistors arrived today, and I set to work drilling the enclosures and painting them. Drilling went smooth enough, painting went well until the corners of my plastic drop cloth got blown by the wind and stuck it to the drying Titan II (hammered black) enclosure; it messed it up a bit but it doesn't bother me enough to sand it down and repaint.

 

[ragamuffin]

I got a lot of work done in the past two days!

Super crunch box is populated, but not wired up yet, Titan II is mostly populated (missing one capacitor as I didn't order enough, but a nice fellow from the PedalPCB forum is sending me one in the mail).

Simulcast is basically completed and working, sounds great, but I'm waiting on a different color LED for it. The red LED that I bought for it had the flat side on the long leg which confused me (normally flat side is on the short leg) so I wired it backwards and f'd it up while troubleshooting and taking it out. Luckily I have some in the mail coming tomorrow.

 

[teleme01]

I like the art work

 

[ragamuffin]

I like the art work

Thanks! I used a Sharpie extra-fine paint pen which was a bit of a pain to use but I think it came out looking pretty good

 

[ragamuffin]

Finished up the Broadcast clone this morning, sounds pretty great

I did manage to f-up the 9volt input wire, I might replace it, but right now I just want to play it!

 

[Spud]

Finished up the Broadcast clone this morning, sounds pretty great

I did manage to f-up the 9volt input wire, I might replace it, but right now I just want to play it!

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Very cool!.................................... What a huge PITA!

 

[Spud]

I got a lot of work done in the past two days!

Super crunch box is populated, but not wired up yet, Titan II is mostly populated (missing one capacitor as I didn't order enough, but a nice fellow from the PedalPCB forum is sending me one in the mail).

Simulcast is basically completed and working, sounds great, but I'm waiting on a different color LED for it. The red LED that I bought for it had the flat side on the long leg which confused me (normally flat side is on the short leg) so I wired it backwards and f'd it up while troubleshooting and taking it out. Luckily I have some in the mail coming tomorrow.

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Very cool!

 

[Rick]

Love that radio antenna ... it's sending out the vibes!

 

[ragamuffin]

Today I finished up the last of the builds!



The first build was the Simulcast. Populating the board went fine, but I hadn't boxed a pedal in a long time so I made a lot of mistakes. First try I wired the power backwards, jack input/output and grounds backwards, and the LED from Tayda had the flat on the wrong side so I wired that backwards too! But I sorted it all out eventually. Pedal sounds great! This might be a new fixture on my board.



Next was the Crunch Captain Deluxe which went smoothly for the most part other than two things; drilled the toggle switch holes a bit bit and I'll have to get some dress nuts for them, and my DC jack was too long and almost didn't fit with the PCB in there, so I had to bend back the tabs, but all worked out. Pedal has a plethora of nice chunky crunch tones! Great for 80's hard rock sounds! My brother has an original MI Crunchbox that I have played, so I kind of knew what to expect.



Last to be finished was the Titania2, as I forgot to buy one of the caps (or rather, I used the cap in my Simulcast and only bought one). Thanks to Robert on the PedalPCB forum for sending me a cap! On this pedal I decided to use a pimpin' jewel light in homage to Spaceman Effects. I drilled a hole big enough for the jewel, glued it in with a little E6000, and wired up the led under the board with some extension wires to be under the jewel. I think it looks pretty neat!





I'm quite happy with all three pedals, and I'll definitely be doing more in the future.

Again thanks to Robert and PedalBuilder on the PedalPCB forum for for the 1nF cap that I needed, and the transistors that I used for the Simulcast and Titania2!

 

[Spud]

Today I finished up the last of the builds!

View attachment 65467

The first build was the Simulcast. Populating the board went fine, but I hadn't boxed a pedal in a long time so I made a lot of mistakes. First try I wired the power backwards, jack input/output and grounds backwards, and the LED from Tayda had the flat on the wrong side so I wired that backwards too! But I sorted it all out eventually. Pedal sounds great! This might be a new fixture on my board.

View attachment 65468

Next was the Crunch Captain Deluxe which went smoothly for the most part other than two things; drilled the toggle switch holes a bit bit and I'll have to get some dress nuts for them, and my DC jack was too long and almost didn't fit with the PCB in there, so I had to bend back the tabs, but all worked out. Pedal has a plethora of nice chunky crunch tones! Great for 80's hard rock sounds! My brother has an original MI Crunchbox that I have played, so I kind of knew what to expect.

View attachment 65469

Last to be finished was the Titania2, as I forgot to buy one of the caps (or rather, I used the cap in my Simulcast and only bought one). Thanks to Robert on the PedalPCB forum for sending me a cap! On this pedal I decided to use a pimpin' jewel light in homage to Spaceman Effects. I drilled a hole big enough for the jewel, glued it in with a little E6000, and wired up the led under the board with some extension wires to be under the jewel. I think it looks pretty neat!

View attachment 65470

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I'm quite happy with all three pedals, and I'll definitely be doing more in the future.

Again thanks to Robert and PedalBuilder on the PedalPCB forum for for the 1nF cap that I needed, and the transistors that I used for the Simulcast and Titania2!

Great job!! E-6000? did you steal that from me and my rhinestone excursions? They all are killer!

 

[ragamuffin]

Great job!! E-6000? did you steal that from me and my rhinestone excursions? They all are killer!

Thanks! E6000 is the stuff! I put that on everything!

 

[mayfly]

The Simulcast looks interesting. Where does the transformer live in the signal path? and what kind of voltage are you measuring for VDD?

 

[ragamuffin]

The Simulcast looks interesting. Where does the transformer live in the signal path? and what kind of voltage are you measuring for VDD?

It's a cool pedal, I'm really liking the sound of it! Supposedly it's based off a broadcasting console preamp.

If I'm reading the schematic correctly the transformer is the last thing in the signal path before the volume pot and output. I'm not sure exactly what the function of the transformer is; I've even heard of people leaving it out/bypassing it and still having a good sounding pedal.

The VDD voltage I'm measuring is 23.2 volts if I'm measuring in the right place

Here's the schematic if you wan't to take a look at it

 

[ragamuffin]

Those three builds quenched my pedal build thirst, for about week or so. I swapped out the bad/damaged footswitch on the Simulcast, and I realized that the Crunch Captain was not putting out as much volume as it should so I started troubleshooting!

That lead to me putting some effort into learning how to read schematics and generally how things work. I built an audio probe and traced the circuit and it seems that the problem is somewhere in the vicinity of the volume pot, or may be the volume pot itself so I ordered a new one among other things.

Anyways, the thirst to build pedals and learn new things is real! I ordered parts to build four more pedals; two Analogman Sunface clones with nos Soviet germanium for me and my brother, and an Astrotone fuzz and Reeves Zo/silicon Zonk ii which I will be building on stripboard.

I also got me a component tester, and have a breadboarding setup coming in the mail! Yeah, I'm probably going nuts. Not that I wasn't nutty enough already...

I drilled and painted enclosures (and knobs) for the Analogman Sunface clones Analogface Sunmans! The big holes are for led ring footswitches

 

[Hagwood]

Great work, and I bet a fun project ! Love the Analogface Sunmans.

I've been thinking of getting a MojoTone Tweed Amp kit to build, so I'll have something to work on between guitars. Won't be quiet as difficult as yours since it's all planned out in a kit, but a good way to learn it probably. Looks fun.

 

[ragamuffin]

Great work, and I bet a fun project ! Love the Analogface Sunmans.

I've been thinking of getting a MojoTone Tweed Amp kit to build, so I'll have something to work on between guitars. Won't be quiet as difficult as yours since it's all planned out in a kit, but a good way to learn it probably. Looks fun.

Nice, which tweed are you getting?

 

[Spud]

Those three builds quenched my pedal build thirst, for about week or so. I swapped out the bad/damaged footswitch on the Simulcast, and I realized that the Crunch Captain was not putting out as much volume as it should so I started troubleshooting!

That lead to me putting some effort into learning how to read schematics and generally how things work. I built an audio probe and traced the circuit and it seems that the problem is somewhere in the vicinity of the volume pot, or may be the volume pot itself so I ordered a new one among other things.

Anyways, the thirst to build pedals and learn new things is real! I ordered parts to build four more pedals; two Analogman Sunface clones with nos Soviet germanium for me and my brother, and an Astrotone fuzz and Reeves Zo/silicon Zonk ii which I will be building on stripboard.

I also got me a component tester, and have a breadboarding setup coming in the mail! Yeah, I'm probably going nuts. Not that I wasn't nutty enough already...

I drilled and painted enclosures (and knobs) for the Analogman Sunface clones Analogface Sunmans! The big holes are for led ring footswitches


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You have found a whole new niche for your crazy!!!

 

[Hagwood]

Nice, which tweed are you getting?

I was thinking about the Deluxe 5E3 for just using in my music room. I don't gig, so just for the room, or maybe to take to my son-in-laws to jam.
Looks like a nice kit with good plans and instructions. Might be a fun way to get into that hobby as well, like I need another one.......

Tweed Pro® 5E5-A Style Guitar Tube Amp Kit

Mojotone’s Tweed Pro Style Amp Kit is based on the ~20-30 watt wide panel model produced from 1955-1960. These amps had a unique flavor, and came with a fat sounding 15 inch speaker that helped create hallmark sounds for artists like Tom Petty and Tom Principato. This 5E5-A circuit saw the...

mojotone.com

 

[Hagwood]

Love that radio antenna ... it's sending out the vibes!

For some reason that reminds me of Rocky Horror Picture Show.......

 

[ragamuffin]

I was thinking about the Deluxe 5E3 for just using in my music room. I don't gig, so just for the room, or maybe to take to my son-in-laws to jam.
Looks like a nice kit with good plans and instructions. Might be a fun way to get into that hobby as well, like I need another one.......

Tweed Pro® 5E5-A Style Guitar Tube Amp Kit

Mojotone’s Tweed Pro Style Amp Kit is based on the ~20-30 watt wide panel model produced from 1955-1960. These amps had a unique flavor, and came with a fat sounding 15 inch speaker that helped create hallmark sounds for artists like Tom Petty and Tom Principato. This 5E5-A circuit saw the...

mojotone.com

I built a 5e3 deluxe (in a headshell and with some mods) and it's a really great amp and much more versatile than a Champ for instance