Effects Bay

I’ve been getting into pedal building, to the point where I’m a little concerned about how big this obsession is getting. Frankly, I think about it ALL the time these days. I had no background in electronics prior. I’ve always been a ‘hacker’ in a way, but more of a ‘breaker’ in reality, but I’ve always wanted to fix things or see why they work, etc. Over the years, I’ve picked up a few tricks/techniques and tools, and I’m at the point where I can start to get my head around basic pedal circuits and what not.  For me, the satisfaction comes with the application. To build something.. and then play my guitar through it is completely rewarding, and I absolutely love it.

The world of pedal building is overwhelming when you first start. From understanding electrical components to the basic fundamentals of electricity you are exposed to a lot of new and challenging things right off the bat. When looking at pedal circuits, you’ll most likely see them as schematics on the web, and it’s hard to translate that to physical components.. well it was for me at least. I was having trouble going from schematic to board, but one thing that has helped immensely is this great FREE program called DIY Layout Creator.

Basically, it’s a piece of software (I did mention it was FREE right?) that will allow you to place components on a virtual board. This is really great to ’see’ how the circuit develops and it’s helped really translate schematic to reality. I personally like veroboard (strip board) for this since this translates well from schematic really easily for me. You can also use perfboard or PCB layouts as well.

If you’re interested in building pedal circuits, I would highly recommend this program. You can download it here.

Popularity: 6%

I’ve been spending a ton of time researching pedal designs, and understanding some ‘basics’ of electronics. It’s a big pill to swallow with what seems to be a never ending list of topics, theories, opinions, etc. But one step at a time, I feel like I’ll get somewhere.

One of the things that I wanted to have before getting too involved with breadboarding a circuit design was to build a prototype board. Basically, this is a ‘Beavis Board‘. Since I’m really a hands on sorta person, and every chance I can get to hold a soldering iron will help improve my skills, I opted to build one vs. buying one.

Basically, the concept is to have a enclosure mounted on a board. The enclosure is wired up with true bypass 3PDT switch, LED, input/output jacks, DC and 9V power. The send/return leads and power/ground leads leave the enclosure and mount to a terminal strip. From there you would connect the terminal strip to a breadboard where you would build your effect circuit. Why I wanted this instead of just riding with a breadboard.. is simple. I want something that I can step on and easily plug my guitar in with out worrying about messing up my circuit. Also, the ability to pick up the unit and take it somewhere is a little easier. This is my phase 1 version. I’m planning on adding a ‘pot row’ where I can mount several pots and wire them into the terminal strip for my circuit. Also, similar to the Beavis Board, I would like to add voltage ’sag’ control as well.

All the components have been screwed down to the board, with the exception of the enclosure where I used the velcro method to affix it to the board.

It’s a fun project, quick.. and easy, but I know it’ll be very handy when it’s circuit building time.

Popularity: 7%

I’ve been really getting into pedal hacking and I’ve been a little obsessed over the idea of making pedals one day. The pedal hacking community is incredibly kind and helpful, and it’s really easy to get the bug and desire to make something.. and if all goes well, works with your guitar.

A couple of days ago @4ntwaan let me know about something that Zachary Vex of ZVex has been up to. At the 2010 NAMM he was talking about the Inventobox, basically a pedal hacker’s dream box. It allows you to wire in pots, drop in ‘modules’ or craft you own circuits into the pedal.

Here is a video where Zachary explains the Inventobox:

As you can see, there is some great cool potential here. I’ve been planning on making a prototyping board that interfaces with a bredboard and pedal enclosure (ala Beavis Board) and this is definitely the hi-tech version of this. Awesome!

Popularity: 8%

Over the weekend I found myself working on a fun project. I’ve been slowly chipping away on my pedal board and one item I wanted to introduce was a bypass loop strip.  I wanted this for several reasons.

- To isolate my pedals and remove them from the signal chain while not being used
- Create chained effects and activate those effects with one switch
- Create a loop for my delay

Now, I already use a Boss LS-2 for my primary lead loop which consists of Holy Fire Overdrive and Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, but I really wanted a loop for my Line 6 DL 4. I’ve been working on a few songs where I want to turn the delay on and off, but I loose my tempo when I do so, with this in a loop I can maintain the tempo I set throughout the song and pull it in or out.

There are lots of loop strips out there, but I wanted to see if I could build one. It was somewhat challenging to understand how the 3PDT switches work in relationship to the signal paths, and there is a lot of soldering involved, but overall, it was a easy project.

For those of you that might be interested, I documented my steps, and I’ll supply my part list for building the 5 loop strip. First though, I have to thank SingleCoil.com for writing a great article on this very subject. I used their diagram for this project and is a great resource to understand how this all works. Please check out their website. I’d also like Matt from Cheese Blocks Effects for taking a look at my project (via email) and offering some suggestions for the next build.

Okay… now to the build. First off, let’s start with a part list. I ordered everything from PedalPartsPlus.com.

1 1411TU Looper Enclosure
1 Switchcraft 1/4″ Stereo Jack #12B (I would probably not order this again and just go with 12 monos)
11 Switchcraft 1/4″ Mono Jack #11
1 DC Power Jack
5 Red LEDs (5mm)
5 5mm LED Bezels
5 Xicon 1/4watt 1* Metal Film Resistors 470 ohms
5 (CLIFF) RoHS 3PDT True Bypass Switches
#24/7 Green Wire
#24/7 Red Wire
#24/7 White Wire
#24/7 Black Wire

Tools you’ll need: wrenches, screwdriver, soldering iron, wire strippers, wire cutters, solder (I used 60/40 rosin-core .032 dia) and needle nosed plyers. It’s incredibly nice to have the ‘3rd set of hands’ alligator clips deal for soldering. Also a nice pair of wire strippers makes things easier.

This is what it looks like when I got the package. Note in this photo I have 5 560k resistors. I did not need to use those.

Next, I loosely inserted the jacks and switches. I locked in the LED bezels. I say loosely added them, because you’ll be pulling them out again. I basically put them into position so I could measure the wire lengths needed. I wanted to make sure I could open the enclosure if there was a problem. Also this enclosure is pretty tight for soldering.

Next, I thought I would work on the switches. In the diagram I was using you needed to make a ground jumper from bottom left to middle right.  I first soldered the resistors for the LEDs and clipped the remaining unused lead tail and used that as the jumper and soldered that in place. I was using this diagram from SingleCoil.com (http://www.singlecoil.com/tb-strip/dia3.html).

I then started on the ground connections. Linking all the mono jacks and linking the send/receive pairs back to the the switches, as well as linking those to the master input and output of the strip. It’s important to understand the jacks and what lugs are what. Mono jacks only have ‘tip’ and ’sleeve’.  Stereo jacks have tip, ring and sleeve. The sleeve will be the ground and the tip will be your signal from the guitar. The lug (what you’re soldering to) is opposite of the tip or opposite of the sleeve. For this strip, you should be using all mono jacks since it’ll be DC powered and we don’t need to activate the current with the input jack like most pedals. For this project, I accidentally wired the signal to the sleeve of the stereo jack instead of the tip. Here is a good diagram that I was using illustrating a jack and it’s lugs: http://skyturtle.com/2009/02/17/stereo-phone-jack/

From here, I started to wire the send and returns of the effect loops as well as the DC jack.

All that is left is to connect the LEDs to the resistors and to chain the positives together. Matt from Cheese Blocks recommended that I should have used heat shrink tubing on those leads, and I definitely thought about it. In the future I’ll definitely add that to help prevent any shorts. For this project I made sure that the leads were bent up towards the lid and away from the switches as best as I could, but that little bit of shorting prevention could go a long way.

One thing that I would recommend is to make sure you clip any excess leads from wires and components, especially at the jack lugs. These jacks are very close together and could be another area of potential short circuits. Make sure you use a hot soldering iron and to focus on clean joints.

When she was all done (and after I fought the ’sleeve’ issue with the master input) it was time to test it out. All the loops worked and everything sounded great. Here is shot of it on my board for initial testing:

Hope this comes in handy. I’ll be making another one here shortly, like to add a few more items in there.. master on/off switch, tuner out.. maybe even play with a buffered loop.

Popularity: 18%

For today’s post, I thought I would do a post on how I replaced the wah pot in a Fulltone Clyde Wah. In the process of finding a replacement, I definitely learned a lot about the Fulltone Clyde. At Fulltone’s site they have a replacement pot available, but no way to ‘order’ it direct. I sent them a email but didn’t hear back immediately, so I started to do some research. I found out that Fulltone use to sell these pots, but stopped. Apparently there were a lot of people switching out pots for a few bucks and getting something close to the Clyde. I also read that they quit shipping them all together and you need to send in the broken unit. That was a deal breaker for me, so I was off to find a replacement.

After doing some research about the original Vox Clyde McCoy wahs, I saw that it’s a very ’special’ pot that is required. Builders like Fulltone and Teese have contracted out to pot manufacturers to create pots to match their exact specifications, so it’s not as simple as finding a pot with the same resistance and dropping in there. Basically, the pot is a 100k ICAR tapered pot. You can find various pots on eBay as well as other retailers. I hear the pots commonly found on eBay ‘work’ but don’t sound as good. I also found that Area 51 was  selling CTS ICAR tapered pots so I purchased on from there.

The next day, I received an email from Fulltone saying that they would send me a pot, but I needed to email/fax a proof of billing or send a photo of the wah. I didn’t have the receipt, so I took a photo of the wah with a piece of paper where I signed my name and dated the paper. No problems.. and the pot was on the way. I was happy to get a Fulltone replacement, so I’ll be saving the CTS ICAR pot from Area 51 for another wah project down the road.

Here is a photo of the wah opened u. My two new pots. The one with the dust cover is the Area 51 pot, and the one right of it is the Fulltone replacement pot.

For me to do this replacement, I need to desolder the original connections. I have a little solder bulb (not sure if that’s what you call it) for sucking the wet solder and a hot soldering iron.

I used some colored alligator clips to help me remember what wire goes where and desoldered the connections. I also moved the loop (loop provides tension against the rack) away from the rack (rack is the straight gear).

I then used a wrench to loosen the nut locking the pot in place and replaced it with the new pot. The photo below is the new pot locked in place and ready for soldering. Tighten the pot tight, but not too tight to damage the pot.

Here is a shot of the new pot with wires soldered into place. It’s important to use a HOT iron and to create good solder connections!

The next steps are pretty important. Depress the wah so the pot is cranked to full treble  and match the gear to the rack, but ‘click’ the wah. If you set it to the max without accounting for the footswitch, every time you’re clicking the wah on or off, you’re damaging the pot by forcing it to go beyond what it’s capable of doing. Once the gears are lined up, position the loop to press against the rack and tighten it.

That’s basically it. Slap the cover back on and give it a spin. Overall, it sounded real close to the other Clyde Wah I happen to have. It’s interesting how different components can color the tones differently, and I’ll be writing another post about this down the road. Hope this helps!

Popularity: 10%

The following is a guest post by Christian Moraga (@cubisteffects). If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

After reading Part 1 of the M.I.Y series: Tools and Techniques, you should have a good grasp of what is required to get into your pedal and start modding. But before we flick on the soldering iron, I thought I’d write a few points about the diode, the key component to Part 2 of the M.I.Y series: Diode Clipping.

A diode is an electronic component that allows electricity to flow in one direction, much like a valve does letting water go one way but not the other. Diodes can be seen in nearly all effect pedal schematics and are noted as this symbol (left). They are integral in creating that overdrive or distortion sounds in your favorite dirt pedals, and come in different packages, materials and sizes. Each diode has a positive side (anode) and negative side (cathode). This polarity is what resembles a valve, and dictates the flow of electricity.

But how does a diode contribute to that overdrive sound? If we look at an audio signal (represented as a sine wave) we can distort the signal by “clipping” the tops and bottoms of the wave. This clipping produces harmonics that we hear as overdrive.

Image source: www.geofex.com

If a signal is clipped evenly on both top and bottom of the wave, this is referred to as symmetrical clipping and is used in pedals such as the Ibanez Tubescreamer. If a signal is clipped more heavily at one peak than the other, this is called asymmetrical clipping as heard in the BOSS SD-1 Overdrive. The more heavily a peak is clipped, the more a sine wave moves closer to a square wave, and closer to distortion and fuzz.

Image source: www.diystompboxes.com

The location of clipping diodes has an effect on the sound as well. Soft clipping involves having two diodes connected on the feedback-path of an opamp or a transistor (Tubescreamer). Hard clipping is when two diodes shunt to ground, creating distortion as in the ProCo RAT. The material of the diode also affects the clipping. Silicon diodes have been described as being “sharper” and “tighter” whereas germanium diodes are described as being more”compressed” or “spongey”. You can also use LEDs (light emitting diodes), Zeners, Schottkys, MOSFETs etc… the experimental possibilities are endless.

So with all of that in mind, let’s crack open a pedal. We will need [1]:

• A pedal (I will be using a BOSS SD-1),
• A selection of diodes,
• Single in-line break away sockets (purchased from any electronics store),
• The schematic of the pedal (that can be found at the resources listed in Part 1 of the series).

Firstly, unscrew the back so we can get to the PCB. You should be able to see a trace side, full of tracks and solder joins [2]. Carefully lift up the PCB so we can see the component side, and look for a set of diodes [3]. The markings (e.g D3, D4, D5) should correspond to your schematic. Desolder these diodes, marking down their original orientation, and clear the holes. Solder in a socket for each hole from where the diode was removed [4] and place the PCB back into the pedal. We can now experiment with different diodes, and combinations of diodes, and immediately hear the difference between them.

Place the diodes (using the same polarity as you marked down earlier) back into the sockets, power up the pedal, plug in and play. No need to close the pedal back up, it will just be a bit noisier. Now remove the power, remove the diodes and try another combination. Power, plug and play – hear the difference. Now try a symmetrical configuration, then asymmetrical.

In the place of one diode, try a MOSFET like an MPF102 (note in [1] how I bent only the ground pin to remove). Or you could try germanium and silicon diode in series, a silicon and LED, two silicons in series, two germaniums in series etc. To solder diodes in series, ensure that the cathode is soldered to the anode [5]. Using diodes in series increases headroom and volume but sacrifices a bit of gain. Use MOSFETs for “tube-like response” and LEDs (reds are great) for crunch and higher gain. When you find a combination you prefer, desolder the sockets and solder in your killer selection. Close the pedal back up and you now have a diode clipping modded pedal. Common mods include placing different diode combinations on switches, or a symmetrical/asymmetrical diode switch. But we may leave that till next time…

Happy modding,

C.

About the author.
Christian Moraga is the owner of CubistEffects.com located in Sydney, Australia. Christian repairs and mods most brands of pedals like BOSS, Ibanez, EHX , Arion, MXR, Danelectro, Marshall, Dunlop, VooDoo Labs, Digitech, DOD etc and specialise in Big Muffs and ProCo Rats. He also makes custom switching and loopers for your pedalboard needs. A/B, True Bypass, Tap Tempo etc.

A note from EffectsBay.com
I found Christian while doing some research on the Line 6 DL4, where Christian has some great mods available!

Remember, if you like reading about pedals and seeing videos reviews from others, please subscribe to the RSS feed and get notified via email when there are new postings!

Popularity: 16%

I was surprised to see that Musician’s Friend is now offering Keeley modded TS9 (baked mod). I really find these TS9 mods quite interesting.  A few months ago I posted a entry showing gearmanndude’s shoot out between a few mods, but I also found another good one showing the Keely and Analog man.

Here is the official ‘mod’ description:

The Keeley Ibanez TS9 Baked Mod takes a traditional Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer Pedal and modifies it for incredible saturation, sustain, and wonderfully controllable feedback.

Robert Keeley uses the Texas Instruments RC4558P chip in this unit—the same used in early Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamers—along with a high-quality socket with gold inserts, metal film resistors, and metal film capacitors.

The range of the Drive control has been shifted as well; if a traditional TS9 goes from 0-10, the TS9 Baked Mod goes from 4-14. Additionally, one of the resistors that affects input impedance is raised a slight bit, allowing your pickups to breathe and reducing tone-sucking when off, and the input transistor is replaced with an MPSA18. The result is over-the-top overdrive that’s virtually noise-free.

Here is  the great video by Passenger95

You can pick up the Keeley Modded Ibanez TS9 Baked Mod Tube Screamer for $170.00 at Musician’s Friend.

Remember, if you like reading about pedals and seeing videos reviews from others, please subscribe to the RSS feed and get notified via email when there are new postings!

Popularity: 16%

I noticed that @CubistEffects had an interesting Tweet this morning, letting people know about a YouTube video he has featuring a modded Line 6 Filter Modeler (FM4). I was curious and had to watch. First off, Christian is the owner of Cubist Effects out of  Sydney, Australia and he does some great work on repairing and modding pedals. You can learn more at his site (http://www.cubisteffects.com).

I’m hoping that Christian sees this post and can add some more information.. like what happens if you plug a guitar in to this? I know there are plenty of gear heads that are looking for noise generation, and this pedal with the mods seems pretty great for this.

UPDATE:
Christian just created a post on his site regarding this mod. You can read more about it here:
http://www.cubisteffects.com/2010/01/line-6-fm4-filter-modeler-modifications/

I wasn’t too familiar with the Line 6 MF4 so I wanted to take a look at this and see what it’s all about.

Here is the official product description:

The Line 6 FM4 Filter Modeler Pedal gives you 16 new and vintage effects including Mu-Tron III, Moog, Arp, Korg, and Roland synths; Oberheim VCF; formant filter; and more. 4 memories. Bonehead simple to use. Tough as nails. Has true bypass.

I found a good video by gearwire that demos this pedal’s features:

You can pick up the Line 6 Filter Modeler (FM4) at Musician’s Friend for $249.99. And you can have it modded at Cubist Effects!

Remember, if you like reading about pedals and seeing videos reviews from others, please subscribe to the RSS feed and get notified via email when there are new postings!

Popularity: 11%

Some of you know that I’ve been experimenting with the pedals, and I’d like to eventually like to make my own effects circuit. I’ve been doing a lot of research and meeting a ton of people that are either into modifying or creating their own pedals. This community is absolutely fantastic, and more importantly, fun for a nerdy type like myself.

I’ve been working lightly with electronics for a couple of years, but by no means am I an expert.. so I have a long way to go. I’ve just been playing with various projects and working on some repairs and what not, but it’s important to always go back to the basics. Soldering is something I know I have more to learn and is very critical for electronics. You can get away with a lot, but with stomp boxes, you definitely want to get it right since they get thrown around, and stomped on. So your connections need to be done right.

Here is a great video on soldering by CuriousInventor. Lots of great information here:

Popularity: 8%

The following is a guest post by Matt Cheezem (@CheeseBlocks). If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Before we begin, it’s worth noting that this process, if not done properly can be extremely dangerous, and yes, even deadly. If the proper precautions are taken, you’ll be fine… but if you decide to give it a shot, you are doing so at your own risk. Kids, ask your parents. Parents, please, for the love of god, say no.

With the disclaimers out of the way…

What you’ll need:

-Laserjet printer (this will ONLY work with a laserjet, not an inkjet)
-Press’n'peel blue paper (available at www.pedalpartsplus.com) or high gloss     magazine paper
-Iron
-Aluminum Enclosure
-Muriatic Acid
-Hydrogen Peroxide
-Acetone (fingernail polish remover will work, as it’s basically just acetone)
-scouring pad
-plastic tub/glass pan
-cotton swabs
-safety goggles

Step 1:  Finding your Graphic:

You’ll want something that only has black and white to it. Shading won’t work with this process, so line drawings are best. For our purposes, I’ll be using the graphic from my new Phoenix Fuzz pedal. Don’t be afraid to use something with some detail, as press’n'peel is designed for circuit board etching, and can handle the details! Keep in mind when printing that you’ll want to use a negative image, and a mirror image. This is particularly important if you want to use text. Basically, anything that is NOT black when you’re done with your transfer WILL etch.  Here’s a picture of the graphic I’ll be using, printed on the press’n'peel.  (Take special note of the paisley ironing board. This is not necessary, but is highly recommended.)

Step 2:  Preparing the enclosure

This is a fairly simply process. All you need to do is rough it up a little bit with the scouring pad. Don’t go crazy with it, you mainly want to remove any residue on it, and give it a little bit of a textured surface to give the toner something to grab onto.  When you’re done with that, give it a good rinse and dry.  By the way, you’ll notice the rusty stain in my sink. This is from the muriatic acid from previous etching ventures. Best to use a utility sink if you have one!

Step 3: Making the transfer

Lay your press’n'peel on the enclosure with the glossy side facing up. Ideally, you’ll have some blue around the entire outline of the design. Give yourself some extra black around the image too.

I like to place a piece of paper between the iron and the press’n'peel to prevent friction when you move the iron. The last thing you want is the transfer sliding around once it gets hot. If it does slip and your transfer gets messed up, you can wip the toner clean with some acetone, and start again. The transfer is the most difficult part of the process, and it may take several tries.

Set your iron to the hottest temperature before the steam settings, and with light pressure, iron it to the enclosure. It’s best to keep the iron still for 30 second or so to allow it to bond to the metal, after that, you should be able to move the iron around without messing it up.

Check periodically. You should see spots of the black ink get darker through the transfer. When all of the toner has that uniform dark color to it, you should be ready for the next step!

Step 4: Cooling and removing the transfer

This may sound obvious… but at this point, the enclosure will be HOT. I’ve found it’s best to not let it cool naturally, but to carefully (using oven mits, a towel, tongs, whatever works) and immerse it in cold water. The sudden cooling will help the paper separate from the toner, leaving your image transferred to the enclosure.

Next, CAREFULLY peel the paper away from the enclosure. If you see the image start to separate, stop and go to another corner. You will probably have a few spots where it doesn’t transfer perfectly, we’ll fix that in the next step.

Step 5: Repairing the transfer

If you have a few spots where the transfer missed… you can repair them with a sharpie. I like to do a layer, let it dry, then do a second layer. The marker will resist the acid, but not as well as the toner. Eventually the acid will eat through the marker if you’re not careful, so keep a close watch on those spots when etching

Step 6: Time to etch!

Begin by preparing a mixture of Acid and Hydrogen peroxide. You’ll want to do this in a WELL ventilated area. Open a window or 12 if you can… turn on an exhaust fan in the kitchen, etc. Depending on the material you’re etching, the byproducts can be anything from hydrogen gas (explosive) to chlorine gas (toxic). Also, muriatic will burn you, damage clothing or surfaces, and if splashed into your eyes, can blind you. Safety goggles are definitely recommended.

I like to use equal parts acid and peroxide. For a really deep etch, you can use pure acid, for a light etch, increase the peroxide accordingly. Keep in mind that the deeper you etch, the less detailed it will be.

Place your enclosure in the plastic or glass container. Don’t use metal here, for obvious reasons.  You can use a plastic cup or one of those disposable food containers for the acid/peroxide mixture.

Carefully “paint” the mixture onto the transfer with a cotton swab. Keep in mind that any area NOT covered in toner will start to react. If it’s bubbling, it’s etching!
After a couple of minutes, the bubbling will stop.  At this point I generally wipe the enclosure clean (carefully, so as not to mess up the design. It will be a little soft now) and go one or two more rounds, depending on how deep you want to etch. Again, pay special attention to the areas you fixed with the marker. If those areas begin to etch, you can rinse the enclosure off, dry it, and remark those spots.

When you’re satisfied with the etching, rinse and dry the enclosure.

Step 7: Removing the transfer

The toner from the transfer should wipe clean relatively easily with acetone. If it’s being stubborn, you can use the scouring pad soaked in acetone.

Step 8: Finishing touches!

Hopefully you’re left with an etch you can be proud of! At this point you can either leave it as is, touch it up with some polish or fine grit sandpaper (I like to use 1000 wet sanding paper to smooth out the texture across the whole design)

You can use paint or ink to give your design shading or texture, or let it tarnish for an aged look.

Please be responsible in disposing of the remaining acid! Many communities have drop sites for disposing of hazardous materials. You can also use baking soda to neutralize it, again, in a WELL ventilated area.
IF you’ve got any questions, feel free to send me an email at If you give this a try, send me a pic of your results!

About the author:
Matt Cheezem is the owner of CheeseBlocks Effects, who are makers of fine stomp boxes including the CheeseBlocks sCream Cheese overdrive! CheeseBlocks also does pedal mods and custom pedal designs. Please visit them at their website or follow them on Twitter (@CheeseBlocks)

Remember, if you like reading about pedals and seeing videos reviews from others, please subscribe to the RSS feed and get notified via email when there are new postings!

Popularity: 14%