Let's see your finished DIY projects!

[Chankgeez]

Pompei (Synthi Hi Fli clone) is finally done.













And the latest installment of the Hen's Tooth Cafe. It tips that scales at 25 minutes, the first 10, I go through all the controls, and what they do. Feel free to skip to 10:00 for the noodling. The video could have easily been much, much, much, much longer. There's that much inside this monster. I'm only scratching the surface. Barely.

Not a real ring mod?

Listening now! Nice work!

[repoman]

[frodog]

That Pompei is craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy. Great sounds, like a lot I would use... listening to the demo now. Damn, please don't make me want to build this.

Here's a simple thing to contrast. Not entirely symmetrical graphics, was a paint pen quickie, but hey always possible to build another since I got two from a guy selling these unbuilt PCBs.

I dig it, very metal distortion with scoopy eq, idk never tried a STD1 before. No mods except selectable (visual!) LED/none/Germ clipping.

[Dowi]

That Pompei is craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy. Great sounds, like a lot I would use... listening to the demo now. Damn, please don't make me want to build this.

Here's a simple thing to contrast. Not entirely symmetrical graphics, was a paint pen quickie, but hey always possible to build another since I got two from a guy selling these unbuilt PCBs.

I dig it, very metal distortion with scoopy eq, idk never tried a STD1 before. No mods except selectable (visual!) LED/none/Germ clipping.

gci_in.jpg

gci_bj.jpg

This is on my to build list once I have gathered some confidence with soldering because it seems an easy one.
How does it sound without clipping selected?
Nice artwork btw, love the two asymmetrical LEDs!

[frodog]

Yo, thank you!

With no diode clipping it sounds very similar to the LEDs, a bit less compressed maybe. But I added an 8.2nf cap in parallel with the LEDs, so that setting is slightly darker anyway.

[Dowi]

Yo, thank you!

With no diode clipping it sounds very similar to the LEDs, a bit less compressed maybe. But I added an 8.2nf cap in parallel with the LEDs, so that setting is slightly darker anyway.

I still have a lot to study - from an electronic point of view - to understand how to deal with different kinds of clipping in circuits, so far I only know it from experience (speaking soundwise) with Rats and a couple DOD 250-inspired boxes with switchable clipping.

[frodog]

Same here, I don't really know what I'm doing. Diode clipping I can understand to an extent, though mostly by ear. If a circuit has it I want it on a switch.
Haven't even messed with the diodes in the two Rats I have lying around, but one day..

Speaking of switches, I finally got around to replacing the broken one on my Metal Master. More hassle than I had thought, the old tallboy switch was soldered into ten holes (only three active, the rest for support) and the new one came down right on top of the two resistors you see there, so had to pull/reorient them too. But now the second output works again.

[garyg]

gci_bj.jpg

I know this may sound weird but... I love gut shots with a variety of component types, colours etc. So much more interesting than the usual lines of blue resistors and yellow box caps or whatever.

edit: ok, can't quote with the image, sure you get what I'm on about.

[frodog]

Haha, that is basically why I do it, just want some more color and variety on the board. Plus it makes it easier to see at a glance which value they are than if there's only one or two types of resistor. I doubt it makes any audible difference except for value discrepancies here and there, though I mostly reserve NOS stuff for the audio parts of the circuit.

Yeah this forum doesn't allow you to quote attached images, only externally linked I guess? But there's a workaround - copy image location (before you click Quote), then delete the attachment(s) in the quote and replace with the copied link between [img] tags.

[frodog]

An old Parasit Studio 8 Bitar vero build finally housed. Combined it with this neat Tilt Control EQ (http://guitar-fx-layouts.42897.x6.nabble.com/Quad-34-Diamond-Tilt-Control-td8433.html) because I wanted it bassier, and it fit this leftover 8 row piece of stripboard. Turns out that's the height of the side of the enclosure, leaving room for the primary circuit. 22nf caps (centre freq 220Hz), so it's boosting below that/cutting above with an impractical multiturn trimpot.

Oh yeah, all the controls on this are internal - input resistance and output of the 8 BiTaR as well. Another self imposed limitation as I was curious if a no-knob octave down would be useful. Turns out... mehbe? I am still making incremental adjustments, figuring it out. I want to find the balance where it's not too loud or quiet compared to a fuzz or something, and not focused on an unflattering frequency. The tracking is pretty solid right now, of course glitchy in a cool way, and it has lots of low end but also enough highs.

Painted once again to resemble a rural metal band's demo tape from the early '90s. Or, just cause it's better to embrace the squiggle than stressing about straight lines and shit. That being said, here's my jig to make the process easier; two VHS cases (empty or loaded) taped together around the edges, for holding the enclosure and wrist support. Then you can also tape that onto a piece of cardboard or heck, a VCR, for extra holding power. Video tape is not dead!

[spacelordmother]

That paint job is f u c k I n g s I c k

[frodog]

Thank you! f u c k i n p r e c i a t e i t

As a note, this one did not play well with some of my pedals. It was so stupid in fact, it made the Warped Vinyl cry and the Accountant have a serious volume drop. After a while I found the culprit to be the TL072 in the Tilt Control. I don't know why but suspect it was buffering the shit out of the signal, so even though it didn't sound super loud other pedals didn't like it? The fix was replacing the TL072 with an LM1458, that normalized everything. It remains to try with a real bass amp, but for now I'm happy enough with it that I'll leave the trimpots as they are.

[digi2t]

Origami and Dial "F" for Fuzz validation builds are done. Just for shit's and grins, I plugged the "F" into the Origami, and lit the fuse on both. Holy blooming dooming fuzz and octaves Batman. Simply nuts!! I think I scared a dog somewhere.

[Bret608]

I haven't posted a build here in ages, but am feeling inspired seeing all the craziness posted here of late...this is a Si 'Bender-type circuit I did last summer, more or less the Scarab Deluxe circuit. It's got one of the best overdrive or distortion voicings I've heard, not exactly like the Ge Tonebenders I've built. When you get it into gated territory, it can get close to MkI territory. I ended up being proud of this one because my daughter (age 14) did the graphics for me. She did it in ClipStudio software, and all I had to do was walk it over to Illustrator and add the labeling. It's based on the Tokyo Ghoul manga series, which she was really into at the time. Now she's onto something else...I can't keep up with these teenagers' tastes! Also, my younger daughter made the "rock sock" storage bag for me in her maker space club at school. I love it!

[repoman]

Heres the DeadendFX String Ringer basically done...just waiting to replace the 4PDT which I think is the source of trouble with this.

Have the ? E.Nigma done too just waiting for the enclosure to dry, and the LionX done too but I don't know if that one works yet because the transformer that I bought was DOA and I need to get another.

Need to build the Wobbulator and Meatball next.
Super tempted to do the pompei but I am noob.