-
Flatline v2 Build
The Flatline is a a great simple compressor designed by John Hollis. Check out my original article on Flatline for some background. This is an update to the original board that incorporates some mods by Atomium Amps. Besides me part value changes, this board adds a trim pot to set the release /decay time for…
-
Ugly Face with Mix
I’m a big fan of the Tim Escobedo’s Ugly Face. This is a super fun project, sort of a. right of passage for DIY pedal makers. The sound is unique. The best way to describe it is as a square wave oscillator that hard syncs to the guitar signal. Since the output is either on…
-
Doboz VCO340 Build
I built a pair of Doboz VCO340 VCOs. These are based around the CEM3340 chip, which was used in Yamaha DX7, Prophet and other famous synths from the 80s. Here are my notes for the build for anyone interested in building these VCOs for themselves. The project comes as two PCBs and an aluminum front…
-
Flatline OP2134
This is the Flatline compress by John Hollis with some mods by Atomium Amplification. I’ve built a few of these and they all work well. Flatline is a simple optical compressor built from a handful of easy to find parts. If you like compressors, want to build one yourself try this, you’ll probably like it.…
-
Small Time Delay update
Small Time is a PT2399 based delay with tails by the Valve Wizard. Tails or trails if you’re not familiar allows the delay signal to continue after the effect is bypassed. Valve Wizard’s work is here. I saw the schematic and thought it looked pretty good and decided to make my own PCB. The first…
-
Pedal workshop Noisebridge #3
Thanks to everyone who came to the last pedal building workshop at Noisebridge. I was impressed with the enthusiasm! We demoed some pedals talked about populating the PCB and identifying the correct parts and placing them in the correct locations on the PCB and soldering. The next workshop is scheduled for Saturday, March 4th, 1…
-
Tremolo Matic XXII Build
The Tremolo Matic XXII (Tremolo 22) is a great sounding tremolo. This is origianlly from Stompboxology. I’ve written more about it here. I made a few changes to the original design. This latest version adds a few improvements to the first couple revisions. I have been manufacturing these boards with PCBWay.com. They have a great…
-
Small Time Build
Small Time is a PT2399 delay designed by the Valve Wizard. This delay has tails. This allows the delay sound to continue after the pedal is bypassed. My first built worked well and wounded good. The tails was not as exciting as I thought it would but it is interesting and a small bonus. The…
-
Pedal workshop at Noisebridge #2
Thanks to everyone that came to the pedal building workshop at Noisebridge. I’m writing this post as a follow up to help you all get your projects off to a good start. Get started Everyone should have left with a project to work on. If you don’t and need help finding an appropriate project contact…
-
Pedal Workshop at Noisebridge
I’m planning to host a pedal building workshop at Noisebridge. Noisebridge is a community hacker space in San Francisco. Below are my notes for this session. Welcome Why are you here? What can you build? What is a guitar pedal? Show some sample pedals Here are some poplar DIY projects with lots of resources available…
-
Prototyping Guitar Pedals
This is post for anyone interested in getting started making your own guitar pedals and prototyping your own PCBs. I like making guitar pedals and synth modules. I’ve built more than a few of each. When I started, some of the first modules I built were done on perf-board and strip-board, then I moved to…
-
Zap Frequency #3
I’m experimenting with the Harmonic Energizer. Read more about it in my previous post. I updated the PCB with room for two pairs of clipping diodes. With this update. Using the prototyping service at PCBWay.com is a great way to make high quality PCBs at a very reasonable price. The key is to order several…