How do you tame that loud Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp? By putting a volume control in the loop. So here’s that very thing (with a small cap across the pot to keep the treble).
It was inspired by Brian Wampler’s video:
Modified Phase 90
I have an ancient MXR Phase 90 from about 1990 or so which has an old style DC jack socket (1/8″). For this reason I’ve been using it with a battery. So, today it was time to whip out the drill (the hole needed widening and, boy, did they use proper metal back then) and the soldering iron and fit a modern 2.1mm centre negative DC jack socket. Success!
Here’s a pic of the guts before I converted it:
And after:
The battery leads are disconnected. But I won’t be using a battery in it any more…
Game of Tones
Winter Solstice. And time for a King of Tone clone.
This one was definitely more challenging as it consists of two of the same circuit, one for each side. I also designed and added an additional board to mount the clipping diodes and the DIP switches rather than use external switches. I would have liked to have done it all on one vero, but hey ho.
It was a real challenge fitting it all in, but it’s my new fave pedal.
OMG
I had a little break from building pedals, but here’s a new one. It’s an OCD v3 clone. I actually own an OCD 1.7 but I wanted to compare this one. In the end, it was a bit meh and for some reason is microphonic and squealy when the input jack is not connected. It’s a bit of a ho-humdinger. I could probably fix that somehow at some point.
RCket Booster
Time for a plain old booster pedal, a clone of the Xotic RC Booster.
The RC Booster offers a super transparent 20db+ clean boost with an adjustable ±15dB two band active EQ which adds a wide range of harmonic content to your ideal sound. As a clean boost, it can enhance other pedals, such as “overdrive and distortion pedals”, or you can crank the gain for a “crunch” sound. But, the RC Booster is an extremely transparent, where many player’s find they leave it on all the time.
Dune
I wanted to build another Zendrive clone. The Koan Drive used an OPA2604 opamp but I thought I’d try a AD712 (from eBay). There isn’t much difference, if any, in the sound. But still, I love the pedal so much I wanted a spare.
Also…I found another way to seal the artwork decal on a pedal.
He says further down – “…inkjet clear sticker film with an extra sheet stuck over the printing for protection.”
I used this transparent sticker film as the top layer because that’s all I have right now – https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0725Z8CVB/
So, I printed out the colour label and then stuck the clear layer over that and then cut the whole thing out and stuck it to the enclosure.
Then I did an experiment – I ran the whole lot under the hot tap. Then a gooey layer of the transparent film started to come off in small lumps (the top coat of the clear vinyl). After a bit of rinsing and a final rub down with meths it came up really shiny and smooth. And the fingernail grooves I put in (deliberately) disappeared. It looks great!
What was that Carpenters song?
“…and say goodbye to…Envirotex…”
Here you can see the edge of the decal, looks great.
