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Dub-T-123

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WOW... I've spent the last half-hour getting inspired, there's some pretty amazing stuff to be seen (and most certainly heard) on this thread. Here are a few DIY projects of my own... one is a converted record player/radio which now houses an Eminence Cannabis Rex and serves as the cabinet for my Fender Super Champ head. The other is a Strat I recently wired with coil split for the humbucker and neck "on" toggles... I have to say, all those pedal projects look pretty fun. Great job everybody!

 

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Been experimenting with the silicon Fuzz Face circuit a whole lot and I've arrived on something that I really like which I've added to my pedalboard.

 

Here it is

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The bare metal pedal is the new fuzz and I'm thinking of cranking out a line of them.

Great job Dubs [thumbup] Can't wait to hear a demo of it.

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Also, here's the schematic for my slightly modified Colorsound Fuzz. It's based on the Beavis Audio schematic with just a few changes. I think it sounds really great and I hope some of you will build this and enjoy it!

 

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If anyone needs any help reading my handwriting let me know

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Here's a brief review of the pedal above. I wanted to start a new thread about it and include some sound files but just haven't had time - yet. Soon I hope. Meanwhile...

 

This is the 'Dark Cloud' delay, designed and made by Dub-T-123. Unpainted steel box, 2 switches, 4 knobs, in, out and a 9v psu socket.

Blue LED next to RH switch which is the delay ON. The LH switch is....hold on a moment.

For the controls, full off/left is 7 o'clock, full on/right 5 o'clock. Left to right, we have -

1) Volume. Output volume of device. Unity gain at about 1 o'clock, so there is a signal boost after that. Plenty of it.

2) Time. Delay timing, about 40-50ms at full off, and about 700ms full on. I clocked this against my old Korg SDD2000.

3) Mix. Full off is dry/no delay added to signal, full on is wet/delay only.

4) Fdbk. Full off is a single repeat only, full on is infinite regeneration.

 

Sounds - It is quite a dark-sounding delay, however it does not thicken the signal or color it as such. Obviously the treble content decreases a little with each repeat; I was reminded of the way old 70s analog delays sound, but I think it's brighter and a little thinner/more transparent. I was able to set the vol and mix so the delay signal exactly equalled the guitar signal, however adding a high feedback setting to this quickly produced unpleasant distortion after several repeats...not surprisingly. It was easy to correct this with a quick tweak. So far, so good; plenty of variation in the controls and I'm one of those guys who'd rather have too much adjustment than too little. Some sort of tone circuit (not a cut switch) on the delay signal would be great but complicate things a lot more.

 

Special feature - Where this pedal really takes off is with the LH switch, which is momentary and for 'infinite repeat' - the feedback goes to full on. Great idea and increasingly featured in modern pedals; top dog seems to be the Strymon El Capistan where the switch doubles as a tap tempo switch, but the 'momentary infinite' (infinite moment?) feature is also part of the DMB Lunar Echo and Endangered Audio AD4096 delays, and the Dr Scientist Tremolessence...I'll have 'em all please!

 

In use - you play with the delay on, and when you press the LH switch it goes into infinite repeat. Simple. And very 'dub' too. The repeats build up, thinning/decaying and subtly changing character as they go and will increase in volume rapidly depending on what the settings are; I found this controllable with the fdbk control at about 8 o'clock - for as long as that switch is held down you have a lo-fi looper and the sounds can get amazing; hit harmonics and it begins to sound like a synth. I put the pedal on the table and operated it with my right hand after striking the guitar, holding the switch with my thumb and manipulating the time and fdbk controls with fingers. Into David Gilmour territory around 'Saucerful of Secrets'. I also finally found out after 40 years how they made the unearthly sounds at the end of the Weather Report track 'Crystal'.

I need to experiment more but - hours of fun. I hope to gig with it, probably using it by hand as described.

Brilliant. Thanks again Dub.

 

Strangely enough the SDD2000 mentioned above and a Boss SE50, both favorite old digital boxes, started malfunctioning during these tests. Very weird!

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Thanks for the review! You're totally right about taming the infinite feedback switch by turning the repeats control down. You can also slow down the rate of the volume increase by increasing the delay time.

 

I actually didn't design the circuit though, I just modified it. It's based on the Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay. In the future though I will get a breadboard and design my own (similar) circuit. I'll have a PM coming to you soon about the delay

 

 

 

 

So that new fuzz that I made.. I recorded a little clip of my drummer and I jamming with it. The fuzz is on the whole time. Also the song doesn't normally go like that.. We started at the chorus for no apparent reason.

 

Edit: see post below for video now in HD

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Here's a dual pedal I made for a guy that got all of his gear stolen at a gig. It's a Distortion+ with a few different clipping options and an EP Bosster with the fat and bright switches mounted on the face instead of inside.

 

The clipping options are germanium diodes, silicon diodes, and no diodes. All three sound really great. The EP Booster is based on the Maestro Echoplex preamp circuit and it sounds really great and has low noise.

 

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All in all I'm seriously in love with this pedal but it was so much wiring my fingaz hurt. Dunno if I've got the energy to make one for myself.

 

Oh yeah, the black ground wire that's not hooked up will be used for the LEDs that I'm too lazy to wire up right now.

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Cool! How did the cap upgrade actually change the sound? Did you change the value or just the material?

 

Also what's that circuit you've got going on in there? Almost looks like it could be a Big Muff with the four transistors and whatnot but I'm sure it's something else

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Cool! How did the cap upgrade actually change the sound? Did you change the value or just the material?

 

Also what's that circuit you've got going on in there? Almost looks like it could be a Big Muff with the four transistors and whatnot but I'm sure it's something else

I'm not sure if the cap changed the sound. Probably a little. I used the same value for the cap. I just replaced the ceramic disk one with a fancy schmancy NOS Vitamin Q. The oil-in-paper caps are "supposed" to sound more vintage.

 

The guitar is like a Clapton Strat. It has a mid boost circuit - the circuit board thing. It has a TBX tone control - that's the middle pot. It also has a treble bleed circuit - the cap over the volume pot with the electrical tape around it. It's battery powered and the battery is under the tremolo cover plate - you can just see the battery through the hole in the second pickup cavity. There's a power switch on the pickguard.

 

The volume control has a tone knob on it so that they all say "tone". [thumbup]

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Here's my latest project... an old Silvertone radio cabinet I yanked the radio out of. Found it at goodwill for $25, spent $9 on a can of paint, and another $4 on the cool California plate. Just need to add a baffle and speaker and port the back. BTW, any suggestions on how to do so to minimize low end? These old radio cabs with 12" guitar speakers tend to be very bassy. I'm using a 15 tube amp and was planning on loading it with an Eminence Cannabis Rex. Cheers.

 

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