Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: sgmypod on July 07, 2008, 06:52:54 PM
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Anyone got one or similar and how do they compare to original screamers/maxons etc
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No where near as good as...I don't know...say a Maxon 808 :lol:
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Now there is a surprise....but have you tried the BYOC
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No...sorry
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I have one.. but it doesnt work because I'm too incompetent with a soldering iron to get all the joins on the pcb clean :lol: If I ever get it working I'll let you know :D
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They aren't easy..did a mouse and was a pain
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the byoc stuff is great- sound really good and true bypass ain't a bad thing.
If you want one and don't want to put it together i'll happily do it, just cost you postage and if you want it painted. Done a few now and i love putting them together, i dont think i'll buy another 'built' pedal. Gonna build up a soldano slo-100 distortion kit at some point.
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soldano slo kit..where's that from
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http://www.olcircuits.com/olckits.html
A bit more complicated than BYOC, more gubbins and trimpots inside, i'm totally up for it though. Might order the tiny amp kit too... Just for fun. I LOVE building these things.
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these American kits
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Yes you have to import. Done on a small scale by one guy i think. Shall be ordering one soon.
I can see the problem of the quick reply, your last message made very little sense, i presumed you meant to ad a ? at the end?
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Yes you have to import. Done on a small scale by one guy i think. Shall be ordering one soon.
I can see the problem of the quick reply, your last message made very little sense, i presumed you meant to ad a ? at the end?
...ad a?
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Yes you have to import. Done on a small scale by one guy i think. Shall be ordering one soon.
I can see the problem of the quick reply, your last message made very little sense, i presumed you meant to ad a ? at the end?
...ad a?
add a question mark- my typing is shocking at the best of times. anyway- the screamer sounds good, but there are millions of TS copies out there. The BYOC kit will be as accurate and more tweakable than the original.
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cool..using horseheads maxon and am lovin it..so want one
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I have built a couple of BYOC kits, the TS808 and Phaser 90 and the Small Stone. this was when you could get them direct from the States to the UK and was cheap option.
My tube screamer is built to TS808 spec, better suited to driving valve amps due to output impedance change from the TS9 spec. Its also spec'ed to do Symetrical (original TS) and Asymetrical Clipping (SD-1). I have also swapped out the 1uf electroylic for some metal film caps. The result is a great sounding boutique pedal that I use as a booster.
The Phase 90 is pretty good too, but sounded a bit bassy for my liking, but I fixed it by adding an input buffer. Also BYOC supplied JRC741 op amps which give unity gain. Units that use the Texas 741 or others have slightly more gain and therefore the unit has a slight boost, which I don't like.
The Small Stone is a nice chorus to which I have added the Cap switch option.
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The other build site which is pretty good is Tonepad
http://www.tonepad.com/
They give the schematics and supply circuit boards to populate yourself. All the way from Chile, South America
I have built their CE-2 , Small Clone, Tremulus Lune, MXR Micro amp and Ross Compressor. All these cicuits work fine. With component upgrades these units give the "real thing" a run for their money PLUS they are True bypass.
My pedal board is populated with home build pedals and they prove to be robust, reliable and tone worthy.
Pedal chain
Budda Wah with Vocal mod (switchable by switch under treadle)
Phase 90 Script version (which is just minus a 22K feedback resistor)
TS808 with all the main mods
Small Stone chorus with cap switching mod
MXR Micro Amp
Boss DD-5
Boss TU-2
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The guys at BYOC think my switch may be nackered in my screamer. They said to bypass the switch by moving the in and out leads to their respective jacks. However I did that and theres no sound at all but the led still switches on when you use the footswitch :?
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If you have connected input jack to output jack direct with the wires, then obviously it should work unless you are grounding the signal somehwere else.
With everything "manually" bypassed (ie switch out of circuit) you should at least get signal to pass from guitar to amp.
Have you got a meter, whereby you could check for continuity. That's the easiest option when fault finding. You may have a knackered lead or duff interconnect or even a dry soldered joint.
Can you post a photo a clear photo of connection to switch and jacks and to and from board?
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an audio probe is perfect for fault finding in pedals as you can probe around the circuit following the signal path through and actually hear when the signal goes dead - that will be where your problem lies (unless you've botched the whole thing).
I can hear the next question, "what is an audio probe". pretty basic... a single 0.1uF cap (voltage rating not important) connected to a length of wire and hooked up to the 'hot' lug of a 1/4" jack socket. You should also have another wire with an alligator clip on the end from the jack socket for your ground connection to the circuit.
Plug your guitar (or signal generator) into the effect, and plug your amp into the audio probe. Start with the beginning of the circuit and see where the signal stops. If you have no signal at the input jack, you have most likely wired it wrong and are grounding the singal right at the input (just for example).
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(http://i37.tinypic.com/21cv7t1.jpg)
Thats how its wired to bypass the switch, dont know if its right. As you can see the switch is nackered because I carelessly burned it pretty bad.. my soldering now is way better than it was there though somehow :lol:
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Tom that's horrible. That's classed as an illegal torture method in some countries. That poor switch. Whap a new one in there and don't cook the bugger and it might work.
Looking at the schematic- lug 7 (top right) should go to the hole marked 'out' on the board. I'm guessing you knew that when you tried to troubleshoot by bypassing the switch all together?
For the connection between pins 4 and 9 i used a longer piece of wire, running along the side of the switch, so going around instead of thru. Means i didn't cook it when doing the other tags.
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Yeah I know its really bad, sorry :lol: :oops: I followed the wiring diagram correctly so I dont think therel be any problem there. Good idea with the wire going around rather than through it was a pain in the arse to get right! Part of the reason its so buggered is that my solder wouldnt melt for some reason (the iron and parts were hot enough as I tested with some new solder - seems like the solder was dodgy somehow!), but obviously the parts were still getting really hot..
Where can you get 3pdt switches for cheap? I need some more thin single core wire as well by the looks of things, mines disappeared.
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http://www.banzaieffects.com (http://www.banzaieffects.com) is a good place for effects gubbins. Just received confirmation my next build is getting shipped, a distortion kit based on the Soldano SLO100 distortion channel. Might be tricky but I like a challenge. Might throw up a build progress thread like my mighty mouse build if anyone is interested.
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Hi Tom,
I would have to agree with badger the soldering looks very dodgy to say the least. (Nice clear photo though).
Whenever wiring things up its always easier to use different colours for different things. IE Red for battery positive and Black for the earth, some other colours then for tone, distortion and level pots etc.
1) If the the DC input is orientated the way I think it is then the unsoldered terminal should have an earth lead attached to it. As there also appears to be no battery connector you won't getting any power to the circuit.
2) It looks like the "out" from the board is going to earth on the output socket, it should be going to the switch. The loose wire hanging by the switch is probably the earth. Also there appears to be no wire running from the switch to "in" on the board.
3) 3PDT can be sourced from http://www.smallbearelec.com/home.html USA
or http://www.watfordvalves.com/products.asp?id=6 UK.
I don't think it will take much to get it going, although i may suggest a bit nmore practing on the soldering front. ( mind you we all had to start somewhere!!!)
Hope this helps
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Yeah as I said I moved the wires from the switch because I was trying to bypass it.. You should've seen the soldering before I got a new iron and some solder that actually melts properly :oops: As for the dc socket I didnt put the battery clip in because I never use them. Theres definitely power going through as the led lights up when the pedals switched on, just no sound (well there is but its really quiet)
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OK, I now have the orientation of the DC socket and as you say it should power up the board.
However, if the wiring is still the same as you previously posted then you need to take the "out" wire off the "output socket" and put it on the other terminal of the "output socket".. As it stands you are grounding the output signal from the board. Hence no output.
The "JACK's" from the board should be going to earth. The JACK lead (top right) should be going to where the "OUT " terminal is now. (Although, you are probably also getting an earth, via the earth on the INPUT jack, via the metal box anyway.)
The BLACK wires on my screamer denote the earth connections. The SEE-THROUGH wires are the signal connections. NB The previous postings circuit board was a TONEPAD variant.
Here's a shot of the internals of my BYOC Screamer. (Sorry the pictures not as clear)
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ahh thats why it wont work then :lol: I'll try that again tomorrow to see if the switch is indeed broken (I should probably replace it anyway because it looks horrible). Is the out wire going to the right jack lug?
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Yes the "out" is going to the right jack..... but the wrong terminal.
If the unit still doesn't work and you were using an inapproriate iron. I.e too hot you may have cooked a component.
Out of interest could you take a picture from a different angle (side angle of the pins) of the DC socket.
As it didn't attahced on the last posting heres a picture of my BYOC screamer wiring
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http://www.banzaieffects.com (http://www.banzaieffects.com) is a good place for effects gubbins. Just received confirmation my next build is getting shipped, a distortion kit based on the Soldano SLO100 distortion channel. Might be tricky but I like a challenge. Might throw up a build progress thread like my mighty mouse build if anyone is interested.
That's an EXCELLENT site!
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http://www.banzaieffects.com (http://www.banzaieffects.com) is a good place for effects gubbins. Just received confirmation my next build is getting shipped, a distortion kit based on the Soldano SLO100 distortion channel. Might be tricky but I like a challenge. Might throw up a build progress thread like my mighty mouse build if anyone is interested.
That's an EXCELLENT site!
I couldn't find any kits on there - am I blind or are they really well hidden?
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Tom,
just a question where you using the lead free solder 1st time around, as it has a pretty high melting point.
Personally I hate the stuff and prefer traditional solder
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http://www.banzaieffects.com (http://www.banzaieffects.com) is a good place for effects gubbins. Just received confirmation my next build is getting shipped, a distortion kit based on the Soldano SLO100 distortion channel. Might be tricky but I like a challenge. Might throw up a build progress thread like my mighty mouse build if anyone is interested.
That's an EXCELLENT site!
I couldn't find any kits on there - am I blind or are they really well hidden?
No, no real kits there - just components.
If you want kits, it's either BYOC or olcircuits.com
Mark.
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Tom,
just a question where you using the lead free solder 1st time around, as it has a pretty high melting point.
Personally I hate the stuff and prefer traditional solder
Lead free is horrible. I got a roll of leaded solder with a flux core, and it is amazing. Pretty darn sexual if i'm honest.
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Tom,
just a question where you using the lead free solder 1st time around, as it has a pretty high melting point.
Personally I hate the stuff and prefer traditional solder
Lead free is horrible. I got a roll of leaded solder with a flux core, and it is amazing. Pretty darn sexual if i'm honest.
I stole a load of that from Uni. It is awesome.
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Badgermark calm down...tis only solder......
By the way you built anything like the ruby amp or noisy cricket?
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Badgermark calm down...tis only solder......
By the way you built anything like the ruby amp or noisy cricket?
It's only solder, but it's SEXY solder. Not built an amp kit, yet. I will one day probably, my OLC kit is on it's way, so if that works out i might order the cricket kit to do over my xmas holiday.
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Just finished a ruby...is ok but am modding it.......have built proper valve amp http://www.astonelectronics.co.uk/ (http://www.astonelectronics.co.uk/) this one but I had it slightly different as wanted 6v6(now in a combo form)..great little kit great destructions and help at end of a phone
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Not sure what solder I had, it may be lead free but it took forever to melt sometimes and a cr@p iron didnt help. I've got a 30w antex now which seems to be better. Will eventually get round to ordering a 3pdt switch, still need to get a push/pull for my Pearl as well :lol:
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Rapid Electronics (UK) can supply the "sexy" solder.
http://www.rapidonline.com/Tools-Fasteners-Production-Equipment/Soldering-Equipment/Solder-Fluxes/Solder/30236/kw/85-0592
250K & 500K Push Pull pots can be obtained from Allparts.
http://www.allparts.uk.com/allparts-guitar-parts/electronics-c-277_1_81.html?p=shop
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Hi i'm a bit of an effects addict and i've built 16 BYOC kits and have loved everyone of them, i sold my keeley ts808 after building the BYOC 808 clone pictured below, it has more clarity and grit than the maxon, ibanez and keeley TB mods i have owned. i thought it was a fairly simple buils compared to the compressor they sell and the best bit is that they come with tons of modding components. mine is fitted with metal film 1uf caps, a less/more mod to give lower drive and greater drive at either end of the pot and also a capacitor was changed to increase bass and decrease mids slightly.
(http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m447/thorpy6/screwdriver808.jpg)
Vibe-O-Tronic.co.uk the UK distributor are brilliant and rapid at posting.
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Yes the "out" is going to the right jack..... but the wrong terminal.
If the unit still doesn't work and you were using an inapproriate iron. I.e too hot you may have cooked a component.
Out of interest could you take a picture from a different angle (side angle of the pins) of the DC socket.
As it didn't attahced on the last posting heres a picture of my BYOC screamer wiring
yours seems to be the older style with a different circuit board. I'll try changing the wire to the different terminal.. are the in/jack wires going to the correct terminals on the input jack (3 terminal one)?
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On a closer inspection of the photo the "in" is earthed as well.
I have tried to amend your photo to show where the wires should be going to the switch. I have also added labels denoting "Signal" terminals and "Earth" terminals.
If you want to bypass the switch then move the "in" and "out" cables from the board to the the "signal" terminals on the respectives in and out sockets.
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Thanks for all the help, I got my BYOC screamer working today :D :D I just need a new switch I guess, it all works fine with it bypassed. Sounds GREAT as well, much more open/less compressed and boxy than my behringer to800!
Hopefully I wont mess it up next time, might get a small crocodile clip or something to put on the bottom of the terminals as a heatsink just in case, is that a good idea or will that just stop the terminal from heating up correctly?
edit - quick clip i did of the screamer http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=493678&songID=6761805
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Damn now have even more TS gas.....BYOC or maxon or Visualsound
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Get a BYOC if you're good with soldering (and im guessing you are since you made an amp kit), mine sounds great to me. About £50 and comes with all the stuff for various mods. Only thing is that unless you're good with paint/decals it might look a bit cheap.
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yeah my ratt/mouse is blue sparkle and gold sparkle but not in a good way