Sunday 26 February 2012

BJFE Honey Bee - layout 2

I thought I'd post a separate thread about this with it being a totally new layout to avoid confusion during comments in the thread.  A few things about the last layout irked me and so I've done a fresh layout which ended up 1 column narrower and so makes it less tight in a 1590B.  There are also less links required, includes the reverse polarity protection diode and supply current limiting resistor found in the original but which I omitted from the first layout, and makes better use of the space IMO.  Anyway, now you can make whichever layout you prefer.

Information from the builder:

This very mild overdrive was inspired by an old Supro amp, there is special kind of warm mild overdrive that you can't find from any other amp (or pedal what so ever).
Works very well with other pedals or distorting amp giving this fat and warm overdrive character.

The pedal is also super dynamic, from clean to overdrive just by using different touch of your hand. 

Gearmandude's comparison between the BJFE Honey Bee and the Mad Professor Sweet Honey Overdrive. This could help you decide which one to build using the layouts here:









BUY A KIT

86 comments:

  1. damn, they both sound amazing ha might have to build both

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  2. Ha, yes that's always my problem too. They all sound great so do layouts for everything and build all of them! :o)

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    1. Hi, I've got one for 350€ the sound is incredible. I'd like to clone it but is hard. the pcb is double layer and is arranged in advance for some other pedal (maybe for the honey beest) of course with a dozen of component missing (diode, caps, transistor). By the way the fet is 2n5952 and not the one is in the vero lay out. I think I give up, I've tried to desolder some component, but is almost impossible to suck through the hole to the other side, is very frustrating

      16 March 2014 22:37

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  3. i was actually really surprised how good they sounded together in gearman's vid. making me rethink my rig now haha maybe dial back the gain on my amp, run the klon for regular drive, kick on the honey for even more.

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  4. Sorry but, the "Drive 3" where i have to connect?
    Thanks!

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    1. You don't have to, it's being used as a variable resistor so only two lugs are connected. You can link it to lug 2 if you want to, but it isn't necessary.

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  5. Thanks a lot IvIark!!!

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  6. Sorry IvIark, just another question:

    The D5 component is not explained...what kind of diode can i use?

    Another 1N4001 works?

    Thanks a lot!

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  7. Will 33K resistors work in place of the 31K6. From looking at the schematic I thought they were used just in a voltage divider to bias the opamp, I wonder why they made it with the exact value.

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    1. To make it more awkward to clone for people with OCD like me who have to have everything exact! :o) Yes there's no reason why not to use 33K instead, I have done before when I've built a Honey Bee and there was no difference.

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  8. I built this today, works like a charm and sounds fine. As i (almost) always do, i read the HB-thread on fsb and found a nice mod for all of those who think, this circuit lacks some treble: up the 4n7 cap at the nature3-lug to 47n, this gives a tad more overall clarity and a nice treble boost with the nature pot full cw. Also i found the bass too flabby with nature full ccw, adding a 1k5 to 3k R in series with the nature1-lug works fine for that...;-) enjoy!

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  9. Mark, please help. I have finally gotten this thing built. First build and took about 15 hours, 5 2nd degree burns, 1 ruined favorite shirt (don't ask), and 2 solder fume migranes. I have checked every connection and location about 15 times, but still nothing. I've made sure each vero track is isolated and not touching othr tracks unless called for. The parts are pretty much exacting to the list. I have checked each track's continuity as well as the points they lead to. Problem is I have no effect coming out whatsoever when turned on. When on battery I do get my LED, but on 9v there is none. When off it is normal True Bypass. I have the footswitch ground going to the sleeve of the input jack and the 2 board grounds and the 2 pot grounds going to the sleeve of the output (mono) jack, Although I could probably do a better job on that solder job. However when wiggled, still no signal from the board, just loud pops.

    No idea where to go from here and I'm about to pull my hair out at this point.

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    1. Can you post the voltages you're getting at the IC and JFET, and a close up front and back pic would be useful so you can have extra pairs of eyes check it over

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    3. Just post anywhere (google+, tinypic, imageshack, whereever) and post links here.

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  10. Found 1 shortcut and 2 bad solderings. It works! Thanks for a great layout and good build guides!

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  11. On that diagram where does the output come from it doesn't say? Thankyou

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    1. I've looked im totally new to these diagrams so im finding it hard to understand. If it showed the pots and the input and output parts with wires leading onto the circuit it would be allot easier. Also at the bottom it says volume 2 to output in the picture there not on it so i dont know what id have to do.

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    2. Yes, it would be easier for you if we were to draw the pots on layouts. No denying that.

      "Volume 2 to output" means that you'll have output at volume pot's lug number 2. So you'll connect that with a wire to your bypass switching as the output.
      +m

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    3. so where is the output on the circuit?

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    4. Really. I'm sorry. I'm totally new to these diagrams and this is also my first build.

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    5. It says pretty clear in the layout - "Volume 2 to output". And i've answered this same question above. Volume 2 is your volume pot's lug number 2.

      Welcome Ricky. Hope me and Ksenagos didn't come out as too cynical folk, but it really has that information on the layout. If you think about it for a second, you'll figure it out.
      +m

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    6. well...i won't be the one to tell you that this one is not the best to start...i would go for a zvex SHO or something if i was you, but i understand your will to build what you like cause that's pretty much what i did...

      first of all
      pedal building is reading!

      i STRONGLY recommend to carefully read these things.

      http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.gr/2012/04/vero-build-guide.html

      http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.gr/2012/02/offboard-wiring.html

      http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.gr/p/components.html

      so...do you have everything in frond of you? or you just want to know more about this layout?

      well...if you have all components like transistors, ic, wires, resistors diodes, caps, led, and potentiometers, you're ok.
      for this layout, the output of the effect, comes from the middle leg of your volume potentiometer.
      like in this older layout

      http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.gr/2010/10/dam-meathead.html



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    7. Yup. I would recommend something a bit less complicated for a first timer too. But. Debugging skills are very important and what's a better way to develop those than to build something hard.
      +m

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    8. yeah man! i agree!
      but just yesterday i had to put a sho after a phase90 with volume drop problems, and i've put the 2n7000 the wrong way!somehow i've wrote the pinout from beavis audio the wrong to the case sticker...debugging is hiding everywhere!! even in your own boxes!

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    9. Thanks, for the reply. If I hadn't almost finished the project I think I would indeed try a less complicated circuit. I managed to cramp all the components in to a Hammond 1590a which was a pain to do.
      About the output(last thing before build is complete), I looked at this layout http://madbeanpedals.com/tutorials/downloads/StandardWiring_MBP.pdf
      As you can see, from the top right lug on the 3pdt the wire goes to the output on the circuitboard(or the otherway around), but I can't figure out where the ouput is on the board of the Honey Bee.. It doesn't say.

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    10. Outpout doesn't need to come out of the board. It can, as well, be coming out of a lug of a potentiometer.. Like i said. If you think about it for a while, you'll get it.
      +m

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  12. I got everything working out but I only get unity volume when I crank the volume pot. I presume it's not supposed to be like this, any ideas? I used 1N4001 as D3-D5. I haven't substituted any values as far as I remember.

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    1. You could try to probe it to see where the signal goes quiet and trace that area. It could be just one component misplaced or tiny short at one perfect place to cause the behaviour..
      +m

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    2. Yeah, figured I'd try probing around next. No shortages in the copper stripes, checked that with a multimeter but there still might be some component legs / jumpers touching something they shouldn't.

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  13. Ok, I think it was just my Amplug toying with me. I tried it with the 5w Blackstar and it definitely had a volume boost, not much but enough to drive from AC/DC to 80's hair metal with the gain at zero and volume at 10. It was overall quieter than my TS808 with 47n input cap and 100n HPF. The amount of drive does not seem to affect the overall volume output at all, at least when to volume is already cranked.. Does that seem right? At least it sounds pretty good!

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    1. Just built one myself.. It is quite low on output level. Puzzles me. I think it should be louder. I don't think gearmandude is playing below unity on the demo.
      +m

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    2. It should definitely be well above unity. I can't remember if the last one I built was the newer or older layout, but it had plenty of volume.

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    3. Just had a look over the schematic and the 147K resistor should be 47K. See if that cures it

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    4. Started to read the FSB thread...

      So. Replace the 47K at the Vol 3 connection with 4K7 (or lower) and swap the 2N5457 for J201. Unity at volume pot at the middle with humbuckers.
      +m

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    5. I noticed that one too... It's 150K on the other layout version byt the way...
      +m

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    6. Just wasn't sure if you used the Madbean schem :)

      47K in there may help a bit. Not much. But i can't tell since i've swapped the output resistor and the JFET already.

      However. 47K seems like it gave me a bit more sparkle to the tone. Slightly brighter and not as muddy.
      +m

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    7. Yes I reckon there must be a couple of versions of the schematic knocking about. I just checked the Bearfoot and it definitely has 150K but that doesn't fit in with the Honey Bee scheme I just looked at. I found a pic and the last time I built this it was the first version which has always had a 47K in that position and as I said that I was well above unity.

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    8. Got it running nicely.
      +m

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    9. Yes. Miro updated me on this, thank you very much for that. I asked my already sold build to be shipped back. Turns out the owner loved it and had pulled it out of a sale and put it back on his board. He was still interested to see how it turns out. As he liked the tone, I didn't mess out with the output section. Swapping the 147K resistor for a 47K increased the output by a mile. The output is now pretty normal for an overdrive. The sound didn't change much or at least I didn't notice anything drastic. It's a pretty sweet low gain OD. I think I actually like this better than the sweet honey overdrive.

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    10. Strange.. That resistor is 147K on Bearfoot version. So i'm quite puzzled if that contributes to the output level...

      On the other hand, i do believe they use matched JFETs at the output, so to get the most out of the circuit it would probable be the best to tweak the value of 5K6 drain resistor.
      +m

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  14. Hi, I've got one for 350€ the sound is incredible. I'd like to clone it but is hard. the pcb is double layer and is arranged in advance for some other pedal (maybe for the honey beest) of course with a dozen of component missing (diode, caps, transistor). By the way the fet is 2n5952 and not the one is in the vero lay out. I think I give up, I've tried to desolder some component, but is almost impossible to suck through the hole to the other side, is very frustrating

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  15. Hi IvIark, I have finished my 1st build, but it is a bit weird. First of all, the last 10% CCW turn of tone knob causes an increase in gain although it can lead to a darker tone. Also, when I turn the gain knob at minimum, it leads to a drop in volume. Does any one has the same problem?

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  16. Hi IvIark, I noticed you left out the zener diode that appears in the original, but it is just polarity protection, right?

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    1. Bjorn uses a zener as part of the LED circuit but I really can't see much point in over complicating something so basic unless I have the room to do so, so it's normally the thing I omit from his circuits. That's Bjorn's way and he does it every time in all the BJF and offshoot effects, and no doubt he's forgotten more about electronics than I know, but I'm still never going to include it if it means I'd have to add additional rows or columns to the layout.

      So in answer to your question, no it isn't polarity protection, that is provided by D5. The zener is even less important. Polarity protection is the thing I'd remove next if I was running out of space :o)

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    2. Thanks for the kind reply. I did a bit of googling and looks like a zener in an LED circuit could be useful if the LED isn't fully going off when the circuit is disengaged. Not really any affect on the audio. I found this if anyone is interested in a possible zener/LED application:
      http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=7337

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  17. I'm having some trouble with this build, and I might have narrowed it down the the IC and the transistor. With an audio probe I get signal on pin 3 of the IC, but no signal anywhere else. Could that be a faulty IC? I'm using a CA3130EZ from Tayda... is that the same as a regular CA3130?

    When I remove the IC and run a jumper from pins 3 to 6 on the socket, I get signal until G on the transistor, but then it is gone. No other pins on the transistor have signal; is this normal?

    I didn't have a 2u2 cap so I ran two 1uf in parallel, the second sitting in the holes to the left of where the 2u2 would go. Should I have soldered them together rather than have them in adjacent holes?

    Thanks in advance for the help! I've been troubleshooting this one for awhile.

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  18. Just checked voltages and they don't seem to read the same consistently. They're also different depending on if I use the ground on the power jack or the ground on the output jack. I am supposed to touch my black lead to ground and my red lead to the pins, right?

    Here are my readings:

    1: -1.3
    2: Both 3.5 and -1 (not sure how)
    3: 0
    4: 0
    5: 0.1
    6: -0.5
    7: 0.4
    8: -0.2

    G: 0
    S: 0
    D: .1

    I'm guessing I either have a power problem or I don't know how to read voltages. Thanks

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    1. Well if you're not getting around 9V on pin 7 of the IC then it definitely isn't going to work so that's the first thing to fix. That's connected to the supply so you need to find out why the 9V supply isn't reaching the opamp. A bad solder joint on the 9V wire or something like that may be responsible, or maybe a faulty or incorrect orientation D5 diode. Or maybe the value or soldering on the 51 ohm resistor.

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    2. Thank you! Thank you! In trying to figure out where the 9v wasn't making it through I found out that one of the + terminals on the power jack wasn't getting any power and that was the one going to the board. Once I fixed that it worked great. I'll be checking that first from now on. Thanks!!

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  19. Any more news on the weak volume control? I'm actually having the same problem myself. Glad to know I'm not going crazy, but it's also proving to be a huge pain in my hind parts.

    I've checked for bad connections, made sure everything was in its right place, troubleshot all the usual suspect components, and still can't get a reasonable amount of output out of this sucker...

    Any thoughts, Mark? Miro?

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  20. I love this layout!!!! It works awesome. Thank you for the hard work.

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  21. Hi, I'm building this circuit using the Bitzbox kit. I have a 1uF Ceramic and a 1uF Polybox caps and I'm not sure which one goes where on the board. Any advice?

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    1. Bob probably include the poly for the 5mm pitch cap, but in all honesty it won't matter so much, so just use what fits best in each position

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  22. I can't build anything properly lately, I've had all kinds of strange problems... This one works and sounds really nice at low gain. When I turn the gain knob above noon, there's a high pitch squeal that increases in pitch as I turn the gain knob up more. Just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar? Tried a few 5457's, unfortunately I only have one 3130 on-hand.

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    1. Sorry, if it wasn't obvious, by gain I meant Drive.

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  24. Hello,
    This is my second pedal build but the first one with an IC. Which way does the chip go? Is pin one supposed to be the top left?

    Thanks

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    1. If you look closely at the IC in the layout you can see a light shaded semi-circle on the top. You're IC will have the same semi-circle or a dot. This denotes where Pin 1 is. So in this case Pin 1 is top left.

      Good luck

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    2. I couldn't see that semi-circle on the layout without zooming in on the web page. Thank's for the help!

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  25. Recently bought a kit from Bitsbox and the kit has:
    1x 4.7nF Polybox
    3x 4.7nF Polyester Film
    Where should I use the polybox and where the polyester film ones or does it matter?

    Junnu

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  26. Hi,

    I need an help from you guys to debug my unit!

    I'm not getting any sound out of it, checked audio connections, pin D on fet reads about 9V, now in IC I have 8-9V in each pin... is it ok?

    I get a clean guitar signal till IC pin 3 but then I should hear sound out of pin 6 but nothing!

    thanks everyone

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    1. Something's badly shorted if you have supply voltage on all IC pins. Pin 4 has to be at zero as it's grounded.

      Are you sure you have both of the two ground wires connected together?
      +m

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    2. thank thank u for the reply

      Yes they both are grounded

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  27. Help! My build sounds awesome 8-10 seconds, then it's like the drive section switches off: volume drop and no clipping. I tried several different 2n5457's with no change. I don't have an extra opamp to swap out, is it worth ordering a few or does someone have a suggesting of something else to investigate first?

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    1. Additionally, cranking the gain or turning down the nature cause it to switch off faster.

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  29. is there anywhere that has the complete wiring diagram, with switch and pots? im keen to try this pedal as well but without the offboard bits its complexing. ive seen two different ways alreayd to wires the footswitch and im sure on has to be more correct than the other.

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    1. hey man. you're really not going to get a layout the way you're asking because it takes a lot longer to make the layout, and some things are typically always the same. if you look at the layouts here you'll see all the info you need to wire up the pots directly on the layout.

      i'll explain using this layout as an example, especially since you're looking at building it. lets start with the pots. on the layout you'll see colored lines, which represent wires going to offboard components, and a descriptions as to where they connect. on this layout the blue wires are for the volume pot, the orange is for the drive pot, and yellow for the nature pot. if we look at the orange wire on the left side of the board it's labeled drive 1, which is telling you that you're going to connect a wire from that location to lug 1 of the drive pot. the orange wire on the right side says drive 2, meaning you'll have a wire from there to lug 2 of the drive pot. you'll notice there's nothing that says on the board or in the notes at the bottom that tells you about drive 3, meaning that you'll leave lug 3 of the drive pot empty. you'll follow the same steps with the nature pot and its wires, but you'll notice something different about it. in the notes at the bottom of the layout it says nature 2 to volume 1 to ground. this means that you'll have a wire that'll connect lug 2 of the nature pot to lug 1 of the volume pot, and another wire that will connect volume 1 to ground.

      now for the stomp switch, there's many different ways to wire it up, and they all will work correctly. personally i'm a fan of the method posted on the site. check the tab labeled offboard at the top or copy and paste this address

      http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2012/02/offboard-wiring.html

      you'll use this for any pedal that you want to wire true bypass with a 3pdt. so since it's always the same you're not going to see it on any of the layouts. just follow connecting the wires to the appropriate locations indicated on the offboard layout. one thing is that you'll notice on the offboard layout it shows the output from the board coming directly from the board, but in many cases the output comes off of lug 2 of the volume pot. so just follow the build notes on the effect layout to see where your input and output wires are coming from.

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    2. also, check out the build guide,

      http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2012/04/vero-build-guide.html

      it will really help you figure out how to wire everything up.

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  31. Hello people! I built this one up yesterday and it appears that it's working as expected in that all pots work and you can hear the overdrive effect but the volume when engaged is very, very low.

    I've looked over the board over and over and re-flowed solder on any suspect joints and gone over all the other connections in the enclosure and I'm not seeing anything.

    Next step is to bring out the audio probe or just try and build it out again.

    Wondering if this sounds like something that might be a quick fix.

    Grounding issue, maybe?

    Any help would be appreciated.

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    1. Hello all.

      Ripped all the components off and built out again and it's working.

      Not sure what I missed the first time around.

      Really great sound overdrive.

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  33. Hello! I need some expertise here.. I assembled the pedal about three months ago, and left the project behind, but now I really want to finish it.
    I have two main problems:
    1) The volume pot doesn't seem to give me the increase in volume that it should. It is kind of stuck between 25% and 80% of whatever.. Not a big problem, but if there is something I could do to fix it, I would be happy to know :)

    2) The BIG problem.. The pedal oscillates when I turn up the gain. also the gain structure itself seems a bit "off"..
    When the gain pot is set to about 30% the oscillation i apparent, and more so if the gain is increased. The pitch of the oscillation follows the gain pot, and goes from a mid freq hum and lowers in pitch as the gain pot is turned all the way up .
    The pedal sounds almost like a ocafuzz of some sort, but useless as the hum/oscillation is constant.

    What to do?

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  34. This layout sounds great! I did as Heiko Hafner suggests above and switched the 4n7 on nature 3 to 47n and much prefer the sound now. I have built the Bearfoot version too but like this one better. The other thing I have done is reduce the 2u2 cap to 220n as it had way too much low end with the nature pot left of centre in my rig.

    Just curious - I wonder if i could separate each side of the nature pot? IE have a separate bass pot and treble pot. That could be cool.

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  35. Dumb question here:
    I put this together a few years ago. The pedal sounds great, but is extremely compressed and lacks any push or volume. As a result I shelved it a while back.
    I'm wondering if I may have not properly biased the JFET. My drain voltage is reading at about 6.8v, should I increase the drain resistor get the voltage closer to 4.5v/Vref so as to allow for more swing in both directions? Would this possibly help me with my volume issues? I'm not an expert, but know just enough to be dangerous, so any help would be much appreciated!

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  36. Hi, I've just built this and the volume works nicely. The grounds are good and have checked for shorts and dry joints. Chip, diodes and electrolytics are all aligned correctly. The drive and nature don't do much at all. Also the two LEDs are not emitting. Any thoughts would be very helpful, thanks

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  37. Finished it and working great !!
    Great layout as always
    For those who have some issues with the volume output : check the drain Fet voltage !
    It needs to be around 5v ;-)

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  38. Greetings,
    I'm a little late to the party but...is the image above the only source available for assembly of the Honey Bee? When I open it, the image seems a little low res to print out. Is there a schematic buried in another post somewhere? Like "Layout 1" or something?
    Thanks
    Usercomp

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  39. Long time between comments here last being 2019 I see. But just built this one and works great. I've only commented to say it is well worth the component changes of capacitor 4.7nf to 47nf at nature 3 and also adding the 1.5k resistor to 3k (in series). The clarity was quite noticeably better and a much improved high end from new cap. As the original writer said the low end was flabby and the added resistance did improve that. I would put a trimmer there if I built again. I haven't checked voltage at drain of 5457 yet but pedal soundz great as it is. It's a nice circuit. Got that going into breakup appeal allover it with like a light fuzz surrounding it. I found quite a range of playable settings after an hour of trying different knob positions and playing styles. From Jazz to rock I found niceness. I've built the sweet honey as well and I don't know if I can let either of them go lol. Definitely worth the build for me.
    Thanks more than can be said to Ivlark. It's so awesome to be able to access these circuits and make these beautiful pedals.

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