Monday 15 May 2017

Friedman BE-OD

"Designed by tone-guru-to-the-stars David Friedman, the BE-OD overdrive pedal faithfully captures the sonic impact of Friedman’s legendary BE-100 amplifier–known in some circles as the Brown Eye, and favored by serious musicians the world over. The BE-OD overdrive delivers authentic tube amplifier sound from a compact pedal with the controls needed to shape your tone, including volume, gain, tight, bass, treble and presence. These responsive knobs will take you from light, slightly broken-up overdrives to straight-up gain nirvana"
Original FSB thread and schematic available here.



If you want to use transistors instead of 1n4148s you can use this layout.
It is the same with an added cut.
You can follow the FSB original thread for more details.
(Transistors' sockets positions in the layout would remain the same no matter the combination you use)

225 comments:

  1. !!!!!!!!! THIS IS GETTING BUILT TONIGHT!!!

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  2. Sweet. I almost gave in and bought one. Alex - you rock!!

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  3. wow!!!! Blew me away!!!! Starting the order right now!!! Its killer!!!

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  4. Great post, as usual, congratulations! It would be really nice if all of the projects included schematics, like this one. Keep up the good work!

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    1. There are reasons they don't include the schematics. They are frequently mentioned.

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    2. Second. We do not post other people's work as that would be infringement on their copyright. Sometimes we do post a link to a forum thread where one can be found. Since we do not have any magic source for secret files, one should be able to find the schematic - since we have managed to do so too.

      If someone is interested in redrawing all (currently) verified 994 circuit schematics and having "tagboardeffects.blogspot.com" copyright mentioned on them, we'd be happy to post every single one of those on the layout posts.
      +m

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  5. sweet got a request for one of these not to long ago.

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  6. I got a few people wanting this and the Carpe diem

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  7. Diodes similar to bat54? I think i saw a forward v of 0.35 so.. 1n34a? Or just fav clippin diodes?

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    1. You can try that, but in my experience Ge diodes have their own "taste". I'd probably use BAT41, it is readily available from Tayda. You could try BAT46 as well, though those have lower forward voltage of about 0.25V

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  8. What about C1 and C2?
    Really a GOD/good job...thank you from Italy

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  9. Thanks Alex!!I was waiting for that one!I hope it will be close to the original!!

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  10. Those BAT54 are a different shape than the others?

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  11. I used BAT85s instead of BAT54s as both have similar specs, 0.8v forward voltage.

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  12. Alex, you are a champion among men sir!

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  13. TL074 is the same as two TL072?

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Technically speaking yes but you cannot substitute them because the TL074 has a different pinout and obviously one one point for voltage and ground/negative voltage. You would have to change this layout quite a bit to use TL072 in its place.

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  14. Do they make the bat54 like a bat41 or they only made with the 3 legs. And is there something special with the bat54. Is more forward voltage better or less voltage better.

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  15. The clr is usually offboard for the indicator light on the pedal. Anything between 2.7k to 4.7 is isually fine.

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  16. Id also like to verify this as working i havent seen a clear indication that it was verified but thumbs up here.

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  17. Anyone get low output volume and the Tight also increases or decreases volume?

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    1. Max volume and max gain, and it's playable and not loud.

      Turning Tight Ccw increases volume and bass. CW decrease volume and more treble

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    2. Hi, I have a similar issue. The gain is kind of low too. Did you manage to fix this please?

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  18. Also, used bat41 and 3mm red leds!

    C2: started with 10nf. Decrease for more treble and increase for more bass. I think 1uf sounds good in mine haha

    C1: started with 470pf and tried 100pf, but was a bit bright, so back to 470pf

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  19. Replies
    1. Is it "verified??" What are the reasons the schematic link and schematic are not posted also?!? Personally, this is missing a mid-control and other features like variable resonance which would make this pedal muc better. How to incorporate those features if the schematic and design not included??!?

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    2. Sorry mate but I don't really like people complaining. Instead of spending the time writing this message you could have simply read the circuit introduction (where the "link" is) or search it yourself on FSB as I did.

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    3. Only just seen this Alex, and thanks man

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  20. Everyone check out "rmroza"'s comment about the original. Sounds like he's spent a good amount of time with it and confirmed the gain knob doesn't do much and that "OD" is an understatement, enough to want to take an original apart and enhance it haha

    http://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=27775&start=60

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  21. Heads up. You can get 50pcs of bat 54 on aliexpress with delivery for $1. You can also get 10 sot23 adaptor boards for diodes and transistors 10 for $1. So 2 bucks and about 20-30 days . It worth it i

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    1. Can you send the link for this please?

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    2. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-20PCS-Schottky-diodes-BAT54S-KL4-0-2A-30V-SOT23/1623553431.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.FUmGfX

      just saw this today here is your link. im still waiting for mine . 3-6 weeks most atuff from aliexpress comes in 3 weeks .

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  22. So... did anyone else socket their diodes?i did. And then started to notice the led's didnt make a difference. I took some out and nada. No difference. I am still yet to get more volume than unity cranked, who has messed around with the circuit and what results do you have? I am halfway through making a second circuit and will let you know if i have any change. Ive not been having much luck with circuits recently, half and half id say so im thinking i cocked something up. Which isnt a rarity, more and more a common occurance.

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    1. So i built a second one, and same result. Great tone but no volume, only unity with vol on full. Diodes leds, etc, all socketed and im not having any change to them removed. The only one i can see having an effect led wise is the far left one. Would it be possible to modify the layout to instead of following the schematic that is still not 100% verified, but modifiying this diagram to bring the leds together with doubled up clipping. Would that increase the volume and bringthe leds into the circuit? Is anyone else working on this?
      Also fyi, if anyone wants to make this circuit as is atm my advice is to put a clean boost at the end of the circuit. It would give 2 volumes but dont be worried there are some circuits that have 2 volumes. I did it with a ehx lpb and sounds great, and adds a small amount of tweakability to levels and stuff. I hope this helps with anyone wanting to build this circuit but comes across the same problems until its 100% sorted.

      One last thing. The friedman is a brownsound in a box essentially, i would highly reccomend the handmade hells gain as a great alternative or with a control or two less the bsiab2 that is here. Both excellent pedals.

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  23. This is tagged as verified but the comments (particularly Joseph's) suggest it is not working as intended. Who as verified the design? Have they compared to the original? If designs get tagged as verified to easily it calls into question the validity of everything on here. Just my opinion, feel free to ignore.

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    1. Another complaint? Are we serious? I hope I've got your post wrong but.. Just ignore it? Too easily? The guy that has verified the layout hasn't compare it to the original: Have you? He hasn't got one but he was still willing to try. He has verified plenty and that's good enough for me. Was he wrong? My opinion is that it's not a big deal considering not many people were willing to test it first. How many have you verified? Call into question the validity of what? Vero layouts that some people have ended up selling as their own? IT'S JUST A BLOG and NOT A COMPANY! WE DO THIS FOR FREE! This is a community where people help each other building circuits on stripboard. That's all it is. I'm incredibly busy and don't have much time for myself but I'm still trying to contribute with FREE layouts when I can (have you?). The layout says verified but it's not working properly? Is this annoying you? Tough luck. Of course this is my personal opinion (not the admins or contributors) and I may be completely wrong but that's life. Or maybe I should stop posting layouts and Gavin should stop being the Guinea pig for everybody else. Your call.

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    2. sounds like bob just volunteered to buy an original and verify the layout.

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    3. Whoa.

      Verified here means that the layout works. We're just depending on the schematics we have. If the trace has errors, it's not layout's fault now is it?

      To put all our work in question is one thing that doesn't get much points here, so fuck you bob. I mean it.
      +m

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    4. Love it when people complain about free stuff on the internet... Alex (and everyone else that freely contributes to this site), if you haven't heard it lately, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for this site and the work your all do! This site has been a God-send to me and opened up a whole new world of options in my tone-chasing quest. Building your layouts is a BLAST and an affordable way for me to have the 10 different fuzz pedals I "need" to complete my rig ;) PLEASE keep up the GREAT work and know that it doesn't go unappreciated! Brad

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    5. I know this is way later, but I'm going to add that massive thank you as well. I've only built a few, and don't really feel qualified to 'verify' anything other than my own builds as working. One thing is for sure though, several of the builds I have done (Galileo Mk1, P19, etc) are the BEST pedals I own! And, I've got a lot of top end boutique stuff to compare to!

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  24. These people need to learn how to read. Schematic is not 100% yet, this layout is what we have to work with and I suggest heading over to FSB and read what is going on with this circuit before building it. I suspect within the next few weeks the folks over at FSB will have this nailed : )

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  25. I agree with Bob Smith. The title says that this is the "Friedman BE-OD", and it's tagged as "verified". This is indeed misleading. The layout is working, but as long as the schematic isn't verified, it just can be consider as a circuit similar to the BE-OD. There should be different tags that make that clear.

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    1. Before attempting a build I read all the comments, read (if applicable) the thread on FSB and obtain any other knowledge I can. Then I can approach the build with confidence or trepidation. Adding more tags on the site won't improve clarity, thats down to the individual. If people can't be bothered to do some research they don'y really have the right to complain IMO.

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    3. Misleading? Do you really think I care about that? Has anyone ever paid for the layouts to dare complain? What about no layouts at all? Would that save some people the burden of building a layout they didn't design (cause their lazy or incapable) and complain cause it doesn't work 100% as they expected? Maybe you should buy the original, open it up and share the schematic with everybody else instead of being lazy and wait for someone else to do it. That's kind of what we do with these layouts. This discussion has dragged on long enough. Polite, constructive suggestions or contributions are more then welcome. Complains will be completely ignored (by me at least).

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  26. The Freestompboxes thread has been updated fairly comprehensively today.

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    1. I cannot believe this. Alex, Miro, Zach, IvIark, you guys are incredible. Alex said it succinctly; he doesn't have much time, yet he devotes what little he has to this blog and supplying us with vero layouts.

      It is up to us to educate ourselves as to any particulars with any build. There is nothing misleading here. Just laziness because someone wants a layout handed to them on a silver platter, and oh ya, be sure and personally explain every last detail also.

      Jeez I cannot believe it. 20 minutes of reading and anyone would have all the information needed to decide if they want to handle this build or wait. This makes me sick. The work these guys do for us and you two idiots have the balls to complain?

      I have to tell you I'm disabled, this is how I eek out a living, don't give these guys anymore complaints. I know the work involved in this, it is enormous. I've learned almost everything I needed to know here. Not by complaining, not even by asking questions, they were already asked for me. All I had to do was read. Some of us seriously need these guys and this blog.

      And did either of you realize, I don't remember which one, Alex or Zach, I think, but one of them is attending medical school and still providing layouts for us???? Use your brain!!

      If you don't like it get the hell out of here. There are plenty of other blogs where you can go and complain. Alex, Miro, we love you guys. Thank you so much for what you have given us. There is not enough time in one lifetime to repay you for what you guys have done for us. I swear If I could reach out to these two I would bend them over my knee and educate them regarding manners and appreciation. I still cannot believe this. . . . If either of my 4 adult children acted this way you can bet your last dollar it would be the last time they acted like this when I got done with them. Ever. Adults? Is that what you two are?

      Will Kenworthy
      PS: I live in eastern Oregon if either of you two should wish to look me up to discuss this further.

      To Alex and Miro: I apologize if I have overstepped my bounds but there are limits to what one can absorb from such lazy people. It's happened too many times. Far too many times.

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    2. Well said! Lots of websites ban people.You should Ban arrogant entitled pricks. I swear most people these days want ,no make that expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter. I get mad reading these comments too. I understand noobs asking questions about where is the schematic and not knowing its intellectual property . You can tell if someone just doesnt understand . High and mighty entitled pricks need to be Banned

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    3. It's been nearly a year since I checked this thread, but I'd like to say that I wasn't complaining, just mentioning that the schematic had been updated. You know, trying to be helpful in case anyone had missed it.

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  27. Maybe it would be good practice to mention possible incomplete schematic in these cases. Either on the description text or on the layout notes.

    This might be a thing we could learn and develop our customs from.

    But for the type and style of a few comments. Some people, no, most people are born utter cunts that have no manners. We'll be happy to take critizism, but the tone will pretty much determine the response.
    +m

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    1. I for one feel eternally grateful for the time and effort you guys put in to this site. Not to mention the knowledge you all so openly share. For every lazy jerk there are 20 guys like me that have the utmost respect and appreciation for your hard work.Thank YOU Gentleman!

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    2. +1. Well said sir! It's truly rare to find such unselfish people as we are lucky to know. I know I kinda went on a rant today but, man, I have had enough, know what I mean? I'm sure you do!
      Will

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    3. Oh God, I almost forgot.
      Mark!
      Manchester!
      Animals! Attacking kids!
      Oh god. I won't get political but our government is indeed worthless right now. But, there are many, many Americans with you English, our brothers! These animals, what they did to mostly young people. We are with you!

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  28. i have a buddy that owns one of these .i could probably borrow it or at least snap some pics if need be. What is in question with this circuit ? How can I help if needed.

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  29. I suspect a big part of the issues cropping up here is that communicating in type on the net is perilous. It is way too easy to misunderstand another's intent - as I have discovered myself. I can ask a question about something which is then interpreted as an accusation. I never mean to accuse anyone of anything, except delivering information!

    I'm sure that if all you guys met and discussed this stuff you would all be cool. I think Bob Smith has a valid point, but he phrased it very badly, in a way which can indeed come across as disrespectful. And just as I think often any criticism is wrongly directed I also think that sometimes we can be a bit thin-skinned here.

    I am guilty of being thin-skinned in my profession when clients email me their problems. But I have learnt not to email insults back but to call them up, usually to discover they meant no ill-feelings but merely worded their email poorly. Unfortunately we don't have that luxury here.

    Anyway I am extremely grateful for your efforts guys. Sometimes the pedals work, sometimes they don't. Often I have no idea why but I certainly don't blame the strip-board layouts. They didn't cost me anything.

    As an aside, if i find i really like one of the pedals here I ALWAYS make a point of modifying it to suit my particular likes. Thanks to you guys I have learnt how to do that. You should hear the mighty overdrive with separate bass and treble knobs I have made from your BJF Honey Bee board design!

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    1. Hey HamishR! I totally agree with you but this is not a profession where you must deal with problems in a certain manner. It's something we do for free in our spare time and life is stressful enough. When you read something like "Why don't you link the schematic?" or "why don't you verify them before you post them?" over and over again cause some people are not bothered to read the circuits introductions, read the discussions or search it themselves, you become thin-skinned. And why shouldn't I? It takes me hours to draw a layout while it takes 1 minute to think and write a polite message. Or just read. You obviously know what DIY means but I don't think everyone understands its meaning.

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    2. Yup. I also pretty much feel entitled to say fuckyou to badly worded complaints. You know. Spent countless hours on doing something that could be considered as a charity. To call all my work questionable due to one incomplete schematic (not even traced by any of us) - now the complainer will get what he/she deserves. So, for all the whining motherfuckers out there. Please do draw up a few hundred layouts for people to verify from the sources available to anyone. Then wait for the cunts to come and tell you all you do sucks.

      I do take a bit of pride working on my layouts. If someone thinks it's all crap, i do hope that someone would keep it to himself/herself. Again. We're not charging anything for te service. If you can do better, then i suggest you do so and leave all of us out of it. One can always critisize and offer enhancement ideas. Those are welcome. But when the wording comes out as shit, the commenter will be dealt accordingly. By the staff and by most of our regulars. We've seen this happen every single time something similar comes up. Like i've said before, at least 70% of the population on this planet are cunts. Gladly there's only very few of those around here.

      *Drops mic*
      +m

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    3. Wow, you two guys are so refreshing. I don't understand how anyone can say either of you are thin skinned? WTF?? I want to crawl under my blankey right here reading about FX and builds. No more complaints TO PISS ME OFF AGAIN!!! Especially complaints directed at our hero's Alex and Miro.
      You guys RAWK!!
      Will

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    4. I just want to say Thank you to all of the contributors who are both intelligent and kind enough to post the layouts. The ass-clown scunt-bags that complain and act arrogant need to be grateful for the and effort gentlemen like Alex, Mark and Mirosol put in to the pain-staking process of creating layouts.
      Pat

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  30. Oh my God!Some people are such drama queens!!Read the description first!!They haven`t identified all the parts because they are SMDs.There are so many people trying to produce schematics and veros for free we should all be at least reaaaally thankful..Don`t piss them off for nothing!!
    Anyway as i get it the pedal works but it`s a bit low on volume.I`m sure that we`ll get there eventually..I`ll try to built it and report back..
    Thanks to all the people contributing and spending their free time for us!

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  31. Also i just saw that they updated some values and parts over at the FSB.

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    1. Thanks Boukman. I've seen that but I was waiting to update the layout once the schematic has been confirmed. ;)

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  32. If anyone can add the latest changes to the layout from FSB or at least tell me the differences (sorry my schematic skills are pish) i'll change them in my build. I don't have bav99's though as their SMD.

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    1. I've posted those value changes on the FSB forum if you want to test them.
      http://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=27775&start=100

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  33. Thanks Alex, will give the changes a try later.

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  34. Alex, your the man, ive got a bit of time now, ill see what i can do, got 2 completes and ill have a butchers at it.

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    1. Just finished, its really really quiet now. Dosent even reach unity levels.

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  35. Just updated board and i have the same problem as Joseph, gone really quiet. What would those 110n caps do coming of pins 8?

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  36. I hope thats not me. :).

    Im only trying to help debug i have a working schematic i am going through socketing to try dif values.

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  37. Sorry, no, not you. Just some people on this thread and others complaining that all the hard work that is DONATED to this site isn't good enough. Like we pay Mark, Miro, Alex, etc's salary. It makes me crazy. Personally, I'd be lost without this site as a resource.

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  38. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  39. http://harmful.cat-v.org/people/basic-laws-of-human-stupidity/

    "The first basic law of human stupidity asserts without ambiguity that: Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation."
    +m

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  40. Also. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor

    This is good thing to remember when someone behaves like an ass. It's rarely out of malice.

    And i'll post a folk punk classic as well since i think it'll suit this conversation quite well.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0dUnoecoZ0
    +m

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  41. Just to iterate, I've lost count of how many boards I've built off this site, so thanks again for all the layouts. It's appreciated.

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  42. Yeah man I have bigass pile of pedals because of this community and 10 times as many in the queue. Fuck the haters. Everybody wants to bitch about the something they got for nothing, I'm not British, but 'jog on'.

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  43. Haha! My wife and I agree - most people are stupid. I guess a part of my point above was that, as you say, "when someone behaves like an ass. It's rarely out of malice."

    I freely admit that I simply couldn't do what you guys do. I'm sure I have offended you guys in the past when I really didn't mean to and received some pretty harsh responses! I think we should invent an emoticon for potentially sensitive questions - not a finger or abuse, but maybe a sigh of resignation. Hopefully we would get the point.

    Like others I am sure I misunderstand things I see online. I think it's always a good idea to avoid berating people until you are sure they are a dick. Things are written down, often in short-hand online and can be easily misinterpreted. Sometimes I have simply sought clarity after reading something I don't understand several times and been abused. I hadn't thought I had been offensive but unfortunately without the benefit of tone of voice and facial expression my questions have been interpreted as aggressive when nothing could have been further from the truth.

    Anyway, I think you guys do a great job and should just ignore the dicks. Don't stoop to their level. I'm out.

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  44. Using pakrats suggestions on FSB mine is now full volume and sounding pretty damn good.

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    1. Nice...! glad this is starting to pan out.
      I may play with this one soon and add a switch that cuts the volume/gain so you sort of have an option of full balls to the wall or semi hi gain

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  45. Maybe the kooks complaining should call Dave Friedman up and ask him to clarify the missing values ;) Can't wait to build this "unverified" board!

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  46. Great work!But because i am a newbie in electronics i`ll have to wait for Alex to redesign the tagboard schematic.. :)
    Where we would all be without those guys!!Our wives would kill us if we wanted to buy all those pedals... :)

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    1. Hey Boukman!
      Have you already built the old layout?

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    2. Hi Alex!
      No unfortanately i`m still waiting for the parts...

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  47. Thanks everyone! Once Boukman builds it and if comes out good would this tagboard be updated or do we have to check i somewhere else

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    1. It seems those wizards at the fsb have cracked it and hopefully soon we will have a tagboard to build. For those unaware, this has been a labour of love over at the fsb. These guys do this for free and for a passion with pedal building so be respectful. Things need ironing out and working out and these guys do an amazing job. I cant wait for the updated board. Cant. Wait.

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    2. Thanks Alex and everyone else who helped trace the circuit at the FSB!!I will try it when i get the parts and report back!

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  48. Layout is good. Sound effing killer. All controls working, if theres any other parameters i can check but goddamn sounds killer. If my missus wasnt ill id proberly be playing this all effing night

    Thinking back to the pete thorn demo, im not gonna compare sounds as not the same setup atall. But insanely versatile goddamn killer sounds. Chunky and meaty, or really vintagey sounding on the other end of the scale. Id love to confirm and verify but i dont have original to compare. Then again, the layout works, no issues atall i can find. None. Volume perfecto. Fuck it. Too killer not to throw my "verified" dong on the table. What?

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    1. ...Christ i said "killer" alot.

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    2. Haha. It was pointed out to me today by someone in my program that I say, "buddy," "man," "bro,"and "stoked" a lot. I tried to explain that I'm a 90's kid and that's how we talk to each other. Makes me think an extra second when I have to deal with patients though. I don't think they would like to be referred to like that, nor should I say "im stoked st the progress you've been making." Lol

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  49. Haha, 90's kid here too dude. Est. 1983 and highschool end of the 90's. Im still my hoodies and baggies and im a 33 yr old father now. Hehe. But i build and sell guitars so i hope im the cool dad. Not the dad who looks like a hairy nutter. I think you inject your personality definatly to your patients. Not literally, but it kinda hits home what you said and really recently. My girlfriend could have a serious condition but she was treated by doctors and nurses today that were our age and treated us first and foremostly proffessional to the highest degree (sussex county hospital) but like we were friends and warm and kind. I think one of them let a dude slip today actually haha.

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    1. Haha. I just turned 32, hoodies, flannel, and band shirts all the time. Still drive my first car from high school, a 71 chevelle that I've done a massive amount of work on over the years.

      No kids yet, cause I got to finish up school, but yea I figured and figure I'm gonna be the "cool" dad. I tell my wife that when we have kids the only way they can rebel is be super conservative and like pop country. My wife is afraid of what wil happen when they start exploring my cd and record, books, comics, and movies collection.

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    2. Btw, you talking about Sussex NJ?

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  50. Aww dude, ive definatly got some undesirables in my cd collection. Sussex in the UK dude.
    Haha the only shirts i wear and own are band shirts. My missus when she was goijg through my clothes said there was no end to them.

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  51. Alex, thanks for sticking with this one and updating the board – even with all the wack comments in this thread. Much appreciated!

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  52. I just plugged it in my test box...oh man, it sounds unbelievable ! Such a great and versatile circuit, I like it much better than my pinnacle deluxe, this will for sure end on my pedalboard.
    Thank you so much guys at fsb and Alex :D

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  53. Hi, can anyone guide me where the Out is? It is listed as Level 2 but I can't seem to find anywhere labelled as Level 2. Also where it says Tight 1,2 does it mean that lug 1 goes before the cut and the 2nd after the cut? And regarding the 100k Pot on the board, what is that for?

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    1. 1. There are three terminals on the volume pot. Output wire connects to volume pot's lug 2. Alas, "Volume 2 to output".

      2. Tight, no. The one wire coming from hole labelled "Tight 1,2" connects to tight pot's terminals one and two.

      3. The trimmer sets the gain for the presence, treble and hard clipping shunt diodes. This could be adjusted to taste.
      +m

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    2. Thanks a lot for your helpful reply! Would you recommend to leave the trimmer on the board or off the board?

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  54. Does it matter 3mm or 5mm leds?

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  55. Just finished building it and it fired up first time! Didn't have any reverse log pots, so just used the linear equivalents, and it sounds fantastic. Colossal thanks to Alex for another top job, and to absolutely everyone who contributed to getting this bad boy verified and working. Top effort guys!

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  56. It worked very well with the pedal open, but when I boxed it stopped working. It seems the tight pot is bad. I'll change tomorrow. But apparently, everything works perfectly. The trimmer makes a lot of difference in noise, treble and amount of gain. Next time I'll leave it outside. Next week I'm going to record a video and post it here.

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  57. Can someone update the picture i don't wanna mess up by reading the updates haha! New here! Thanks a lot!

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  58. Thanks a lot.It work but 2 red led blink,2 red led not blink.It`s normal?Any way sound is so good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. leds on the right blink depending on the treble setting it seems

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  59. Im sorry if this is addressed elsewhere, I may have missed it. What side of the l.e.d. is marked on the layout?

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    Replies
    1. You don't mind the side, you just have to solder them upside down on each pair (one side of the led is flat)

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  60. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  61. I boxed mine and it suffers from a strong high pitch whistle with the gain passed half (it was not that bad with the circuit out of the box). I see 3 solutions:
    - Shielding the input (from my experience it sould not help that much)
    - Add a buffer before or after (it helped a lot with the sevethheaven)
    - A guys at fsb replaced the 120p by 470 and according to him that made the trick, so I will try that also.
    pics of my builds:
    http://www.casimages.com/img.php?i=17061811584914005915099920.jpg
    http://www.casimages.com/img.php?i=17061811585514005915099921.jpg

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    Replies
    1. Your build pics look sweet! Nice work

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    2. hey that's really a smart way to do a stripboard. did you clue the printout to the board?

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    3. Thanks yes I always do it that way, print it an a sticker sheet and stick it to the board. You can't misplace a component that way

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  62. BTW, I solved the squealing problem by plugging a Klon buffer in front. Now it's dead silent even with all the settings maxed

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  63. hmmmm
    layout on this looks familiar...
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Friedman-BE-OD-distortion-pedal-clone-Marshall-plexi-Simply-awesome-/172749721673?hash=item2838af9049:g:B5YAAOSwSzRZUXDm

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  64. Just finished it!Great sound!!Leds 3 & 4 light up when i play hard but leds 1&2 don`t.Is that normal???

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    Replies
    1. Just built this pedal and have the same problem. 1 and 2 light up but 3 and 4 do nothing

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  65. Gonna build this one too.Can't wait to hear it over my old marshall plexi.

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  66. Gonna build this one too.Can't wait to hear it over my old marshall plexi.

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  67. Thanks Alex! Great job! Sound is killer!

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  68. Hey Alex, fyi I'm counting 21 links as opposed to the 22 figure from the layout header. Obviously not a big deal but thought I'd mention it. Anyways, a bit late to this one but starting a build now, as always thanks for putting your time into these things!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Gainiac,I`m counting 22.Look again!

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    2. Well I guess that would explain why my board isn't working yet lol ...thanks Boukman for the correction, I'll be double counting everything on these big fellas from now on.

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  69. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  70. Anyone building this may want to read this 1st :-)
    http://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=27775&start=300#p264969

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It uses transistors as diodes.
      I did a layout but forgotten to add it.
      There now.

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    2. Alex, if I want to use BAV99 instead? (dual diods on SOT-23 adaptor)
      How should I wire them?

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    3. It's in the thread.
      http://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=27775&start=320
      The two pins "3" go in parallel with the 120p cap.

      Delete
  71. Finally completed this over the weekend. Seriously, one of the best sounding pedals that I have built ( and I've built a couple hundred since beginning building about 7 years ago ). All the tone shaping knobs have a good range of usable sounds. I used bat46 diodes as I had those on hand. This plus a Les Paul - it's the sound I've been looking for in a pedal for years. One of the best things is that the bass notes don't get mushy with max gain. Bass notes stay tight, clear, and punchy. Fantastic pedal!

    Side note: I had started with the older layout so I went ahead and built with that and the adjustments mentioned in the notes. Works fine if you had already begun the build with the old layout.

    Thanks to Alex and all who contributed!

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  72. Very nice work everyone :)

    I have a few questions.

    What values do you suggest for the LED's? Additionally... where do you hook up the foot switch to?

    Thank you in advance. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What do you mean by LED value ? Use 3mm red diffused LEDs
      Here is how you hook the FS : http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.fr/2012/02/offboard-wiring.html

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    2. I'm sorry.

      Thank you for the reply Alltrax74.

      How many volts are the LED's?

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  73. I built a second board to try the ZTX mod (with the first layout not the dedicated one).
    Less gain, not as crazy. But no annoying noise
    I replaced the ZTX with the clippers, the fury came back, as did the squealing. I replaced the 120p cap with a 470 and no more squealing, so that's I think a very interesting mod for those like me having squealing issues :-)

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    Replies
    1. And i was about to try the ZTX because i don`t have enough gain..Its pretty mild..Yours has crazy gain?I wonder what`s wrong with mine..

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    2. Did you play with the trimmer ? It has a huge effect on the tone and gain
      Otherwise post your voltages

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    3. DAMN!!!I was playing with the trimmer and it din`t do anything..So i spotted a small solder bridge...All right now!!!Perfect!!!Thanks!!Do you think i should stick with the 1n4148?

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  74. Thanks for the great layout, had a shot at building one and put the diodes in sockets. It works perfectly with the diodes removed, but when I plug a set of 4148s it oscillates like crazy unless the gain is at zero where it sounds like a crappy gated fuzz. Great without the diodes tho! Any suggestions to what I've got wrong? Thank in advance

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  75. Here's the pin voltages on the ics
    TL072
    1. 4.34
    2. 4.34
    3. 2.92
    4. 0
    5. 4.31
    6. 4.34
    7. 4.34
    8. 8.76

    TL074
    1. 4.31
    2. 4.34
    3. 4.21
    4. 8.69
    5. 4.34
    6. 4.44
    7. 4.75
    8. 3.97
    9. 4.48
    10. 4.34
    11. 0
    12. 3.56
    13. 3.89
    14. 3.89

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  76. Can this box run on 18 volt or has it enough headroom.

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  77. Can this box run on 18 volt or has it enough headroom.

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  78. Hi all I built it and Sound's amazing but wen I put it in box it sound Have whistle but without Box no whistle Sound it have Can Someone Help me ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Replace the 120p cap with a 2n2 or even 4n7

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    2. did it, better sound now but on the high volume whistle start again

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    3. I had the same issue, replacing the cap and shielding the input did the trick very well

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  79. What capcitors do you guys use,mkt mks or stacked metal film from panasonic

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  80. What capcitors do you guys use,mkt mks or stacked metal film from panasonic

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  81. I managed to build this however I am getting a really low gain, I used 1N4148 and Red LEDs, any idea what the issue could be?

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    Replies
    1. Does the trimmer work?I had a solder bridge on the trimmer and it didn`t work and i had low gain.I found it and now it`s ok!Also be sure that you have the right trimmer 100k.Otherwise check the ICs for voltage.Good luck

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    2. At first I forgot the short on the trimmer and was getting no output and then found that mistake. I will make sure that is the right trimmer. Right now I do not have a 1Mohm pot for the gain however I put a 1Mohm resistor instead which would mean full gain.

      Thanks a lot for your help though, much appreciated!

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    3. Both the ICs are at 7.2V when using a battery and 8V when using a power supply.

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    4. Did the updates mentioned in the description however I still have the same problem i.e. no gain whatsoever when i turn the Gain pot (just a little difference in the noise level). Also I noticed that C2 is connected to Vcc not Ground as mentioned in the original schematic.

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    5. Did you soleve the problem? I also get pretta much no gain with no change turning the gain knob. The trim pot works and changes level but even with it at max there is barely any gain. I did build the most up tp date version shown above (Dezember 2017).
      thanks for any help!

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  82. The only different thing I did was swap some polyester caps for ceramic or vice versa since I didn't have the required values. Don't know if that would make a major difference.

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  83. My two cents is that i've built four with no issues...
    +m

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    Replies
    1. Just found out that I was building an older version of the layout which I had found on google images. A very stupid mistake :(

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    2. rebuilding from scratch hopefully this one will work out!!

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  84. I built it.
    Great sound and easy to use.

    this is my be-od
    https://i.imgur.com/KVhCpJ7.jpg
    https://i.imgur.com/iG7ufuM.jpg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll bet it sounds great, nice part spec Great casework too.. did you use the 470p cap in place of 120p?

      Delete
    2. thank you.
      I used 120p,but instead,I added FET Buffer before.
      Even if I maximize the gain, the whistle does not appear.

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    3. Would you mind the schematic for the FET buffer?Thanks!

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    4. I used this.
      http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/diyuser/Sundgist/Jfet+Buffer+Stripboard.gif.html

      Probably, any buffer is fine.

      For your information,I added a buffer before the foot switch.
      This is because the whistles are generated when high impedance line and low impedance line are close.

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    5. Thanks Maru!!!I`ll try it!!

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  85. Running and sounding awesome - thanks y'all. No whistling until I remembered the preamp on my guitar and turned it off!! Will pop a buffer in front of the switch I think...

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  86. Help! I'm lost with the LED orientation (first time using onboard led's) Is the white area the Anode or Cathode
    Many Thanks!

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  87. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  88. Am I missing something or the collectors C, of both the transistors are out of the circuit? There are cuts right after them and no connection seems to connect there.

    What am I missing here? Anyone willing to enlight me, is very welcome!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Those transistors are used as clipping diodes, thus only two terminals of the triode are connected.
      +m

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    2. You saved me from a lot of headscratch... Thanks!

      Delete
  89. Just built this pedal and it seems to be working but only led's 1 and 2 light up. 3 and 4 don't seem to be doing anything. can anyone advise on what might be causing this???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that is correct. No problem with your build.

      Delete
  90. hey there,
    i'm having some issues with this one and i hope anyone can help.
    first the 10r resitor kept burning due to a shortcut i produced between the V+ and V- of the tl074. after fixing that everything seemed fine...at least no burning parts anymore ;-)
    but when trying it out there's no sound at all. bypass is fine though. i then started audioprobing the circuit and the signal ended at the 2nd pin of the 470k resistor on the far right and also on the 2nd pin of the 47n capacitor underneath d2.

    when audioprobing the ics there's signal on stage 1 of the tl072 but not on stage 2. also there's signal on stage 1 of the tl074 but none on the other 3.

    i tried to show everything in the following pictures.

    http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/notasmine/Ansicht%20Gehuse_Erklrung.jpg
    http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/notasmine/Ansicht%20Bauteile.jpg
    http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/notasmine/Ansicht%20Ltseite.jpg


    one wiered thing i noticed, at least i don't believe that this is supposed to be, is that led d4 on the far right is always on (also in bypasss). i accidently noticed that when i shortcut pin 10 and 11 of the tl074 (non-inverted input stage 3 and v-) led d4 turns off and the led next to it (d3) turnes on.

    voltages of ics are as following...

    tl072
    1 - 4,53
    2 - 4,53
    3 - 4,33
    4 - 0
    5 - 4,53
    6 - 4,54
    7 - 4,54
    8 - 9,06

    tl074
    1 - 4,54
    2 - 4,53
    3 - 4,49
    4 - 9,06
    5 - 4,54
    6 - 4,06
    7 - 8,22
    8 - 1,52/1,43 (trimmer 100%/0%
    9 - 4,88
    10 - 4,54
    11 - 0
    12 - 2,89
    13 - 2,89
    14 - 2,89

    I already changed the two elkos cause i figured that they might have gone bad when i had the shortcut issue, but with no positiv result. also i took out the 10k next to the 22uf cause i believed there's some ground or shortcut issue going on. when doing that the led d4 goes out. but putting a new resistor back didn't fix the problem.
    all the parts should be fine. i also checked the links and cuts on the board and the postions of the parts and couldn't find any mistakes.
    due to the search of the shortcut issue i cut some links that might look a little messy but they should all be fine again. at least i could find any unwanted shortcuts/communication.

    so far...i don't have any idea wherelse to look but really don't wanna give up on this.

    i hope you guys can read any bad values on the ic and maybe can lead me to some next steps that i can try.

    thanks a lot and as usual, you guys are doing a great job. keep it up.
    cheerio, martin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the links above seem not to work...
      here's a new one...
      https://c.web.de/@319068681227213567/BNXirKzHQdeLGMf5Ejlm6A

      Delete
  91. Finally got this working. Holy hell this thing is amazing.

    Thanks again to you tagboard guys for all your hard work!

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  92. Is there a link to the changes needed for the original layout? I think this one is V2. It used to be listed at the bottom of the article (just above the layout pics), but is gone now.
    Thx!

    ReplyDelete
  93. Is there a way to calculate how much swapping the 120pf to higher value (470pf) affects the high frequencies?

    ReplyDelete
  94. what component is the big blue square with "100k" written in it ?
    a potentiometer ?

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  95. It’s a trimmer potentiometer which is board mounted and adjustable with a screwdriver.

    ReplyDelete
  96. I just finished version A (clipping diodes) and used 1n5818's to clip along with the red LED's. I used a 5K1 resistor for the LED. Came out perfect.

    So I have a Friedman BE OD pedal I bought last July and I have a 1968 Earth PA that I converted into a multiple channel amp. Channel 1 is a Fender Twin with a dwell spring reverb, Channel 2 is a Marshall model 1959 and Channel 3 is a JCM800.

    Into the Twin channel, this pedal sounds like the Friedman BE OD pedal, maybe a hair better (little more open - right balance of compression). I could get very close sounds to the 1958 & JCM800 channels of the amp. With the Bass, Treble and Presence backed down and the Level up a bit, I could get a good bit of mid-range tone (reminiscent of a Dirty Shirley pedal setting).

    The electronics took about 8 hours to assemble. The graphics and enclosure holes, about another hour. Tip: use sockets for the ICs and remember to wear an anti-static ground band when handling the ICs.

    I am happy with this build. This one is a high school graduation present for a friend of the family. I will probably build one for myself.

    Thanks Alex!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Edit: my build developed a 'squeal' / 'howl' when I tried to package it. From my amp years, I knew this to be inducted feedback. Solved by using braided pickup lead wire (coax) from the input jack to the stomp switch.

      Also, my build is very quiet. I think it has a lot to do with being extremely careful to build in single ground point connections and utilizing a star ground method. The 'star' is at the input jack ground tab. The input jack itself is isolated from the chassis. The chassis gets ground from the output jack and the pot casings get their ground from the chassis. This method has served me well over the years.

      My pedalboard is the same way - only ground through the signal path and one power plug. the rest of the power plugs only carry the (+). Dead quiet, no matter how RF-noisy the environment is.

      Delete
  97. Hello there..
    Sorry, I'm totally idiot, but what does it mean CLR light blue symbol?

    ReplyDelete