Here's a collection of vero (stripboard) and tagboard guitar and bass effect layouts that we have put together covering many classic and popular effects in growing numbers. Many of these have been posted on freestompboxes.org, so check that site out for great discussions on building your own effect pedals. Enjoy the builds and please also visit us on Facebook and Twitter
Pages
▼
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Monster Effects Swamp Thang
I did this layout based on Dirk's schematic here. Now verified.
Verified. Though while the transistors are laid out right (CBE), the diagram is opposite - flat side should be facing the right.
The pulsing LED is cool, and using different ones will get you different rates/depths of effect. Great trem though. It's exactly what I was looking for.
Actually, that's incorrect. Base side should always face left for Q4 (which is a 2N5088/9) as seen here. It doesn't really matter as long as the person knows what the CBE positions are for their transistors, which is something they should really check themselves.
Oh incidentally, you could get away with just a SPST switch with only 2 lugs because one of the throws isn't being used. So if you can save a bit of cash go for the SPST.
Thanks. But what does the switch do? and does this have 2 LEDs? One LED that is written only as LED to be soldered to the positive terminal of an LED to indicate effect on/off and another LED marked LED+ and LED- will indicate the LFO speed? Please explain.
The LED is soldered between the + and -, and the LED Sw wire is taken straight to your switch and then to ground. Then when the effect is engaged the LED will pulse in time with the tremolo. The switch alternates between two rates, fast and slow.
I'm a bit confused about 2 things - first, where the LED Sw wire goes (which switch?) and about the off board wiring diagram (the LED shown - is it the same LED which is connected to the pink and grey wires?)
Here are a couple of pics to show the wires: http://imgur.com/7hSbpLN,ZWwBIqi#0
Ok I'm pretty sure the "LED Sw" goes to your usual LED Negative connection on the 3PDT footswitch (the proper on and off for the effect).
So basically you wire the LED as appropriate with those two top connections with the grey and pink wire (as you have done in the image), then you wire the LED Sw connection to the 3PDT footswitch on the usual LED point. This will make the LED act as a pulse speed, and an on/off status indicator.
I'm having some trouble understanding the 9V connection, and how it's wired to the input jack...or rather why it's wired that way. Could someone explain what happens when the 9V plug is connected, and when the input jack plug is connected... Is there a 9V battery in this circuit?
Do you mean on Dirk's schematic? If so it's just showing the negative side of the battery (or supply) going to the sleeve of the input socket, and so a point of ground. All other points of ground will also be linked there but they're just not shown on the schematic.
Just finished this but it is not working, I am getting only bypass signal with a little less volume and more bass. What is wrong? On checking connectivity between parallel copper strips found everything ok; but between the two copper rails on the left of the Vero board where the Intensity Knob 2 wire and the Circuit Ground wire is jutting out The continuity function on the multimeter is giving a voltage reading but no beeps. The reading is 650. What is wrong? Any help.
Well you must have some sort of bridge to the end rails which is obviously causing the problem. Send close up pic of the back of the board and I'll have a look.
Sorry I've just re-read your description of the reading and think I got the wrong end of the stick before. Just post a front and back pic and I'll have a look to see if I can spot anything amiss.
Spotted 2 wrong cuts, fixed them. Now the tremolo effect is working , but hardly one can make out it is infinitely subtle that also at the max setting of both knobs. The LED is also very Dimly blinking at the tremolo rate. But all this is happening only at the off position of the spst switch. On the on position nothing is there only bypass signal. any clues? I am mailing you some pics, the title of the mail would be swamp thang troubleshooting. Please see and suggest.Thanks.
I'm looking at some photos of an actual Swamp Thang, and there are some differences...it seems to mee. But I'm no expert at figuring out circtuits. Feel free to email me if you want to see the photos, and/or help me understand the schematic..
There's always the chance that Monster Effects changed certain things over the years of manufacture. I'd be amazed if Dirk's schematic wasn't correct because he's meticulous, and we know this layout works. But by all means send me the pics, or post them to an image share site and post the links here along with your thoughts about what doesn't seem to be correct. If you want to email my address is in the header ^^^
Revisited this circuit and built it again. This time it works fine but the LED is hardly glowing. I used Ultrabright Blue LED still this result. Is the LED supposed to behave this way? Can I remove it or does it contribute to the sound of the effect?
I just discovered that yellow and red LED is giving the slowest speed , while blue is a bit faster. So the LED is required, but how to make the LED glow brighter?
Just finished this and with the intensity I am only getting about a millimetre of use from the sweep? literally, the entire sweep is within a millimetre of turning? I used B100k. Faulty pot? As no one else has mentioned it?
It's easier to do this with crocodile clips or something that holds the probes in place. Put it in ohms mode (range to cover 100K) rotate the pot to one extreme then measure between lugs 1 & 2. Then watch how the resistance changes as you rotate the pot to the other extreme. It should be 100K at one side and 0K at the other. Measuring between lugs 2 and 3 should give you the opposite results, 0K at one side and 100K at the other. If the pot is dodgy the transistion may not be smooth, and/or the extreme values may be off.
Well measurements were all over the place probably due to not being able to hold them in place very well so I just changed the pot with no change. At max I get full signal with no effect (vibrato) and I have to gently nudge it down to get the effect, it is silent past that point. Oh well nevermind. Another one for the sin bin!
I had a wrong value in place of the 270k!! doh! BUT, on faster settings the LED stops blinking (turns off) I dropped the 470 ohm to a 330 to make it brighter. Could this be due to the LED? I'm using a green one to test it.
Yes just do it as you normally would with any other effect. Take a feed from the 9V row with a resistor inline to the anode of the LED. Cathode to switch to ground.
The LED actually changes the slowest speed achievable, I found that yellow LED gives the slowest minimum speed, and Blue the fastest minimum speed. So what I have done is, in place of the LED wires I have board mounted the LEDs and taken the LED sw wire to ground. But as an indication LED I have put a solid LED.
Just hooked this up to my test rig and it sounds beautiful....except there's a MASSIVE volume drop. I have to crank my amp to hear it. Again, sounds like it should -- LED works fine and so do the pots. It's just that the volume is almost nothing.
Sounds like a bad connection somewhere. The difference between a fully working, great sounding effect and something like this is just one cold solder joint, or an unwanted bridge somewhere. More than likely it's a solder joint because an unwanted bridge would be more likely to cause more of an issue than just level. If you can't see anything suspect, just reflow the solder over everything to make sure all the connections are true, including the pots. And make sure all ground points look good too, maybe checking for continuity with a multimeter between all points of ground including offboard.
Turns out I had one resistor off by one strip and it was dumping most of the volume to ground. Fixed it and I have beautiful tremolo. Sounds just as good as the one on my Deluxe Reverb Reissue.
I'll try to record a clip. This one is definitely one for the tremolo fans!
I boxed it up and the LED is on even in bypass. I think I have the wiring a tad mixed up. When you say the LED Sw goes to the switch and then to ground, do you mean the footswitch and then to ground?
And refer to this offboard wiring guide, then the LED Sw wire goes to lug 1, with lug 2 making the connection to ground when the effect is turned on. If you ground that wire directly then the LED would indeed always be on.
Anything 22 columns wide or less can fit in a Hammond 1590B size box (or equivalent) which is approx 110mm x 60mm x 30mm. If you're new to the hobby you may want to start off with bigger boxes to make the offboard wiring easier. They're more expensive but you definitely won't pull your hair out quite so much with them. If you do want to go with the bigger box try the Hammond 1590BB which is around 120mm x 95mm x 30mm
Thanks for your answer I really appreciate it :-) ! Concerning the kit are there other components to order other than the input and output sockets and wires ? Just to be sure. Thanks again Cheers
Just get the size you prefer, there is no technical reason to use one size over another other than your own preference. I prefer the LED to be small and so use 3mm one, but it's entirely up to you.
I have the wirdest thing with the led that i tought i could get some help with. Iv buildt 2 of this ones for my friends and one works just fine but the second one something must be wrong.
All my leds dies or breaks after replacing them. The effect works fine exept everytime i put it on the led short and dies. to postetiv the volt is 1.16-1.35 and negativ is -0.00 and some times -0.10. The led gets the same amount of volt even if the pedal is on or off.
Just finished this. Good sounding tremolo. Anyone building this be aware that the pots are backward in the layout (just switch the wires to lugs 1 and 3) and the pulsing led shuts off at full speed. Thanks iviark for the layout.
so this is advertised as a fender brownface tremolo pedal... the videos I've watched certainly dont sound like a harmonic brownface vibe/trem sound. what do you guys think? to me it just sounds like its volume modulation
My build works perfectly (after reversing the pot wiring), but I'm getting a very dim LED which turns off at higher speeds. I've tried various LEDs with the same result (except for differing speeds). I've tried reducing the 470R and even jumered it, but there was little to no difference. I've triple checked the resistor values and the caps and they seem to be fine. Any suggestions?
Just finished this as my first strip board project after many pcb based ones. I have no flashing LED and just a low level signal when on, bypass is fine. I have check all grounds and they're fine, and also made sure there's no continuity between tracks. Any ideas of what to check? I used the off board wiring diagram for my wiring but just took the LED wire to the switch not to the 9v jack as well, is this correct?
after watching a few videos the original swamp thang led shuts off at 4 oclock and on. cool pedal . i built one for a buddy. anyone thinking of building one swap lug one and lug three on both pots so when you turn clockwise speed and depth increase. the way it is now you have to turn them counter clockwise to increase. ThIS pedal has a slight volume drop but its really warm and vintage sounding.
Hello, I've build the swamp thang and it works plus it sounds great BUT when I switch it on I get a POP which is getting quieter the more I switch it on and off. Now, sometimes it goes away and sometimes it stays. How could I fix it. I read thad the original sometimes has the same problem. Do I have to live with it? I hope someone can help me. Thanks!
I've built this circuit with success. It sounds excellent... But there is a gap in-between the slower range of speeds and higher range of speeds. Does anyone know how I would go about closing that gap? I need those missing speeds :)
does anyone have a diagram for the footswitch? I'm not sure what connects to it, I have a feeling I connect all the components to it? Probably a really dumb question but I have never made one of these before. Thanks guys
Just built this. Nice trem! Not as good as the Demeter I used to own, but didn't want to risk building one of those as the parts are quite expensive (with the vactrol and all) and many people appear to be having clock noise problems with them. Anyway, this is close enough so I'm pretty happy with the way this one came out! Thanks for all the great layouts!
i put a 5k1 resistor (or 5,1k Resistor) in the 47k resistor and the led brigth like the sun, i put a blue and green led, the blue is really bright but the green is dificult to get a best result, thanks for this layout and greetings from chile!
I've tried 3mm Red, Green, Yellow, Blue and White, as well as 5mm Purple. (Checked them all for function before going in the circuit) and the only ones that function is the 3mm red. Know why that might be?
I’ve recently finished this pedal and fixed a few bugs so it’s now at a (nearly) working point. I did however have to replace the 47k resistor with a lower value one to get the LED brighter. I do have a couple of issues however, as I turn the rate pot up towards the top end the LED and effect cut out and just the unaffected guitar signal comes out. I have heard that the LED does cut out at higher rates but I’ve not heard people mentioning the effect itself also stopping.
Also, I’ve noticed the overall output volume to be a fair bit lower than the bypass signal, I understand this is to be expected of a tremolo pedal but as it’s a fairly noticeable volume drop so I wondered if anyone has any suggestions of something I may have done wrong. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I've built this pedal using the bits box kit and I'm having the problem that the pedal outputs a signal almost identical to the signal from my guitar. There is possibly the slightest whiff of tremolo when the knobs are at the max output but not what it should be. The LED does not flicker and is just on constantly (except in bypass), although it varies a small amount in intensity. I've combed the board looking for bridges and haven't found any. Any idea what I might have done wrong?
there is a bug. "E" Q4 transistor no cut with 2K2 resistor. sorry for my english (i'm from Russia)
ReplyDeleteWell spotted! :o)
DeleteБольшое спасибо, I've updated the layout
Thank you for the wonderful circuit boards.
ReplyDeleteVerified. Though while the transistors are laid out right (CBE), the diagram is opposite - flat side should be facing the right.
ReplyDeleteThe pulsing LED is cool, and using different ones will get you different rates/depths of effect. Great trem though. It's exactly what I was looking for.
Thanks for that
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteActually, that's incorrect. Base side should always face left for Q4 (which is a 2N5088/9) as seen here. It doesn't really matter as long as the person knows what the CBE positions are for their transistors, which is something they should really check themselves.
Deletehttp://www.kitrae.net/music/Images_Secret_Music_Page/BIG%20MUFF%20CIRCUIT%20GUIDEsm.jpg
Great layout...... what is the switch on the right....anyone can explain?
ReplyDeleteThanks, it's a 2 position SPDT toggle switch.
DeleteOh incidentally, you could get away with just a SPST switch with only 2 lugs because one of the throws isn't being used. So if you can save a bit of cash go for the SPST.
DeleteThanks. But what does the switch do? and does this have 2 LEDs? One LED that is written only as LED to be soldered to the positive terminal of an LED to indicate effect on/off and another LED marked LED+ and LED- will indicate the LFO speed? Please explain.
DeleteThe LED is soldered between the + and -, and the LED Sw wire is taken straight to your switch and then to ground. Then when the effect is engaged the LED will pulse in time with the tremolo. The switch alternates between two rates, fast and slow.
DeleteI'm a bit confused about 2 things - first, where the LED Sw wire goes (which switch?) and about the off board wiring diagram (the LED shown - is it the same LED which is connected to the pink and grey wires?)
DeleteHere are a couple of pics to show the wires: http://imgur.com/7hSbpLN,ZWwBIqi#0
Ok I'm pretty sure the "LED Sw" goes to your usual LED Negative connection on the 3PDT footswitch (the proper on and off for the effect).
DeleteSo basically you wire the LED as appropriate with those two top connections with the grey and pink wire (as you have done in the image), then you wire the LED Sw connection to the 3PDT footswitch on the usual LED point. This will make the LED act as a pulse speed, and an on/off status indicator.
Thanks a lot man, for clearing my noob doubts.. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat are the red squares in the board?
ReplyDeleteThey're cuts in the track to isolate different sections of the row. This will probably be a good read to point you in the right direction:
Deletehttp://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2012/04/vero-build-guide.html
The caps ar polarised, right? Electrolyts?
ReplyDeleteElectrolytics or tantalums, whatever you can get. You'll see a light blue "-" sign on the negative side of the caps in the layout.
DeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteI'm having some trouble understanding the 9V connection, and how it's wired to the input jack...or rather why it's wired that way. Could someone explain what happens when the 9V plug is connected, and when the input jack plug is connected... Is there a 9V battery in this circuit?
Tommy
Do you mean on Dirk's schematic? If so it's just showing the negative side of the battery (or supply) going to the sleeve of the input socket, and so a point of ground. All other points of ground will also be linked there but they're just not shown on the schematic.
DeleteOK. Thanks. Do all ground points connect to the chassis/box, including the sleeve?
ReplyDeleteyes always.
DeleteJust finished this but it is not working, I am getting only bypass signal with a little less volume and more bass. What is wrong? On checking connectivity between parallel copper strips found everything ok; but between the two copper rails on the left of the Vero board where the Intensity Knob 2 wire and the Circuit Ground wire is jutting out The continuity function on the multimeter is giving a voltage reading but no beeps. The reading is 650. What is wrong? Any help.
ReplyDeleteWell you must have some sort of bridge to the end rails which is obviously causing the problem. Send close up pic of the back of the board and I'll have a look.
DeleteSorry I've just re-read your description of the reading and think I got the wrong end of the stick before. Just post a front and back pic and I'll have a look to see if I can spot anything amiss.
DeleteSpotted 2 wrong cuts, fixed them. Now the tremolo effect is working , but hardly one can make out it is infinitely subtle that also at the max setting of both knobs. The LED is also very Dimly blinking at the tremolo rate. But all this is happening only at the off position of the spst switch. On the on position nothing is there only bypass signal. any clues? I am mailing you some pics, the title of the mail would be swamp thang troubleshooting. Please see and suggest.Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking at some photos of an actual Swamp Thang, and there are some differences...it seems to mee. But I'm no expert at figuring out circtuits. Feel free to email me if you want to see the photos, and/or help me understand the schematic..
ReplyDeletetommy.dale (at) me.com
There's always the chance that Monster Effects changed certain things over the years of manufacture. I'd be amazed if Dirk's schematic wasn't correct because he's meticulous, and we know this layout works. But by all means send me the pics, or post them to an image share site and post the links here along with your thoughts about what doesn't seem to be correct. If you want to email my address is in the header ^^^
DeleteRevisited this circuit and built it again. This time it works fine but the LED is hardly glowing. I used Ultrabright Blue LED still this result. Is the LED supposed to behave this way? Can I remove it or does it contribute to the sound of the effect?
ReplyDeleteI just discovered that yellow and red LED is giving the slowest speed , while blue is a bit faster. So the LED is required, but how to make the LED glow brighter?
ReplyDeleteReduce the 470R
DeleteThis isn't an issue but the board is 21x11 not 12 ;o) ... just cut 12 and sat and wondered why my cuts were off lol
ReplyDeleteHa ha, I made it slightly smaller thank my first effort and didn't change the size label. Oh well, have yourself an extra ground rail on me! :o)
DeleteJust finished this and with the intensity I am only getting about a millimetre of use from the sweep? literally, the entire sweep is within a millimetre of turning? I used B100k. Faulty pot? As no one else has mentioned it?
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely not right, can you measure the pot as you rotate between lugs 1 & 2 and then 2 & 3?
DeleteI have no idea how to measure pots mate
DeleteIt's easier to do this with crocodile clips or something that holds the probes in place. Put it in ohms mode (range to cover 100K) rotate the pot to one extreme then measure between lugs 1 & 2. Then watch how the resistance changes as you rotate the pot to the other extreme. It should be 100K at one side and 0K at the other. Measuring between lugs 2 and 3 should give you the opposite results, 0K at one side and 100K at the other. If the pot is dodgy the transistion may not be smooth, and/or the extreme values may be off.
DeleteWell measurements were all over the place probably due to not being able to hold them in place very well so I just changed the pot with no change. At max I get full signal with no effect (vibrato) and I have to gently nudge it down to get the effect, it is silent past that point. Oh well nevermind. Another one for the sin bin!
DeleteI had a wrong value in place of the 270k!! doh! BUT, on faster settings the LED stops blinking (turns off) I dropped the 470 ohm to a 330 to make it brighter. Could this be due to the LED? I'm using a green one to test it.
DeleteOk tried all colours and they all cut out as the speed increases. I there a way to just have a solid LED?
DeleteYes just do it as you normally would with any other effect. Take a feed from the 9V row with a resistor inline to the anode of the LED. Cathode to switch to ground.
DeleteAhh ok cool, so I can omit all the LED wires from board and the 470 resistor too? I thought the LED had some kind of influence on the effect..
DeleteSounds really nice by the way ;o)
Solid LED done, Fantastic tremolo... feels like I'm stood at the crossroads with Robert Johnson with this ;o)
DeleteAlso, both pots are in reverse.
Cheers mate.
The LED actually changes the slowest speed achievable, I found that yellow LED gives the slowest minimum speed, and Blue the fastest minimum speed. So what I have done is, in place of the LED wires I have board mounted the LEDs and taken the LED sw wire to ground. But as an indication LED I have put a solid LED.
Deletemine lights up and passes a signal, but it doesn't oscillate (nor does the LED). anyone want to measure voltages on their transistors?
ReplyDeletehttp://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu74/ramiremt/2012-10-15_00-42-25_627.jpg
http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu74/ramiremt/2012-10-15_00-42-54_221.jpg
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJust hooked this up to my test rig and it sounds beautiful....except there's a MASSIVE volume drop. I have to crank my amp to hear it. Again, sounds like it should -- LED works fine and so do the pots. It's just that the volume is almost nothing.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a bad connection somewhere. The difference between a fully working, great sounding effect and something like this is just one cold solder joint, or an unwanted bridge somewhere. More than likely it's a solder joint because an unwanted bridge would be more likely to cause more of an issue than just level. If you can't see anything suspect, just reflow the solder over everything to make sure all the connections are true, including the pots. And make sure all ground points look good too, maybe checking for continuity with a multimeter between all points of ground including offboard.
DeleteThanks Mark.
DeleteTurns out I had one resistor off by one strip and it was dumping most of the volume to ground. Fixed it and I have beautiful tremolo. Sounds just as good as the one on my Deluxe Reverb Reissue.
I'll try to record a clip. This one is definitely one for the tremolo fans!
I boxed it up and the LED is on even in bypass. I think I have the wiring a tad mixed up. When you say the LED Sw goes to the switch and then to ground, do you mean the footswitch and then to ground?
ReplyDeleteIf you think of the switch lugs like this:
Delete1---4---7
2---5---8
3---6---9
And refer to this offboard wiring guide, then the LED Sw wire goes to lug 1, with lug 2 making the connection to ground when the effect is turned on. If you ground that wire directly then the LED would indeed always be on.
Just wanted to double check before I wired this up.....is this correct?
Deletehttp://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa227/axe_34/CCF22102012_0000.jpg
Yes that's right
DeleteThanks Mark. Greatly appreciated.
Deletehave rewired as per offboard wiring guide - only problem the (GWG cable) RHS 4th strip down RHS now has no home - any ideas?
DeleteI notice someone above mention a soundclip... Here's one I made earlier ;o)
ReplyDeletehttp://snd.sc/Pm4pvi
Excellent mate, it is a nice sounding trem
Deletecan anyone tell me what size enclosure i need for this?
ReplyDeleteAnything 22 columns wide or less can fit in a Hammond 1590B size box (or equivalent) which is approx 110mm x 60mm x 30mm. If you're new to the hobby you may want to start off with bigger boxes to make the offboard wiring easier. They're more expensive but you definitely won't pull your hair out quite so much with them. If you do want to go with the bigger box try the Hammond 1590BB which is around 120mm x 95mm x 30mm
DeleteJust built this... Great tremolo. What would I modify to make the speed go even slower ?
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the work on this !
Try a yellow LED , that will make the tremolo range go even slower
DeleteHi there
ReplyDeleteshould I get one switched and one unswitched socket pr input and output of the jacks ?
Should both of them be mono ?
Thanks!
I only use mono because I never use batteries, but use a stereo socket for the input if you want to use a battery.
DeleteThanks for your answer I really appreciate it :-) !
DeleteConcerning the kit are there other components to order other than the input and output sockets and wires ? Just to be sure.
Thanks again
Cheers
Box, knobs for the pots, indication LED if you don't have any. That should be it
Deletesort of Flashing 5mm LED ?
DeleteAnd concerning the Box , is it better to get an aluminium box? or an ABS boxe is okay ?
No, just a normal LED in the colour of your choice. I'd prefer an aluminium box, the shielding provided by the box should make the effects quieter.
Deletea 5mm or 10 mm LED? Ok will that do : Diecast box - 120x95x34
DeleteHammond 29830PSLA ?
And thanks again Mark !
cheers
Just get the size you prefer, there is no technical reason to use one size over another other than your own preference. I prefer the LED to be small and so use 3mm one, but it's entirely up to you.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHello. 2n5089 can be replaced by BC547 or other?
ReplyDeleteHi mark and everyone else
ReplyDeleteI have the wirdest thing with the led that i tought i could get some help with. Iv buildt 2 of this ones for my friends and one works just fine but the second one something must be wrong.
All my leds dies or breaks after replacing them. The effect works fine exept everytime i put it on the led short and dies. to postetiv the volt is 1.16-1.35 and negativ is -0.00 and some times -0.10. The led gets the same amount of volt even if the pedal is on or off.
OK pleas point my in the wright direction someone
Just finished this. Good sounding tremolo. Anyone building this be aware that the pots are backward in the layout (just switch the wires to lugs 1 and 3) and the pulsing led shuts off at full speed. Thanks iviark for the layout.
ReplyDeleteHi lvlark! Can I request for a mastortion? Man this pedal eats you alive!
ReplyDeleteso this is advertised as a fender brownface tremolo pedal... the videos I've watched certainly dont sound like a harmonic brownface vibe/trem sound. what do you guys think? to me it just sounds like its volume modulation
ReplyDeleteI finished this tremolo, it's great !!
ReplyDeleteMy build works perfectly (after reversing the pot wiring), but I'm getting a very dim LED which turns off at higher speeds. I've tried various LEDs with the same result (except for differing speeds). I've tried reducing the 470R and even jumered it, but there was little to no difference. I've triple checked the resistor values and the caps and they seem to be fine. Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteJust finished this as my first strip board project after many pcb based ones. I have no flashing LED and just a low level signal when on, bypass is fine. I have check all grounds and they're fine, and also made sure there's no continuity between tracks. Any ideas of what to check? I used the off board wiring diagram for my wiring but just took the LED wire to the switch not to the 9v jack as well, is this correct?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Deleteworks great except LED stops when speed is turned up. any ideas?
ReplyDeleteafter watching a few videos the original swamp thang led shuts off at 4 oclock and on. cool pedal . i built one for a buddy. anyone thinking of building one swap lug one and lug three on both pots so when you turn clockwise speed and depth increase. the way it is now you have to turn them counter clockwise to increase. ThIS pedal has a slight volume drop but its really warm and vintage sounding.
Deletestill havent figured out why led stops working past 4 oclock anyone?
ReplyDeleteHello, I've build the swamp thang and it works plus it sounds great BUT when I switch it on I get a POP which is getting quieter the more I switch it on and off. Now, sometimes it goes away and sometimes it stays.
ReplyDeleteHow could I fix it. I read thad the original sometimes has the same problem. Do I have to live with it?
I hope someone can help me. Thanks!
I've built this circuit with success. It sounds excellent... But there is a gap in-between the slower range of speeds and higher range of speeds. Does anyone know how I would go about closing that gap? I need those missing speeds :)
ReplyDeletedoes anyone have a diagram for the footswitch? I'm not sure what connects to it, I have a feeling I connect all the components to it? Probably a really dumb question but I have never made one of these before.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys
Assuming you mean bypass stomp switch:
Deletehttp://tagboardeffects.blogspot.fi/2012/02/offboard-wiring.html
+m
Hi, how to make the sound of the pedal more "bright"?
ReplyDeletefor a brighter LED just solder it before the 47k resistor!
ReplyDeleteOh, no, don't do that, unfortunately it affects the intensiti control knob :D
Deletecould you make the mastortion from monster effects?
ReplyDeleteJust a small correction, the layout is 21 to 11 not 12.
ReplyDeleteJust built this. Nice trem! Not as good as the Demeter I used to own, but didn't want to risk building one of those as the parts are quite expensive (with the vactrol and all) and many people appear to be having clock noise problems with them. Anyway, this is close enough so I'm pretty happy with the way this one came out! Thanks for all the great layouts!
ReplyDeletei put a 5k1 resistor (or 5,1k Resistor) in the 47k resistor and the led brigth like the sun, i put a blue and green led, the blue is really bright but the green is dificult to get a best result, thanks for this layout and greetings from chile!
ReplyDeleteI've tried 3mm Red, Green, Yellow, Blue and White, as well as 5mm Purple. (Checked them all for function before going in the circuit) and the only ones that function is the 3mm red. Know why that might be?
ReplyDeleteOn the layout, it says 21 x 12 but the image shows 21 x 11 ?
ReplyDeleteThat threw me off too.
DeleteI’ve recently finished this pedal and fixed a few bugs so it’s now at a (nearly) working point. I did however have to replace the 47k resistor with a lower value one to get the LED brighter. I do have a couple of issues however, as I turn the rate pot up towards the top end the LED and effect cut out and just the unaffected guitar signal comes out. I have heard that the LED does cut out at higher rates but I’ve not heard people mentioning the effect itself also stopping.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I’ve noticed the overall output volume to be a fair bit lower than the bypass signal, I understand this is to be expected of a tremolo pedal but as it’s a fairly noticeable volume drop so I wondered if anyone has any suggestions of something I may have done wrong. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I've built this pedal using the bits box kit and I'm having the problem that the pedal outputs a signal almost identical to the signal from my guitar. There is possibly the slightest whiff of tremolo when the knobs are at the max output but not what it should be. The LED does not flicker and is just on constantly (except in bypass), although it varies a small amount in intensity. I've combed the board looking for bridges and haven't found any. Any idea what I might have done wrong?
ReplyDeleteMy LED won't flash and my output is the same as in the input anyone know what I might have done wrong?
ReplyDeleteYou have probably got a short somewhere - a bridged track
Deletehttps://youtu.be/uAFhHo25S3Y
ReplyDeleteHi Ian, which tremolo do you like the most, I've noticed you built quite a few now?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi mate.
ReplyDeleteI think it's the dirtbox layouts version of the swamp thang.
It sounds beautiful
👍👍