Image of recent build (EH bassballs clone) - MA+ rated

[mikeb]

I repaired a bassballs clone for a friend interstate here in Australia, and then the thing went missing in the post. Hence, an all-night build was required to get another pedal ready in time and the result was.....

BB clone with slightly tasteless panel image :twisted:

The pedal itself is simply a bassballs with the filter tune trimpots brought out to the front panel, a footswitch rather than a toggle switch added to turn the fuzz on and off, and a volume control for the 'fuzz' itself (seeing as this is related to the setting of the sensitivity control, and hence needs adjusting to match the non-engaged volume). The graphics were produced using Adobe Illustrator (with the image pre-faded), and then printed to full-page Avery clear laser printer labels; after the label was applied a coat of clear paint was spray painted on for protection. The pedal itself was sanded and polished using a polishing wheel on a drill.

I'll put up the PCB layout I used up on my website soon - it's a little more compact than the 'clone wars' one that is around.

Oh .... the pedal was delivered via express post, and was only unwrapped actually at the gig, causing great hilarity amongst band members .... ...

Mike

[Fret Wire]

LOL!! :twisted:

[Marcos - Munky]

Really beautiful. I'm curious to see your layout. I don't have a filter yet.

[loki]

very cool pedal!
i've built the same, but still haven't boxed it... what did u use instead of trimpots? i used 1k lin pots, previously i tried 10k  but those weren't good at all...

I've also added an additional attack pot, as mark hammer suggested me in a post.... that's a cool mod, you should consider that!
bye!

[mikeb]

I just used 10k linear pots - not all of the range is usable, but the usable range changes with the sensitivity settings, so I think it's ok. I've done just about all possible mods on the bassballs (see the 'fuzzy balls' variation that is around on the net), however this was special order for a customer and he only wanted the four controls.

Mike

[gez]

Self-portrait?  :shock:

[mikeb]

Watchit!  :x  :wink:

Mike

[gez]

No offense was intended Mike, it's just that a lot of Australians over here often talk of everything being so much bigger 'down under', hence my initial confusion...

[mikeb]

It isn't that things are really any bigger 'here', just that things are much smaller 'there' .... must be all those cold British winters!

Mike

[Mark Hammer]

I just posted a pic of mine over at http://hammer.ampage.org at the top of the stack.  There's a brief description of it there.   Too many knobs and switches to fit any images of testicular glory on a 1590BB.

[mikeb]

Cool Mark ... btw, the pic on mine is NOT of anything human (not sure if that is better or worse).....

I should mention that, perhaps similar to yours (?) I changed the 47k resistor in the divide-down fuzz section to an opposing diode (1N914) pair.

Mike

[loki]

I just posted a pic of mine over at http://hammer.ampage.org at the top of the stack.  There's a brief description of it there.   Too many knobs and switches to fit any images of testicular glory on a 1590BB.

how did you connect the decay switch?

[gez]

It isn't that things are really any bigger 'here', just that things are much smaller 'there' .... must be all those cold British winters!

:mrgreen:

[RDV]

...& not a hair on them!

RDV

[Mark Hammer]

how did you connect the decay switch?

I just added a 10uf cap in parallel with the 4u7 one there already, using a SPST toggle.  Another way to do it might be to put in a 10uf-22uf cap as stock and substitute a 500k variable resistor for the 330k fixed resistor.  That resistance sets the discharge/decay time for that cap value.  A 47k fixed resistor in series with the added decay pot will help set the minimum decay time.

Note that the attack time is a function of the small-value (100R) resistor in series with the diode and the 4u7 cap.  If you change the cap value, the attack (charge-up) time will be longer larger values of caps, and shorter for smaller values.

One of the reasons why a stock Baseballs *sounds* like it only sweeps down is that the attack time is so brief (given the 100R resistor and 4u7 cap), and the decay so obvious, that it seems like all the filter sweep does is decay.  Change the time constants, and you will quickly learn that it sweeps up then down like most other ECFs; you just need to make both parts of the sweep cycle slow enough to hear it.

Also note that increasing the charge-up/attack resistor limits the current charging up the cap (and in so doing reduces the envelope signal output going to the transistors), so slowing the attack will mean turning the sensitivity up to achieve the same amount of sweep.  In contrast to this, increasing the *capacitance* alone to slow down the attack and decay phases of the sweep does *NOT* affect how much envelope signal is generated  Personally, I find that changes to the attack time tend to have more impact on the playability and fit-to-song than changes to decay, but given the apparent impact of attack resistor value on sensitivity, there is an argument to be made for having a small fixed attack resistor and switchable decay ranges with a decay-time adjustment pot.  Your choice.  Neither is best, merely better for your needs.

The "split" function is actually the most interesting, since it allows you to use each filter section independently, or aim for a quasi stereo effect by having a different filter sound coming out each jack.  I might note that this also permits filter level-mixing, something which would tend to crowd the pedal itself if one attempted to do it on-board.

[loki]

thank you mark for your reply, i'll try the 10uF cap+SPST toggle, just because i have those components readily available.... then i'll study what you wrote deeply to find out what solution best fits my needs.
thank you very much again, your posts are always enlightning  
bye

[niftydog]

for a friend interstate here in Australia

wouldn't be a certain state known as ACT would it? A certain member of the band Funk Shui?

[mikeb]

Say hi to Dave!

Mike

[niftydog]

small world indeed...

see my postcard got there first! Woo! Special!