the building of my insane pedalboard

[Valoosj]

As I am ready to order a lot of parts for my pedalboard, I made this topic, so I can keep all the questions in one place.

The following will be my complete setup (minus the bogner and les paul, these are plans for 2009)


Since I have a lot of true bypass due to all the DIY fx, I believe I am in need of buffers. I did a search, and found some info, but I just need to know how many buffers I need, and where to put them. I found this site http://www.muzique.com/lab/buffers.htm which has quite a few buffers. I also found other plans for miscellaneous buffers, but I'd like to know which ones are good for my type of setup. I have about 5m between guitar and board, and another 15m due to fx loop and just the input for the guitar. so that's about 22m of wire before the sound goes to the speaker. and then there are 10m because I have a talkbox between the head and cabinet.
So, what do you think? 2 buffers? 1 in the A/B selector, and one in the loop? Any recommendations? IC or Transistor?

I also have my doubts on where to put the tremulus lune (which I am building in the next weeks) and the volume pedal (also building this in the following weeks).
The volume pedal will mainly be used to make some cool volume swells, and volume decreases. (as in the solo of the Tool version of No Quarter)

Any other remarks are welcome

I will post pictures once it is finished, but I still don't know how big of a case I will need. My guess is 50x100cm...

Cheers

[Johan]

the FX loop is most likely low-z, meaning allready buffered, so just put your boss-tuner after the A/B-box and the pre-amplifier chian will be buffered too
bonus when doing that is that the tuner gets the cleanest possible signal and will track better...
j

[shredgd]

Yeah, as you already use some not-DIY pedals which have buffers inside, just make sure you have one of those at the beginning and at the end of your pedalboard and you'll be fine.

Giulio

[Valoosj]

problem is that I built the looper with a tuner mute, and I didn't think about it then, but the looper will be in the fx loop. I don't feel like moving my tuner to the preamp part, because it sucks tone, and to built another a/b for the tuner seems like a waste of place. I was thinking about putting a buffer in the A/B at the front, instead of putting one of my non-DIY pedals there. should I put a buffer in my first and my last pedal then? they both are DIY, so I can put one in if I want.
Any idea on which buffer to build?

[slacker]

Personally I'd just do what Johan suggested, the TU2 shouldn't suck tone and makes an excellent buffer. If you don't like the sound of it though then just build a buffer and put it in the A/B box.

Unless you're going to add a lot of other pedals between your guitar and amp I don't think you'll need one  at the end of your effects chain as well. When all your DIY pedals are bypassed the A/B box buffer will provide a decent signal for your amp and when you turn any of the pedals on they will do the same thing.

Any of the buffers off the AMZ page will do the job, I'd use the first opamp on or the second Jfet one. Or just build one of the GGG buffers

[Valoosj]

ok, I have been trying to make the pcbs for the fx I'm building.
It's failing, but improving at the same time...

I use the ironing method, still needs some improvement.


( Could a moderator please change the title to 'my DIY pedalboard' ?)

[Mark Hammer]

The surface of the copper board is far too tarnished to yield a decent etch, even if you do get a reasonable transfer of the image.  Buy yourself a package of superfine steel wool.  Buff the copper as shiny as you can get it (you should be able to see your face in it) and make sure that when you are holding the board with one hand and polishing with the other that the hand holding the board is physically isolated from it.  For instance, consider wearing a cotton gardening/work glove to hold the board steady.  Your skin produces all sorts of substances that react with the copper surface and make it difficult for the toner to stick to the board or for the etchant to react with the copper.

[Valoosj]

I was told not to use steel wool. I used a dishwasher sponge and some sanding creme (that you use to clean your floors etc) and went over it to make the surface a bit ruff.
I then went over the copper with a product to remove the grease.

I'll try steel wool

[Mark Hammer]

I've been making my own boards for 30 years now and had nothing but success with it.  Your sanding creme may well be the problem.  being shiny is only one half of a successful transfer and etch.  The other half is permitting the toner and etchant to be in direct contact with the copper, without some sort of semi-clear residue on the surface of the copper.  Steel wool is simply an abrasive with no potential for leaving a chemical trace other than "finger juice".  Wear gloves  and that problem is solved.

[Michael Allen]

yeah, steel wool is the ticket. Rub the copper in one direction until it's super shiny, then rotate 90 degrees and do the same thing. This way it's totally clean copper and as unoxidized as its going to get. DON'T TOUCH the copper like Mark said or the finger grease will make the transfer impossible. After I do this, I then wipe the board with some rubbing alcohol on a cotton sponge just to make sure all the copper flecks are wiped off.

Are you using photo paper? That's the best kind I've found because the shiny layer of the paper peels off nicely when you soak the board.

[Valoosj]

Auke Haarsma will provide me the photo paper, and I will start using the steel wool.

[Valoosj]

Thanks to Auke Haarsma this is the result



There does seem to be some layer on top, how should I remove this? Dishwashing spongue ?

[Auke Haarsma]

You're welcome man! It's looking good! 

[Valoosj]

I just breadborded the mayqueen, and all I am getting out of it is a pieping sound.
This is my first breadbord attempt, so I probably did something wrong. Any tips on how to solve it?

[Zben3129]

When I breadboard, I like to spread everything out as much as I can. Also, I work from the "heart" out. Meaning if there is an IC, I place it in the middle and work each pin at a time. If there is just a transistor, same thing, but only 3 pins to deal with. Also, print out a schematic and grab a magic marker/highlighter, and as you do something, highlight it. Highlight it right when you do it, dont do a bunch of things and highlight after. Also, I find that any short jumper wires (such as from a collector to 9v or pin 4 of ic to ground and 8 to power) should be placed first 

Good luck

[Valoosj]

I started with the first tranny, and worked my way up to the others. I'll try finding the problem another time. Right now it can lay away for a while.

Currently I have another problem, with a buffer.


or this one?
I don't really get what Vr means.
Is this schematic ok for the first buffer? note the jumper under the IC

[Zben3129]

Vr stands for voltage referance. This is usually 4.5v, half of the power supply. This is kind of like bias. The schematic on the right shows vref or vr, with the 2 halving resistors from 9v to 0v (ground). Hope this helps!

[slacker]

The AMZ buffers page explains about the Vref.

[Valoosj]

Still don't really get it

Is this ok for the right version?

[cab42]

I did a vero layout for the amz ic buffer a while ago:

http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/v/Cab42s-layouts/ic_buffer.gif.html

Just after building it, I got a TU-2 for my 40th birthday, so now its a part of a blender circuit (that doesn't work, but thats another story)

As far as I can see you are missing 9v on pin 7. Check the wiki for more info.

Also check the IC buffer project on general Guitar gadgets, on the schematic here, all pins on the IC is specified.

Regards

Carsten