bobbass4k

Fortunately I've been listening to nothing but Cardiacs for 3 weeks, which suits this image perfectly. I might see if I can attempt to channel the spirit at least, if not the musical caliber into some compositional chaos.

I reading it back that probably came off more cynical than I'd intended, I know 95% of people would probably be fine, but it's just always felt like a can of worms to me. First foray into etching - Annoyingly the printer at work died the only day I could print so I couldn't do toner transfer so settled for more of a "horror movie" motif, I painted it with nail varnish then scratched the letters in and random bits off. It's not perfect but I've learned a lot for next time.

Couple of new builds - I finally have a compressor that does what I want it too. I'm very happy.

Sidenote, the Pumpernickel went together like a dream and does exactly what I've always wanted a compressor to do. Not boxed yet as I'm waiting for some Ferric Chloride to arrive to begin my adventure into enclosure etching... Next time I post I may be blind...

I'll do stripboard builds and kits for friends/FoF etc for cost of parts and a bottle of nice beer or the like., but I'm always very wary of it. Stuff I build for myself is always made to a very high functional standard, but the cosmetics/finish is often basic or non-existent because, well, I don't really care. Once you start taking money for the actual building, you have to start matching/competing with peoples expectations, which can mean a lot of headaches ("When I said blue I didn't mean that blue"). Not to mention after care expectations ("Yes I put it in the dishwasher but why didn't you make it waterproof? Fix it for free or I'll tell everyone you're a scammer"). If you've got the patience and the inclination for a commercial endeavour there's probably a decent niche to be carved out there, but it's not for me.

Any pedals will work with the dc out, as I recall it has its own current limit you'll have to stick to, not just the PSU limit, but that should be on the label.

Boss LS-2 could be a simple solution, it will only work with 2, but you can use it as a switcher and set different output levels on each channel, you can have them both plugged in and set to different output levels, simple stomp to swap. I've never needed that kind of switching so there me be a better solution with more channels, but the LS-2 is cheap, reliable and very useful.

He does sell PCBs, but even with my embarrassingly large farnell discount it only came out a few quid cheaper to source the bits myself, so for the convenience I plumped for a kit.

i've been considering the pumpernickel for a while, I've built a few compressors on the breadboard recently and they've all underwhelmed me, the pumpernickel has a feature set that appeals to me. Anyone know if the Schalltechnik guy sells bare PCBs? Drilling out the enclosure doesn't look too bad and I can get the parts for way cheaper (working for Farnell has it's advantages). The fruits of the xmas break - The fuzz is a tweaked Megalith, the gold enclosure was meant for a different pedal, and seemed at odds with the rather serious doom/heavy vibe of the fuzz, so i went overboard on the name. I believe it's what the kids call "irony". The flash hasn't showed it off well but it's got a gold glitter top coat that looks really good. The other one is the "(Howard the) Funk-a-Duck", because, well... who gives a duck? I ran out of knobs, more on the way. Howard is a bit of a mess, I'm still getting the hang of this decal business.

I always think it's quite telling that of the 4 pedals I've chosen not to replace or build, 3 are Boss... Famous last words, but I think i've got all the pedals I need for the time being, my next project is to redo the graphics on all the existing ones. After 10 years of holding out I've decided it's worth owning a printer, so I'm going to water transfer the living hell out of everything, and get rid of the "blind donkey fornicating with a paint pot" aesthetic many of them were adorned with (through necessity).

I don't think I've uploaded a picture of it using the big boy board (I finally bought a pedal train...)

I too would avoid the Vitriol, it's a great pedal, but it's a dod grunge clone, (which puts it in the boss metal zone family), it does big booming bass and really cutting treble, which is a sound I like, but it doesn't sound like it's what you're after. I always think of the rat as quite a full on distortion, but it has what I've always described as a "flappy" sound, which nothing else I've found emulates.

Thanks Dad, I look forward to listening to yours. Totally unrelated follow up question - Skol emphasized the sampling rule, but what if the stems have been freely released by the band? There's a song I've been wanting to do something with for ages, and the band released the stems for remixes (i just want to use the vocals), is that kosher?

Question - Does the original have to be a song that the "average" person has likely heard of? Obviously not as a matter of the rules, but more the spirit of the competition.

Only a couple of days left on the kickstarter. All extra money is going to the high school where the owner of VFE teaches for supplies etc., so it's a good cause. Click the k in the top left of the video to go to the page.

It's only been possible in recent years, USB supplies used to be (and most still are) low current, plus they operate at 5V, so when you step that up to 9V to run pedals, you effectively half the current. USB plug chargers have improved a lot in recent years, with "super-charging" technology, a lot of them just put out a tonne of power and let the phone/tablet process it. But I fail to see the point in this really, the advantage would be powering it from a laptop, portable battery etc., but they are going to struggle to put out enough current to power more than a couple of pedals, and you'd have to work hard to convince me the filtering in the brick is enough to kill all the digital/clock noise. And you're always going to have to carry your own cable because who has an A to full size B cable with them anymore? I'm sure it works great from a high current USB wall supply, but then you may as well just have a conventional power brick for cheaper.

Haven't seen anything about this here so I thought I'd put the word out, currently on Kickstarter - For the lazy - it's a 3 channel looper/mixer, each with High and Low Pass filters, send level, different filter slopes, and crucially, internal sends to the other two channels. On the surface it sounds like a boring utility pedal, but it opens up a lot of possibilities that led me to order the super DIY version for a modest $60 (incl. shipping), though a full version will run you about $250 I think. Multiband distortion with completely different pedals is a big one, but the possibilities with time-based effects are what really appeal to me, the idea of stacking delays and reverbs in controlled feedback loops makes my inner post-rock/ambient nerd go all a quiver. It's 200% funded so it's definitely happening, and VFE are a solid company so you're not throwing your money into a black hole (like some of the other pedal kickstarters...) Take a look, or don't.

It depends entirely what actual train you end up on, I think Virgin on the WCML is all the 390 or 221s (I'm not a train nerd, honest...). If so, they have a big/oversize luggage space in the coach with the bike racks (one coach up from either end. It's on the floor so you wouldn't have to list and would mostly likely accommodate a DB, but it's first come first served. There's vertical bike storage areas that would likely accommodate a DB, you could make a bike reservation, but you may have to deal with some irate commuter cyclists. (I commute on these trains everyday with a bike, so unfortunately I'm very familiar). Otherwise, if you ask nicely, they might stick it in the storage area, but it's not a guarantee.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1509008310' post='3395924'] 'Tis the [i]third [/i]'B', isn't it..? No wonder folks take the [s]pi ...[/s] mickey. [/quote] In my defence, I was 4 pints into a "quick post-work drink" at the time. You're lucky I didn't tell you how much I loved you...

Thanks for the capitalization on the second B my good man. It's a problem of my own creation but the ass jokes get every so slightly tiresome. Good crop this month, nice to be back in the mix.

I believe the appropriate term is BOOM - https://soundcloud.com/bobbass4k/aether The title is lazy, forgive me. Not my best, but good to be back on the figurative horse.

Something to bear in mind is the 2k2 in the diagram above is just a guide, it will vary depending on what LED you're using. I would start with 4k7 and see how bright it is, a higher value resistor will make the LED less bright.

If you do have any issues with them let me know, I've got a big strip in the transistors drawer, I'd be happy to drop a few in an envelope (and an ESD bag of course...). I think you'll be fine though, before bitsbox started selling adapter boards for the SOT-23s I just used to solder leads then blob them in epoxy to use them as through-hole substitues... That was definitely not a graceful solution, but they all worked.