Al Heeley

many thanks, I'll give it a try

I have a small toneport unit, jack in to USB into a mac. I can use it for garageband and stuff. What I want is some frequency analyser software that will show me the freq spectrum when playing through some home build pedals and swapping out some components to optimise response. Is there anything out there? I'm pretty sure there must be, but where to find it? Take a typical pre-amp circuit, maybe 3-band eq, perhaps parametric. I want to be able to see the +/- db shift with the bass, mid and treble controls, then swap out some comps and compare. I want to be able to zone in on the best value caps to use to get a desired freq range for a parametric, that sort of thing. Is there any software out there that can help me?

always go for the higher wattage iron - the contact time needed is less and thus theres less chance to overheat and damage stuff. It will also do the back of pots a lot better. Never managed to buy any solder that didn't give a decent joint, it's good to tin everything first though (within reason, if you have any cats or fish around they don't like it, and fruit is bad, just stick to electrical comps).

some lemon oil is also petroleum fraction - naphtha (lighter fluid) with a scent added, this is a good degreaser but can dry out the wood. I use an oil now that prevents drying out, its a bit wierd but its great stuff for rosewood, its Selmer Bore Oil which will be familiar to woodwind instrument players. Its light mineral oil. You can also use turpentine or linseed, just a touch and rub in well then remove excess.

Coach & Horses, Manchester Road, Linthwaite. Cramped into a corner, Dale Winton on widescreen plasma, not many punters but a friendly crowd. Opening song starts with me playing the riff from the second song. Singer forgets to turn his mic on. Second song starts with guitarist playing the opening riff from the wrong song. Halfway through my amp head vibrates itself off the cab and lands on my pedal board, amazingly no damage but a bent jack plug. Third song guitarist breaks a string halfway through. Fourth song the stand in drummer starts playing the beat from the next song. Guitarist mends string but at solo the string jumps off the saddle notch and detunes itself 3 tones. His face was a picture as he tried to work out why it was out of tune when he was playing the right frets. At the end of the gig everyone was bouncing up and down, I don't think anyone noticed the shambles and all had a great night

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6907656498/][/url] A couple of minor changes to the pedalboard for tonights gig. Polytune Mini makes a debut and the Boss OBD-3 gets retired in favour of new BB Bass Preamp/overdrive. Next on the list is smaller format small clone chorus home build as theres no space for the larger enclosure size. This will then replace the Digitech Chorus unit.

Cheers - I can see a whole series emerging here....

korg pitchblack is very popular, but for me the polytune is even better than a briefcase full of brass tuning forks

Still on the Bassboost circuit, smaller format, beer graphics, not fitted the LED yet... [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_heeley/IMG_3850.jpg[/IMG]

yep - just the eq knob

Nice one, if you're like me, once you get it dialled in on a pedalboard I hardly ever touch the knobs again anyway But great for £30.

...and one of those illuminated magnifying glass lamps plus an eye test at Specsavers

Thanks - sound is very crudely recorded on my compact camera here, but this is totally massive through a bass rig. I'm thinking a fuzz factory clone is next on the list for me.

Maybe I could fashion a TRC for him, that could bring the value up to £950. I wouln't want to pick an argument with him to be honest.

not so much a fan of the stacked knobs but they do allow a more compact footprint.

seems to be a new brand accessing cheap chinese manufacture - similar to GLX and Harley Benton. Chord also do budget instruments, got given a chord telecaster to 'do up' recently. It was about £110, hardly worth spending £75 on a decent replacement neck for it, which was badly needed, the frets were poor and uneven and the neck had a bit of a twist to it, so you had no choice bu stick with an uncomfortably high action. Be interested to hear ho wyou get on with the pedal though, I think the GLX budget ones are great value and built very robust.

Hoiw cool would it be to fit 2 different circuit pre-amps in one bass then be able to toggle in between them?

one tiny drop of superglue to hold the nut in place is all you need; the string tension keeps it held down in place. Thinking on this, have you got your strings nicely wound down to the base of the tuning posts to maximise the angle over the nut? If not, then the lower pressure from the strings can cause unwanted vibration.

[color="#1c62b9"]http://youtu.be/M3fYtwo468o[/color] [color=#1c62b9]This is a quick demo of the Bassboost pedal using my Fender Jazz thru my little Peavel practice amp. Sound is a bit restricted as its recorded on a mini compact camera, but hopefully it will give you a flavour.[/color] [color=#1c62b9]The pedal on zero gain acts as a clean boost, with active bass and treble controls.[/color] [color=#1c62b9]The Phat switch adds in a little extra warmth to the bass tone, its subtle but more pronouced at volume through a proper bass cab.[/color] [color=#1c62b9]Add in just a touch of gain and you get a nice gritty rock drive. Crank it up for stacks of saturated distortion.[/color] [color=#1c62b9]With the gain up, the bass and treble controls add further saturation to the tone; bring them back down to just on and you get a looser harder edge to the distortion.[/color] [color=#1c62b9]The pedal sounds great with lead guitar too, with phat switch on it gives a big warm fat overdrive and a bit of mid boost.[/color] [color=#1c62b9]Runs off 9V battery or standard centre-negative 9V DC stompbox adaptor.[/color]

thanks! will be putting up a sound clip a bit later.

i imagine it follows along similar lines to the ehx chorus mod, where the original resistor and switch is removed and replaced with a potentiometer - you can then dial in the required depth. I will see if i can find any more info for you on the circuit and the pot value needed. edit: have a look here: http://experimentalistsanonymous.com/board/index.php?topic=1095.0

[b]Bass Boost Pre-amp/overdrive pedal build[/b] - basically a tubescreamer circuit with 2nd op-amp chip driving an active treble and bass controls. Input cap modded to select normal or phat mode for fuller bass drive, via mini toggle switch. Switch is connected to bi-colour indicator LED to show mode selected. 1. PCB populated and all wiring attached. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_heeley/bbpre1.jpg[/IMG] 2. Enclosure sanded back, cleaned up and drilled via template holes printed off from computer. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_heeley/bbpre2.jpg[/IMG] 3. Artwork attached - inkjet-printed clear adhesive film, fixed with a few spray coats of clear acrylic lacquer [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_heeley/bbpre3.jpg[/IMG] 4. Circuit connected to jackplugs and battery to test all is working ok [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_heeley/bbpre4.jpg[/IMG] 5. Starting to fill the enclosure, pots first. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_heeley/bbpre5.jpg[/IMG] 6. Everything in place and soldered up, quick test before fitting the perspex glow-plate [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_heeley/bbpre6.jpg[/IMG] 7. Finished pedal [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_heeley/bbpre7.jpg[/IMG]

oh my.....that is an awesome board sir!