Al Heeley

Man up and wear a black t-shirt

Here's the finished unit with bicolour LED's lighting the base plate - red or yellow depending on the voice depth setting switch. Red LED's int he skull eye sockets pulse according to the rate set. Sounds pretty good too [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6852106550/][/url]

Best method I use is from Patrick Eggle - wrap an old cotton t-shrt tightly round a cork sanding block, then rub onto the cloth some jewellers polish - you know the hard polish compound that comes in a stick like a hard wax candle? You can then attack the fretboard with gusto, no fear of scratching or damaging the wood, brings up the frets beautifully after only a minute. You then need to wipe off the fretboard with a rag and some lem-oil. Job done.

as above or small dot of superglue, that bond is easily broken with a gentle sideways tap when its time to replace. Loose nuts are not uncommon on some basses and no cause for concern

[quote name='essexbasscat' timestamp='1331889244' post='1580331'] Alternatively, make a small wedge and mark the position on the slope that equates to the thickness you desire. This same tool can then be used to set the height of the pickups and strings. You can then raise the pickup until it just dampens the plucked string. Job done with the pickup. String height can be adjusted using the same wedge, lowering the string until the string contacts the wedge at the marked spot to just dampen the plucked string. Removes the need to use magnifying glasses to peer at tiny measurements. Hope that helps [/quote]I saw this lunchtime someone selling a plastic wedge on ebay for this purpose [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TECHNOFRET-12th-fret-action-gauge-luthier-guitar-tool-/170654512812?_trksid=p4340.m1374&_trkparms=algo%3DPI.WATCH%26its%3DC%252BS%26itu%3DUCC%26otn%3D5%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D7042855604754301573"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TECHNOFRET-12th-fret-action-gauge-luthier-guitar-tool-/170654512812?_trksid=p4340.m1374&_trkparms=algo%3DPI.WATCH%26its%3DC%252BS%26itu%3DUCC%26otn%3D5%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D7042855604754301573[/url]

[quote name='cm261' timestamp='1331798393' post='1578866'] So I'm the only one completely put off by the fact that it doesn't do the poly tuning mode for bass? The poly mode is the only reason I bought the full-size one, and I was doing to swap it out for the smaller one until I realised it would be a downgrade, in reality. [/quote]Oh. I didn't realise this. I thought it has same functionality as its slightly older and bigger brother. That's a bummer, I'd really like the smaller one for myu pedalboard and the poly-mode functioality is a really handy quick-check between songs.

If anyone has a mini they want to swap with my full size one I'd be happy to facilitate - the full size has the advantage of battery so can be easier used standalone, but is just too big to fit nicely on my pedal bvoard, I need the smaller footprint.

final shot, stuffed into the box, wired up and ready to go [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6980100493/][/url]

if you have high gain pedals and amp on high gain as well then the delay/reverb will be picking up even more noise after the preamp, not before it. I'd leave it bewteen instrument and preamp.

in general stompboxes are meant to go before the preamp, and rack effects or processors for the fx loop (between preamp and poweramp stage).

loads of sites in the UK selling enclosures, inc Maplins and ebay. Just a couple of interweb clicks away, but the LS-2 is a handy little devil if you like having lots of flexibility in your fx routings

LS-2 = highly useful but rather expensive £85 sledgehammer to crack a nut. Small enclosure plus 100k pot and 2 jacks = £7.00

sharpened it up a bit in photoshop, rigt hand one looks like TOSSER!! T555ER....?

they will all work ok though yiou don't need 500k to take the edge of the volume - you only need to take it down by maybe 10% = 50K. Choose the first one in your link as they are easier to fiddle around with. Go on, take the plunge, splash out that 99p, you know its worth it! Note: middle tag is normally the sweep, the outers are what you'd expect. Either end of a resistive strip.

This is a small clone chorus pedal build using the schematics from Tonepad dot com - a clone of the classic analog Electroharmonix Chorus with a couple of mods thrown in. 1) PCB etched and drilled after UV-exposure & development. I start by soldering the IC holders then work my way through the resistors. [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6823528762/][/url] 2) All resistors in place plus mini trim pot for fine tuning the chorus sweep [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6823529182/][/url] 3) Next I move on to the capacitors, small ceramic caps first followed by the larger electrolytic ones [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6823529570/][/url] 4) Once the components are all soldered in place I fit the IC's and transistors then move to the board wiring. A couple of mods from the original circuit seen here - a) Orange lead on left takes current from leg 1 of the op amp chip, feeding to a rate indicator LED, so rather than just an off/on indicator LED, this pulses in time with the settings of the rate control to give a visual indication of chorus speed setting. blue/white striped wires on right taken from the pcb to replace the stock 150pF cap; this determines the overall delay depth. The wires will go off to a mini toggle switch allowing choice between 100pF and approx 350pF cap to choose a light or deep voicing for the chorus. The 3-legged LED top right is a bicolour yellow/red which will be soldered to the voice switch to indicate the setting. [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6823530108/][/url] 5) Enclosure innards, drilled and fitted with 3PDT footswitch, jack plugs, rate and speed pots, LED indicators plus voicing switch. [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6969653993/][/url] 6) Here's the outer - graphics printed onto self-adhesive clear inkjet film (eg: www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk) makes a good job with the polished aluminium box showing through. The rate indicator LEDs are a couple of red surface mount LED's set into the eye sockets of the skull graphics. Once positioned, the box is given 4 or 5 light coats of clear acrylic laquer (spray can) to seal the surface and protect the print. [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/alheeley/6823531068/][/url] Next step is to wire the board into the enclosure after a quick test run to ensure the circuit is all functional.

I have a takamine acoustic with pre-amp, mine has served me well. I'm pretty sure the Fishman units are the industry standard that others aspire to and piezo under-saddle pickups will have same output config, therefore I'd be confident in swapping out a takamine for a fishman unit

Oh No! What's happened to the Beavis Audio site , with all their amazingly useful diagrams and switch wirings, mods and stuff? http://www.beavisaudio.com/ This is a disaster for pedal builders!

it's a neat solution, you can use a tiny trim pot, they are no bigger than a small yellow lentil. A small one with three tiny metal legs.

[quote name='uglycustard' timestamp='1331135512' post='1568242'] yep the rod screw is right in fully clockwise and it has an up bow ie the neck is bowed away from the strings [/quote]to me that's not an up-bow! I find this thread most confusing. Lay the bass flat on a table, on its back. Now is the neck making a u- or a n-? u- to me (can I feel a song coming on?) is upbow which means the string pull is greater than the truss rod tension. Truss rod clockwise to correct (ie: Tighten truss rod) n = too tight, strings bottoming out on frets 5 - 10, loosen truss rod (anti-clockwise) as string tension is lower.

For me the Digitech pedals are the worst, there's so much plasticiser in the rubber base that even the really good heavy duty velcro strip won't stick long to them. The Boss board has foam cutouts so the pedals fit snugly in without needing further fixing. The foam-lined case keeps them in place when transporting.

look at Dr Tweek website - hes got a lot of knobs, also Banzai music, and of course ebay - effects pedal knobs, you will find just what you are after. http://www.doctortweek.co.uk/ http://www.banzaimusic.com/ http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=effects+pedal+knobs&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Even good heavy duty velcro for new pedals with plasticised rubber bases (Boss, Digitech,...) is useless as the plasticiser oil in the rubber will render the velcro adhesive useless in a short time. Screw fastenings are a bit of a pain if, like me, you tend to swap out and juggle your pedals round every few weeks.