Peak 2005 FCB4N2 Midi Controller

I've been waiting for this to arrive for a little while now. Customs had it for over a week and it seemed like they just didn't want to let it go. Chances are they couldn't figure out what it was so they kept on studying it!

Anyway onto the actual midi controller.

I'll start off with the the reasons why I went with the Peak unit rather than the usual suspects such as Voodoo Labs, Behringer etc.

I can't stand plastic looking controllers more so when they have plastic switches, it just screams cheap and nasty to me. The second reason was the price, at $149 this thing is a steal. Add to that the fact that it's really solid with sturdy metal switches and a nice clear display and you are clearly onto a winner.

The FCB4N2 also has a really nice black brushed metal finish which just adds a touch of class and looks very durable so I can't see it bending at all or easily getting damaged.

The unit was fairly simple to program after I got over my initial user error (retard moment) and as an added bonus the custom support & communication from Peak 2005 throughout the purchase was fantastic and I also had to contact Peak regarding my user error and got a very helpful and easy to understand reply.

I believe that this unit will hold up well on the road and if there any any issues I am sure that Peak will be there to back me up.

There isn't really much more to say regarding this as the unit looks and feels great and functions as it's supposed to. Beyond that it isn't really expected to do much more.

You can purchase the above controller from http://www.peak2005.com/j/midi-foot-controllers/15-fcb4n2-programmable-midi-foot-controller-ver20.html and also a number of other devices related to midi control.

Naga Viper Treble Booster

I'm not going to say much on this as I built this for Brow so I'll let him going into more detail on it when he gets it. But for now here are a couple of pictures.

It's a really tiny circuit. I took this one for reference purposes.

 

 

 Here's the finished pedal 

And here's one more with it all powered up just for the sake of it!

MXR Custom Badass Modified Overdrive Clips. Updated Clips

Hey guys.
It's just a brief one today as I really don't have too much time on my hands.

A good friend Ben Asaro kindly provided me with some DI tracks that he used to use for demoing pedals. With this I have reamped it six times across two channels/modes on my amp for demonstration purposes.

During all of the clips the pedal settings stayed exactly the same which was everything set to half way on the dials for consistency. Below you will find all six of the clips with a brief description of what is going on.

When I have a little more time I will do some more in depth clips to show how transparent the pedal can be and also how it sounds in a mix as I would normally use it. If you have any settings requests please leave a comment and I will do my best to accommodate.

Also a big thanks goes to Ben for sharing the DI track.

For the sake of complete consistency I recorded the following clips using the Slave Out on my amplifier which is tapped straight from the speaker output jack. I then loaded an impulse response in Reaper for each item to emulate the cabinet. This ensures that everything is exactly the same across all of the clips other than the channel being changed and the bump switch being activated.

Clip 1 - This is on the clean channel of my amp with the pedal bypassed.



Clip 2 -  This is on the clean channel with the pedal turned on.



Clip 3 - This is on the clean channel this time with the pedal on and with the bump switch engaged.





Clip 4 - This is on the crunch channel with the pedal bypassed.



Clip 5 - This is on the crunch channel with the pedal turned on.



Clip 6 - This is on the crunch channel with the pedal turned on and with the bump switch engaged.

MXR Custom Badass Modified Overdrive: An introductory review

Hey guys here we are on the first post of 2013 hopefully it will be a gear filled year with lots of builds & gear acquisition!

Anyway onto the main point of this post. I've gotten a couple of new pieces of equipment lately and I'll be putting up full reviews and sound clips as I get more familiar with each item.

First up is an incredible Overdrive pedal from MXR. The custom badass modified OD.
Usually I will build my own effects but I felt like having a break and just buying something for a change.

Controls:
The MXR has your standard overdrive controls such as Gain, Output & Tone. It then goes a little further by adding in a 100hz cut/boost control and a bump switch that boosts the low end and midrange when activated.

Sound:
This I find is where the pedal really shines. Without the bump switch engaged it is a fairly transparent pedal and leaves your core tone pretty much unmolested. When you kick in the bump switch the low frequencies and midrange are boosted but not by a ridiculous amount which keeps the core tone but brings the pedal more into a thicker tube screamer territory. Also noteworthy is the fact that the bump switch can be left engaged when the main circuit is off which just thickens up your sound with a very minimal boost which can be nice for cleans.

The gain on tap is fairly smooth when used on a clean channel but there is plenty of it and once you get past the halfway mark it gets nice and gritty. When used on an already overdriven amp you can get total saturation just by adding in a little gain which is very nice for those old school thrash type tones.

Another nice feature of this pedal is the tone control it never gets truly boomy or ridiculously tinny at either extreme of the control and provides a lot of usable options.

The 100hz cut/boost is what really drew me to this pedal primarily being a metal player I like a nice clean low end so a little bit of cut really brings out the tightness required for some more modern styles and when used in conjunction with the tone control & the bump switch you really do have a lot of options and I feel that I haven't fully explored this myself.

The level control is the final control and there isn't really much to say other than it has an extremely large range that should satisfy most users needs.

Build Quality:
This pedal seems really solid and well made with a high quality enclosure and very sturdy jacks even if they are PCB mounted. The pedal mainly consists of micro components which I guess explains the small form factor and also will help with mass production. The switch is very solid if a little softer than I normally use it doesn't have that thick satisfying click that i'm used to be I can't see it failing at any point. The only negative point is that there is a small finish flaw in the bottom corner on the face of the pedal but it's nothing major and doesn't affect functionality in anyway at all.

Overall I am extremely pleased with this pedal and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting a more transparent overdrive that doesn't cut out masses of low end unless you specifically set it to. It's extremely useful for those that play rock or metal.

I will be posting again in a week or so with some sound clips and possibly some more information depending whether my view on this pedal changes as I get more used to it.

1776 effects Rubadub Reverb Build

Well it's been a bit quiet on the personal DIY front. I've just done a few amp builds for people but nothing that hasn't really been covered before.

However I recently got around to starting building a digital reverb using the Rubadub reverb PCB from Josh @ 1776 effects

This build is now completed but I haven't boxed it up yet so for now there are just a few in progress pictures at the bottom.

The circuit is really nice and sounds fantastic on clean sounds which is primarily what I wanted it for.

I wont be boxing this up until the weekend and still haven't decided on the graphics for it. If you have any suggestions please feel free to post a comment.

Here is a quick clip with some incredibly shoddy playing due to an injury of my fretting hand. I'll get some better ones up as soon as I can play without getting cramps in my left palm.

Here is one with just the resistors mounted. I didn't have one of the required values so used two resistors in parallel to get it where it needed to be.

And here we are with it mostly populated minus one electrolytic cap. These newer Belton reverb bricks are now small enough to fit comfortably inside a 1590b.

Custom Overdrive - My own personal pedal

Well this is something that i've been meaning to do for myself for a little while but haven't really gotten around to due to various reasons.

It also worked out quite well as an experiment in labelling enclosures which turned out far better than I expected it would for the first real attempt.

The pedal itself is the same pedal that I made for Ole which was a one off custom order that I was so pleased with that I just had to make one for myself.

The circuit takes a fair amount of influence from the Fulltone OCD V3 and the Maxon OD808. The 'Cut' switch isn't the HP/LP switch like on the OCD rather it removes the low end below 100hz cleaning up the sound more and helping the guitar cut through easier.

Little Angel Chorus Build Log Part 2

I have finished populating the board using Hitano electrolytics, panasonic box film caps and one ceramic disc cap.

I chose the film caps as they provide a very clean and smooth sound which is exactly what I am aiming for with this chorus as I want it to be thick & lush. The electrolytic choice of Hitano's is my usual go to cap for pedals as they are have a very low leakage, quiet and very high quality.

The ceramic cap wasn't planned originally as they can sometimes be a bit harsh and work best in overdrive & distortion circuits but the film cap I had didn't fit the hole spacing on the board.

Little Angel Chorus Build Log Part 1

Well I have been saying I would do this for some time now but mundane day to day things such as work, fire & floods have been getting in the way.

I was going to do it in a completely step by step fashion but decided that would be boring and take up about 100+ posts. So instead I have split it into sections.

Here we have the board populated completely with all the resistors and the opamp sockets for the NE5532 and the PT2399.

In the image that I have uploaded it shows that one resistor is mounted upright due to space requirements on the PCB making it so that it couldn't be flush with the board. I generally solder resistors that have to be mounted like this last as I populate the PCBs in component size order as this makes it far easier in the long run.

With this I am presuming that you know how to solder but if not I am planning a future pedal that has a smaller component count that I will do an entirely step by step guide.

I'm hoping that tomorrow I will have some time to do the capacitors which I will go into more depth on as there is some thought to be put into this stage as they have a bigger impact upon the final sound.

Also note I may also be posting the layout for this pedal once I get permission from the designer and may venture into offering BYOC style kits if their is enough interest.

Custom Overdrive

This is part of a project im working on that should turn out to be a metal guitarists wet dream....

A customer requested the cosmetics on this i was personally going to go for a gloss black powdercoat with silver lettering and chrome chicken heads. However i am very pleased how its turned out.

Its based around a TL082 dual opamp and has enough gain to kill a charging rhino, the clean boost also is  a bit extreme and can take your signal from unity gain at about quarter way up to gradually getting tighter and tighter going into complete saturation at the top end.

The tone control is pretty much a midrange sweep that just adds mid-high mids in.
The cut switch just boosts it a bit more and makes it cut through anything.

complete with true bypass circuitry of course with high quality solid core teflon wiring.
anyway enough rambling on heres a pic

Preparing your Vero/Stripboard

I thought I should link to this before I start with the build log as my camera on my phone sucks for close up photos even with macro enabled!

http://www.societyofrobots.com/member_tutorials/node/90

The link above shows you how to cut the traces and also add in jumpers. It's all self explanatory really but this information is here now if anyone needs it.

Shock Treatment (SHO update)

Well I got around to rehousing this today and also labelling it up using a Dymo labeller.

Here's the final version.

Hopefully some more parts should be in tomorrow and I have decided to do the little angel chorus.

SHO style build

First off i'll give credit where its due.

I used the layout from http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com that was made by IvIark
Its an excellent layout.

I built this using a 10k linear pot and wired it in reverse as i didn't have a 5k linear rev pot handy.
This gave great results as I now have a massive range of clean boost for the first half of the pedal before the dirt and crackle kicks in!

Also this is my first ever build using Vero/Stripboard so it isn't the tidiest but i plan on tidying it up later.

Also as my step drill bit still hasn't arrived its built in a "DIY" enclosure that was crafted by my girlfriend Laura.

I enjoyed doing this so much that I have also ordered parts for a chorus build and an OD that I am going to cannibalise a BIYANG OD8 for the chassis as its the perfect layout.

Badly Painted TS

Well here's the TS it's the very first time I have ever sprayed anything and will be redone as i aren't 100% happy with it.

However it will do for now until I build my other pedals.

TS808 complete!

Took about 30mins from start to finish and worked first time with no problems.

There was a 511k resistor missing though so I had to nip out to Maplins to get a replacement.

The toughtest bit of this build was the switch wiring as it's all so close together.

Here are some pictures of it currently. I am going to design a finish & paint it soon.