Heavily Modified New SloClone Build

Well this started out as something else but has quickly taken a different direction due to a request.

The plan so far is to use Mallory 150 series for coupling/decoupling alongside F&T & Sprague electrolytics in the preamp with Nichicon & United Chemi Con Electrolytics in the power amp.

Voicing wise this is going to be a bit of a departure from the stock SLO voicing in that it's going to have an overall tighter feel with a fair bit of grit & grindiness in the midrange and I also plan on making the gain a but more aggressive also.

I've ordered all the electronics & hardware in and i'm discussing the chassis & headshell cosmetics currently.

Here is a picture of the SmashGuitars PCB's that I will be using in this build.

I shall update the blog with more info on this as the project progresses.

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.

Blog Update

Hey guys this is just a quick post to let everyone know that I am still keeping up on this.

I have just been completely snowed under at work with christmas commitment & whatnot that I haven't really had much time to do anything for myself.

This weekend i'm finally going to have some time to myself and I received my Little Angel Chorus PCB's so am going to get this thing put together with a "semi" tutorial hopefully.

here's a picture too to show the excellent work done by Frequency Central who designed this circuit.

NGD: Ibanez RGA7

Well this was something of an impulse buy as it was at a fantastic price that I just couldn't refuse.

I thought it would take quite a while to get used to playing a 7 string but it just happened naturally once I got over how much bigger the neck is.

These photos are stock but I have since changed the bridge pickup out to an EMG 81-7 and cut the bottom out of the battery box to accomodate the 9v battery

I shall post some clips of this over the weekend hopefully.

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

Entwistle HDN - High Definition Neodymium Pickups. Updated with a clip!

Well i've been playing these for around a week now and I didn't want to write this up straight away as I wanted to get familiar with the pickups and tweak the heights/polepieces to get them spot on.

And now a week later I am still completely impressed with them. Firstly there's the fact that they are high output and ultra tight in the low end, usually to have this kind of clarity and tightness you would have to sacrifice your cleans completely with say a ceramic pickup... But not with these you get those thick palm mutes and the pinches just really leap out at you going hand in hand with a great midrange grind. Then you switch over to the clean channel and get incredible bell like cleans that have a piezo like quality to them.

The neck pickup is just as impressive as the bridge its higher output than I am used to from my other guitars with Bare Knuckles in but it still retains that same clarity that the bridge had but with extra fluidity with is amazing for legato work and the cleans again are excellent being warmer and fuller than the bridge and very clean and crisp sounding.

Now onto tunings. I have used these pickups in tunings ranging from E Standard right down to B standard and the same qualities remain throughout the tunings and have even outshined the other pickups I own in some of these tunings.

In short these pickups are a metal guitarists dream come true but it doesn't stop there either.
If you knock the gain back on the amp you get into that 80s rock territory that many people crave.

The HDNs also react extremely well using an overdrive pedal which results in even more tightness and cut (not that they needed it) But all in all it makes for an extremely versatile set of pickups for the rock or metal guitarist.

I have a seven string coming my way this week too and i'm not even considering any other brand or type of pickups so far if Entwistle can provide the goods again.

Now you can buy these excellent pickups from here.

http://www.boyesamplification.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=52

Flying V Stain Test + Pickup Update

Here's the primary test of finishing this guitar. I decided to go for a deep blue as the grain on this thing is terrible!

This is just one coat so far i'm going to let it dry overnight to see how dark it settles before deciding whether to do another coat or not.

Also I have an update regarding the pickups that are going in this.

They are something a bit unique that I have never tried before and I have been given promises they will be ultra tight, hot & extremely clear.

They clock in at 16.5k for the bridge pickup and 9.5k for the neck pickup and both feature Neodymium magnets.

I shall give a full review once I have the pickups in and the guitar back in one piece.

NGD: DIY Flying V

Well this was a heck of a lot easier than I thought it would be. It took about an hour from opening the box to get it together and setup fully.

I am actually pleasantly surprised with this. For £53 its a heck of a lot of guitar, there are no sharp fret edges and the wood is solid and it plays really nice & has a very warm & full acoustic tone.

Now onto the bad parts. The tuners are absolutely junk and these will be the first thing to be changed.
The pickups are also absolute junk but that is exactly what I wanted from them for my pickup experiment which shall be ready once i've got the PCBs fabbed.

Here's the obligatory photo but the lighting is crap so some proper ones along with a "stock" soundclip shall follow tomorrow.

And here is the clip!

DIY Flying V stock test clip by Tony Boyes

New Guitar Incoming....

Well kinda.

I forgot I bid on this a sometime over the last fortnight and completely forgot about it.

Its got the following spec.

Basswood Body
Maple Neck
Rosewood Fretboard
22 Frets
2 x Shit humbuckers

All the hardware will be replaced with something worthwhile and the pickups are part of my grand upcoming experiment which should be of great interest to the metal crowds.

Oh yeah it also cost the grand sum of £53

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.