BYOC

[Rickenjangle]

I was surprised at how quickly my beads of solder started looking good

Actually watching the solder flow down over the properly-heated joint was neat; I had heard that this would happen but had never really soldered correctly before and the solder always seemed to stick to the iron...

[Kap'n]

Well, I did the BYOC phaser last night. Well, mostly. It took about 2-3 hours to do the electronics. It really wasn't worth doing a photo essay on.

The instructions are pretty good. It goes together well. Unfortunately, it's more of a 'cookbook' than anything else. No schematic is provided, just parts placement and layout. I mean, I can find a Phase 90 schematic on the web, but including one would have been helpful.

Especially since there isn't a schematic, don't expect to learn anything, other than assembly technique.

Everything is decent or better quality. Neutrik jacks. Caps are those green chicklets found in Boss pedals. Carbon film resistors. The pot is one of those small diameter imports. I would have liked that to be upgraded. I also would have preferred to have sockets for the ICs. I didn't fry any, but I imagine it could have been done better. Also, if the IC's were stuck in foam, the legs wouldn't have gotten bent prior to use. I had to tweak them with needlenose to get them to fit.

If you're going to build one, make sure you've got a small tipped iron. I used my standard Weller that I use for amp work, and it was a bit cumbersome. Thinner solder would have made the job easier too.

It seems to sound good, but I've only had it put together for a minute or so.

Unfortunately, I've got a short somewhere when the case is closed. It's in the sweep oscillator. I'll get it worked out. Maybe tomorrow.

[Rickenjangle]

I dropped the base of the pedal on the floor and the damned paint chipped! I thought that the clear coat would take care of the paint chipping, and I bought the good enamel paint and everything. Oh well, now I've got to touch that up and then I'll finish up wiring the jacks and pots. I wish I could find more time in my schedule...but kids kinda put the kiebash on that!

[Kap'n]

I was going to paint mine in a nice tough coat of the "Appliance White" paint, but my spray bomb in the basement apparently went bad after seven or eight years, and all the store had was "Harvest Gold" or "Almond."

I would have done "Avocado."

I went with OSHA Red. I figured that would have to be tough stuff.

[curtisstetka]

Keith's got a cool sale going that started today and runs through the end of the month. Buy three pedals and he throws in a delay kit for free.

I'm thinking of the wah, vibrato, and tremelo pedals...

[Kap'n]

Keith's got a cool sale going that started today and runs through the end of the month. Buy three pedals and he throws in a delay kit for free.

I'm thinking of the wah, vibrato, and tremelo pedals...

Has he released the wah yet. A wah is a very easy circuit. Easier than most fuzzboxes.

[blackonblack]

I see the wah on the site. Me thinks me placing an order (and my daughter gets my old thomas wah in the process)

Thinking the wah, treb boost and either the tonebender or fuzzface clone. Then again I guess if you order 6 and have 8, hmmm.

I am creating plans for a new pedal board. And while I do not like using a lot of effects at once, I do not resetting them even more.

Could use the trem in the BMR for one speed, then trem effect for another. Ok 1 justification down, 2 more to go. I could get the 90 clone and I don't have to worry about finding that old Bad Stone (if I do, guess what, daughter you now have a phase shifter). 1 more justification to go. Maybe just get what ever fuzz I didn;t have and give it to my daughter for XMas. OK another free delay pedal. Now I can have 2 delays set at different settings (which being I enjoy Floyd is a good thing).

Don't know how I will get this by the CFO (Chief Family Officer) aka Wife.

The dumbassery of it all,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Rickenjangle]

It seems to be a great deal, but if I did it, I don't know as I'd ever finish all 4 pedals!

[nabskater]

It seems to be a great deal, but if I did it, I don't know as I'd ever finish all 4 pedals!

My thoughts exactly!

[curtisstetka]

It's not like they go bad if you don't get to them right away.

[Rickenjangle]

I sat on my first one for like 5 months, and it's been at least a couple weeks since I started working on it...I'm just sayin', is all...

[curtisstetka]

So you're buying yourself the next four years of Christmas presents! Let your wife have them and tell her to give one to you for the next four birthdays.

[Rickenjangle]

Well, I completed the Tri-booster build last night...fired 'er up, and was rewarded with thick gobs of Brian May-type sustain. The hi/lo boost switch makes quite a difference; I like both modes. Just the way I hoped the pedal would sound...that was the Rangemaster circuit. Then, on to the LPB circuit. I had had one of those, back in the day, and it sounded like ass-munch. But this mode sounds great too; maybe a bit tighter than the lo-boost Rangemaster, but looser than the hi-boost. I probably wouldn't use this mode much, but it's there and it sounds good.

Then, on to the clean boost. Nothing. The clean boost circuit has a glitch in it somewhere. I will be giving it to Mikey or to OSA to see if they can find the problem...

The build was pretty complex, for a first-time project, but the instructions were easy to follow, for the most part. The only wish I had was that the paint would have stuck better. I already have several dings in the paint just from working on the pedal. I'm going to touch it up, with a brush, then mask the controls and spray the pedal with several more coats of clear-coat, in hopes that it will become more durable...

Now I want another. Curtis, I wish I had the dough to buy 3 of the pedals all at once...

[Kap'n]

Well, I've got mine put together.

In my hurry to put it together, I didn't shop elsewhere, and get chip sockets to put in.

Bad move.

I burned the chip for the oscillator. Now I've got phase with no sweep.

Time to order another chip.

[nabskater]

For anybody (like me) who is or is going to be soon building one of these, i thought this might be useful.
http://www.buildyourownclone.com/250.html
If you scroll down it has a video of somebody making their Dist + clone. Just thought you all might be interested

[Kap'n]

OK, it's all put together, and working properly.

How's it sound? Well, it's a phaser. A nice phaser, but nothing particularly earth shattering. It didn't turn me into EVH or anything, and that's good. It's way smaller on my board than my Deja Vibe, and I think it'll stay there for a while. It's pretty quiet.


As it turns out, I toasted one of the chips - the sweep oscillator one, during my initial build. I was placing an order with Keith anyway for a box for my Texas Cattledrive, so he threw the chip in gratis. Very nice.

Things I'd change.

1. IC sockets. In quantity, it'd add a buck or less to the cost to add sockets. I would have paid $5 not to have to chase them down. ICs are fragile enough, especially for the typical hobbiest to put sockets in. Worse than blowing a chip is trying to remove one.
2. Board mounting. The board had a single-point standoff that got flimsy if you had to pull the board off of it once. There's got to be a better way.

Other than that, I'm pretty happy with the pedal.

[cdw2000]

Kap'n,
The only trouble with IC sockets is that the IC(s) could loosen with rough handling (i.e. if you were to drop the pedal) and then you get poor connections.

One way to mitigate this is to stake down the IC on the ends with hot-met glue or silicone RTV.