BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

Im curious though not completely suprised by the response to this project and Id like some feedback as guidance for future projects/directions.........

you can just vote .... or feel free expound on your experience if you would

Donner wrote:Im curious though not completely suprised by the response to this project and Id like some feedback as guidance for future projects/directions.........

you can just vote .... or feel free expound on your experience if you would

Good idea. Although my initial interest was that I could hear what BJF pedals are all about without spending the apparent $400 minimum to get one (let alone $600+ for a folk fuzz), I have really liked this project. As a result I bought a SBOD from a guy the other day and added my name to the Honey Bee list.

I'm somewhere between it was good and I expected more teaching/learning.

There really wasn't a ton of discussion, but the more knowledgeable members jumping in to help out was good to read when there was. I dunno if i was too paint by numbers and too easy for much discussion to be needed...

Otherwise, I'm probably part of the problem by not talking about it much... life/school got busy and I haven't built a final version. I made a positive ground germanium version that worked for a bit on breadboard, but that was out of frustration because I was having a terrible time getting the Si one biased up properly with different transistors. Got a box painted, and probably an unmoded version put in it just to have something done in the near future. Actually, I'm pretty stoked about the box painting. First one I've ever done, and its not horrible all things considered, so there was some stuff learned there too.

mills wrote:I'm somewhere between it was good and I expected more teaching/learning.

There really wasn't a ton of discussion, but the more knowledgeable members jumping in to help out was good to read when there was. I dunno if i was too paint by numbers and too easy for much discussion to be needed...

Otherwise, I'm probably part of the problem by not talking about it much... life/school got busy and I haven't built a final version. I made a positive ground germanium version that worked for a bit on breadboard, but that was out of frustration because I was having a terrible time getting the Si one biased up properly with different transistors. Got a box painted, and probably an unmoded version put in it just to have something done in the near future. Actually, I'm pretty stoked about the box painting. First one I've ever done, and its not horrible all things considered, so there was some stuff learned there too.

I was sort of surprised that there has been almost no discussion about building despite there being 100 kits out in the world. I tried to make a guide and explain things for rookies but inevitably its difficult to straddle the line between teaching and just telling you what to do with a photo essay.

Yeah I envisioned more of a ' build it start to finish and explain what each piece does ' sort of thing....

I have a pretty good understanding of how pedals work and why they sound the way they do.... but no where near deep enough to teach a build ...... I can admin the forum and cheerlead a bit but you guys with the good knowledge will have to lead the rest of us by the nose ...

maybe t here is some reluctance from people that havent been here long to jump up and shine, feeling its not 'thier place' or t hey may be intimidated on BJs forum or something .....



Well just to put a fine point on it - if you have the knowledge and the desire, please feel free to lead some or all of a tutorial on whatever you know....

corksniffers was top notch and much appreciated as are t he others that help - take it as an opening not an ending

I think if you read through the posts by Bjorn, NOC3 and myself regarding what does what I think you will learn a lot. What I think happened is people just took their kits, slammed it together and called it good.

I tried to take some of the paint by numbers feel out of it by refrencing only the part ID on the schematic instead of the value on the board. This forced everyone to at least glance at the schematic.

Another good excercise would be looking at schems from different vintage fuzz circuits starting with the Fuzz Face, then note the similarities and the differences.

I am a bit torn on the parts kits. In one regard by supplying the kits I know that the thing will work and all the parts will fit and the cost is less than it would be for an individual to buy all the goods from Small Bear or Mouser. But it does make it a bit paint by numbers, for the newbie this is more of a learning experience than getting a BYOC, but it's not exactly a scratch build either.

jfromel wrote:I think if you read through the posts by Bjorn, NOC3 and myself regarding what does what I think you will learn a lot. What I think happened is people just took their kits, slammed it together and called it good.

I tried to take some of the paint by numbers feel out of it by refrencing only the part ID on the schematic instead of the value on the board. This forced everyone to at least glance at the schematic.

Another good excercise would be looking at schems from different vintage fuzz circuits starting with the Fuzz Face, then note the similarities and the differences.

I am a bit torn on the parts kits. In one regard by supplying the kits I know that the thing will work and all the parts will fit and the cost is less than it would be for an individual to buy all the goods from Small Bear or Mouser. But it does make it a bit paint by numbers, for the newbie this is more of a learning experience than getting a BYOC, but it's not exactly a scratch build either.

When you initially said that the schem was going to be the reference I thought it would just be the parts and the schem. I dont think anyone actually needed to reference the schematic because there was a parts list with numbers right next to it.

You are correct. Should I leave that off on future projects? When I do my own builds I always print out the schem and the parts list and cross them off as I go. But then the current pedal I am building has almost 200 components on the board.

jfromel wrote:You are correct. Should I leave that off on future projects? When I do my own builds I always print out the schem and the parts list and cross them off as I go. But then the current pedal I am building has almost 200 components on the board.

1. what is this glorious high parts count device?
2. Im not saying it was a bad thing at all. Its reasonable to expect that when you buy someone else's PCB. Im just saying the way to really learn is to shoot for total immersion and the failures are what you learn from. Thats probably why the boutique pedal industry is such a stagnant pool of clones. Everyone started building once it wasn't hard to get started and after releasing their personal secret super tube screamer version they scratch their asses wondering how to build something different.

1. Links to the Lush Pedal....

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... 518&page=3

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... p?t=404157

and glorious it is indeed, it is a clone of the Boss DC-2 which I have always considered the Holy Grail of chorus pedals, until I made this which sounds far better than the original, I used higher quality components thus lowering the noise floor and increasing the headroom. Also its the only stereo true bypass pedal that I know of that does not use relays.

2. I hear you on the clones but there is really not much that can be done that has not already been done, you either distort it, eq it, or modulate it. It was the same when all these now "classic" pedals came out. Ever compared a TS-9 to a Super Overdrive? A DM-2 to a FX65 or AD-9? RAT to a 250+, or Fat Cat? All the same circuit. All of my pedals are clones, and there are very few completely original ideas out there that gain acceptance, either because they are not musical or they just sound bad. What makes the current botique pedals good is that the people making the pedals are musicians, using high quality components and making tweeks to values that make a Lovepedal Eternity (TS-9) sound different from a Cusack Screamer (TS-9) which sounds different from a CJOD (TS-9) which sounds different than a Super Overdrive (TS-9).