The Honey Bee Challenge

[soulsonic]

I got Björn's done.

Folk Driver #1

Here's the guts:

We can definitely consider the board design to be verified now... works great!
Now that I've compared it head-to-head against my HB, I'd say that it's more "rock n' roll" sounding than the HB. The HB has a fatter low-end, but the Folk Driver has a more aggressive in-your-face midrange. But the basic character of the two are very similar. You could probably make the FD sound even closer by possibly using larger input/output coupling caps to beef up the lows a bit, but I went with the values I chose because I really like how tight it sounds as it is.
It sounds really cool when you stack the two. I used the HB as a boost (all knobs full up) in front of it, and it got a great heavy rock overdrive... haven't tried it the other way around yet.

[jfromel]

I would be happy to do the boards and kits again unless Soul wants to handle that. I can't wait to bread board this one, looks like a fun circuit, and like most of my favorites simple and elegant.

[Donner]

Very nice SS !!!!!

I love the look too, fits perfect w ith the name/concept........

You know from the description it sounds like the Folk Driver might be more like the Sweet Honey OD than the HB

[Bobby D]

the "Folk Driver" -- i like it!

can we do a tourbox with one of those???

[soulsonic]

can we do a tourbox with one of those???

Absolutely, I'm sending #2 to Donner expressly for this purpose.

Björn suggested it would be a good idea to do kits, so I intend to do so. I keep a large stock of the parts used in this design, so it shouldn't be any trouble for me to do it, but I do have some general questions, ie; what sort of things should be included, what price would be considered reasonable, and what sort of quantities might be expected? I mean, what would be better, a simple kit with just the board and components that go on it, or a full kit with the board, components, box, footswitch, etc...? I want to include good quality parts, no cheap stuff.

[Bobby D]

can we do a tourbox with one of those???

Absolutely, I'm sending #2 to Donner expressly for this purpose.

Björn suggested it would be a good idea to do kits, so I intend to do so. I keep a large stock of the parts used in this design, so it shouldn't be any trouble for me to do it, but I do have some general questions, ie; what sort of things should be included, what price would be considered reasonable, and what sort of quantities might be expected? I mean, what would be better, a simple kit with just the board and components that go on it, or a full kit with the board, components, box, footswitch, etc...? I want to include good quality parts, no cheap stuff.

well, there are a lot of people on various fora that want to "roll their own", that have "issues" with spending as much money as it costs for a real HB or even the MP SHOD, and yet still want to have some of that magic. so i think a DIY kit would make many of those people happy.

if, indeed, ANYTHING will ever make them happy

that's one thing i love about BJ -- he encourages anyone to RAISE THE BAR....to do it better than he's done it. he's as much of a pedal junkie as we all are. and it's cool that you and briggs have taken up the challenge to make a better honeybee....and it is impressive that your circuit is so clean and simple.

depending upon cost, i think people would dig a full kit, with box by donner.

others will prefer to just buy the PCB and instructions, and source their own parts.

either way, the whole idea is a WINNER!

[smrz]

The pcb and components (at least the ones on the board...switches, pots, etc. are all things most of us would have i think) would be rad as a kit. If drilled, a box would be a cool option. Price is really up to you...anywhere in the range of cheap enough for a broke college kid like me and expensive enough so you don't go broke would be a good place to start, it seems. Thanks for putting this together...looks like a great project.

[jfromel]

can we do a tourbox with one of those???

Absolutely, I'm sending #2 to Donner expressly for this purpose.

Björn suggested it would be a good idea to do kits, so I intend to do so. I keep a large stock of the parts used in this design, so it shouldn't be any trouble for me to do it, but I do have some general questions, ie; what sort of things should be included, what price would be considered reasonable, and what sort of quantities might be expected? I mean, what would be better, a simple kit with just the board and components that go on it, or a full kit with the board, components, box, footswitch, etc...? I want to include good quality parts, no cheap stuff.

here is what I did for the Folk Fuzz. People could either get just the board or a board with all the parts necessary to populate the PCB, no off board components were included.

I think I charged $10 for a PCB and $20 for a full kit with board and components. I think if I did it again I would just offer the kit, 70% of the orders were for full kits and trying to keep everything straight was more hassle than what it was worth.

The concept was that this was supposed to be both educational and fun and not just a BYOC job. I think in many ways that was a success but we could have all learned more.

We had talked about offering a full kit with box, jacks, pots, etc but that started to get the cost up there and about half the people wanted to use their own off board components.

[thiscalltoarms]

I'd be wicked interested in this one. I currently own a HBOD, and I'd love try them side by side. Sounds like a sweet and fun project!

[Donner]

sure I could probably do a batch of boxes for this....

tho I really like soulsonics paintjob alot .......... if theres a LOT of interest we could have some predrilled boxes from PPP and I could paint some and leave some naked for those that wanted the full rolll your own experience ....