The Honey Bee Challenge

[Donner]

...well for some of the tecniques I put them under hot lights for a day or sometimes two depending - hot enough to do the job but slow enough to not get the krinkles you mentioned

[briggs]

Ahhh, I have some super hot lights that I use for growing my..................





tomatoes, of course.

hehe. Anyhow, I'll give it a try - I have a lamp heater, I'll try dangle that over the top of them and see how it goes. I'll go see if I can pick up some enamel hardener too. Cheers for the tips

It's odd, as I usually never have a time scale on my builds I don't usually mind the wait but when you're actually trying to get something finished the wait is so frustrating.

[BJF]

Hi,

Yes, I thought it could be a fun thing to see what could come from another designer's head after playing with one of my designs but not taking it apart and directly copying it and then that could be developed into a DIY project or several- this would bring a very interesting project on how sound and playability inspires and travels, like the game of whispering a word through a ring of people and I look forward to building something of soulsonic's designs for my own pleasure, given I have a little time to do that and I gather I may soon play one of Brigg's.

This is all in the spirit of fun and hopefully this section of the forum can hold more fun things.

Gentlemen have fun
BJ

[briggs]

Hi,

Yes, I thought it could be a fun thing to see what could come from another designer's head after playing with one of my designs but not taking it apart and directly copying it and then that could be developed into a DIY project or several- this would bring a very interesting project on how sound and playability inspires and travels, like the game of whispering a word through a ring of people and I look forward to building something of soulsonic's designs for my own pleasure, given I have a little time to do that and I gather I may soon play one of Brigg's.

This is all in the spirit of fun and hopefully this section of the forum can hold more fun things.

Gentlemen have fun
BJ

Yes, yes, I should keep updating with photos! I'll try and get some up tomorrow. Work on building up the circuits has come to a standstill for a while.... I, eeeeeerrrrrrrrm, seem to have run out of solder I use so damn much of the stuff! No worries though, after the bank holiday is over, and shops open up again, I'll be finishing them off!

Bjorn - I've built you up a custom Hummingbird De'luxe, it's done differently to the one pictured here but it's sill exactly the same circuit. I've just been playing with box layouts, seeing what different options I can come up with!

[soulsonic]

Hi, yeah, I have a couple designs almost done that sound pretty nice.

[soulsonic]

Okay, I have a design finished. I think it's turned out nice and will definitely remind people of the HB.

My goal was to keep the design as simple as possible, but still try to fit in some tricks. This uses both positive and negative feedback to get its sound. R8 is something I learned from the big old red RCA book - it's positive feedback to boost the gain of the first stage; it was suggested as an alternative to using cathode bypass capacitor in a tube stage, well, it works just as well with a transistor. The combination of R9+C4 is negative feedback to reduce the high frequency gain and give the signature smooth sound. It also promotes stability in the circuit. I settled on the clipping diode combination after trying several different kinds, and the 1N4001+1N4148 combo had the best sound for this thing and reminded me most of the HB.

The Timbre control adjusts both the low-frequencies and the amount of drive. At the 12 o'clock position is the minimum drive amount. At one extreme it's max gain with lows emphasized, and the other is max gain with the lows cut. It's sort of like having the HB's Gain and Nature controls on one knob.

Here is the schematic: http://www.soulsonicfx.com/FolkDIY/Folk ... Driver.GIF
I have a PCB design done up with ExpressPCB so people could order some if they want, and the board is a single-sided design so it is easy to make yourself. I will post the file up after I verify it (probably tomorrow...).

Enjoy!

[soulsonic]

The board is looking pretty nice...

Should have the first one finished very soon... the box is drying.

[Bobby D]

soulsonic, that looks REALLY cool! can't wait to hear some sound clips

saw some pics of your other pedals, and they were VERY cool finishes!

[soulsonic]

Thanks!

soulsonic, that looks REALLY cool! can't wait to hear some sound clips

But you already know what it sounds like - it sounds like a Honey Bee!
I'm sending test units to Björn and Donner so they can try it first-hand, and Donner will do a tourbox with it, so anyone can sign up to give it a try.

[Donner]

Yes we will do a Folk Driver Tourbox - may limit it to current Honey Bee owners or something...

would be fun to add one of Briggs Hummingbirds

Maybe I can get Doc Rock and Eskimo Joe and myself in the same room and we can give it a true thourough thrashing / listening party

Im really looking forward to this...

and the kit and builds that ensue should be some fun............ heck I might even do a run of boxes if theres interest.....