# Been a bit busy lately



## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

So many large projects; the queue be epicly long: my scratch build Herzog w Stinger (almost there - stumped on a fuzz tube oscillating for I know not why); ironically also a fuzz issue with my Sessionman, and giving my new Garnet 15R a proper once over (already cleaned it up, but at least need to update to 3 prong if nothing else). The weight of this is heavy - like so much to do dunno where to start.... so I started something else I could crank out quickly without too much beating of my head against the wall (I need those brain cells - at my age there are not so many to spare anymore).

So I built a few things to score some quick wins.

First I built up the Uglyface pcb I got ages ago. Cool thing and rather wild - all the controls interact like a fuzzfactory so it takes a bit of getting used to, but it's basically an always maxed out IC fuzz with optical modulation triggered by it. First time trying a wrap-around acid etch and also first time trying multicolour fill


















Kinda love how the clearcoat reacted with the black and made the in/out arrows all runny. Don’t like how I scratched up the clearcoat on the logo side cuz I wasn't being careful (in general I coulda done a better finish job).


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

Then, necessity being the mother of invention, a super-quickie (pure resistive) load. 8Ohm 200W to use with my Sunn 1200s and Rupert Neve DI (takes speaker level, as well as instrument, but does not supply a load) for silent recording . Was hoping to do a switchable resistive/reactive load box (8R, 8Z and 4Z options) but needed something for recording a band this weekend and didn't have the parts for the reactive bit on hand. I'll probably build it as a separate box so can leave that at the studio and this one at home for working on amps.


























Quickie not caring too much job (e.g. didn't polish the box before etching - was actually hoping it would be noisier) but turned out kinda cool.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Very nice work...Congrats!


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

Thanks, up next that Garnet Reverb unit. The volume thing I noticed before was actually a dirty pot on the instrument I was using to test it I think so probably all good in there except the power cord. Already cleaned the headbox/hardware.


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## nnieman (Jun 19, 2013)

I love the look of those cases!!

Nathan


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## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

D


nnieman said:


> I love the look of those cases!!
> 
> Nathan


Ditto!


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

There ain’t a square mm of either of those doesn’t look perfect with the theme, don’t worry about it. As a former semi-pro pedal builder, let me say those are great looking both. Like your logo, too. The ‘hand made’ aesthetic has lots of fans.


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Nice work. Very...pretty looking.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

All this time I never realized Charlie Brown's sweater had a resistor on it, so thanks for that.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Those knobs is UUUUHHHHHHgggg-*LY!  *I have a bunch of them as well. Unfortunately, they're meant for use on pots that are recessed behind the chassis faceplate, such that ideally only about half their height appears. And recessing anything DIY is tough to do, and even tougher to do in a 1590BB box!

Do I detect a smidgen of thermal paste poking out from underneath one of those power resistors? If so, good on ya. An aluminum enclosure CAN double as heat sink, but only if the components are thermally coupled. Nice work. I think I have an Uglyface board stuffed and close to wired up, sitting in one of the bins-of-doom where all my not-quite-finished projects are (just finished puling a few out of there, shortly before logging on). They're not for the faint of heart. I wonder if that's what Matthew Good used for the brief "solo" in _Hello Time Bomb_?


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

jb welder said:


> All this time I never realized Charlie Brown's sweater had a resistor on it, so thanks for that.


A pièce de résistance...(GROAN)


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Our younger son learned to knit in Grade 4, and kept up the habit over the years. He has knitted (and lost) several toques for himself that he refers to as his "Charlie Brown hats". They are that kind of hot-mustard-ey amber, with a signature black zig-zag running around them.


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

mhammer said:


> Those knobs is UUUUHHHHHHgggg-*LY!  *I have a bunch of them as well. Unfortunately, they're meant for use on pots that are recessed behind the chassis faceplate, such that ideally only about half their height appears. And recessing anything DIY is tough to do, and even tougher to do in a 1590BB box!
> 
> Do I detect a smidgen of thermal paste poking out from underneath one of those power resistors? If so, good on ya. An aluminum enclosure CAN double as heat sink, but only if the components are thermally coupled. Nice work. I think I have an Uglyface board stuffed and close to wired up, sitting in one of the bins-of-doom where all my not-quite-finished projects are (just finished puling a few out of there, shortly before logging on). They're not for the faint of heart. I wonder if that's what Matthew Good used for the brief "solo" in _Hello Time Bomb_?


Yep - that's thermal paste (leftover from building PCs - came in handy for audio projects a few times now - used some on a job fixing a TS series Traynor with blown power amp chips; think that's why they blew - the original paste dried out and crumbled away so they overheated - I believe the thing had litterally survived a fire, not just cuz it was old). 

I actually got those knobs in the hopes that they might work for some Altec preamp cards that have recessed pots that did a rack job on and can only adjust the controls with a mini flathead. I actually like them here - they are super slim and distract least of anything I had on hand from the box art. I have some other slim chrome ones but chrome is not a good colour for this.


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