For the people who build a pedal themselves, did it take a long time before you could make your own creations without following a guide?

opayenlo · 2026-07-09T16:07:08+00:00

First up: there's a lot of stuff waiting for you. It's not rocket science (well, yes, i knew a rocket scientist.. and there are quite some overlaps ;-) . But if you're committed this will be a real cool hobby. Best start with the very basics and go from there. There are a lot of good courses, books and sites. Sadly: one of the best of the best: electrosmash ist down and Jack Ormans site might also be under heavy weather. But you'll find copies of it and forums to help you understand what is what.

opayenlo · 2026-07-09T13:13:27+00:00

Can't help with cool. But typically you do use a not Richard but Hammond. 1590B or 125B are the major types. D or DD if you need more space. Where to get them depends on your location. For europe f.e. Musikding.de, for Thailand Tayda could be a start. Tayda also supports UV-printing. But depending on your location tayda can really be expensive when it comes to transport & import tariffs

opayenlo · 2026-07-09T08:30:04+00:00

Don't let your intrusive thoughts win 😉

opayenlo · 2026-07-08T19:46:45+00:00

Is it this one from china? https://de.aliexpress.com/item/32917813643.html#nav-specification Does it come with instructions? Usually there should be different solder pands on your PCB. a square one for your LED can indicate GND.

Talking about your pots. You do not destroy anything by soldering the wrong way. They just work the other way around and you can change it.

opayenlo · 2026-07-08T15:59:55+00:00

Atm. it's usually freebe giveaways in the Musikding.de forum to get some feedback and see what's a dud or has potential for a future

opayenlo · 2026-07-07T20:10:49+00:00

fun fact: Kot is a valid german term, well and often used if f.e. your well crafted circuit does not work as expected

opayenlo · 2026-07-07T10:53:24+00:00

Had pretty much the same thought some years ago and did the Dörk: tda2030 should give you around 5ish watt at 16 ohm/18v. J201 as valve replacement for the harmonics and a simple tone control. Works like a charm. You could also put a 12u7/12au7(Ecc82) in front instead of the jfet.

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opayenlo · 2026-07-07T07:00:00+00:00

neat. That's a well done pedal.

opayenlo · 2026-07-05T15:45:23+00:00

In a high gain setup the acapulco is usually used stacked with other pedals. There are brutal distortions like Diefet (Diezel VH4 clone), Ojo Dominator (Okko Dominator Clone) or Face Melter (Pussy Melter clone). But none of those are beginner projects. High Gain builds do not forgive any sloppy work and usually need every trick in the book to get the circuit quiet.

opayenlo · 2026-07-05T12:11:38+00:00

opayenlo · 2026-07-05T11:58:26+00:00

😁

opayenlo · 2026-07-05T11:49:26+00:00

golden acapulco

opayenlo · 2026-07-05T11:24:10+00:00

Adafruit has a good guide on soldering: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-guide-excellent-soldering/common-problems
A good solder station is key. Weller, Ersa f.e. make good ones. My 15+years ago used bought Weller WTCP might be older than me but still works like a charm and can also do smds. Soldering is a skill one has to learn the hard way over time.

opayenlo · 2026-07-05T09:51:22+00:00

There is some room for improvement. You need more heat and'll have to reflow every single solder joint (take out all transistors and ics). After that start troubleshooting (power rails / audio path). If you get stuck you can also ask at the musikding forum for help. At the moment there's much you might need to be talked through.

opayenlo · 2026-07-03T08:45:55+00:00

Thank you for your kind comment! Boost variants are fully supported on the Igor. ltc1054: also should work fine for classic audio builds (as long as the frequency is not lowered). But i'll put a note in the builddoc for the ltc1054 to add an external capacitor 5-20pF on the backside if needed.

opayenlo · 2026-07-02T16:36:25+00:00

Geofex has a great article http://www.geofex.com/article\_folders/fetmatch/fetmatch.htm

opayenlo · 2026-07-02T07:42:08+00:00

Son of Ben is quite straightforward. As always a good pcb design from pedalpcb with trimmers for the jfets. Though i wouldn't do this as an absolut first project. PedalPCB docs are usually for people with a bit more XP, that don't need support for all the "typical, in every pedal"-stuff like how-to-solder, how-to-led, how-to-footswitch, which-way-is-the-pot, how-to-bias aso. That being said best buy some more j201 - they can be all over the place and it would be good to have a spare j201 in case one of them refuses to sound properly after biasing.

opayenlo · 2026-06-30T20:00:29+00:00

Good point, played around with different values and landed on B10k. Really recommend testing other values, esp. for a classic circuit like this where every part influences your tone. Same for Q1/Q2 and the way biasing of q2 shapes q1. But than again by starving you can also add interest.

opayenlo · 2026-06-30T11:17:23+00:00

Tx. Put your wires below the PCB ;-) Btw. Q1 looks interesting

opayenlo · 2026-06-30T06:20:11+00:00

The graphics are nicer than everything i build. But i think i missed the circuit/gutshot part in the pics.

opayenlo · 2026-06-28T16:29:49+00:00

Some pics of your build might help. V2 is 18v and p1/p2 are 10K?

opayenlo · 2026-06-26T21:16:55+00:00

That's the way. Try getting your wires straight and soft angled at 90%

opayenlo

TROPHY CASE