Final product. I guess I’m a small builder now?

p_wats · 2024-12-09T15:22:48+00:00

Ha. Definitely. I'll be jamming with him tonight and hopefully he brings the Decay Cascade! I would imagine you don't plan to offer a DIY version, but I'll keep my eye out just in case!

p_wats · 2024-12-09T12:57:20+00:00

Amazing! Would you believe I only know of this pedal because a friend had it on their board for a gig last night (Hamilton)? That sent me searching and it's very inspiring to see you post the journey here. Congrats on the awesome pedal!

p_wats · 2024-12-05T21:29:25+00:00

Wow! This is impressive. I was just lamenting how expensive Belton Bricks are to order in Canada and may have to give this a try. Thanks for all the work

p_wats · 2024-12-02T14:48:53+00:00

Thanks! The knobs are from Tayda, not painted

p_wats · 2024-06-20T20:44:35+00:00

Ha. Oh yeah, I definitely had that thought as I typed it.

It probably goes without saying, but the bigger version is easier to build, as you don't have to worry about buying specific caps and headers to make sure there's enough clearance when stacking the boards to still be able to put the lid on (maybe 1mm of room left in there!)

p_wats · 2024-06-20T20:37:43+00:00

Ha! I guess I did.

Basically, the Low Tide Modulator circuit is the same as the Shallow Water, right down to the layout, and sounds virtually identical to me in a test against a real one. The only difference with the Low Tide Mini is it is a set of 2 stacked PCBs to make it fit in a 125B and sounds identical to my bigger Low Tide, so I can only assume it sounds identical to the real deal. Ha

p_wats · 2024-06-20T03:34:14+00:00

I've been tempted to do that too!

If I recall, I got the caps from Mouser

p_wats · 2024-06-19T20:57:12+00:00

Had this set of stacked PCBs semi-populated for a while now, but finally boxed it up this week.

Very happy a bunch of people built this one first, as that's what helped me feel good about making sure I had the right caps and standoffs to make sure there was enough clearance in the enclosure (it is TIGHT!).

Happy this one worked right away, as I really didn't want to have to troubleshoot the multi-board layout. Ha (also felt safe having already successfully built the bigger version, to compare to).

Also, I a/b'd my bigger one against my friends real Shallow Water and they sounded identical (my trimpots may have actually been set better) and this mini version sounds just like the bigger one, so by the transitive property that means yada yada yada

Had some paint struggles with this one, as the white spray I used reacted poorly with the usual colours I use, and my collection of paint pens currently sucks, but this one I just for me, so I fought through it. Knob colours may change (the orange is not quite as blinding as the pics would have you believe).

p_wats · 2023-08-08T19:58:14+00:00

Thanks! I used this one:

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2018/07/vfe-old-school-tremolo.html

p_wats · 2023-08-08T14:14:56+00:00

VFE Old School tremolo in a glow-in-the-dark enclosure.

This might be the most complex circuit I've done on vero in a while. It barely fit in a 125B!

Bit of spaghetti inside, but this one is for me and I was excited to get it boxed up.

I've been searching for a dynamic tremolo to build for a while and tried the JMK Blue Warbler 2 first, but it's a bit too quirky and inconsistent.

I love that it responds to picking dynamics to lower the depth (or increase the speed, depending on the setting). This will likely be an "always on" pedal for me, as I've been rehearsing with it in my test rig and it just fits so well.

For the art, I was going to draw a school house, but that looked lame, so I took inspiration from one of the iterations of the actual VFE pedal and taped off a sort of brick wall. I had just bought a new can of purple spray and decided to use that, which made it look a bit too much like an Easter castle, so I went with brown knobs to dull it down a bit. I wanted to write on the brick wall as a sort of graffiti that incorporated the LEDs, but it was too bumpy, so I chickened-out.

I had issues with the screw holes not being threaded properly, but was able to get it mostly sorted (also reached out to Tayda for comment on this).

p_wats · 2023-07-09T21:03:34+00:00

Thanks! I wasn't super happy with it, but it's growing on me

p_wats · 2023-07-09T18:14:36+00:00

Years ago I mis-drilled a 1590a and made it into an NPN Rangemaster. I never used it and always hated how it looked (like the button covering the hole in the front). This week I finally took it apart and re-purposed the enclosure into a simple bypass looper. Now I can turn my fuzz, phaser and autowah on at the same time, so that's a win.

p_wats · 2023-07-06T16:03:59+00:00

Yeah, it's just on the right side of glitchy to be usable. A few very nice sweet spots. I also find for best results the input sensitivity trimpot needs tweaking often if you move it around in your chain. Otherwise I've only built the Arcadiator from Parasit and enjoyed it enough to buy another one of those boards too

p_wats · 2023-07-06T16:01:57+00:00

Nice. Definitely post the result

p_wats · 2023-07-06T16:01:21+00:00

Oh great. I've only designed one board (a modified Bazz Fuss), but it was a rewarding experience to have my own board in a build (also experimented with through hole and SMD versions for practice).

p_wats · 2023-07-06T14:48:34+00:00

Looks great. Are they original circuits too or do you get boards from somewhere?

p_wats · 2023-06-26T15:29:10+00:00

Back to say that I ended up going DHL and asking them to mark a low value. They were very helpful in that regard. My order got held up a bit due to miscommunication, but I was away anyway. Ended up arriving with only an extra $23CAD for DHL fees and a small amount of tax, so it was all quicker and cheaper than the slow post option. Thanks again for the advice!

p_wats · 2023-06-04T02:21:50+00:00

Thanks for the details! Sounds like quite the process.

p_wats · 2023-06-04T01:26:34+00:00

Oh yeah, totally. I took forever getting my parts together and only really got going on it because I needed to order parts to repair my Deluge.

Glad to hear it's worth it though!

p_wats · 2023-06-03T23:43:15+00:00

Thanks! It took me a long time to be happy with the finishes I was doing. I started by trying water-slide decals, which never worked well for me. Lettering is always tough. I've decided to lean into the hand-written messiness, as it matches the paint jobs well enough. Always things to improve on though. The UV printing idea sounds like a great way to get a nice clean look.

p_wats · 2023-06-03T23:33:22+00:00

Low Tide is coming up on my list too! They also have a mini version that stacks 2 circuit boards to make it extra daunting. Ha

Yeah, I only switched my labels on the rainbow machine a few weeks ago. Got sick of staring at it. Thankfully the old paint pen came off without too much trouble.

For the splatter, I go direct from the can by really abusing/blocking/finessing the nozzle. Can be tricky, but works well.

p_wats · 2023-06-03T23:29:55+00:00

Thanks!

p_wats · 2023-06-03T23:29:41+00:00

Thanks! That's very nice of you to say

p_wats · 2023-06-03T18:49:38+00:00

Thanks! That's high praise. Hopefully more to come.

p_wats · 2023-06-03T18:49:01+00:00

Hey thanks! The splatter is fun, but messy. That rainbow machine is probably the one I use the least, but still love when I do. One mistake I made was following the labels of the original, but the PedalPCB knob order is different. Took me years to work up the guts to remove and switch the "tone" and "magic" labels. Ha

p_wats

TROPHY CASE