Building a Boost

[Citizen_Insane]

I've got a leftover BYOC confidence boost circuit sitting around unbuilt so I decided that I'd tag a few things onto my Pedal Parts Plus order (also building a Timmy clone) and get the parts to make it a full pedal.

 

So far, all I've got is a layout of the decal design, let me know what you think

 

BTW - The graphics aren't really by me, I modified a 1970's NASA concept drawing.

 

[richey888]

:thu:

[ambient]

{censored}ing sweet.

[Citizen_Insane]

Confirmed, the local hobby shop has decal paper. It's going to be hard to make a decal this big, but hopefully she'll turn out ok.

 

I finished up the circuit this morning. I don't have the 3pdt bypass switch, the aux power or the volume pot attached yet. I'm going to wait for the case to come in so that I can package everything nicely.

 

 

 

The circuit is simple and it's not my design, so the electronics here aren't all that interesting, but I'm hoping the case will turn out sweet and make up for it

[Citizen_Insane]

I went out and got some Testors waterslide decal paper today and I inkjet printed some decals. After printing, they were allowed to dry for 1 hr and then were sprayed with Valspar hi-gloss lacquer and left to dry another hr.

 

I was a bit worried this wouldn't work so well since Testors said only to use their fixing spray. Well, I can confirm that regular clear coat works with this stuff. Plus, since it's the same material as the final clear coat on the pedal there's no risk of bad chemical interactions.

 

Here's one of the offcut decals on the side of an old enclosure. I kinda like the decal against the raw aluminum, but I still think I'm going to paint the pedal white before applying the graphics.

 

[Krallum]

my current boost is a Zvex Sho i built. Hooked up a second stompbox to bypass the Crackle knob so that its either just a buffer/clarity boost or whatever value i have that pot

[Citizen_Insane]

I finished up wiring the circuit and tested everything out. It works and it fits in the tiny ass enclosure. Woot! I just primed and painted the enclosure, it'll be ready for a decal later tonight. Then tomorrow, clear-coat.

[ambient]

Make sure you post pics.

 

What is the confidence boost like compared to other boosts anyway?

[nbabmf]

NASA was awesome in the 70's!

[Citizen_Insane]

Make sure you post pics. What is the confidence boost like compared to other boosts anyway?

It's based on a basic 4558 dual opamp similar to a lot of distortion pedals. It should give around 20db of clean boost without distorting, not that I'll ever use 20db of boost. Probably just get 3 or 6 db to boost for my solos.

I honestly haven't used a real clean boost before, just overdrives set for boost, so all I can tell is that it's a lot cleaner and less compressed than the ones I've used before.

Here's the semi-finished housing. It still needs to be clear coated, but it's looking pretty good so far. I've got the decals applied and I'll wait until tomorrow and I'll do 5 or so coats of clear to get it nice and thick to protect the decal.



Here it is next to a DL4 enclosure. You can see how small this thing is. No battery power for this little guy, 9VDC only!



As you can see, I bumped the "Boost" text up a little too high and it got in the way of the pot hole. Oh well, next time I print decals I'll make sure to move the text lower so it doesn't conflict.

[Citizen_Insane]

Ok, the clear coat is dry, and she's ready to play!

 

Here are some shots of the inside, now you see why I say it has to run off a plug:

 

 

I did have one small issue with shorting but it's been taken care of.

 

Next we have the finished pedal, I'm pretty happy how it turned out. The paint job is far from perfect (I didn't wait long enough and the clear coat crackled a bit on the surface) but I really could care less, it'll look fine on my board.

 

Another thing I will change next time is the text. #1, the "boost" is way too close to the top and #2 the text is hard to read. It'll have to go larger and completely white I think.

 

 

 

And here she is, in her final resting place, on my board, after all my overdrives.

[RoboPimp]

great job!

[Citizen_Insane]

Thanks Robo! It was a fun project. Now on to my Timmy clone. This one will be a bit harder, no premade board for me to lean on. The question is.......where the hell is it going to go?!?

[Mark Wein]

Nice! I tried this as a build for my forum (without the cool decal). I need to finish it up....it was fun since I've only done a few other builds before and this was the first time I wasn't just following directions. Part 1 and part 2

I never wrote up the final wiring but its actually boxed and on loan to a friend. When I get it back I'll write the last couple parts of the series and maybe paint it...