Owl Rhythm

I was testing the Hooting Owl synthesizer circuit tonight, and then rearranged it into a short rhythm track! (Headphones and constant loop recommended!)

https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/owl-rhythm

Finishing New Pedals - '71 Fuzz

This is the '71 Fuzz, which I finished yesterday.

I used metallic green, vibrant purple and vibrant orange paints, as well as some purple glitter, to give the pedal a '70s feel. I did have some trouble when the internals of the 1 mega-ohm pot set on fire (!), so I had to use a 500 kilo-ohm pot and some resistors instead, which limited the range of the pot (so it's really like a one-sound pony!). Nevertheless, the sound of the pedal is really good, and there are some interesting ideas that I could incorporate if I wanted to make this pedal again.

Sound sample of my vintage pedalboard (including this pedal):
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/vintage-pedalboard-sound-sample

(The '71 Fuzz on its own is the second sequence of chords, with the first being a clean guitar signal.)

Pedalboard Demos

I finished the '71 Fuzz yesterday! So here are some sound samples for my vintage pedalboard ('71 Fuzz, into Para Para Paradise, into EA Tremolo, into LPB Boost) and my Frantone pedalboard (Francard Fuzz, into Brooklyn Overdrive, into Thunderhead Bass Booster, the latter two I had already owned).

https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/vintage-pedalboard-sound-sample
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/frantone-pedalboard-sound-sample

(Vintage Pedalboard Sound Sample: Clean signal, then '71 Fuzz on, then Para Para Paradise added, then EA Tremolo added, then LPB Boost added, then everything on maximum!)

(Frantone Pedalboard Sound Sample: Fran Fuzz on (pots on minimum, then maximum), then Brooklyn Overdrive added (for the last two tests).)

Finishing New Pedals - Sound Samples

EA Tremolo Sound Sample:
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/ea-tremolo-sound-sample
(Volume pot on halfway throughout; Depth and rate pots on minimum, then halfway, then maximum)

Francard Fuzz Sound Sample:
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/francard-fuzz-sound-sample
(Both pots on minimum, then halfway, then maximum)

Finishing New Pedals - Francard Fuzz

This is the Francard Fuzz, which I have finished recently.

The original idea was to make a pedal based on Fran Blanche's 'Fuzzcard' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DMsNxn7kBg). The Fuzzcard was based on 'stacking' two LM386 chips, which is the basis of most of Fran's fuzzes. The two strange things about this are that the LM386 is an op-amp (so it is designed as an amplifier, not a fuzz!) and people don't 'stack' them in the way Fran does.

The main difference between my pedal and Fran's Fuzzcard is that Fran left pins 1 and 8 (of the chips) unconnected, so the chips had a fixed gain of 20. However, I connected pins 1 and 8 with a potentiometer (one per chip), so the chips have a variable gain (25 to 200).

Firstly, I made my own schematic and stripboard layout based on Fran's video. I then tested the circuit on breadboard, but it was difficult to test as breadboards can be noisy and the chips amplify the noise.

Eventually, I built the circuit and it sounded good, but there was a lot of 'hiss' and the fuzz was 'stuttery'. So I looked at a Peach Fuzz schematic (the Peach Fuzz is one of Fran's fuzzes) and worked out that one capacitor value in my pedal was probably incorrect. (I also put in a capacitor to eliminate noise, like on the Peach Fuzz.) I tested this on breadboard and it seemed to work.

I then applied those fixes to my pedal - it worked!

I also wanted to paint the case as a homage to Fran, so I used 'Hepcat' colours (light blue and white) and the 'F' from her signature. I also put in a purple LED, as it matches the colour of the closing credits of her videos.

Finishing New Pedals - EA Tremolo

I have finished a couple of pedals recently. Here's the first.

This is the vintage-style EA Tremolo from Fuzz Dog. It was an easy-enough build, but I chose for the LED to flash at the same rate as the tremolo itself!

Painting new pedals

 Painting the first coats on my next set of pedals. (The green is metallic!) They will be a fuzz, a fuzz and a tremolo.

 

Soldering Update

I have recently made a big breakthrough in some of my soldering projects!

When I was last testing the Weird Sound Effects Generator, it was very loud through an amplifier even with the volume on 0. I have found out that the reason for this is because the amp's input is designed for an 'instrument level' signal, which from a guitar pickup is a very low voltage (well under a volt), but the Weird Sound circuit output is based on its power source, which is a 9V battery. So it's overpowering the amp circuitry.

I fixed this by using two resistors as a voltage divider, to try limiting the voltage from the Weird Sound circuit to the amp. This fixed the problem! I had to add over 1 mega-ohm of resistance!

Here are some sound samples from the Swanee Whistler and the Weird Sound Effects Generator (in that order) with the new voltage divider mod:
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/sound-samples-swanee-whistler-and-weird-sound-sample-2

Weird Sound Effects Generator

Testing the Weird Sound Effects Generator. (It works!) It's a 3-oscillator circuit, built on matrix board. The one thing that is unusual is that when you play it through an amplifier, even with the volume on 0, it's very loud. Yet when I played it directly through a mini speaker, it was very quiet.

My next step is to get this fitted inside a case - I'm thinking of using a jam jar!

Here is a 1-minute-long sample from the circuit:
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/weird-sound-sample-1

First Pedal Build

First two pedals finished!

These are the Jeds Peds LPB Boost and the Jeds Peds Para Para Paradise low-gain overdrive.

I learnt a lot from the building. I hand-painted the LPB Boost using paints I had available, and I bought a white spray primer for the overdrive. I finished both of them with a clear spray lacquer, which fortunately didn't damage the paint!

Effects Pedal Bits

Some bits arrived today. Will be trying to build a non-PCB 'old skool' perf board effects pedal from a schematic in a 1970s electronics magazine.

Die Roll 1

I struggle with initial creative ideas (although I am OK once I get started). Partly because of this and partly because I wanted to see what would happen, I decided to create a random song based on die rolls.

I used both a hexahedronal and an octohedronal die to determine the key, chords and melody (including rests!). The end result was competely random, completely dependent on the die rolls!

https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/die-roll-1

Blue Octopuss

Got my free stickers today from Blue Octopuss band in France!

They're a great-sounding band and I am looking forward to their debut CD release (hopefully be later this year).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ElKcWxPRCg
https://www.facebook.com/blueoctopuss/

Jeds Peds LPB Boost

My first successful pedal build - a Jeds Peds LPB Boost with grit option. I used some Jeds 60/40 leaded solder and it made it MUCH easier than the unleaded I used previously. The boost sounds even better in the room than it does in the video. Now I have to design & paint the case!

https://www.facebook.com/135624070320089/videos/4229217187099446/

Talent Show funk piano

 School Xmas Talent Show funk piano entry. (With pink flamingo!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW1o5BO4jzA

Bela Lugosi's Dead

Happy Halloween!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdpZ5vhnkNU

Yet More Funky Piano

Here's some more funky piano I've been doing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4ikwnVFusQ

More Funky Piano

Next funky piano piece!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDCoHH5Dbt4

Harley Benton JA-60 Mods #3

The guitar shop fitted the Catswhisker mini-humbucker in the bridge a few weeks ago, and it sounds great. But I think the CTS 300k pots made a big difference too, as they seem to have put a bit of 'life' into the Roswell Jazzmaster pickup.

I decided to fit a flashy pickguard just to finish the job off properly.

(Photo 1)
Taking off the old pickguard.

(Photo 2)
I had to slightly widen a couple of holes in the new pickguard because of the CTS pots!

(Photos 3 and 4)
The finished result! What do you think?

(Photo 5)
The internal electrics.

(Photo 6)
One of the CTS pots.

(Photo 7)
I was impressed that for such an inexpensive guitar, the pickup selector switch was made in Korea!

Songwriting Course

Because I couldn't do my Junior Jazz summer workshop, I've been doing a songwriting course on FutureLearn over the summer. Here is my final song.

https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/my-version-of-my-town

NO Junior Jazz!

The past two years, I've done the week-long Junior Jazz summer workshop at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff but this year it was cancelled because of the virus.

So instead I did an online Jazz Improvisation course on FutureLearn, and some funk piano tutorials by Jonathon Wilson (groovewindow) on Youtube.

Here's some of the music I produced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE4gcDgYegs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV-R1dlWq4o
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/jazz-piano-2-615-autumn-leaves-root-position-colla-voce-in-time
https://soundcloud.com/samsswingnskank/jazz-piano-2-212-moanin-f-dorian
https://soundcloud.com/samsswingnskank/jazz-piano-1-314-higher

Funky Piano!

https://youtu.be/fV-R1dlWq4o

Quiz!

No cheating using the Internet!

Name these:
1. Nod, Jim, Dave, Don.
2. Shawnee rock 'n' roller who 'Rumbled'.
3. Blues monarch, not Albert, nor Freddie.
4. The 'Man in Black'.
5. David Robert Jones.
6. Two-tone band 'also known as'...
7. Gypsy Jazz maestro.
8. Window cleaner banned by the BBC!
9. Folk group from Dublin.
10. Japanese all-girl group whose name means 'Boy Knife'.

The Clocks

I thought that I would have a go at something based on a 'tick-tock' sound.

WARNING! Song includes deep bassy drones so use headphones and/or good quality speakers for optimum eerie effect!

WARNING 2! If you are scared by eerie effects, do not use headphones and/or good quality speakers!

And here it is:
https://soundcloud.com/samsswingnskank/the-clocks

Harley Benton JA-60 Mods #2

(Photo 1)
The first thing I had to do was to remove the strings.

(Photos 2 and 3)
This was followed by the bridge, tailpiece and studs. These were really easy to remove because they were only finger-tight - I didn't even have to use the screwdriver!

(Photo 4)
Then I put the new studs in, that came with the Vanson bridge. Again, these were only finger-tight. They even supply both metric and US-size studs with the bridge!

(Photo 5)
Comparison! The saddles appeared to have the same spacing, so I left them and hoped for the best with the intonation.

(Photos 6 and 7)
Time for the new bar and fitting the tremolo! This was again finger-tight, so it was still easy enough.

(Photos 8 to 10)
To remove the pickguard, I had to (carefully!) lever off the volume and control knobs and unscrew the bolts around the shafts/etc. The pickguard easily lifted off after unscrewing the screws around the outside.

(Photo 11)
I prepared the pickguard by washing it with soapy water to get all of the grease off, and then I covered the pickguard with some sticky-back vinyl (the type you get from craft and DIY shops). Putting it on was easy, and it stuck very well. The difficult bit came with trimming around the edges, because it had a bevelled edge. So I used a craft knife, but I didn't have a new blade, which was a mistake. Even so, it looks very good from a distance and it's passable close up. I'm not sure yet whether to leave it as it is, recover it, or just get a new pickguard!

I then had to put the old strings back on (after everything else), because I can't go to the guitar shop to get some new ones yet. And it took ages!

(Photos 12 and 13)
The finished result!

I'm very pleased with it, because it was the first time I've done anything like this before (although it was very easy on the whole). The tremolo plays really well. It fits the hand easily and it seems to retain the tuning, even with the old strings on! Surprisingly, the internation still seems spot on - so overall, I'm really pleased with the Vanson roller bridge.

So the final stage would be to fit the Catswhisker mini humbucker pickup in the bridge, but I'll need the guitar shop to reopen for that!