Thursday, August 29, 2024
Modern(ish) Retro Gaming: Playing PS1 on PS3
Friday, August 23, 2024
Over 100 Builds and Still Going
If we could get in a time machine and go back in time, first I would like to stop somewhere in 2009 and tell myself to do things just a bit differently. After that we would reach our destination of 2020 and I would ask myself if I thought I would have built over 100 circuits. I believe the answer would be "No! Why? Do I? Really? Wow.", or something along those lines. Earlier this year I was just shy of 100 builds and I added a few small projects to boost (get it? because most of them were treble boosters) those numbers to bring me to 100 builds in total. The ideas kept coming though, and I've surpassed that to currently be on 121 builds in total.
If you're an avid reader you'll also know I swore I wasn't going to build 45 circuits like I did last year. I'm wrong. Admitting when you're wrong costs you nothing. I'm currently at 41 total builds for 2024, and I still have six kits to build, four partially put together kits that I need to order parts for, and an additional five planned circuits that also need me to order parts. If I accomplish building all of those that will bring 2024 to a total of fifty-six builds. When does this go from a hobby to a career? You tell me. I've had offers to support this going full-time, but I just don't want the stress of it becoming a business to ruin the fun of it being a hobby.
My ultimate goals are as follows: to build lots of pedals for myself and have a tool for nearly any eventuality that may arise while writing and recording my own music. I also want to build some one-off pedals for friends as a keepsake. I realize I'm not going to live forever, so I want all of my pedals to become a legacy. Will "Firebeard FX" ever become a brand? Doubtful, but at the very least it's a moniker to give my circuits a life after I'm gone. Something that ties them together, rather than just being some insane amount of random DIY pedals out there floating around. Maybe, just maybe tomorrow's guitar God will get ahold of one of my pedals, say in the year 2112. Maybe there will still be rig rundown videos online, during which they will explain how my pedal helped shape their whole outlook on playing and tone. It's a big dream, but not impossible.
I don't know if, or when this hobby will ever see an end, apart from my own eventual end. I honestly daydream of sitting at my workspace on a small balcony off the side of my little home somewhere in Mexico, building pedals to trade to the local music store. Maybe then I could finally afford the Gibson Les Paul of my dreams. Maybe then it would become a business. A lot of maybes become involved. One thing is for sure, we never know what the future holds. No plans to turn pro, no plans on giving up. We'll just have to see where this crazy ride ends up taking us.
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
My Review of Christmas Twister
The genuine title card, as seen on Tubi |
Saturday, August 17, 2024
Amp Building Like a Champ[ion]!
My guitar amp history is pretty abysmal. I started with a Peavey Bandit combo, which exploded one night while jamming. I heard a loud pop and the amp went dead. From there I went to a Crate GX-30M, which was my main amp for quite some time. Then I used, and still actually miss, a small red B.C. Rich combo amp that came in a pack with a Warlock I used to own. My first amp head was a used Crate G600XL, followed by my Line 6 Flextone HD. The Kalamazoo Model 1 was my first tube amp, and by far the oldest. I later bought my Fender Mustang Mini and used the hell out of it, until it died. Losing the Mustang Mini caused me to build Buddy, my Noisy Cricket. There are other amps that I'm forgetting or just not mentioning because they're more a novelty than a serious guitar amp, but you get the idea.
Almost all of my amps were solid state or modelling, which I'm ok with. Once I found my Kalamazoo Model 1, and restored her to working condition, I did start noticing how much I like tube amps. No, I'm not going to go on and on about how superior tubes are, but there does seem to be a difference in the feel. With my Kalamazoo Model 1, even though it's a just a small wattage combo from the late 60s, things feel different compared to my other amps. I can't explain it, I just know that whatever it is that I'm feeling is there with Kali and not with my other amps.
As I've been building pedals for the past five years I think it's time to take the leap and build something a bit more complicated. I've decided to build a pair of tube amps: the Ruby Tuby and a Fender 5F1 Champ clone. The Ruby Tuby is essentially the same as my Noisy Cricket, except it has a tube. While not a traditional tube amp, it does get in on a technicality. I wanted to build it to see if there was any hint of tube feel in the circuit. The build came together really quick, but I was extremely nervous I would ruin something when it came to testing. This requires 12v and my only 12v adapters are reverse polarity to the normal pedal PSU, so I had to wire the test box differently. Also my cheap and dirty wiring for the tube had me scared I would ruin my 12ax7s. Once it was all set it came to life. Oddly the ancient RCA 12ax7a I pulled from Kali is much louder than the modern JJ. Neither of them sound too pleasing, but it works. I'll go from here to make it sound better.
The 5F1 clone is going to be a bit more exciting, as I'm pretty sure the Kalamazoo Model 1 is really close to the 5F1 already. And since I love my Model 1, hopefully the 5F1 will give me a bit more of that, but with less concern about the amp's ever aging condition. I don't want to retire Kali, I just want something to take some of the work burden off of her. A nice little tweed amp cranked to the max, screaming with one of the overdrive pedals I built in front of it would be an amazing thing to me.
The 5F1 clone is going to take a bit of time as I thought I had the wire required for it, but it turns out I sorely underestimated what was required. Lesson learned! Another issue is the high voltage, that's going to take me a while to feel comfortable messing with. I also need both the power and output transformers. The more I think about it, the more I need for this build. All in due time, all in due time. In the meantime the Ruby Tuby is where I'll focus my time and see what I like and dislike about it. I know it needs a better tube, and I might experiment with which 12a_7 sounds best. I also think I might need to build an EQ of some sort for it. Maybe just a basic gyrator EQ with bass, mid and treble to give it a bit more tonal capability. For now it's functional and that's all I wanted from it.
Additional Information: While testing the Ruby Tuby I had a few issues that I didn't like. Using my guitar's volume seemed like it was a bias control, ala the Z'Vex SHO "Crackle Ok", which was not ok with me in this circumstance. Also the pickup selector switch made a loud pop while switching, which again was not ok. I like the glassy sparkle of the amp with no gain, and I like the crunch of the amp with the gain cranked all the way up, but the middle ground tones aren't really very useful to me. That was until I introduced the TS9 I repaired a while back. Not only did this pedal make the circuit sound amazing, (I'm assuming) the buffer also eliminates the crackle from the volume control and the popping of the selector switch. The EQing of the TS9 made this circuit much more interesting and useable. I'm thinking now instead of an EQ I'll build a[nother] TS9 circuit to make a channel two when put this amp in a head cabinet.
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
Every Cartridge Has a Journey
Saturday, August 10, 2024
Tube Screamer Terror: TS9 Repair
Saturday, August 3, 2024
A Treble Problem
I can't stop building treble boosters! There, I said it. They're such simple little circuits, and I love how so few components can make such an impact on tone. At this point I've built about a dozen treble boost circuits. It all started with the original Naga Viper circuit I built, then the Screaming Bird only made me want to build them even more. I've built a Rangemaster clone, and my dream come true in the Diaz Texas Ranger. The Cornish TB-83X clone is really nice too! There's just something about treble boosters that I love, even though I don't use an amp that really needs one. They just sound good to me. They add something to my tone that I really enjoy.
As I've said before the journey originally started when I wanted to build a Diaz Texas Ranger, but didn't want to mess with the switchable input caps. I decided to poorly modify a Naga Viper to get kind of the same effect. Then I decided to build a Screaming Bird clone to get some December builds done, as it was a super simple circuit I could build indoors on a cold day. From there things just went a bit crazy with how much I like them. I decided to finally mess with the switchable input of the Diaz Texas Ranger and I'm super glad I did because I love that circuit. I also decided to build a Rangemaster clone, which is the Grandfather of all treble boosters. My most recent treble boosts have been the Vox treble boosters, which I liked so much I built two of them.
Now I've decided to scour the layout websites for as many treble booster circuits as I can. I came up with two Brian May style treble boosters, a FAL treble booster, a Hornby and Skewes Treble Booster, the Maxon treble booster, and the Throbak Strange Master. Is that enough treble boosting? Sure they don't sound drastically different from one another, and they do the exact same thing; they boost the treble. Why do I feel the need to build so many? I couldn't tell you. Maybe it's the creator complex of feeling like I've actually done something with my life once a circuit is done, coupled with the fact I truly like what a treble booster does to my tone.
Recently I built a transistor version of the EHX Muff Fuzz, to see how it stacked with the op-amp version I built a while back. I think it worked out pretty nicely. This has me wondering what it would be like to stack a pair of, or a few, treble boosters together. Too much like an icepick to the ear drum, you think? I honestly don't know how pairing treble boosters can be a good thing, but I guess at some point I'll find out. For now, I'll keep looking for treble boosters to build.
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Let's Talk About Electra Distortion Clones
When it comes to the Electra Distortion circuit I'm very late to the party. I mean so late that the party was 30 years ago, but I still showed up in a Hawaiian shirt with my RSVP in hand type late. I have always been amazed at how simple circuits can sound so good, and so different with small tweaks, and the Electra circuit is a great example of that. I've unknowingly built a few in the past, because I was so unfamiliar with the topology. I just thought they were really good sounding little circuits with very low component counts. I guess we all learn at our own pace.
Lately I've been in a bit of a transistor usage mood, because I have so many of them laying around. I have a good stock of 2N3904s, and some that I consider specialties such as BC108s, BC109s and 2N2222. While most people probably wouldn't consider them anything special, I think any transistor that costs more than a dime each certainly is. I've been looking for almost any excuse to use up the D1302 and C1740 transistors that I have, because they're perfect for an Electra circuit. The only slight problem is they're ECB pinout, but because Electra circuits are low component circuits, all I need to do is swap a few things around and it works just fine.
The latest one I have built is a COT50 clone. Again, I'm impressed with the sound that comes out of this little circuit. On the list to still be built I have a Lovepedal Woodrow, Tchula and a Mythos Golden Fleece. All of which I can't wait to get started on, but I have to pace myself or I'll be building 100 circuits just this one year. I swear I would, if I'm not careful. Last time I took a count on how many projects I had left I was sitting at a total of 45 this year, the same as last year. Since then I've added even more. Will building over 50 a year serve any purpose? I don't know, but there's no excuse not to, I guess. If you know of any good Electra circuits let me know!
Thursday, July 25, 2024
One Delay Is Not Enough
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
A Pickup Review: DiMarzio HS-3
When I was about thirteen I asked my brother to teach me how to play guitar. Part of his instructions included a list of guitarists to listen to for inspiration. Many of those guitarists are still favorites of mine to this day. Randy Rhoads, Paul Gilbert, Eddie Van Halen, Eric Johnson, Vernon Reid, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jake E. Lee, the list goes on and on. The one whose speed caught my attention the most at that age was Yngwie Malmsteen. After years of listening to Yngwie I had decided I needed to add a strat to my arsenal. Naturally I want an Yngwie strat, but that was, and still is, far beyond my realm of attainability.
This led to a pair of attempts at what I called Project YJM on a budget. I took any strat style guitar and tried to make it look and sound as close to a YJM strat as I possibly could. The key ingredient though has to be pickups. While I see a lot of people getting really close to Yngwie's tone with stock pickups, I felt my projected needed DiMarzios for authenticity. I eventually found an HS-3 in stock on Scamazon, so I bought it. When it arrived I couldn't have been happier. My banana yellow partscaster was finally ready to have its day as my YJM strat clone. Once the pickup was installed I noticed two things; firstly this pickup was microphonic, like REALLY microphonic. Secondly I noticed just how weak the pickup was. I knew it was a low output pickup, but I didn't know it was this low output.
To say the least, I hate this pickup. I thought I knew what I was getting into when I bought it, but apparently I didn't. Unless you have another HS-3 or HS-4 in the other positions it's impossible to match the volume and gain. Currently my project YJM strat has a cheap unknown brand single coil in the neck and the HS-3 in the bridge. I can't lower the neck pickup enough, nor raise the HS-3 enough to get them to match. It's such a weak pickup. I understand the concept behind it; allow the preamp and amp to do the overdrive, not the pickup, but I honestly think a pickup's contribution to the overdrive is part of the whole package. Sure, Yngwie's tone sounds great, but this pickup just doesn't appeal to me. Not anymore.
Another of my favorite guitarists, Jero Ramiro, plays what appears to be a YJM strat, and it sounds like a YJM strat, but every thing I can find says he's not using the HS-3, and I can see why. I hate to dump on this pickup, but I just can't see why this pickup costs as much as most other strat pickups and does far, far less, and even then it's less than that.
I did search around as to why this HS-3 was microphonic the word "fake" was floated around in a few places. The reality being I don't think anyone could possibly fake such a low output pickup. You have to plan to fail as badly as the HS-3 fails, you can't fail this badly on accident. I contacted DiMarzio and they said to send it to them for potting. This was during the pandemic, so that was an impossibility, and thus this pickup is what it is. And certainly at some point this pickup won't be in this guitar anymore.
If you're considering a DiMarzio HS-3, try to find someone who has one, or try a guitar store that has something with one installed already in stock. It might be your dream pickup, but for me it just fails on every level except for the fact it's kind of got me addicted to humbucking single coil pickups. That is this pickups one singular saving grace. I guess.