I made a Tremolo pedal at the weekend

[irishstu]

I'd been wanting to make a tremolo pedal ever since I finished restoring my old Hofner Colorama.

Anyway, here's the end result:

And embarrassing though it is, here's a quick demo I did:



More details here: http://diystrat.blogspot.com/2013/04/building-modified-ea-tremolo-pedal-on.html

 

[Knox in Box]

Sounds really good. What kit was it? Or did you just use a schem from somewhere?

 

[irishstu]

Sounds really good. What kit was it? Or did you just use a schem from somewhere?

Thanks, KiB. I just used this schematic:

Luckily someone did a veroboard layout for it, which saved a bit of time. It's here: http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/m...S_0/album19/album145/EA_TREMOLO_VERO.gif.html

 

[BlackCat]

That does sound good.

 

[dodgechargerfan]

Sounds great.

Nice clean work, too!

 

[altoidman]

Sounds great! Congrats!

 

[Modern Saint]

Cool - Great Job!

 

[Knox in Box]

Thanks, KiB. I just used this schematic:

Luckily someone did a veroboard layout for it, which saved a bit of time. It's here: http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/m...S_0/album19/album145/EA_TREMOLO_VERO.gif.html

I love looking through runoffgroove and always wished I could read schematics.

Schematic heaven would be great if I could too.

maybe I should buy a book on that.

 

[irishstu]

Thanks all. it does sound pretty good, eh? Apparently the EA Tremolo circuit (and its modifications) is very highly regarded.

I love looking through runoffgroove and always wished I could read schematics.

Schematic heaven would be great if I could too.

maybe I should buy a book on that.

You know you can still build your own pedals using Veroboard even if you can't read schematics (I can read schematics and I STILL like using it). I sometimes think following the Veroboard layout is kinda like reading guitar tabs even though you can't read music.

Here's a good place to start looking for Veroboard circuits: http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/richardo/perfboard/index.html

I did the Brian May treble booster circuit from there and it sounds great. It was a pretty simple circuit too. Here's the one I did: http://diystrat.blogspot.tw/2011/05/building-quick-brian-may-style-treble.html

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

nice pedal. the volume control really makes a difference, doesn't it?

 

[Mark Wein]

That sounds great!

 

[irishstu]

nice pedal. the volume control really makes a difference, doesn't it?

Thanks. Yes, it really does help a lot.

 

[BoomBoomBigelow]

Nicely done, sir!

Now you have strip it down and lay some sweet artwork on it!

 

[bcryant]

Nice clean build and it sounds great!
I should revisit building a pedal. I tried to put together a fuzz pedal from a schematic and failed hard. Got frustrated and never looked back.

 

[irishstu]

That sounds great!

Thank you!

Nicely done, sir!

Now you have strip it down and lay some sweet artwork on it!

Yes indeed. I have a bit of a dilemma whether to paint this or shine up the aluminium and engrave the markings into it (I'd love to do some etching, but I just don't have the setup for that).

Nice clean build and it sounds great!
I should revisit building a pedal. I tried to put together a fuzz pedal from a schematic and failed hard. Got frustrated and never looked back.

Thanks.

I totally understand. I couldn't get this one to work AT ALL and spent a full day going over every single connection and every single component value and orientation, checking all the tracks and joints with a magnifying glass for any signs of a break/short, etc. None of them ended up being anything to do with the problem (which was that I hadn't adjusted the trim pot correctly). I was very close to giving up on the whole thing.

 

[Knox in Box]

Yes indeed. I have a bit of a dilemma whether to paint this or shine up the aluminium and engrave the markings into it (I'd love to do some etching, but I just don't have the setup for that).

Black design on waterslide over the aluminum is sweet and looks totally snazzy. IMO

I love mine obviously.