...when i was looking for beard photos.

For no good reason, here are some.

This is what happens when i get bored and start to doodle:


So is this:


I think this one must be about needing to get some coffee into my head:

I also went through a period where i was semicompulsively sketching hundreds of rats:



Some of which eventually worked their way into potential images to print on pedals:




Actually, back a ways, i used to sketch up electronics projects all the time before i got out the paint or tools:


Because i am a fucking nerd that way.

That one actually wasn't so far off the mark either, though i did add a knob and some switches to the IRL one, and slightly changed the shape of the wood sides:

awesome

This is some mighty fine sketchery.

I approve whole heartedly.

Also you should print the rat images on a box for your RAT clone.

They may wind up on the next one. Or at least some variation of that theme. Little 3mm red LEDs for the rat's eyes. Ideally, they would be the clipping LEDs from one of the mods, so they will flash when the signal runs through them. My current rattish thing has them, but they are hidden inside, as this the build was more for the purpose of trying a bunch of random mod stuff, rather than making a finished pedal. The finished pedal will have flashy rat eyes, fo sho.

A couple moar doodles.

Terrifying folk with too many teeth, another recurring theme.


Another one that comes up with some regularity are the ones that i have no recollection of doodling, or of the impetus behind them:

I do not know why, but your sketches remind me of Hunter S. Thompson.

You have some fairly scary images in your subconscious.
And for that, I salute you.
:thu:


Hey, is your Vox-y Box NMV?

Chris arts well.

Naw, it has the cheapo half-MV that Matchless uses. It kind of sucks, but it is not totally useless either. At full it is pretty close to out of the circuit. At bedroom volumes it sounds like a sack of old assholes.

BUT.

1. That sack of old assholes sound can be very interesting as a recording effect, kind of the like most gunky terrible fuzz ever as if run through a broken speaker. I should record it some time.

2. Even though the amp jumps to fuckloud volume pretty much at about 9:00, and anything below that sounds like old asshole sack, it does do two things. It can attenuate a little. Totally good enough to take some of the edge off in a tiny practice space. It also, because it reduces the load on the power section, tightens the amp up in a subtle way. It isn't a huge difference, but it is definitely noticeable, especially in how it feels when playing. I actually usually run the master at about halfway. It does not attenuate a very noticeable amount of volume at that setting, but the amp feel effect is felt.

Anyhow, my next build (some day) will have a different/"better" MV in it, and possibly also this one, simply because of that terrible noise it makes at low low volumes.

You are quite good at that, and have a style of your own.

Was looking for something else entirely and found this other mockup from when i was going to build a double four-knob rat with all the bells and whistles:


I actually kind of like it, though, i don't really think that all of that switching stuff is necessary now that i have built one with a much simplified set of mods.

Holy fuck that looks ridiculous.

Jesus christ, did you make a schematic or layout for that thing? I would like to see that, just to see how ridiculous it is inside.

Beavis did most of the work for that, design-wise, as it was basically an adaptation of his FKR project, at the point i made this.

The schematic for what would have been half of the above pedal is on page two of this pdf http://www.beavisaudio.com/projects/FKR ... tation.pdf

I was actually using it as an excuse to try to design my own PCB for a relatively complex project. But then halfway through, that computer torpedoed itself, and i thought i lost all of the data, until i found this stuff last week.

So essentially you were going to take two of those, slap them side by side and then wire them to be used exclusively of each other, or could you run both for super retarded RAT tones?

Juss.

Alot of what the mods do, is make the Rat work much better as a low gain pedal.

IIRC, i was reading something about Graham Coxon at some point, and IIRC, he was talking about his pedalboard, and mentioned the fact that he had two or more rats on there.

Or. Maybe i imagined that.

BUT. the main thing is that i liked the idea of running two lower gain pedals or one low gainer into a highgainer, or whatever combination i felt like. It is a really quick, and oftentimes decently effective, way to get two or three channel functionality out of a single channel map.

If i were to do it today, i would probably only have one rat, and then one of something else.

Actually. I am currently kicking the idea around of making a triple pedal out of my current Timmy+Box Of Rock build, and adding the Rat to the end of it. Timmy by itself is awesome light OD, Timmy+BOR is nice thick Marshally distortion, Timmy+Rat is pretty close to metal, and Timmy+BOR+Rat is kind of like a gigantic fuzz behemoth. So i am pretty seriously considering making it happen. I just need to find the right size/shape box to put it all into.

I definitely agree on the layered-pedals adding usable versatility to a SC-amp.

After I get the BMP all figgered out, I am pretty sure I want to build a Timmy clone. But, now you have me thinking of making a Timmy+X instead. Actually, a Timmy + Modded-Rat sounds fucking awesome. Throw a nice mid-gainer in the middle of that and you pretty much have a 3-channel dist/preamp to run in front of any amp.

Come to think of it, that sounds like it would rape hard through a brighter amp.

I was thinking of building a Fuzz Factory as well, but since I have the LPB to slam into my fuzzes couldn't I just build a good ol' fuzz face and mod it?

Goddamn my pedal board is going to be retarded. Also, I like how almost all of the pedals I plan on owning/building are boosts/ods/distortions/fuzzes. Fuck modulation

Lube.

You said this yesterday, and today i remembered that since i took apart another crazyfuzz i built and disliked, i had two PNP germanium transistors lying about. So i looked around, and i basically had the rest of the right parts for a Fuzz Factory lying around as well, so i built one just now.

It is crazy. Kind of near-useless crazy, but the kind of near-useless crazy that i will keep around.

Almost-useless-crazy you say?

Well, it looks like I will be building a Fuzz Factory.

I really would recommend it. I have been making nintendo noises for the last two hours.

It is definitely the finest "fucked up fuzztoy" i have built yet. The others i built were disappointing, so i put off this one for a long time, but it really turned out to be a great toy.