Hey SandBug, where do you get those little tool boxes?

The Mystery Men?
El Capitan and The Reluctant Sadists
SSS Agent #31

Ok, cool. I'll ask Tim (Silverflash) about it when I get a chance. I am tragically behind on this thread, but all these builds look awesome. I've got my kit languishing in a box, waiting for me to do something with it. Thanks, SandBug.

The Mystery Men?
El Capitan and The Reluctant Sadists
SSS Agent #31

Hey Bjorn,iv got a SB waiting for me for christmas time.....in the present time though I'm imagining a few cool features to add to it once I get my hands on it! I have a tremolo pedal I'm going to integrate in my enclosure with my SB,I want a full on surf appeal so I'm going to replace the red light on my tremolo with a blue one......and then....

I have a great idea to add some kind of dimmer to another blue indocator light (or a row of 3 or 4 to almost serve as a reverb meter if you will) so the light(s) get brighter as I crank the SB up to drippy goodness. Example if i did multiple lights..... 1 light lit for low reverb....2 to 3 for medium reverb and 4 lit up for maximum drip! Then just a low subtle blue (or just one bulb lit depending on my choice of "meter") at normal reverb levels. How hard would something like that be to do? What components would one need to do either setup?

It may seem like overkill,but I think it's a very cool feature that could turn some heads as well as just look rad! Thank you in advance! I'm looking forward to building your kit! I was supposed to have one last year but I failed to get one...but this year it's a sure thing!!!

If you want the ultimate,you gotta be willing to pay the ultimate price.

Brett

Last edited: Nov 10, 2016 21:53:56

Cool idea!

But you will need some experimenting to get it right.
You can search Ebay for "level indicator kit"!

Link is messed up I'm gonna try to find another.

If you want the ultimate,you gotta be willing to pay the ultimate price.

Brett

Last edited: Nov 11, 2016 08:03:31

Well upon further investigation I think it would be smart on my part to start off small and simply do a dimmer for a single LED haha! Not sure iv got the smarts to do multiple even if I had direct instructions!

If you want the ultimate,you gotta be willing to pay the ultimate price.

Brett

Gilette wrote:

The schematic you posted is going to light up all LEDs at the same time. I don't think that's the thing you're after.

See what I mean haha! I'm gonna stick to the dimmer for a single LED ! I'm safer that way

If you want the ultimate,you gotta be willing to pay the ultimate price.

Brett

taijiguy wrote:

Howdy,
What kind of springs do you recommend for suspending the pan in a Harbor Freight steel toolbox? I checked out the springs at Lowe's and Home Depot, but they all seemed too long and/or too heavy a gauge.

Uhuru!
A clearance of only a couple of millimeters can be enough. Foam works. Rubber pads work. Rubber grommets work. Elastic rope. Springs of all shapes and sizes (either compressing or expanding). Glue it, screw it, duct-tape it... whatever.
I've experimented with all the above methods so far. If they're not faulty (as explained), then it doesn't matter. The sound is always the same, the reliability factor is a matter applying common sense.

The end result should have the pan suspended, not contacting any hard surfaces, in order to eliminate any possibility of external physical interference like rumble, rattle or feedback with it's springs (while engaged.)
In the case of stage use, I'd recommend paying more attention to clearance under bass drum, cabinet air and heavy dancing. Dance in front of your unit.

After that part's taken care of, the springs' self oscillation will be negligible. Note the springs are already soft-mounted within the pan itself, with springs. Springs.
So, the pan should be mounted in a way that's secure to the casual touch or small drop. That's not hard, and that's all.

For some further info read THIS.

IMHO unless you're trying to recreate a vintage unit one for one (which we clearly don't here), there's no need for springs, anymore. Why worry yourself with anchor-points now.
With one of my units, I settled on just using some hard acoustic foam leftovers, compressed within 3 sides of a box, holding two(!) pans by pressure only. It works 100%, under any condition I put it through.
So much easier than tinkering with small metal parts inside a small space.

Last edited: Nov 26, 2016 11:30:19

taijiguy wrote:

Howdy,
What kind of springs do you recommend for suspending the pan in a Harbor Freight steel toolbox? I checked out the springs at Lowe's and Home Depot, but they all seemed too long and/or too heavy a gauge.

I've used a tank bag. No acoustic coupling, no contact noise. Perfect.

I finally (whoo!) make my R4 kit after having it stored away for more than 1.5yrs.

My Fender RI reverb unit has been working well and the kit it was unintentionally pushed back to a low enough priority that I never got around to it. Until now.
A friend guided me through the process of ensuring the polarity of the DC jack is correct for wiring it to the board considering the centre-positive 12V DC power supply I have. I admit to having a bit of fear with this part.
Muck up an audio signal? >> No sound. Troubleshoot, then fix
Muck up the electrical? >> fry something. Ugh.

At this point, I have just wired everything into an aluminum enclosure and I used the stock tank from my RI Fender (Accutronics USA).

OK, this thing rocks. Sounds beautiful.

Next up is making the wooden enclosure to house everything so I can start taking it to band practices and gigs. Take the place of my RI Fender unit? We'll see, but I can imagine that happening.

And then onward to the Surfy Trem (when it becomes available)!

Lorne
The Surf Shakers: https://www.facebook.com/TheSurfShakers
Vancouver BC Canada

Last edited: Nov 27, 2016 02:10:57