As Björn said (in other words), you most likely have a shortcut between power+ and power- (ground)

You can test this by not plugging in the adapter in the wall socket and then check (in the continuity/beep modus of your multimeter) if there's a connection between + and - (or ground).

This can occur in many places. For ecample if the (red) power wire inside the pedal is burnt somewhere by accident from soldering something nearby and thus bare and touching the chassis, creating a shortcut.

Downed_Aviator wrote:

Does anybody know what the self-adhesive conducting foam tape is that is used to mount the SB to the chassis, and where to get it?

Hi Downed_Aviator

That type of tape can usually be found in electronic component stores or pc parts stores.

If you contact me at Surfy Industries website, I can send you a piece for free!
/ Björn

It's the definitely NOT electrically conductive. It isolates the FETs from ground and at the same time cools them by being thermally conductive towards the chassis surface. (otherwise you could just as well have used regular thermal paste)

Last edited: Feb 03, 2020 15:35:14

j_flanders wrote:

It's the definitely NOT electrically conductive. It isolates the FETs from ground and at the same time cools them by being thermally conductive towards the chassis surface. (otherwise you could just as well have used regular thermal paste)

Great, thanks for the clarification. I know what to get now.

Here are some pictures of my Surfy Bear.
I built it 3 years ago or so.
It took me a year to box it up. The first year I just used it as is, just the bare circuit with the controls and stuff dangling around (I only play at home)
Two years on and I still haven't gotten around to do the logo and lettering for the controls...

The university nearby has a publicly accessible lab with 3D printers, laser cutters etc., where you only have to pay for the used materials.
I plan on doing the front logo and lettering in (off) white laser cut plexi material or something. Similar to the logo's on the grillcloth of speaker cabs.

The toggle switch on the left is to activate the C10 mod, the one on the right is a kill-dry switch for when I want to use another dry/wet mixer (usually my Boss LS2).

The rectangular box below the pedals contains two reverb tanks.
On the side there's a switch to choose between a long 4AB3C1B or a short 8AB3C1B pan.

I wanted to make the box containing the reverb pans as small as possible. There's only a couple of millimeters clearance on the inside. It's still pretty big though.
There was not enough clearance for RCA jacks, so I soldered the wires from the toggle switch directly to the input and output of each tank.
The bottom is a heavy piece of multiply wood.

The metal box cover is from an old VCR (video recorder).
I measured the minimum required inside space, then went to the local recycling park and started measuring metal housed electronics stuff.
The surveyor came up to me asking me what the **** I thought I was doing.
I tried explaining to him but in the end he said: just take what you need.
At home I took the cover from the old VCR, cut it up and bent it into a cover for the tanks. DIY style...

I covered the pedal and box with Fender tweed. On the sides I put some tropical hard wood. The rest of the wood was used for a terrace in the garden. (Well, actually it was the other way around...)

The grey pedal on the right is my Surfy Trem by the way. It as well has been waiting for two years for its graphics and logo. One day...
It's covered with some fabric I cut out of an old pair of trousers.

The rest of the plywood, trousers and an old miniskirt of my girlfriend (for grillcloth) was used for a small speaker cab.
The white 'piping' is simply some electrical wire...

Originally I had the idea to house the Surfy bear and trem inside this kind of box. But then I changed my mind because I wanted to keep the pedal and reverb pan separate so it ended up being a small speaker cab:

Both Surfy Bear and trem sound great and I use them pretty much every day.

Last edited: Feb 06, 2020 17:24:46

I used a 4PDT (ON-ON)
4 pole: in-signal, in-ground, out-signal, out-ground
2 throw: to switch between 2 pans.

Inside the box containing the two pans, there are 4 cables after the switch. Normally 4 RCA jacks, but not enough room in there so I soldered them directly to the pans inputs/outputs

Last edited: Feb 10, 2020 13:11:35

There are some really super Surfy Bear builds on here, but here is a fun little video of my basic toolbox build.

Ahoy, new member here. I'm about to start my build and have a question about the color switch that Smid posted about elsewhere. Can anyone recommend what capacitor types to use? Ceramic, film, silver mica, tropical fish? This will be my first serious project and the forum has been very inspiring! Thanks!

BUYER BEWARE:
It has come to our attention that some have been building SurfyBear units from the kits and are selling them on ebay and other sites. We have had complaints from unsuspecting buyers of these that they are not working, often because they are not assembled well or were assembled incorrectly. We cannot honor any warranty or support on these units, so be warned and purchase at your own risk.
For just a little bit more than the asking price of these units, a finished pedal manufactured by Surfy Industries can be purchased, including the lifetime warranty if the product is registered online.
Thank you SG101ers for all of the support!

http://www.satanspilgrims.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Satans-Pilgrims/8210228553
https://satanspilgrims.bandcamp.com/
http://www.surfyindustries.com

Hi, I understand the DIY kits are no longer for sale, does anyone here have a spare they will be willing to sell to me?
Thanks a lot surfers