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Effects Pedals
Since my first pedal build maybe 20 years ago, I've been a little addicted. That first one was a Valvecaster - a low voltage tube booster with a little crunch. It worked first time and sent my old valve amp into a wonderful overdrive. It's easy to get hooked when you get it right first time. After many clones of existing circuits, I started developing my own, mainly when what I wanted simply wasn't available commercially. Most end up relegated to a shelf. Very few are sold
KSFX FV-24 Stereo
This
one is is a multi effect which can store 24 patches, each of which you
design in software. It uses a Spin FV-1 chip which is a surface mount
component. The main circuit was designed by Robert Henry at
Deadastronaut FXIts a mono effect but I wondered if I could make it full stereo by creating a header board housing the components for the second chanel. This was made possible by Rob designing his pcb to accept either the smd component or one which is pre mounted on a riser board. I chose to use the smd chip and use the risers to power and communicate with my own pcb. Enclosure was UV printed at Tayda Electronics on a Roland printer. I incorporated small dots into the design where hole had to be drilled the center punched, drilled and opened them up to the correct size with a reamer. While the final thing fitted into the enclosure, I was worried about the tiny clearance with the lid so used a thin sheet of pet just in case. This is a build once, program forever pedal and this stereo version is, as far as I'm aware, the only one anywhere |
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KSFX tc electronic 2290P midi controller
![]() My tc electronic 2290p delay pedal is a wonderful effects unit but I have difficulty navigating the presets. By design, it has 64 banks of 2 presets, all controlled with 3 footswitches. That makes for a lot of tap dancing when trying to get from let say, preset 1 to preset 8. The 2290p has a USB midi device port (to be connected to a computer) and midi in & out via 5pin DIN sockets. I wanted to keep the USB port connected to my pc so had to utilise the midi in port. I decided on 8 footswitches as that was the most I'd likely be able to fit in a 1590DD enclosure without hitting 2 buttons at the same time. I also wanted both signal and power via the same cable. Answer is the AtMega pro micro which can act as a midi device. As this would still require a computer between the unit and my 2290p, I built a tiny midi host (shown under the Digital section above) and used a modified usb to midi cable to make the final connection. The midi board functions perfectly and the enclosure, painted and printed by Tayda matches well with the original enclosure |
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KSFX Hum-Free
![]() Hum and phase issues are a common problem when using 2 or more amps for stereo or wet/dry. Lots of ways to solve this but the best IMHO is transformer isolation. And that is exactly what this is. Designed the pcb so that it could be used either as an ABY switchable unit or a non switchable, stackable thing. Phase switching, isolated A & B, direct out can be permanently on or switchable. Uses an internal charge pump for extra headroom. Fully isolated signal and ground to each amp but is also really useful at eliminating power supply noise (ventriloquism) between 2 pedals |