Colorsound overdrive and other schematics

navin1 · Post by **navin1** » 02 Sep 2015, 12:00

I was thinking of making this
http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/index.php?main ... ts_id=2028
which is based on the details available here
http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/2 ... river.html

before I started I was looking for a schematic or any other notes or pitfalls and in the process found this
viewtopic.php?f=54&t=21737&p=215446&hil ... ic#p215446

Which leads me to ask, are the kits sold by bitsbox based on verified veroboard layouts at tagboardeffects?

Where does one find the schematic for the veroboard layouts at tagboardeffects? Debugging is a lot easier if one has the schematics on hand. I was hoping to build a few pedals based on this kits from bitsbox
The Cornish G2 and the Fulltone Fulldrive 2 and Xotic EP Booster are some that come to mind.
http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/index.php?main ... ts_id=2361
http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/index.php?main ... ts_id=2337
http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/index.php?main ... ts_id=2497

What are the areas I need to be aware of before I order a bunch of kits that might end up being useless to me. I live in India and ordering from the UK is a bit of trouble so I don't want to get in unless I am pretty sure I will have a reasonably good experience.

Thanks.

Nocentelli · Post by **Nocentelli** » 03 Sep 2015, 16:51

navin1 wrote:are the kits sold by bitsbox based on verified veroboard layouts at tagboardeffects?

Yes.

navin1 wrote:Where does one find the schematic for the veroboard layouts at tagboardeffects? Debugging is a lot easier if one has the schematics on hand. I was hoping to build a few pedals based on this kits from bitsbox

freestompboxes is probably the best single site to search for relevant schematics: IvIark states on the front page of the tagboardeffects website that many of the vero layouts are based on schematics found here.

navin1 wrote:What are the areas I need to be aware of before I order a bunch of kits that might end up being useless to me. I live in India and ordering from the UK is a bit of trouble so I don't want to get in unless I am pretty sure I will have a reasonably good experience.

I haven't bought a kit from bitsbox, but I have purchased many parts orders from there over the years and have not been disappointed. Have you built on vero board before? If not, I would read everything you can find on the tagboardfx website about how to follow the layouts and you shouldn't go wrong.

navin1 · Post by **navin1** » 22 Sep 2015, 10:41

Nocentelli wrote:
navin1 wrote:are the kits sold by bitsbox based on verified veroboard layouts at tagboardeffects?
freestompboxes is probably the best single site to search for relevant schematics: IvIark states on the front page of the tagboardeffects website that many of the vero layouts are based on schematics found here.

I haven't bought a kit from bitsbox, but I have purchased many parts orders from there over the years and have not been disappointed. Have you built on vero board before? If not, I would read everything you can find on the tagboardfx website about how to follow the layouts and you shouldn't go wrong.

Nocentelli,

Thanks for your response and sorry for the late response. I tried to upgrade my machine and it crashed. Took me a while to recover everything.

Anyway, I found another site called mklec. http://mklec.com/project-kits/guitar-effects-kits

I assume their kits would be as reliable as those from bitsbox. Actually I have built on a vero board before but that was decades ago. I will read all the advice tagboardfx has to offer. Do you happen to know any place where we can access schematic of these veroboard schemes?

Mklec claims that the offer a "Printed Color Board Layout/Schematic" with every kit and this makes Mklec a little more attractive as a schematic can help trace what you did wrong (should you do something wrong).

I tried to look for reviews of kits from Mklec (or bitsbox) on google and could not find any.

Thanks for your help, I would be much obliged if you could offer any other pointers. Since I am in India, I would actually like to order a few kits at one go to save on shipping and customs clearance hassles and I would like to be sure I am not wasting my time, money and energy here.

Thanks.

Nocentelli · Post by **Nocentelli** » 22 Sep 2015, 16:51

The photos included in the mklec kits pages appear to show either vero or pad per hole perfboard in many cases, this makes me think a "layout/schematic" will actually be a layout diagram, i.e. showing you which parts go in which holes, not a schematic as you or I would understand it, i.e. showing all the electrical connections clearly and logically.

Again, I'm fairly sure the actual schematics for most, if not all of those kits can be found HERE at https://www.freestompboxes.org

Unless the kit supplier provides their own drawing of the schematic they actually used to create the layout/pcb, there will still be a small amount of uncertainty and checking/comparing to be done: e.g. the pcb might include extra power filtering components that were not included in the original pedal, or the schematic you find here may miss out obvious parts like bypass switching arrangement.

navin1 · Post by **navin1** » 23 Sep 2015, 06:26

Nocentelli wrote:The photos included in the mklec kits pages appear to show either vero or pad per hole perfboard in many cases, this makes me think a "layout/schematic" will actually be a layout diagram,..Unless the kit supplier provides their own drawing of the schematic they actually used to create the layout/pcb, there will still be a small amount of uncertainty and checking/comparing to be done: e.g. the pcb might include extra power filtering components that were not included in the original pedal, or the schematic you find here may miss out obvious parts like bypass switching arrangement.

Great you confirmed my suspicions. I wonder why no one of freestompboxes or even diystompboxes (I tried to google) has used Mklec or Bitsbox. Not a single thread about these kit suppliers.

My best bet hence is to search freestompboxes.com for the schematics of the pedals I am interested in and then proceed. right?

Thanks again sir.

Nocentelli · Post by **Nocentelli** » 24 Sep 2015, 19:11

Yes, would just search for the appropriate thread, and look for the most likely schematic that matches the vero: checking the layouts against possible different versions will also serve as a quick way to become familiar with the layout and understand how it works.

I've used bitsbox many, many times with great satisfaction. I haven't (and I suspect many others on this site and at DIYSB) haven't bought the "vero kits" because one can just buy the required parts and veroboard and use the tagboardfx website layout to build one for less money than the kit. The few £££ extra you pay for the kit is to pay for someone to pick out the parts and put them all in the bag for you. They might even label the resistors, but I rather suspect they'll just include a resistor colour chart, maybe not even that. Effectively, you are paying for the reassurance that those are the correct parts and will fit the layout. I don't imagine they sell a great deal, and FSB is not strictly a "how to day clone a pedal" it's more about documenting every guitar pedal circuit ever made with no deference to "intellectual property", favoured/protected/exempted boutiques, or false claims of "unique designs". The diy subfora were added a few years after the circuit dissection forums were established, probably because people were posting vero and pcb layouts of the circuits documented and exposed here, and subsequently other people started posting debugging and other diy related questions. Most frequent visitors probably just order parts and blank vero or etch their own pcbs from their own or shared images.

navin1 · Post by **navin1** » 25 Sep 2015, 05:43

Nocentelli wrote:The few £££ extra you pay for the kit is to pay for someone to pick out the parts and put them all in the bag for you.

True also some of these parts are hard to find (impossible to find germanium diodes or transistors in India for example) so the kit ensures you have all the parts required to complete the circuit board (you need to add a few mechanical parts like the DC input and 1/4" input/output sockets, LEDs box, etc.).