[726] Boss DD-20 Gigadelay Power Problems

Date: July 19th, 2010 | Comments : none | Categories: DIY.

AMZ power supply

The Roland Boss DD20 Gigadelay causes power problems for a lot of people on many different voltage adapters. It is most happy on its own power supply but with a few circuit changes, the AMZ power supply can provide the needed voltage to the pedal.

Since we don’t know what is inside the DD-20 on the power supply input, we can only guess about the design and what is causing the problems. It seems the pedal is creating instability with the regulators, likely by setting up a high frequency oscillation that causes overheating and eventual shutdown.

A few modifications can adapt the power supply to work with the Boss pedal and a complete description of the mods is included with the technical material supplied with the power supply pcb purchase.

The mod has been tested and verified to work with the Boss pedal.

AMZ Power Supply

 

[720] Cleanest Boost Pedal

Date: July 6th, 2010 | Comments : [1] | Categories: DIY.

I often see this question on pedal forums: What is the cleanest and most transparent boost pedal?

One limitation of stompboxes is the 9v power supply. It sets a limit on the voltage swing that can be easily exceeded by a modest amount of gain (boost). The result will be distortion. There is an article in the Lab Notebook which goes into more detail about this.

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[685] True Bypass with Relay

Date: June 29th, 2010 | Comments : [5] | Categories: DIY.

True bypass with relay

This is a project that I developed about 2 years ago for a rack amp system I was working on that has been put aside for now, so I decided to adapt the circuit for pedal use since the programming for the micro had already been done.

This is a 1″ x 1″ pc board which holds an AVR microprocessor that is controlling a latching DPDT relay. The LED indicator on the pedal is also driven by the micro. The soft-touch momentary switches that are shown several posts below were bought for this project.

You can use the pcb to build a new pedal, or retrofit it into a Boss or Ibanez box to give them true bypass.

More info is available here.

 

[709] AMZ Un-Buffer

Date: June 29th, 2010 | Comments : none | Categories: DIY.

Pickup simulator

Back in 2002, I published an article about pickup simulators in the Lab Notebook. The simple circuit can be built in a small metal box with in and out jacks and used as an “unbuffer”…
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[694] AMZ Power Supply Project

Date: June 2nd, 2010 | Comments : none | Categories: DIY.

AMZ power supply

First pictures have been submitted of a completed power supply using the AMZ pcb. Thanks to Gordy for permission to post his pix. Nice job!

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[680] AMZ Tweed Stack PCB

Date: June 1st, 2010 | Comments : [3] | Categories: DIY.

Tweed Stack pcb

First look at the new AMZ Tweed Stack pcb. This project is an update of the classic Booster 2.5 combined with some of the features of the Mini-Tubes Preamp from the AMZ-CD. Several boutique builders offer commercial boxes that are based on this classic project, and this pcb will have plenty of mods to apply to the circuit.

Make a high gain stack-in-a-box or a smoother less distorted analog amp sim. Coming soon!

 

[677] Multi-Fuzz Update

Date: June 1st, 2010 | Comments : [2] | Categories: DIY.

Multi-Fuzz prototype

Here’s a sneak peak at the first project based on the Multi-Fuzz pcb. Some basic testing has been done and now it’s ready to mount in an enclosure.

 

[673] Simple Kill Switch

Date: May 27th, 2010 | Comments : none | Categories: DIY.

Kill switch

This is a simple passive kill switch that can be constructed in a tiny box like the 1590A or even smaller. The circuit is symmetrical so either jack can be the input or output. The resistors were added to make sure that the output of the circuit driving the switch was not shorted to ground, which might cause a problem with some designs. Use a normally-open momentary switch.

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[669] Selling Pedals that use AMZ PCBs

Date: May 27th, 2010 | Comments : none | Categories: DIY.

If you buy a pc board from me, then you can put it in a pedal and sell it. No problem! If you buy 10 or more of the same pcb in one order, I’ll give you a discount.

Also, if you are a boutique pedalmaker and you need some design work or you want custom pc boards for your pedals, I can help you out. Minimum order is 50 boards of one design. Go to my email page to send a private message.

Thanks, Jack

 

[660] Power Supply Cables

Date: May 25th, 2010 | Comments : [4] | Categories: DIY.

Power Supply cables

I found a source for some really nice, ready-to-use power supply cables that are perfect for connecting to the AMZ Power Supply. They are available at a fair price and the ordering info is available on the support page for this project.