# Buddy's Stripboard Builds



## BuddytheReow (Jan 27, 2022)

With all the breadboarding I've been doing recently I thought it would be a fun afternoon for myself to solder something and give my other board a break. It was also a good opportunity to try out the new solder I got from Amazon (it works, but doesn't flow very well). Took me about 2 hours start to finish. This is a Colorsound Tremolo. I have a hard time understanding LFO's for a circuit analysis standpoint, so I decided to build the stock circuit. I did switch out the speed pot for a C100k and am happy with the result. It's a simple tremolo with speed a depth control. I followed the layout from dirtboxlayouts and had no problems putting this together. It was also a good opportunity to use up those annoyingly big chicklet capacitors I bought a while ago. Not sure if I'm going to box this up but I think if I breadboarded a decent sounding fuzz I can make a beautiful monster out of this. My only complaint about this is that it needs a boost of some kind if you've just got raw guitar going into it. All my dirt pedals are much louder.


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## BuddytheReow (Jan 31, 2022)

I got a new soldering iron from Amazon. Nothing extraordinary, but a step up from the super cheap $10 kit I got a few years ago. This one has digital temperature control rather than the analog knob. Better control on your iron.

Anyways, I wanted to try it out on a simple circuit to see if I liked how the iron handled. I decided to whip up a one knob fuzz. The *Black Arts Toneworks Ritual Fuzz*. These simple circuits are a great way to hone your soldering skills without investing too much time into one circuit. I didn't have TP2222A's like the layout says, so I used PN2222A. This circuit is a bit noisy, but with a noise gate it will clean it right up. I'm assuming the tranny's are to blame for that. Anyways, max out your guitar's volume knob and there's a lot of gating, er, I should probably say the signal is hitting the power rails WAYY too hard, but it's workable. Definitely have to roll back the volume knob for some doom sounds.


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## Coda (Jan 31, 2022)

How about a strip board tutorial? This is interesting, but requires a bit of general knowledge…


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## jeffwhitfield (Feb 1, 2022)

Coda said:


> How about a strip board tutorial? This is interesting, but requires a bit of general knowledge…


Ditto here. I look at these strip board schematics and for the life of me I can't figure out what's going on with them.


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## BuddytheReow (Feb 1, 2022)

Coda said:


> How about a strip board tutorial? This is interesting, but requires a bit of general knowledge…





jeffwhitfield said:


> Ditto here. I look at these strip board schematics and for the life of me I can't figure out what's going on with them.


Ok. I’ll do a stripboard write up in the Test Kitchen. I’m assuming you guys want the basics, right? How the board’s laid out, cuts, links, off board wiring (eww…)


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## jeffwhitfield (Feb 1, 2022)

BuddytheReow said:


> Ok. I’ll do a stripboard write up in the Test Kitchen. I’m assuming you guys want the basics, right? How the board’s laid out, cuts, links, off board wiring (eww…)


Man, that would be awesome.


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## SYLV9ST9R (Feb 1, 2022)

Coda said:


> How about a strip board tutorial? This is interesting, but requires a bit of general knowledge…





jeffwhitfield said:


> Ditto here. I look at these strip board schematics and for the life of me I can't figure out what's going on with them.


Guys, start by looking at the different tabs at the top of that page, it's a great starter. http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com


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## PBWilson1970 (Feb 1, 2022)

Learning stripboard/Veroboard opened up a TON of new circuits for me. No more using legs from resistors and capacitors to act as traces. Just make sure you have your orientation correct and make all of the trace cuts and you're in business! 

Here are a few tips that I use when I solder up stripboard:

I use a drill bit just a bit wider than the traces to make the cuts. I just spin it with my fingers until the copper doesn't connect anymore. 
I use a thin sharpie to label the rows and columns to keep me from putting a part in the wrong space.
To cut the board, I use a metal ruler and a craft knife to score the lines on both sides before I snap them apart. The dust is nothing to mess with so use a mask. A small coping saw also works.
I use either magnifying attachments on my glasses or a loupe to make sure that I don't have any solder bridges between traces.
I also have used small zip ties to keep the birds nest of wires a bit more manageable. That's one of the downsides, as you often have wires branching out from both ends which gets messy.
I bought a nice kit of jumpers for breadboarding in different lengths which have been helpful when connecting traces. They are insulated and the perfect lengths to make it easy.

Hope those help.


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## jeffwhitfield (Feb 1, 2022)

SYLV9ST9R said:


> Guys, start by looking at the different tabs at the top of that page, it's a great starter. http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com


Yup, that's exactly what I just did. Definitely some good resources. Pretty much clears things up. Didn't realize just how simple it is.


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## BuddytheReow (Feb 1, 2022)

I just finished my stripboard writeup. Check it out here.





						TUTORIAL - What's the Deal With Stripboard/Veroboard?
					

A few people have asked me about stripboard so I thought I'd do a simple writeup. Turned out a lot longer to make it "simple", but I covered the bases here.  What is Stripboard?  Stripboard is simply a different type of prototyping platform. If soldering is your main vice, this is the way to go...




					forum.pedalpcb.com


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## almondcity (Feb 1, 2022)

I have a question about wiring. The black wire for ground on the left side, does that run to the footswitch? (I guess the middle lug if using PPCB schematics) Do you tie the ground of all three Jacks and run that to the same footswitch lug?


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## BuddytheReow (Feb 1, 2022)

almondcity said:


> I have a question about wiring. The black wire for ground on the left side, does that run to the footswitch? (I guess the middle lug if using PPCB schematics) Do you tie the ground of all three Jacks and run that to the same footswitch lug?


all the grounds need to be connected in some way. The jacks, footswitch, and the circuit itself must all be grounded. You can do 1 of 2 things for grounding. You can connect everything in a ground loop where nearly every ground point has 2 wires going to it. An alternative which I’ve done is make a 4x1 piece of stripboard and put all the grounds to that. Either way will work. I think the second method is called star grounding but I could be wrong on the name


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## BuddytheReow (Feb 4, 2022)

Here's a baxandall tone stack I found on this site. http://guitar-fx-layouts.238.s1.nabble.com/. It also has a variable gain control for volume. I haven't tried maxing it out yet since it's a trimmer and didn't have a screwdriver near my amp.

I stumbled upon this site a number of months ago and wanted to try a layout. For some reason the site was down for a while (maybe a few weeks?) and thought it was kaput. A day or two ago I found out it was back up (assuming they renewed their certificate/license).

Anyways, since this was a new site I was a bit hesitant of trying it out. Since it's stripboard you can basically salvage all your components so I said screw it and pulled the trigger this afternoon.

Fired up on the first try (always a great feeling). To really test I put a dirt pedal in front of it and does not disappoint. This circuit really is just a building block for tone control, but you can put it in an enclosure all by itself since there is no volume drop.


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## BuddytheReow (Feb 16, 2022)

I wanted to get my feet wet with a Bitcrusher type build. These can get really complicated quickly depending on the circuit. This one I found on Dirtboxlayouts and only requires one knob. It also requires only a small amount of parts so I was all game for this one. You could really breadboard this one instead. I used a TL072 for IC1 and NE5532 for IC2. I also used a 2n5457 for the jfet. Putting in identical chips produced no effect. 
After playing around with this for a bit I can say, that, it's....kinda cool, I guess. Really not my cup of tea, but there are others who love this type of effect. Musically you can only use the first 25% of the pot if you're using raw guitar signal. Putting this after a dirt pedal or a booster definitely helps get more out of it. Still on the fence if I want to box it up and sell it or salvage it for some parts and call it a day. Either way I'm going to pass on this type of effect, but I had fun putting it together. Was a quick build.


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## Feral Feline (Feb 17, 2022)

BuddytheReow said:


> Here's a baxandall tone stack I found on this site. http://guitar-fx-layouts.238.s1.nabble.com/. It also has a variable gain control for volume. I haven't tried maxing it out yet since it's a trimmer and didn't have a screwdriver near my amp.
> 
> I stumbled upon this site a number of months ago and wanted to try a layout. For some reason the site was down for a while (maybe a few weeks?) and thought it was kaput. A day or two ago I found out it was back up (assuming they renewed their certificate/license).
> 
> ...


IIRC, the guy behind this layout — Fredrik — is the brains behind Parasit Studio. He has many more interesting vero layouts, many of which are for his own pedals/PCBs and posted on his site.


You continue to inspire, BtR, I wish I had half your energy.


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## BuddytheReow (Feb 24, 2022)

The LPB-1. Originally a pedal in and of itself, it is a textbook common emitter amplifier. It can also be used as an invaluable tool to make your signal louder. This is going into my Guvernator to match the volume of my other dirt pedals. The trimmer replaces the BOOST knob and becomes a set it and forget it scenario.


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## BuddytheReow (Jul 18, 2022)

Here’s the 2-End Blend Fuzz I “designed” in my breadboard thread.

You can find the layout here:





						Buddy's Breadboard and Circuit Design Notes
					

Diggin' the Bredi Deverboard, Buddy! (y)



					forum.pedalpcb.com


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## BuddytheReow (Jul 28, 2022)

The *Thunder Fuss* which I recently designed and committed to vero. I'm still on the fence on what diodes to use, but I'm leaning toward a switchable LED/4148 combo. You can find the schematic and layout here






						Buddy's Breadboard and Circuit Design Notes
					

I’ll have to see what all the FUSS is about ;) One note on the jumper wires, that bottom-right cell, it will be empty long before the others. I‘ve been using bits of bus wire lately rather than buy more boxes of wires for just those sizes.




					forum.pedalpcb.com


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## BuddytheReow (Nov 15, 2022)

Here's a phenomenal Muff variant by Grind Custom Fx. The Ultra Stoner Mk II. I saw this layout online. As soon as I saw the DOOM switch I knew I had to try this one out. The SHAPE control throws your mids back into the mix and the result is phenomenal. If you want something that dooms, this is it. I really want to look into the SHAPE and DOOM sections and may take some time to trace this out to see how this bad boy works.

Oh yeah, this one's verified and definitely getting boxed up.


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## SillyOctpuss (Nov 15, 2022)

First time I've seen this thread and I love it.  👍

I've got a real soft spot for vero builds.  As much as I like the ease of PCBs, there's just something about vero that keeps bringing me back.  It always feels like the essence of DIY to me.


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## BuddytheReow (Nov 15, 2022)

SillyOctpuss said:


> First time I've seen this thread and I love it.  👍
> 
> I've got a real soft spot for vero builds.  As much as I like the ease of PCBs, there's just something about vero that keeps bringing me back.  It always feels like the essence of DIY to me.


Exactly. _True _DIY from start to finish. @MichaelW likes to call these "roll your own" effects, lol


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## aefpv (Nov 15, 2022)

My biggest issue with vero or perfboard designs is the off-board wiring. The box gets to be a mess, but I bet I can do a better job with wire dressing. I will have to try it again. Great posts.


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## BuddytheReow (Nov 15, 2022)

aefpv said:


> My biggest issue with vero or perfboard designs is the off-board wiring. The box gets to be a mess, but I bet I can do a better job with wire dressing. I will have to try it again. Great posts.


Offboard can become a mess really quickly. What works for me are 2 things: keep the wires as short as possible and twist related wires together (i.e. wired to the same pot/switch). It will still be messy but a bit more manageable from a troubleshooting standpoint when/if the need arises.

Such as this...my THUNDER FUSS


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## Fizz (Nov 15, 2022)

How do you know where to wire the offboard parts?


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## steviejr92 (Nov 15, 2022)

Fizz said:


> How do you know where to wire the offboard parts?


The vero layout will tell you that!


EDIT: http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/

Check out this site they have a bunch of verified layouts.


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## steviejr92 (Nov 15, 2022)

aefpv said:


> My biggest issue with vero or perfboard designs is the off-board wiring. The box gets to be a mess, but I bet I can do a better job with wire dressing. I will have to try it again. Great posts.


So for this i lay my circuit in the enclosure where i want it. Then ill just cut every wire to length one by one. Yes its time consuming but i think having neat wiring with these vero builds is very important.


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## BuddytheReow (Nov 15, 2022)

Fizz said:


> How do you know where to wire the offboard parts?


Agreed with what @steviejr92 said. The layouts tell you where to wire your offboard components. They are listed next to the empty hole on either end. Take a look at the second post in this thread to see what I mean.


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## SillyOctpuss (Nov 15, 2022)

BuddytheReow said:


> Exactly. _True _DIY from start to finish. @MichaelW likes to call these "roll your own" effects, lol



That's amazing I've never heard that before.


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## Fizz (Nov 15, 2022)

BuddytheReow said:


> They are listed next to the empty hole on either end.


I saw that on the image but it seemed to me.. that the pic of your real one had more wires coming out of them on the couple I looked at... did you wire it differently?

I had read this last week and added a stripboard that you linked to at Tayda into my cart.  I meant to add a couple more but forgot before I completed the order this weekend.  I'm looking forward to trying this out.. especially since I purchased four 1590 boxes and most of the PCBs I'm interested in are 125s.  

I should be able to make the OD-1 that I am testing on the breadboard small enough to fit in the 1590 with stripboard.. but I don't see a drawing of it so I will have to rack my brain to figure out how to do it myself.  It should be a good challenge but probably above my skill level right now.  I could see figuring it out on the breadboard looking stripboards you linked to but those will probably be too big.


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## steviejr92 (Nov 15, 2022)

Fizz said:


> I saw that on the image but it seemed to me.. that the pic of your real one had more wires coming out of them on the couple I looked at... did you wire it differently?
> 
> I had read this last week and added a stripboard that you linked to at Tayda into my cart.  I meant to add a couple more but forgot before I completed the order this weekend.  I'm looking forward to trying this out.. especially since I purchased four 1590 boxes and most of the PCBs I'm interested in are 125s.
> 
> I should be able to make the OD-1 that I am testing on the breadboard small enough to fit in the 1590 with stripboard.. but I don't see a drawing of it so I will have to rack my brain to figure out how to do it myself.  It should be a good challenge but probably above my skill level right now.  I could see figuring it out on the breadboard looking stripboards you linked to but those will probably be too big.


You’re probably seeing all the extra ground wires needed to ground the off board components…


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## steviejr92 (Nov 15, 2022)

Remember the part where it says gnd that entire rail is ground so you can add ground wire to that entire rail to any off board components that need it…hope that makes sense


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## Fizz (Nov 15, 2022)

steviejr92 said:


> Remember the part where it says gnd that entire rail is ground so you can add ground wire to that entire rail to any off board components that need it…hope that makes sense


Yes it does thanks!  And that helps me see it like a breadboard so it makes more sense.  

Plus, post 19 is a good shot Buddy provided and he has his completed board close to the pic in the same orientation.. that allows me to understand it.. and he used different colored wire for for ground and 9V.





						Buddy's Stripboard Builds
					

With all the breadboarding I've been doing recently I thought it would be a fun afternoon for myself to solder something and give my other board a break. It was also a good opportunity to try out the new solder I got from Amazon (it works, but doesn't flow very well). Took me about 2 hours start...




					forum.pedalpcb.com


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## steviejr92 (Nov 15, 2022)

Fizz said:


> Yes it does thanks!  And that helps me see it like a breadboard so it makes more sense.
> 
> Plus, post 19 is a good shot Buddy provided and he has his completed board close to the pic in the same orientation.. that allows me to understand it.. and he used different colored wire for for ground and 9V.
> 
> ...


Awesome! Im glad you got it! So is the Ultra Stoner MK II the first circuit youre going to stripboard? I say go for it sounds fun as heck! Then you have to post it for all of us to see!  

EDIT: Sorry @BuddytheReow if im messing up your thread!


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## BuddytheReow (Nov 15, 2022)

steviejr92 said:


> Awesome! Im glad you got it! So is the Ultra Stoner MK II the first circuit youre going to stripboard? I say go for it sounds fun as heck! Then you have to post it for all of us to see!
> 
> EDIT: Sorry @BuddytheReow if im messing up your thread!


Nah, it’s cool. I just wanted to show you guys what I’m up to and possibly to inspire to build a circuit that there isn’t a PPCB here YET. Stripboard isn’t hard necessarily; it’s just an extra few steps like cutting the tracks or bending the leads to certain lengths to fit the spacing. IMO boxing it up is the most time consuming, but a very fun puzzle.


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## steviejr92 (Nov 15, 2022)

BuddytheReow said:


> Nah, it’s cool. I just wanted to show you guys what I’m up to and possibly to inspire to build a circuit that there isn’t a PPCB here YET. Stripboard isn’t hard necessarily; it’s just an extra few steps like cutting the tracks or bending the leads to certain lengths to fit the spacing. IMO boxing it up is the most time consuming, but a very fun puzzle.


I agree! You were actually my inspiration and motivation for doing a stripboard build and since I’ve done about 3 or 4 builds already. It’s my favorite experience so far with building pcbs. Seeing your time and effort pay off from scratch is probably the most satisfying and rewarding thing you can do in this hobby. It’s made me want to build my own circuit board in all honesty!


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## BuddytheReow (Nov 15, 2022)

steviejr92 said:


> I agree! You were actually my inspiration and motivation for doing a stripboard build and since I’ve done about 3 or 4 builds already. It’s my favorite experience so far with building pcbs. Seeing your time and effort pay off from scratch is probably the most satisfying and rewarding thing you can do in this hobby. It’s made me want to build my own circuit board in all honesty!


Great to hear! Do you mean designing a PCB or your own circuit from a breadboard experiment to stripboard? I've never tried the former myself but maybe someday.


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## steviejr92 (Nov 15, 2022)

BuddytheReow said:


> Great to hear! Do you mean designing a PCB or your own circuit from a breadboard experiment to stripboard? I've never tried the former myself but maybe someday.


I meant the former! I really want to get into it i still need to get comfortable with working with Spice. Man how cool would that be! I think you should go for it i mean lets talk about the ULTIMATE diy project right?


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## Fizz (Nov 16, 2022)

steviejr92 said:


> So is the Ultra Stoner MK II the first circuit youre going to stripboard?


No.. I'm teaching myself about these circuits with OD-1 schematics I am finding and breadboarding them.  It would be cool to further solidify my knowledge by putting it to Stripboard.  Then someday I hope to create my on PCB of it.  I found a video of a guy on YT who does this... he makes it look easy but I don't think the great folks here recommend Eagle.  He has a few build videos where he goes through circuit design and the PCB design.


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## HamishR (Nov 16, 2022)

aefpv said:


> My biggest issue with vero or perfboard designs is the off-board wiring. The box gets to be a mess, but I bet I can do a better job with wire dressing. I will have to try it again. Great posts.


Off-board wiring doesn't have to be a mess. As BTR says it pays to keep the wire as short as possible. But I also think it's important to make it logical so that trouble shooting is easier. Colour coding is a very good idea. 

There is a logic to populating the interior of the box. I like to put the stomp switch, DC socket and pots in first and get them all wired up first - ground wires, Volume pot 2 to Out, that stuff.  Then I install the jack sockets because most of my pedals have top-mounted jacks these days and they can get in the way of the pot wiring. I like to route this wiring around the perimeter of the enclosure, which makes it neat, keeps it out of the way of the circuit which may help to keep it quiet, and avoids it getting trapped under pots.

Which only leaves wiring the board in place. As I add the wires to the board I kinda put the board where it will sit, pull the wire to the pot where it will connect and cut to length.  That means there is only enough wire to join the board neatly to the necessary connections and no more. It actually doesn't take any longer now that I am used to it and not only is it neat it helps keep the board in place. If I want to make changes later on down the track I can usually just unbolt the lower pots and I can get access to the underside of the board.

I guess it's because I came to building pedals from building amps where lead dress is extremely important that I do it this way. Building amps is all about off-board wiring! 

Here is a recent build. You can see that the in and out wires to the jacks go around the outside of the box, hopefully avoiding any chance of interference from the circuit. In most pedals its not really an issue but I think it's good practice to avoid any problems you might have with higher gain circuits or whatever. For the same reason the wire from pin 2 of the Volume pot goes down the middle, away from the pedal's output wire. Over-cautious for sure! You might also make out that the wiring from the board to the pots is only just long enough. There is plenty of wiggle room really, but not an excess of wire. In general these pedals are very quiet. Maybe that's more down to the low gain of my preferred pedals I don't know, but less wire can't hurt.

Oh, and I do like to sand the edges of the board flat after cutting just as BTR describes. I have a belt sander so it takes all of 30 seconds to do. It stops wires getting caught on the edge of the board.


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## aefpv (Nov 16, 2022)

HamishR said:


> Off-board wiring doesn't have to be a mess. As BTR says it pays to keep the wire as short as possible. But I also think it's important to make it logical so that trouble shooting is easier. Colour coding is a very good idea.
> 
> There is a logic to populating the interior of the box. I like to put the stomp switch, DC socket and pots in first and get them all wired up first - ground wires, Volume pot 2 to Out, that stuff.  Then I install the jack sockets because most of my pedals have top-mounted jacks these days and they can get in the way of the pot wiring. I like to route this wiring around the perimeter of the enclosure, which makes it neat, keeps it out of the way of the circuit which may help to keep it quiet, and avoids it getting trapped under pots.
> 
> ...


Wow. Great explanation and description. You have inspired me. I will have to give the vero board another chance. Your build does look sharp, and with your description, I can imagine the process. Thanks for the knowledge!


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## HamishR (Nov 17, 2022)

More and more I like stripboard because I am always wanting to try different ideas and fit them into a 1590B!  PCBs are a luxury and make building something you know you will like easily, reliably and quickly. And to me Vero/stripboard is kind of the next step for those of us who want to take that circuit and customise it, for better or worse. I love the PCBs I get from here and don't like to mess with them.


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## szukalski (Nov 17, 2022)

HamishR said:


> Off-board wiring doesn't have to be a mess. As BTR says it pays to keep the wire as short as possible. But I also think it's important to make it logical so that trouble shooting is easier. Colour coding is a very good idea.
> 
> There is a logic to populating the interior of the box. I like to put the stomp switch, DC socket and pots in first and get them all wired up first - ground wires, Volume pot 2 to Out, that stuff.  Then I install the jack sockets because most of my pedals have top-mounted jacks these days and they can get in the way of the pot wiring. I like to route this wiring around the perimeter of the enclosure, which makes it neat, keeps it out of the way of the circuit which may help to keep it quiet, and avoids it getting trapped under pots.
> 
> ...


Nice boxing. The tolerances on top-jacks in a 1590B are pretty tight. How do you do yours?


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## HamishR (Nov 17, 2022)

I measure carefully and use a drill press! To get just enough room for the Lumberg jacks I measure in from the sides 16mm and from the lower lip of the enclosure 9mm. The DC jack is in the centre laterally and 10mm from the top of the enclosure. These are the hole centres. The input jack does hit the gain pot and at first is at an angle, but as you tighten the nut it straightens up and I rarely have issues.


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## BuddytheReow (Dec 13, 2022)

Here's a charge pump I'm going to use on my breadboard platform project. This takes a simple 9v input and converts it to 17-18V, 25V, and -9V. This was a breadboard project that I converted to stripboard. I'll need to add a jumper for the 9V input so I can make that voltage selectable too on a rotary switch.


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## BuddytheReow (Dec 16, 2022)

Here's a voltage divider into a buffer I made for my breadboarding platform project. Many thanks to @Chuck D. Bones for the collab and schematic for this. With a 9V input you can toggle anywhere between ~1.75V to ~8.75V. An excellent SAG control for a fuzz.


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