# MBP Tourbus (Deluxe Memory Man)



## MichaelW (Sep 6, 2022)

Without a doubt the most complex build I've attempted yet.

I've been wanting a Deluxe Memory Man for a while now and was looking pretty closely at the J. Rockett Clockwork pedal before I started the DIY pedal thing.

Looking at the original MadBeans "Total Recall" DMM clone was intimidating as hell so I decided to wait until I got better at building.
When MBP released the 125B version, the "Tourbus",  @thewintersoldier encouraged me to give it a try and I'm grateful for the nudge from him to take it on. 
Thanks Chris!

Having said that, it still sat in my pile of boards for a couple months, 27 pages of build documentation gave me a headache just thinking about building it!

I've been slowly collecting all the bits and pieces for the build so it wouldn't feel like such an upfront investment, which in turn would have put even more pressure on me. And the whole point of building pedals for me is pressure relief, not added pressure hahah. But this isn't an inexpensive build, there's some pricey components in it, namely the MN3005 BBD chips. 

Anyway, I'm on PTO this week and had the time to focus without a lot of distractions. I mentioned in another thread this really isn't the kind of build I can whip out in bits and pieces between meetings and work like I usually do. It takes a bit of concentration. 

I slowed down my process for this build and probably have a solid 8 hours into it (not counting trouble shooting) spread out over 2 days. Which is a lot of time for me in a single build. I highly recommend taking the time to read through the documentation before starting, there's like 3 pages dedicated just to biasing and setting the trimmers (more on that in a sec). There's some quirks to the pedal by design in order to make it all fit into a 125B and it's a brilliant bit of kit. (9mm pots, Positive Ground topology, etc).

Once I got started on it, it really wasn't as bad a I had imagined, it's just a lot of components and lots of parts to it all. The few MBP boards I've built have all been well laid out and despite the density of the build, there's really plenty of room to work. Pads are arranged nicely so it's not like walking a tightrope and super clean soldering is not strictly required. (Although it's always helpful).

There's also enough density of components that I tossed my typical build process, which is by height of components (resistors first, then diodes, etc) but rather approached it by sections so I would have room to navigate the forest of leads sticking up.  

This was also my first double decker PCB build, and finding the low profile components took me a while. I wound up with a mix of low profile electrolytic caps that I found at Electronic Goldmine, and subbed either tantalums where I could not find a low pro E- caps and even subbed MLCC's in a couple of spots.

After I got it all together, the recommendation in the build docs is to methodically test for voltages before boxing and adding IC's one at a time testing for voltages along the way. Of course, I did not have a breadboard set up like in the docs to do this so I went ahead and boxed it and started testing the first board in the box. This is the first positive ground circuit I've ever built and it be honest it confused me a bit. (Still confusing me hahah) but it didn't seem like I was getting the right voltages. I was getting them in all the right spots but they were all too high. I went ahead and added the IC's, stacked the second board and fired it up just to see what it would do, which was a lot of nothing.

I had bypass but it would not power on let alone give me any effect. I DM'd @thewintersoldier crying and he pointed me towards where the problem might be.
By that point I had to step away for a bit, I was getting a little frustrated and disappointed. I went to get a hair cut and some groceries, and there I was sitting in Great Clips looking at pictures of my build on my phone and noticed a mistake, I had installed the 1N5817 backwards, but that would not account for the symptoms I was having. Giving it some more thought whilst getting my eyebrows trimmed I had a plan to try when I got home.

So turns out it was a bad voltage regulator, now how often does that happen? I dunno, never had a bad one before and I have no way to even check them.
I got the L7915CV from Tayda and they say ST Micro on them. I have no way of knowing if they're legit or not, but it's a freaking voltage regulator, not much to them right? 

Then I thought hmmm, maybe the "CV" designation wasn't the right part (BOM called for L(M)7915). But anyway I had a couple extras so I swapped it out, swapped the 1N5817 the right way and voila, VOLTAGE! 

My LED came on, so I boxed it up and fired it up and have lovely modulated delay! 

So back to setting the trimmers, I had set them all to noon, with the intention of coming back to follow the extensive instructions on how to dial them in.
Well, the pedal sounds fantastic with them all at noon. Plenty of gain, no noise, no distortion, lots of range in the modulation, depth and level. So I'm like, hmmm....do I even WANT to mess with it? I'm not putting the screws in the box quite yet but I'm planning to play it for a few days as is, I may just leave it. 

So how does it sound? In a word fabulous. It sounds better to me than a real Deluxe Memory Man (although it's been a few years since I played through one).
It's quieter, no hiss, no noise, no weird crackling sounds. No goofy power supply (it does need 18v though). I'm super pleased with it. 
With the modulation down low, it's a great sounding analog delay. With the modulation set higher you get the classic DMM chorusey thing going on.

I did the CH/VIB toggle mod and put it on a pot so that I don't have to choose one or the other but can get all the in between sounds. 

There's a clipping indicator LED along with the status LED. I used a clear LED for the clipping indicator and if I were to do it again, I'd pick a different color. Dang thing is bright as all get out and flashes at you. 

Super happy with how it all turned out, although not my cleanest off board wiring since I had to take it out of the box to make the fixes. 
I can see this becoming my main delay and I'm toying with the idea of building a second one for a stereo dual delay setup so I can get the sounds I'm currently using my Hydra for. (The Andy Timmons dotted 1/8th into a quarter note thing).  I wired It for True Bypass since it will be sitting my buffered loop. 

Very cool pedal and highly recommend it if you're looking for a DMM sound in a compact package without all the baggage of a real DMM.


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## Harry Klippton (Sep 6, 2022)

Nice one @MichaelW that's a serious build


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## steviejr92 (Sep 6, 2022)

You did it! Dude this is AMAZING! I love how you got it to fit in that size enclosure! Awesome build as always!


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## Dan0h (Sep 6, 2022)

Epic win dude. It’s like the holy grail of pedal builds. Cheers.


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## steviejr92 (Sep 6, 2022)

thewintersoldier said:


> I told you that you got this, great job👏👏👏


You don’t have to tell me about my pedal ok….


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## Guilherme Collateral (Sep 6, 2022)

That's so tight and clean! Congrats man, and cool building report!


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## szukalski (Sep 7, 2022)

This must just be your peak so far. Really lovely work mate. Where do you go from here?


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## MichaelW (Sep 7, 2022)

szukalski said:


> This must just be your peak so far. Really lovely work mate. Where do you go from here?


Back to overdrives


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## music6000 (Sep 7, 2022)

Wow, another Awesome build!
Your pumping out Pedals like your on a mission! 
I wanna know what happens if you can't get access to your saved Docs on '' what does this knob do''.
Do you write on the back what pedal it is your plugging in?


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## MichaelW (Sep 7, 2022)

music6000 said:


> Wow, another Awesome build!
> Your pumping out Pedals like your on a mission!
> I wanna know what happens if you can't get access to your saved Docs on '' what does this knob do''.
> Do you write on the back what pedal it is your plugging in?


I fiddle with the knobs until it sounds good hahah! 

My mission today to re-work the two pedals we've been chatting offline about. Gonna try some of those substitutions.


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## BryGuy (Sep 7, 2022)

Great build man. Nice job getting it all de-bugged to. Funny how those ahh moments come when you least expect them. I got to get me one of these.


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## fig (Sep 7, 2022)

Gorgeous Michael! 

As I recall, Chris also encouraged me to get mine together.


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## MichaelW (Sep 7, 2022)

fig said:


> Gorgeous Michael!
> 
> As I recall, Chris also encouraged me to get mine together.


Should be a piece of cake for a master like you!


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## joelorigo (Sep 7, 2022)

Fantastic!

And your story on this one is inspiring me to give it a try. Maybe.


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## MichaelW (Sep 7, 2022)

joelorigo said:


> Fantastic!
> 
> And your story on this one is inspiring me to give it a try. Maybe.


I'll repeat what everyone told me, it LOOKS more daunting than it really is. Pretend you're building two pedals 😄.
I've seen your builds, you'll be fine.


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## almondcity (Sep 7, 2022)

Great job. I really really want to build one of these to run vocals through like 1995 GBV


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## Deperduci (Sep 7, 2022)

It is more just take your time than anything, I've had worse luck trying to build a cheapy O-scope to fine calibrate it than the board itself! and I like the usage of the tantalums, I didn't think about it at the time and have 1 alum cap that is almost to tall but there's nothing for exposed metal near it.


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## MichaelW (Sep 7, 2022)

To be honest the main reason I use tantalums is for the size. As much as I like to fit things into 1590B's the tant's work out well and I don't have to do all the crazy bending of electrolytic caps.

And also for these double decker boards where there's a min height. I don't know enough about why they're better, or worse (depending on which side of the fence you fall hahah) but can't hear any difference.  

I have a Byzantium coming up and I'll have to start thinking about whether I have all the right height caps.


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## joelorigo (Sep 7, 2022)

MichaelW said:


> I'll repeat what everyone told me, it LOOKS more daunting than it really is. Pretend you're building two pedals 😄.
> I've seen your builds, you'll be fine.


Thank you!


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## DGWVI (Sep 7, 2022)

MichaelW said:


> I'll repeat what everyone told me, it LOOKS more daunting than it really is. Pretend you're building two pedals 😄.
> I've seen your builds, you'll be fine.


I'll second this. It's a lot of parts, but there's not really anything funky going


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## Diynot (Sep 7, 2022)

Looking good there! Some builds are like rollercoasters, you wait in line staring at that first hill getting all nervous, but then you get in, hang on for dear life, and then it’s over and you can look back and say, “that wasn’t too bad, actually a lot of fun!”. So now that you have the thrill of your first double decker build under your belt, time for the VIIB, Sagan Delay, and Aion Blue Shift (I see you have the Byzantium already).


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## tcpoint (Sep 7, 2022)

I was missing a couple parts and kind of forgot about this.  You inspired me to pick it up, again.  I'm going on a 10 day trip so I'll probably have to wait til I get back.  I'm going to try BettyWont's method of tuning the gain trimpots.  They pissed me off when I built a Total Recall.


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## MichaelW (Sep 7, 2022)

Diynot said:


> Looking good there! Some builds are like rollercoasters, you wait in line staring at that first hill getting all nervous, but then you get in, hang on for dear life, and then it’s over and you can look back and say, “that wasn’t too bad, actually a lot of fun!”. So now that you have the thrill of your first double decker build under your belt, time for the VIIB, Sagan Delay, and Aion Blue Shift (I see you have the Byzantium already).


Yah, I've been eying the BlueShift for a while. It looks like a pretty hairy build too. Not sure what to expect from the Byzantium but I'm actually leaning towards maybe an Electric Mistress variant. Thing is, I rarely use either chorus or flanger, but it's nice to have one when I need it hahaha. I'm in the middle of recording a pedal demo with a lot of guitar parts. Probably my most ambitious demo yet. The one sound I'm missing for a part is a flanger. But between the Phase II and the Tourbus I can get a reasonable facsimile for the part.


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## MichaelW (Sep 7, 2022)

tcpoint said:


> I was missing a couple parts and kind of forgot about this.  You inspired me to pick it up, again.  I'm going on a 10 day trip so I'll probably have to wait til I get back.  I'm going to try BettyWont's method of tuning the gain trimpots.  They pissed me off when I built a Total Recall.


I'm not sure if I just lucked out or what but I still haven't touched the trim pots. It just sounds so good, I can't imagine it sounding any better. I'm really seriously considering ordering a second board for a Dual Tourbus set up. But I may play around with running the Tourbus into my Dark Rift and see if I can get the sound I want. That's a darn nice delay as well. As is the Hydra, sigh so many choices, truly a first world problem hahah.


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## Gordo (Sep 7, 2022)

What a nice build.  That enclosure looks like the glass top on my patio table.  Great write up too, I enjoyed this build because it was stretched out over a few evenings and like you say...you really need to concentrate...so it was a great brain drain for me.

I was pretty much the same with the trim pots although I did put it on a scope and did very little tweaking.  The balance is easier to see than hear and even then didn't make as much of a sonic difference as I thought it would.  I had an original back in the late 70's that got stolen and it was really nice to fire this one up and spend hours soaking up memories of the old one.  You mentioned the noise floor and this one is considerably quieter than I remember the old one being.


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## Feral Feline (Sep 8, 2022)

MichaelW said:


> I fiddle with the knobs until it sounds good hahah!
> 
> ...


Awesome build and attitude!


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## harmaes (Sep 8, 2022)

Awesome build! When are you going to attack the stereo version?


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## MichaelW (Sep 8, 2022)

Is there a stereo version project? I’d just use 2 of them


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## Deperduci (Sep 8, 2022)

there isn't a stereo version, EHX called it that but it was just a split output.


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## harmaes (Sep 8, 2022)

MichaelW said:


> Is there a stereo version project? I’d just use 2 of them


I thought you were going to build 2 in one enclosure? One side out of phase?
The Clockwork from J.Rockett is stereo but no 2 delay times right? https://rockettpedals.com/product/clockwork-echo/


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## MichaelW (Sep 8, 2022)

Hmmmm, I actually hadn't thought of building two in one enclosure....a 1590XX would probably do it. Hmmmmm.........

AFAIK the Clockwork is a single delay but stereo outputs, so I suppose you can get the modulation in stereo. I want two delays


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## Mentaltossflycoon (Sep 8, 2022)

MichaelW said:


> Hmmmm, I actually hadn't thought of building two in one enclosure....a 1590XX would probably do it. Hmmmmm.........
> 
> AFAIK the Clockwork is a single delay but stereo outputs, so I suppose you can get the modulation in stereo. I want two delays


That should fit. I put a viib with a hydra in an xx.  Stacked board wasn't an issue.


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## Diynot (Sep 8, 2022)

MichaelW said:


> Hmmmm, I actually hadn't thought of building two in one enclosure....a 1590XX would probably do it. Hmmmmm.........
> 
> AFAIK the Clockwork is a single delay but stereo outputs, so I suppose you can get the modulation in stereo. I want two delays


If you want a compact pedal that is capable of running 2 different delay lines into each other (caveat, you can’t run them as individual/selectable lines) and like a challenge, check out the VFE Mobius on MBP


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## Fingolfen (Sep 8, 2022)

I was looking at that board set the other day... I haven't decided to take the plunge yet, but it's nice to see one in action!


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## MichaelW (Sep 8, 2022)

Diynot said:


> If you want a compact pedal that is capable of running 2 different delay lines into each other (caveat, you can’t run them as individual/selectable lines) and like a challenge, check out the VFE Mobius on MBP


I think the shortest route to what I want (and probably the most flexible) would be to build another Tourbus. But I'm not in any hurry to do another one....heh....


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## BryGuy (Sep 8, 2022)

MichaelW said:


> Is there a stereo version project? I’d just use 2 of them


Madbean was working on a stereo version but hasn’t hit the streets yet.


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## aefpv (Sep 14, 2022)

MichaelW said:


> I think the shortest route to what I want (and probably the most flexible) would be to build another Tourbus. But I'm not in any hurry to do another one....heh....


Where did you source the MN3008 chips?  I found them on SmallBear, but they are expensive and you need 4 of them.


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## fig (Sep 14, 2022)

Cabintech Global LLC
					

Specialty analog and digital audio semiconductors, synthesizer, and guitar effects modules from Coolaudio, Xvive, Alfa Rpar, and others



					cabintechglobal.com
				




I haven’t price shopped .


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## benny_profane (Sep 14, 2022)

aefpv said:


> Where did you source the MN3008 chips?  I found them on SmallBear, but they are expensive and you need 4 of them.


There was a time when 4 MN3008 chips were more easily sourced / cheaper than two MN3005 devices. With the availability of the xvive reissues, that’s no longer the case.


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## MichaelW (Sep 14, 2022)

aefpv said:


> Where did you source the MN3008 chips?  I found them on SmallBear, but they are expensive and you need 4 of them.


I used the XVive MN3005's from @Cabintech. They were $16.32 ea which I think is quite reasonable. 

This is not an inexpensive pedal to build. But very much worth it!


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## Deperduci (Sep 14, 2022)

aye, only 'cheap' part is the trimmers, rest is either up there, like 3005's or multiple parts(think the 1uf caps are in bulk rate buying territory)but compared to anyhting other than a nano DMM, still cheaper diy and self satisfaction you don't need to klee..


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