# Dark Rift Delay - with 1uF box caps



## DAJE (Dec 5, 2021)

They said it couldn't be done. I said "Hold my beer".

I bought 8 of these 3.5mm width 1uF caps from Tayda. Ended up using 7 and my spare full sized 1uF cap, so now I have a spare slim 1uF cap.

Most of the slim 1uF caps (the large red ones in the pics) fit in with little or no adjustment. Bit crowded but do-able. C17 and C28, though, were never going to fit in that space.

My solution: pic 1. I used my full-size 1uF capacitor because I needed the long legs, the slim ones only had short legs. I really should have bent the legs closer to the cap, and I also should have trimmed the legs so they didn't stick up so far in the gap on the component side. See pic 2, left center. On the other hand, they're pretty safe there, and not likely to get shorted. Anyway, lesson learnt, I'll do it better next time.

Pic 3 shows the complete board before I attached most of the external stuff. I attached the lower 3 pots earlier in the process because I would have had trouble soldering them with all the other components in the way.

Pic 4 is complete after testing and confirming everything worked. I bought two PT2399s from Tayda because everyone says they're a bit of a gamble, but the first one I used works perfectly.

Perfectly? Yes. I was expecting to have to do some troubleshooting but once again my OCD checking and rechecking of everything before I soldered anything paid off with a pedal that worked perfectly first time.

And, the best news is: I LOVE it. Total psychedelic space rock wonky weirdness and a huge range of usable sounds, if "usable" means "broken in a really cool set of ways" to you. Maybe it's the magical mojo box caps, but I hear no extra noise or interference with this pedal, and the PT2399 exceeded my low-fi expectations.

Pic 5 is the mug shot, pics 6 & 7 are the glamour shots.

Great fun. I highly recommend this pedal.


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## Barry (Dec 5, 2021)

Nice job!


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## ianmarks (Dec 8, 2021)

Bravo! Lovely looking enclosure.


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## DAJE (Dec 9, 2021)

I made a demo video. This is literally the first video I have ever made, and the first video I have ever recorded on my phone other than testing that it worked.

I'm thinking of doing some less amateurish videos, but I wanted to see how easy it was to do a super quick and dirty demo. The answer is; pretty easy.

Of course the angle is all wrong, I just balanced my phone under the edge of my amp, made sure it was pointing at the pedal, hit record and played the first thing that came into my head, using the last setting that was on the pedal. Since it came out OK, I'm posting it here. It sounds fine for a direct to phone recording. I'm a bit surprised by how much it doesn't suck, really.

EDIT: The flashing lights are just some USB Xmas lights I have, not intended to be visible but I like the effect. The only other pedal that's on is my Kliché Mini.


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