Version One Big Muff Pi Build

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HNB
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Re: Version One Big Muff Pi Build

Post by HNB » Mon Jun 15, 2020 4:04 pm

Got the other two pots today and soldered them up.... AND IT WORKS!!!! Everything works as it should. The transistors have a ton of gain. Even all the way at low, it has come powerful distortion. Cranked up and it goes pretty wild. I put the parts in the enclosure and got it all closed up. Just waiting on knobs from the UK and it is pretty well finished. :D

ImageIMG_20200615_164214 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200615_165104 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200615_165110 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr
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Re: Version One Big Muff Pi Build

Post by StevenO » Mon Jun 15, 2020 7:26 pm

Awesome. I have one of Jay's. I never use it but I also refuse to sell it. Great pedal!

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Re: Version One Big Muff Pi Build

Post by Jay » Tue Jun 16, 2020 6:27 am

StevenO wrote:
Mon Jun 15, 2020 7:26 pm
Awesome. I have one of Jay's. I never use it but I also refuse to sell it. Great pedal!
Wondered what happened with the second one I made... nice. 8)

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Re: Version One Big Muff Pi Build

Post by Jay » Tue Jun 16, 2020 6:36 am

HNB wrote:
Mon Jun 15, 2020 4:04 pm
Got the other two pots today and soldered them up.... AND IT WORKS!!!! Everything works as it should. The transistors have a ton of gain. Even all the way at low, it has come powerful distortion. Cranked up and it goes pretty wild. I put the parts in the enclosure and got it all closed up. Just waiting on knobs from the UK and it is pretty well finished. :D
I think I ultimately used 2n222a transistors in mine but I would have to double check. Whatever they are, they don’t sound exactly like my particular original triangle muff but they don’t make massive amounts of fuzz either. My original is kinda overdrivey compared to most Big Muffs. It also hisses like a basket full of cobras.

Worth keeping in mind there could be a problem that’s causing the pedal to make that much fuzz but you’d have to take it apart again and do some double checking/testing to sort that out.

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Re: Version One Big Muff Pi Build

Post by HNB » Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:35 am

I think it sounds great. I ordered two more different triangle kits to build to try out and also to kill some time. :) Will be fun to ab them. The transistors I used were the ones used in the mini big muffs. :) It isn't noisey really, just major fuzz if I crank it.
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Re: Version One Big Muff Pi Build

Post by HNB » Fri Jun 19, 2020 8:03 pm

Knobs came in! I am pretty happy with it. :)

ImageIMG_20200619_205800 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

One of the version one kits came in also. I will get to work on it this weekend and compare the two. First observations of course is that it is WAY smaller. Also the circuit board layout looks different. (Although I am guessing it still functions the same, just less spread out all over.)

ImageIMG_20200619_205808 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr
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Re: Version One Big Muff Pi Build

Post by HNB » Sat Jun 20, 2020 2:21 pm

Got working on this second triangle big muff. :) It is a kit from General Guitar Gadgets. Having a multimeter is really helpful with this stuff since it helps tell you resistor values and such. It has gone together pretty well so far. Only issue I have is resister 21 is supposed to be 100k but it is a 160k. I emailed him to ask about that. Hopefully my soldering is good. :) Not a ton of directions on how to connect the pcb to the other parts on the website. It is a good thing I have made a few pedals before or I would be in the weeds. My pots, switch, jack, power, and led are wired, but not connected to the board until I get details on that one resistor that seems to be the wrong value. Here is how it is looking. (WAY SMALLER than the one from Jay.)

ImageIMG_20200620_151429_376 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200620_151537_767 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr
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Re: Version One Big Muff Pi Build

Post by HNB » Fri Jun 26, 2020 2:49 pm

Got the resistor last night and put it in today and got it wired up. This kit was kind of a pain in the ass because it didn't have directions on how to wire the pcb to the pots, jacks, and switch so I used a diagram but struggled with the volume pot since it didn't have pcb holes for the three legs. Using a picture of the guts I found on their site, I got the ground lug soldered to the ground strip of holes. I eventually figured out that output from the pcb needed to go to leg one and then out from leg two to the footswitch. That got volume working correctly. The only other issue I had was I had leg one and three wired reverse for sustain so the knob was working backwards. I swapped them and it worked fine. Here is a pic of it next to the BIG muff.

ImageIMG_20200626_123055 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

The third kit also came in so I got to work on it. The directions with this kit (fuzzdog.co.uk) have been much better. It also came with a footswitch pcb to connect the jacks, power, and board to. The pots on this one are PCB mounted and set up to fit the predrilled enclosure. I like that they have plastic on the back of the pots so they don't cause any shorting with the pcb. It has gone together pretty well other than I ended up having an issue with three resistors. I have three left to put on the pcb but the two I have left aren't the right values for any of the three spots. I messaged the seller. I am sure he will send me out the three I need to finish it up just like the other kit when I had one resistor that wasn't the right value. Here are progress pics of the third one. I just realized there aren't any knobs with this kit... LOL

ImageIMG_20200626_150014 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

ImageIMG_20200626_150025 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr
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Re: Version One Big Muff Pi Build

Post by Damn-Deal-Done » Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:44 am

Hi. Can I please ask where you got this Triangle Muff kit from? I would really love to build this. I can't find any kits with a PCB or case like this anywhere. Cheers

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Re: Version One Big Muff Pi Build

Post by HNB » Thu Nov 25, 2021 11:29 am

The big one was from a forum member. The smaller one I got on ebay.
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Re: Version One Big Muff Pi Build

Post by Damn-Deal-Done » Mon Nov 29, 2021 12:47 pm

Cheers. I am interested in the big one. Mainly the PCB and case. Do you know if it is something he sells commercially?

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Re: Version One Big Muff Pi Build

Post by HNB » Mon Nov 29, 2021 2:25 pm

I don't believe so. He had a few of them made iirc and sold me the one he wasn't using. :)
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Re: Version One Big Muff Pi Build

Post by Jay » Mon Nov 29, 2021 5:02 pm

Damn-Deal-Done wrote:
Mon Nov 29, 2021 12:47 pm
Cheers. I am interested in the big one. Mainly the PCB and case. Do you know if it is something he sells commercially?
The enclosures came from a gentleman who was making a knockoff case for a bit. They were expensive at the time and probably a pain in the ass so he gave up. This was probably 12 years ago at least. The PCBs I etched myself. I'll send you the art work if you want to give that a shot.

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Re: Version One Big Muff Pi Build

Post by Lordrahulcool » Mon Nov 29, 2021 7:54 pm

Could i get the template file.?

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Re: Version One Big Muff Pi Build

Post by Damn-Deal-Done » Wed Dec 15, 2021 8:19 am

Jay wrote:
Mon Nov 29, 2021 5:02 pm
Damn-Deal-Done wrote:
Mon Nov 29, 2021 12:47 pm
Cheers. I am interested in the big one. Mainly the PCB and case. Do you know if it is something he sells commercially?
The enclosures came from a gentleman who was making a knockoff case for a bit. They were expensive at the time and probably a pain in the ass so he gave up. This was probably 12 years ago at least. The PCBs I etched myself. I'll send you the art work if you want to give that a shot.
Sorry for the delay, been really busy. Yes please send me the file. I definitely want to make this. Just want to try make myself a replica as a fun project. I can imagine the cases were a pain to make. I might give it a go with some sheet metal and a hammer.

Cheers

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