17
Sep2009
Building the BSIAB2 (Brown Sound in a Box 2)
One of my hobbies is building guitar effect pedals. I used to build electric guitars but it got kinda hard to keep them all since they took up so much space. I know just enough about electronics to be dangerous, and I can solder pretty well so this hobby is fun for the most part.
I spent a good part of the past weekend building my second BSIAB2 distortion pedal. There wasn't anything wrong with the previous one I built, but there were a few modifications I wanted to try and I didn't want to mess with desoldering components just to play around with it.
I got the pedal from General Guitar Gadgets and they just so happend to have a sale on the BSIAB2 this month (10% off) so I decided to buy another one and do the modifications on the new build.
A note for any aspiring guitarist who wants to try their hand at building an effect pedal: learn how to solder first! Learn and practice good soldering skills before attempting to do any of these pedal projects. You'll save yourself frustration of destroying your kit. Trust me on this!
Anyway, I don't usually bother painting the guitar pedals I make, but since I planned to run this pedal with my bedroom setup all the time, I decided to put the effort in and make it pretty.
I went with the Van Halen red, white and black stripes because this pedal is supposed to sound like Eddie Van Halen's original Marshal 100 watt Super Lead. It is the closest thing in a pedal to getting that sound, so I thought, why not?
Audra and I went to a variety of automotive stores looking for paint. I wanted a nice sparkly, candy red. It was tough to find here in Hawaii. Eventually I found something close enough and started to get to work.
Okay, so for those of you who are curious: the knobs aren't labeled but this is what each one does. From the far left is the volume knob. This controls how loud the effect is. The middle knob is the tone knob. This controls the overall tone of the effect (low to high cut). The last knob at the top row is the gain knob. It controls how much distortion or gain the pedal puts out. The silver knob in the middle is a new modification to the pedal called a contour knob. This knob allows you to control the contour of the mid-range frequencies of the effect. The toggle switch next to it is a fat switch which basically cuts
R6 on the circuit board.
So how does it sound? Pretty awesome. I A/B'd it to my original build and there is so much more versatility to the sound with the contour knob installed. I'm still experimenting with different components on the interior. It really does give you the sound of a Marshall amp in a small pedal. Impressive! Maybe one day I'll record some clips of my own with it.
You can see the results of the finished build below:
How does the sound compared to a POD?
better? worse? equal?
I'm listening to some live Robben Ford on YOUTUBE as I write this.
Whos your favorite guitarist(s)?
What songs can you play?
Laters, Chun
Hey Chun,
I guess it would depend on what you are going for. I had the original POD and the POD 2. I also had a Vox ToneLab (original huge pedal board version). While at first listen I liked the sound you really still can't beat the real deal just yet. So I guess in my opinion, this analog pedal sounds better than the digital emulation of a POD. Don't get me wrong though, I thought the latest Vox ToneLabs sound great... just not my cup of tea.
If you are looking for a Marshally sounding pedal to go into a clean channel of your amp, this pedal can do it. I'm still fiddling with the internals so until I'm done with that, I probably won't make any sound clips of it.
Favorite guitarists (in no particular order): Eddie Van Halen, Steve Lukather, Eric Johnson, Larry Carlton, Mike Landau, Dann Huff, Phil Keaggy, John Mayer.
What songs can you play? Hrm. Maybe ask Audra for that answer. LOL.
Where's the sample mp3?
I'll make a sound clip after i'm done tinkering with the internals. Still trying out a few different caps. :-)
Looks like your on to something. I'm looking forward to hearing that MP3. I have amarshal 1987X 50 watt altered by Dave Bray. Kramer Guitar focus 1000, Dean Dime O Flame, Gibson Explorer. Had a few anolog Pedels from the 70's but they got stolen in a move.
Will you be selling the schematics for this Stomp Box? I'm a EN but haven't really messed much with pedels.
You can get the schematics and even a kit to build it from General Guitar Gadgets. It's a fun project and pretty easy as long as you take your time.
I just picked up a MXR DynaComp this weekend. Love that squishy compressed tone.
Will you tell us how to do the modifictations to his? I love the ideas of the countour knob and the fat switch.