Electronic 3 Band Equaliser Stripboard Veroboard Layout

There are lots of circuits on the net for 3 band EQs but I wanted something a bit more powerful than the usual 20+dB/20-dB things on offer so I went on eBay and bought some grey market MC3340P attenuators from china and made this thing.

I made mine for a send/return loop in a very simple valve amp I have but it's perfectly capable for hi fi audio.

it's worth noting that this works very well if you turn the knobs slowly because they aren't actually in the audio chain - they are part of the voltage control architecture of the chip

It's also worth noting that it will work on 9 volts if you want to make it into a guitar pedal.

Obsidian Overdrive Stripboard Veroboard Layout

This is quite a brutal high gain overdrive by Joe Davisson based on another pedal called the massacre.
it's a very mod friendly circuit - some good places to start are changing some of the capacitors (C1, C6 and C8) for example.
I actually knocked the layout up in 15 minutes but because I have been in so much pain due to a dislocated knee - it took me 2 sittings to actually build it (the valium kicked in 30 minutes into the first half)
anyway it sounds immense
if you have any issues with switching refer to FX Switching

REMEMBER THIS IS A POSITIVE GROUND CIRCUIT - it needs it's own isolated supply eg a battery
otherwise you're going to have a bad time

Guitar FX Switching Diagrams

I keep getting requests to do some diagrams on how to wire up guitar FX circuits so I've done the ones I use.

Vox 1901 Distortion Stripboard Layout

Well - it's been a while, I'm in the late stages of moving house and I also dislocated my knee quite badly - I had to shift it back into place myself cause where I fell trapped me.
Anyway all that has prevented me from doing any new projects until now. things are still hectic and I can't walk so it may make things a little sporadic.

I thought I would do another guitar distortion cause I am recording an album at the moment and I wanted to try out the Vox 1901 Distortion so I did and here it is.

My bands albums;
Double Negative - The Day The Dark Won
Double Negative - When We're Gone
Digital Versions

Simple Dual LED Battery Monitor stripboard layout

I got some 3 pin dual LEDs and I thought a good use for them is as little 9v battery status monitors for my guitar pedals. so I came up with this quick circuit that fades from green to red as the battery voltage drops (as shown in the video)

it's a good little mod circuit for any project you want to build that uses a 9 volt battery (or existing stuff you own)

Ruby Amplifier Stripboard Layout

I got the schematic of this from http://www.runoffgroove.com/ruby.html - I just wanted to make a really quick test amplifier and the Ruby amp is good for this. it's quite loud relative to its size.

if you want some power amplifiers with more power than this one check out the "Power Amplifier" stripboard layouts on my site. http://www.paulinthelab.com/search/label/Power%20Amplifiers

My bands albums;
Double Negative - The Day The Dark Won
Double Negative - When We're Gone
Digital Versions

Mains Failure Alarm Stripboard Layout

I have a fish tank and in it - lives many tropical fish - however the other day the plug socket switch the heater was plugged into somehow got knocked off. luckily I noticed the heaters light wasn't on and the water temp hadn't dropped so the fish were safe however I wanted to make a little device to warn me if the mains got turned off somehow without having to wire it to the mains directly.

So here we have a little device that starts beeping if the mains is turned off - obviously this is battery powered but the battery should last a long time because it's very low current draw.

the trim pot on the board adjusts the sensitivity of the antenna which is just a piece of wire than you wrap around the cable you want to monitor.

Green Wizard Guitar Overdrive Distortion Stripboard Layout

I've been working on this for quite some time. I've always wanted to design my own distortion pedal and finally I have.
I used 2 main parts for this - one is a TL081 general purpose J-FET op-amp and the other is a more special LT1037 op-amp - I chose this for the high-end clarity and low end solidness... haha not really (I don't believe that crap) no, I chose this because it is a very fast and low noise op-amp. it also has input current limiting diodes which affect the type of distortion this pedal gives you. it is also quite low power (in the order of about 2.5 mA)

I did a quick video demonstrating how it sounds which I will attach below.

the name comes from my favourite cartoon growing up - "the flight of dragons"  hopefully I will make 3 more of my own stompboxes for the other 3 wizards in that film.

NB - I put germanium diodes in this and it improved it drastically 

Ellas Stylophone Stripboard Layout

I have a 2 year old niece called Ella and I wanted to make her something - so I thought I would make her a Stylophone.

NB: there were a couple of errors due to me somehow pressing the "up" button in "DIY layout editor" after I had built this but before I had rendered the image. these errors have been corrected

the original error was; the "tuning board" was listed as being connect to pin8 of IC2 - however it should be connected to pin 7 of IC2
I also missed out "R4" in the schematic (cause I drew the schematic after building it)

Me and Ella

Hifi OPA2134 General Purpose Preamp Stripboard Veroboard Layout

in my last post I made a RIAA preamp for my turntable and I decided I wanted to make a general purpose hifi preamp for iPods, PCs, and whatever else you need to plug into your HiFi

so here it is - based on the OPA2134 opamp (again)

although I haven't tried it for this, I'm sure it'll work well as a instrument preamp too

RIAA Phono Preamp Stripboard Layout

I'll start this off by saying I'm not that keen on record players but last night I dusted off my old Garrard turntable and promptly realized my amplifier doesn't have a phono input which meant no RIAA de-emphasis equalization. Or in other words my records would sound like shit.
So I opened up eBay to buy one - then I remembered that I know how to make things so that's what I did.

I didn't do it for the site specifically but I thought I should share it with you people in case you ever have this problem. I also used top quality parts such as the OPA2134 op-amp - this is the perfect type of application for this part - it is an op-amp designed for the full audio range.

as a side note - read the product reviews for this IC on the texas instruments page - some of them are hilarious - here is one quote "Replace those TLO72 with these and the difference is huge! (extended low end, smooth mid-range airy top end)"

people really like to talk a lot of shite about things that are not there! - this is a very low noise op-amp optimized for the audio frequency range. if it made things sound "extended, smooth and airy" then it would be a poorly designed product. 

Anyway - if you don't want to spend a load of money on a OPA2134 or you want to try it with a cheaper op-amp any audio dual op-amp will do. I tested mine with a RC4558 (cause it was nearer than the OPA2134)

it is powered by a 20 volt supply, though I'm sure it will work at lower voltages.

 

1 of 4 Guitar / Instrument Selector Studio Aid Stripboard Veroboard Layout

I personally created this project because I have alot of guitars and I thought it would be nice to be able to select between a few of them in a recording session using a footswitch instead of plugging/unplugging over and over again however I'm sure people will find other uses for it.

What I will say is that it gave me alot of problems when I actually made it because I rushed and cocked up loads of stuff like IC orientations etc. so take your time and double check things!

 

EMF Ghost Detector Stripboard Veroboard Layout

I'm not a big believer in ghosts and all those paranormal reality shows only ever seem to film ghosts with no other aspiration than to knock on stuff however EMF is something I find interesting because we're surrounded by electro magnetic radiation (whether or not you believe it's paranormal is up to you) and I wanted to build a EMF detector - so I did and here it is.

there is an audio output so you can hear/record the actual EMF being displayed on the meter.
it's quite important that you have the pickup inductor mounted away from the device (as you can see in the picture) because you don't want to pickup the EMF of the device (not that there's much of it!)

so if you go out ghost hunting with this - make sure you send me the pictures of the places you're hunting cause I love abandoned places.
and if you record anything weird send me a link!

LM1036 Hifi Preamp And Tone Control Stripboard

I've done a few stripboard layouts for hifi low wattage power amps on this site including the most recent 2 watt one;
http://www.paulinthelab.com/2014/04/tpa6021a4-2-watt-stereo-amplifier.html

or this 110mW one;
http://www.paulinthelab.com/2013/12/mp3-headphone-amplifier-tda2822m.html

Or even this 6 Watt beast from 2012;
http://www.paulinthelab.com/2012/08/6-watt-desktop-headphone-amplifier.html

So I thought it was about time a did a sort of stereo HiFi front end for these power amps and I remembered that I had some LM1036 ICs which are a really cool all-in-one basic EQ/Balance/preamp and Volume control

All the pots are 47K Linear
The voltage range is between 9 - 16volts
the official Datasheet can be found HERE

TPA6021A4N 2 Watt Stereo Amplifier Stripboard Veroboard Layout

This is one of the best amplifier ICs I've used -
there is no noise (well barely any)
it has a built in digital volume control so you can just use a single gang pot to control the volume (or a microcontroller if you want)
it has an on/off switch that fades the audio in and out so you don't damage your speakers/headphones with pops and it is also very low voltage 3volts - 6volts
the only downside is the max rating is 6 volts so you can't just whack a 9v battery in it -
but 2 - 3 AAs and you're laughing.

I built this to use with my iPod but I strongly advise that you don't turn it on with your headphones on because this goes VERY loud. easily loud enough to damage your hearing instantly!

NB: there is now a hifi preamp with bass/treble/balance controls that works well with this project LM1036-hifi-preamp-and-tone-control

Loud Beeper LM386 Stripboard Veroboard Layout

My gran is ill and is staying with me so I wanted to make a little but loud alert beeper in case she's not well in the night and needs to get my attention.
I just roughly followed the schematic from the LM386 datasheet HERE for the squarewave oscillator

I used a little laptop speaker and it works very well. remember - the bigger the speaker - the louder it will be.

Electro Harmonix LPB-1 stripboard veroboard Layout

a quick cheat layout - as Jimi pointed out the LPB-1 is exactly the same as the screaming bird save for 2 components so here I will post the layout with the components altered.

Electro Harmonix Screaming Bird Treble Booster Stripboard Veroboard Layout

Another low gain treble booster for treble boost April.

Guitar Lead Muting Studio Aid

I've had this little box stuck to the side of my bench for quite a while to plug various leads into while they are out of use but still plugged into amplifiers/fx or other studio stuff to basically stop the equipment buzzing at me. My friend said it might be useful for other people so I'm sharing it here.

What is it?
a little box which is essentially a jack plug socket with a 47ohm resistor across it.

Its uses:
a lot of my guitars have active pickups so you can't just leave the lead plugged into them and leaving the lead on the floor buzzing away while you're messing with with a song is a big annoyance

I also have a few different FX chains that need to be isolated from each other so this comes in handy then as well.

The little box is at arms reach so I can just grab the lead easily and not have to twist my back reaching for the bugger.

Vox Treble Booster Stripboard Veroboard Layout

3rd layout for Treble Booster April - it's also my 100th layout - I was going to make one of my own designs for the 100th but I haven't got a couple of the parts so this has to be the 100th.

This treble booster is a low gain one - definitely a nice sound though.

Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster Stripboard Veroboard Layout

the 2nd Offering in "Treble Booster April" - the Rangemaster. I used the AC128 transistor in mine primarily because I didn't have any OC44s left I also added a 1N4001 diode to protect the circuit against reverse polarity - no, it doesn't change how it sounds and yes, you can leave it out if you don't believe me.

I know the 5nF transistor can be difficult to find so in the actual layout I put 4.7nF capacitor but given the nature of capacitor tolerances a 5nF rated capacitor would probably measure that far out anyway.
anyway - this is a lovely treble booster and I even used it in the song posted below so you can hear it in action.