I am a guy from the UK near manchester and I love electronics I also play music and sing words - I wouldn't say I'm a singer but I can sing in tune and some people like my voice however that's not important, electronics are important.
Once when I was 2 I found my dads screwdrivers and unscrewed the 240v mains socket and got electrocuted by it - I went down and told my mam that the mains bit me, if you have ever been electrocuted you'll know that AC kind of does feel like it's biting you.
My first words were (according to my mam) "look at the light"
I was always a bit of a weird loner so my time was divided between learning music and playing with electronics, granted - the first years of that were spent taking things apart much to my dads annoyance because it was usually his stuff I was taking apart - stuff that wasn't broken (initially)
I was given my first multimeter at the age of 5 for christmas (I still have it, it's a Maplin Precision gold) at 9 the guy down the road gave me my first CRO (oscilloscope)
I've always had a massive problem with numbers - I have whats known as dyscalculia which is like dyslexia but it affects numbers rather than letters, this has caused me all kinds of issues within electronics but if anything it should prove that I am more passionate about the subject than most because working out the formula of something takes me about 10 times longer to do than the normal person.
having said that - I try to use Math as little as possible. luckily, in this day and age calculators exist for so many electronics things on the net.
I got a letter published in Everyday Practical Electronics
I also appeared on EEWebs featured engineer
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHi Paul,
ReplyDeleteJust to let you know the layout for the Turret Tube Screamer has a couple of minor errors. The output signal should be taken from the junction of C11 and R13. The end of R13 shown as 'OUT' should be grounded. The resistor shown as R10 below IC1 should be R16, still at 10K ohms though, but R10 already appears in the RHS strip below C7.
Paul,
ReplyDeleteWhile you are amending the Turret tube screamer based upon my observations above, you might want to alter the transistor orientations. In the original 2SC1815 are used that is an NPN but it has an unusual pin out. Viewed from above with the flat on the package facing to the right the pins from top to bottom are as follows, B, C, E, but for the transistor you suggest, the 2N5088, the pin out, viewed from above with the flat on the package facing to the right is, C, B, E. For Q2, the collector needs to be at 9V, whereas you have the base at 9V. The signal needs to be applied to the base, and the emitter should output the signal to the junction of R15 and R14. Q1 seems to have the same problem with 9V being applied to the base rather than the collector.
Hope you don't mind me pointing these errors out. Thanks for posting the info.
Cheers,
Pedro26
of course not - I reverted it to draft till I have time to look at it.
DeleteI didn't really want to post that TS thing but I needed content when I started the site so I just posted everything I had in the .diy files folder. the problem with the very early layouts is that they were just little projects I did for myself which is why I paid very little attention to making sure component numbers like R1 etc. corresponded with the schematic. the TS was a different thing, I imagine I did the layout and fixed mistakes after I built it but deleted the wrong .diy file which is what got uploaded here unfortunately.
I was going to reply to your post but I realized after I moved it that you hadn't contacted me via the "contact me" button so I couldn't cause the post was gone etc.
but yeah - if there are legitimate errors (which are rare, cause I make them before posting) it's better to let me know so people don't waste their time building it
Congrats on a very interesting site Paul. Nicely done.
ReplyDeleteWanted to ask you Paul: how do you organise your collection of resistors? With the various values I imagine it wouldn't be hard to fill a box and a half of those drawer cabinets.
ReplyDeleteJohn
the resistors take up 2 and a half of those draw cabinets and then I've got a big stack of SMD resistors/capacitors and boxes with power resistors in them.
Deleteone cabinet has the preferred value resistors with 1% or worse tolerance and the other cabinet has very specific values up to 100k with tolerances better than 1%
the capacitors only take up one of the cabinets because after a certain value/WV they get too big and have to be stored in boxes.
Since I took that picture there are 2 more cabs so now there are 10 mostly filled with ICs / trasistors / diodes / lazers / LEDs / displays and other semiconductors of every type - the bigger draws have stuff like programmers, sensors and the small motors from CD drives .
then there is a special wooden cabinet (not in the picture) that has all the special very expensive ICs in it (there is one type of IC that costs over $500 for example)
in short - once you get going it doesn't matter how many cabinets you get - you can always fill them! haha
Hi Paul!
ReplyDeleteI came across your site while looking for stuff on the Deacy amp and BM treble booster. This in turn came about after seeing Queen & Adam Lambert last Wednesday (21st Jan) at the O2 Arena in your neck of the woods.
Love your workshop! Wish mine were as good!
Now I spotted someone had built your theremin. I'm looking at similar circuits to yours and just wondering how yours performs sensitivity wise. I breadboarded a similar design but sensitivity was quite poor.
I'm also looking at designing a volume control for it but all digital and pulsewidth modulated. On first look it's overkill but I want to keep away from voltage control if I can!!
Good site mate, keep it up!
John.
Thamx Paul you do great work!!! used your lm1036 bord for a pre amp love it....never stop brother!!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Paul,
ReplyDeleteIs it possible and where to get your email? We would like to get in contact with you regarding an offer.
Thank you,
Katarina
sponsor@mrosupply.com
Love your story Paul and just keep grinding. You've clearly conquered the dyscalculia in your own way and your site is a goldmine.
ReplyDeleteHello Paul,
ReplyDeleteI wanna thank you for the great projects you have posted, especially your 'Deacy Amp'. I was thinking, is there any way to convert this from an amp to a guitar pedal? If anyone would know how it'd be you :)
If you feel inclined to post such a mod, I'm sure I wouldnt be the only person happy to see it.
Thank you and have a great day
signed usagi
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI had a question regarding the “Links” page on your website. Are you accepting suggestions on this page?
If you are, I would like to suggest adding EE Power under the “RESOURCES AND TOOLS” header. They are digital publication focused on the power electronics industry. The publication features technical articles, design tips, and application notes from the industry’s leading power electronics engineers and application experts. Here is the URL for the site if you’d like to check it out:
https://eepower.com/
Let me know what you think of this suggestion or if you need any additional information!
Best,
Marge
could you please produce a vero l;ayout that uses the xr2206 ( or what ever ) to produce a very nice sounding sine wav for diy light organ or cds cell theramin. i enjoy making these types of circuits and usually they utilize 555/square wave which is such a bummer to my ears . i like trying to pair these circuits with delay , filter and ring mod circuits . i am really impressed with the sound of the sine function on the xr2206 but i am sure this same pleasant tone can be achieved using different semiconductors . thanks again so much for all your work .
ReplyDeleteHi Paul, may I start by saying I listen to your 'through the strip' often and although being over 60yrs, 'Ben's song' makes me fill up every time I hear it! Great album and I love your arrangement of 'Umbrella' and 'Poker face'. Now, I have followed your schematic for the greg Fryer deluxe and it's working ok (makes my strat sound like BM red special, well enough to recognise the tone anyway!) My question is, what should the collector bias voltage be? I know R G Keen says 7v ish for a gremanium transistor but this uses a silicon one.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work,
Carl.