DistoFX

Posted on February 28th, 2015

So I wanted to see what all the fuss for the Klon was about. This was the first pedal I have built for a while. I didn’t want to buy or etch a PCB and I kept finding links to tagboardeffects so I bought the components and set to work over the New Year.

The vero board layout mentioned that it might be a squeeze to get the layout inside a 1590B so I took that as a challenge. I ended up using a Hammond Eddystone enclosure which is slightly smaller than a 1590B so I was glad I managed it.

I kept a white colour scheme using white knobs and DC jack along with an ultra-bright white LED.

Since space was limited a 3PDT might not have fitted. I liked how I had mounted the LED to the footswitch when I built my prototype pedal. So I mounted the LED and a millennium bypass circuit to the DPDT footswitch.

I had forgotten how much of a challenge strip board could be. Initially I had a few components in the wrong place but this made me look closer at the circuit. I like how the dual-gang gain pot varies between a clean and a distorted op-amp, I’m tempted to try a similar design again. The pedal isn’t high gain but does vary between a nice clean boost and transparent overdrive. I got some really nice sounds turning up the gain on an Orange Tiny Terror.

The nut used to fix the DC jack screw on from the inside. This means the board cannot be removed once the DC jack has been attached. To get round this I used a JST connector so that the DC jack and power leads could be disconnected from the main board.

Since the pedal so compact I need a way to prevent the board touching the case. Use some thin clear plastic. I created a cover to go around the components and fit inside the case.

The final build on my pedal board and powered on.