Friday 17 February 2012

Skreddy Lunar Module Deluxe

A great modern take on the classic fuzz pedals by Skreddy:

Edgy, Aggressive Silicon Fuzz

The Skreddy Pedals™ Lunar Module  was designed for "that" certain silicon fuzz tone guitar solo I fell in love with on a best-selling 1973 album.  I intentionally voiced this thing aggressively so it will cut through any mix.  Very satisfying and addictive "vintage" fuzz tone.

Unlike typical silicon fuzzes, which can sound thin and raspy, the Lunar Module has a dark, brooding character.

Classic late 60's/early 70's fuzz tones with extra control, versatility, and added noise reduction. Using 3 transistors instead of 2, a pre-distortion bass control, and a post-distortion treble control, the Lunar Module yields a multitude of uses.



BUY A KIT

117 comments:

  1. Y'all see the description at the top? When you build it & don't forget to include the 100uf to ground & "pre-gain", that is what you'll get! VERIFIED! I used a 1K lin for the fuzz & agree with the comments relating to this

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  2. Awesome, thanks for verifying Matt. I'm sure I've seen someone mention 500-600 hfe so it sounds like the ones you have will be perfect.

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  3. Mint, thanks dude! Really pleased with this one, it sounds Bob on! Got a nice octagonal enclosure from farnell that I'm gonna bung this & the screwdriver in to. Skrunarmodriver?

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  4. Just finished this and it's just amazing. One of the best fuzzes that i've ever had.
    http://mirosol.kapsi.fi/varasto/purkit/lunarmoduledeluxe.jpeg

    I agree. Linear on fuzz feels better. I've also tried 5K for pregain, and that's not bad either. Gives some low oscillation out and darkens it even a bit more. That is when it's turned farther down from 2K...

    Just perfect. Thank you Mark once again.
    +m

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    Replies
    1. Excellent, there's nothing better than making an effect with your own hands that impresses you enough to think of it as one of the best you've ever had. And of course props to Marc for a great design. Thanks for the pic

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    2. This one came out no-so-ugly so i manned up and shared :)

      One more thing though.. I used TO-18 BC109s with marking BC109B5C, which say ~250 hfe on my MM. I guess that's one of the reasons it's so dark,
      +msoft and creamy. I think it beats my builds with AC128s... :)

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    3. Damnit with the typos and not being able to correct them..
      +m

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    4. Here's another shot: http://mirosol.kapsi.fi/varasto/boxes/lunar.JPG
      +m

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    5. That's great, thanks for all the pics

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    6. NP. I'll take rest of the day off... :)
      +m

      Delete
  5. I tried everything but I can't seem to get mine working. With all the controls maxed I have almost none/very low output and no fuzz. At first I thought my 15n and 3n3 caps were dead so I swapped them but still no sound. Then I saw I reversed the 10u/47u caps. The minus sign on the layout of those radial caps indicates the positive side right? Anyway swapped to the correct position but still no sound. Could I have fried a cap or transistor by the wrong polarity maybe? Before swapping the caps I also used my audio probe and found no sound after the 2k7 resistor. Anyway, here are some pics before swapping the two axial caps. Help would be greatly appreciated!
    http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/9369/frontncp.jpg
    http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5464/backna.jpg

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    Replies
    1. No the minus sign indicates the negative side. Both 100u caps need to be negative to the bottom row (ground). There's a chance that one or more is damaged so they will need checking.

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    2. Ok so put the caps back in the original and good position. Still very little sound. Anything else it might be? The sounds disappears after the 2k7 resistor!

      Delete
  6. I've built this and it works great, except my indicator LED is really dim when on. Anything i can do to rectify that? It's a green LED

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    Replies
    1. Yes I think Marc uses super bright LEDs which will account for him using an 18K resistor. Swap that for something like a 2k2 or 4k7 and it'll be brighter.

      Delete
  7. done thanks a lot, this pedal is absolutely superb!! not bad for my first fuzz and first build.

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    Replies
    1. Nice one, and very brave for your first build. I think I made about 15 Fuzz Faces and Super Hard Ons before I had the guts to try anything bigger! :o)

      But it just goesto show if you're careful and take your time you can do anything. Klon next then!

      Delete
  8. Hey, I'm looking to build this as my first pedal, I've done lots of work inside my guitars, so I'm gonna jump in head first with pedals. I'm also not out to build anything I don't want to play with, so this is where I've landed!

    I'm going through HELL trying to source parts for this guy. I've managed to find everything on smallbear except for the capacitors, specifically the red ones. Any tips for locating these? Smallbear doesn't list anything in nf, even after converting to pf or mf/uf, they still never seem to have what I'm looking for.

    Any tips or a noob-friendly BOM would be much appreciated. Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. The type shown in my layouts are Panasonic ECQ-"?" which can be polyester ("B"), stacked metal film ("V") or polypropolene ("P"). There are other designations but those are the common ones in effect pedals. But you don't have to use that specific brand if you can find similar on Smallbear like polyester box, greeenies, mylar etc etc. Just look at any polyester radial caps with the correct pitch, or with long enough leads for the rows spanned in the layout.

      2nF - 0.002µF
      3.3nF - 0.0033µF
      4.7nF - 0.0047µF
      5.6nF - 0.0056µF
      15nF - 0.015µF

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. Im looking forward to building this,going through a Gilmour phase atm
    I had to order BC108c instead if bc190c
    I presume it will be ok ?

    Also what Milkit commented
    100uf to ground & "pre-gain"
    is it necessary & is that the right value ?
    wt

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    Replies
    1. Yes 108's will be fine, and I'm not sure on reflection what Milkit meant by that, it's all correct as far as I can see. I'm sure he'll pop in soon :o)

      Delete
    2. Here I am. Best thing I can advise on is, build it, omit that cap & you'll soon see what I mean ;0)

      When I made mine, I got quite giddy & was soldering like a wild animal to try & get this running ASAP & as a result I forgot to place & solder the aforementioned cap. It didn't take long for me to spot it, but during that time, there was an awful lot of swearing, smoking & coffee drinking.

      (I have no idea why or how a wild animal would solder)

      Delete
    3. Is this the one already shown on marks layout between ground & pregain 2 or another one connected to which lug ?

      Keep off the smokes man the e-cigs will do it,4 months for me now !
      Thanks WT

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    4. Ah right, I understand your confusion now bud, apologies. It was the one that's already there at K3,L3 that I left out by mistake!

      Delete
  11. Thanks Mark!
    And congrats on your millionth hit

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  12. Built it yesterday & not working. I went over everything & it seems fine
    I can plug in the 9 volt but when i plug in a jack from another pedal it kills all power ??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Post all the transistor voltages and we can see if anything looks odd

      Delete
  13. all reading around 715 on my multimeter
    Thanks

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  14. I actually had the dc jack wired wrong
    It lights up now but with a very faint sound
    Could i have blown something when i wired it arseways
    Any help apperciated
    Thanks
    WT

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You could easily have damaged one or more of the electrolytics. Really you're going to have to probe it to see where the problem is arising with the signal.

      Delete
  15. Hi can anyone tell me the voltages they get at the transistors? Trying to debug a build. Thanks in advance. By the way, in a recent internet search I found that Skreddy (Mark) gets his transistors from Rapid electronics in the UK. For what it's worth, Rapid are a good company and I've used them for a while now.

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  16. Finally got around to rebuilding this one
    everything's working but the volume is quite low
    Mush until 4 o'clock & then kicks in any ideas
    Thanks in advance
    WT

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  17. are these guys just crazy noisy when idle? I built mine and it sounds amazing while I'm playing, but when I'm not it hisses as if I had two big muffs with the tone and gain cranked in series!

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  18. This is by far my favorite Fuzz. I built this sucker and sold it to a buddy..So depressed it's gone i'm building another for myself. I need it...Gotta start building two at a time...

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  19. got mine completed today. ;-)

    http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Effects/Fuzz-ODs/LunarModule/LMMD-01.jpg

    http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Effects/Fuzz-ODs/LunarModule/LMMD-02.jpg

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  20. This one has been on the shelf for a while so today i went through everything
    all components, wiring, pots are correct

    Transistor voltages are

    Q1 C; 6.0
    b; 2.1
    e; 0.7

    Q2 c; 1.0
    b; 0.6
    e; 0.0

    Q3 c; 3.6
    b; 1.0
    e; 0.4
    I've tried everything with this
    Please help !

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  21. Should have added
    It does work but at a low volume
    checked all resistor & cap values are correct

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can't check the voltages, as i don't have a single unit left. But i can say that the layout is ok. I've built six of these without any issues.

      You should probably use an audio probe to see where the signal dies.
      +m

      Delete
  22. Thanks Miro !
    Ill have to go down that route

    This is my second build & both didnt work
    Out of the 40+ pedals I've built, its the fuzzes that give me bother for some reason

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  23. Just finished this and it sounds fantastic! I originally had a 5KC pot but it sounded horrible. Thought it was a build error on my part. Got hold of a 1KC pot and this thing came to life! Obviously using a 5K pot is too big of a substitution. My favourite fuzz at the moment :-)

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  24. Jesus, this one really got me by surprise. By far one of the best fuzzes out there.

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  25. Hi,
    This pedal sounds great! The only problem I have is a noise Pregain pot. Very scratchy.
    I've change it twice but nothing has changed. What could that be?
    I've used Linears for both Fuzz and Body.
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That would be a feature. Pregain pot is basically hot-biasing the first stage, so the scratchiness is to be expected.
      +m

      Delete
  26. 18k CLR? im assuming thats to make the LED not blind you on stage?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it's because Marc used super-bright LEDs

      Delete
  27. Hello everyone, my nane is Umberto and i came here while i was searching a good layout for this pedal. I'd like to start mine using BC549b transistors (250/260/270 hfe). May I ask you guys to post your transistors voltages in order to check if everything is work ing fine?

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hola, folks,

    I built this thing thinking I had some BC109Cs but all I have are BC109Bs. So I have tried it with those, BC550Cs, and BC170Bs and all I get is a really off farty sound if I play really hard on the low strings. Plucking a higher string gets nothing.

    Before I go and spend around $3 a pop for BC190Cs just to find out it's not the transistors, can anyone confirm another transistor that will work? It doesn't have to sound as good as the BC109C, it just has to be functional so I can figure out where the issue is.

    Very grateful for any suggestions :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are you sure your transistors are orientated correctly? Sounds like an issue other than transistors to me...
      Cheers
      Dave

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    2. I guess no matter how many pedals you build, there's no substitute for basic troubleshooting :/

      Dave, what you said prompted me to check the transistor orientation again. They were correctly oriented but you also led me to check a few other basic things.

      One last resort I use is the cutting wheel with a Dremel rotary tool. I carefully go over the tracks where ever there has been any soldering in case it's too small to see but eluded a good knifing. The hard part is the fact that you're free-hand wielding a cutting edge meant to cut hardened steel that is just slightly wider than the space between the tracks (so you're already eating into where you don't want to, the trick is to make it as little as possible) and any small twitch will cause it to dance across several tracks and just gouge the copper good, so it's not something I like having to do.

      In this case, however, it seems to have done the trick! I ended up loading it with BC549Cs which sounds pretty damn good. I'm going to listen to some demos and based on those vs. my build I might go ahead and order some BC109Cs.

      Thanks for the prompting to check the basics, Dave. After doing this for a while it's easy to get used to jsut kicking out the little details without much thought, but it usually ends up coming right back down to those same basics when things don't turn out right :/

      Delete
    3. No problem, glad you got it working ok. I actually have a magnifying glass on my desk for checking for solder bridges and incomplete track cuts which really helps.
      Enjoy the pedal!
      Cheers
      Dave

      Delete
  29. This thing is driving me nuts. I already built this with no problems at all, a one shot deal. Now I'm trying to do a second one and all I get is a small farty signal. I've probed around and if I'm reading the layout correctly, the Q3 collector should give out maximum fuzz before going to brite/volume controls, right? I'm probing around with all pots maxed out and Q3 base is giving out full on fuzzhell but the collector sounds about the same as the output. I've tried various transistor here switching the orientations. What the crap am I missing? Do these voltages make any sense to you guys:

    Q1

    C 4.67
    B 1.45
    E 0.96

    Q2
    C 0.6
    B 0.5
    E 0

    Q3
    C 9.19
    B 0.59
    E 0.52

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    Replies
    1. Triplecheck the 2K7 and 10 resistors on the right hand side of the Q3. You should not have the supply voltage at Q3 collector.
      +m

      Delete
  30. Thanks Miro! Now I've got something to work with. They both seem to measure fine on my multimeter, I also tried measuring straight from the copper track so they're also soldered in good. I think I'm gonna go through every single resistor value now.

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  31. Oh goddamnit it was the 1k pot all along. I was planning to swap that for linear all along. I failed to measure the other side of the broken pot and missed it, the other half was working ok. Oh, well. Now it works. Thanks!

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  32. For anyone looking for an alternative to the 1k anti-log pot for the fuzz control, I just put this together with a 5k linear in that position and added a 1k5 resistor across legs 1 and 2. The resulting taper is fantastic.

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  33. Finished my first effect pedal build (not counting the Cornish Buffer which was a trial run and worked).

    Even though I thought I'd been very meticulous, checking resistor values, caps etc, and carefully boxed it up, it didn't work. Using the information above, I determined there must be an earth bridge somewhere. After much searching with a magnifying glass and knifing, I double checked the layout - low and behold, I'd put a cap pin in the wrong hole, once sorted, TIME blasted from my amp!

    I now know to breadboard the thing BEFORE boxing and double check a third time to make sure my component placement is correct. The advice on here is brilliant - thanks to everyone.

    What an awsome pedal. Thanks Mark for the vero, and Skreddy for the original. Now to try the P19 and a vibe of some description :-o

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    Replies
    1. It really is an amazing pedal, I'm currently doing my third build. You really don't need to breadboard anything. Would be kind of a waste to have to break it down and solder together again after breadboarding. BUT always test it out before boxing! I've gotten used to cutting decent wire lengths by just eyeballing and I wire everything before boxing. The only thing I need to resolder after boxing is the DC jack.

      Delete
  34. I just finished wiring and boxing this thing today. Worked perfectly and the sound is just astonishing! Definitely a contender for favourite pedal of all time:-)

    http://www.inkshed.dk/2014/03/07/diy-stomps-the-time-piece-lunar-module-clone/

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    Replies
    1. Great job, thanks for the pics.

      Delete
    2. Thanks. It's my first time squeezing that number of parts into a 1590b, so the inside is a little more messy than I like. But well pleased with it anyway.

      Delete
  35. Just finished!
    wonderful vintage fuzz pedal!
    very versatile!
    thanks Ivlark!!

    https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GB1QLDQ8TSk/Uxmpo6_2mUI/AAAAAAAAAFw/8GcauVVzNTY/w1235-h823-no/P1160203.JPG

    https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-14PjrfdRoLg/UxmppU2VqjI/AAAAAAAAAF0/cxGnp5Ayhx8/w1239-h823-no/P1160231.JPG

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    Replies
    1. Nice looking build, thanks for the pics :o)

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  36. Morning All,

    As the first stomp I've managed to get an effected noise from, I'm over the moon with this project. A few concerns arise though:
    - The brite pot has no effect on the signal
    - The amount of fuzz is minimal compared to some of the videos I've seen of this thing in action
    ...based on these symptoms, could anyone point me in specific directions before I start at the beginning with a full fault find?

    Any assistance gratefully received!

    Larry.

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  37. Chaps,

    Solved the issue with the brite pot - I'd bridged via a rogue spot of solder.

    All of the pots now function - they're very interactive aren't they - however they still don't really provide an extreme fuzz and I wouldn't describe it as a distortion as detailed in the official blurb.

    Anyone else experienced similar issues and found a solution to this?

    Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. P.S. The pots seem to have minimal effect on the sound until after 1200/1300. Is this normal?

      Delete
  38. How would it affect the sound if I used 109B instead of 109C?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A BC109B transistor is a lower gain (hfe) than the C version. As mentioned above a gain of 500 to 600 is suggested for the circuit. The B version is only rated at 180 to 460 and the C version is rated at 380 to 800.
      The sound will probably have a much weaker distortion/fuzz than what is intended and will probably have much less gain overall.
      I used ones with gains just over 600 and it sounds awsome

      Delete
  39. I found that the BODY- pot works a little "wrong" if it´s A100K. All the action is at the very end of taper. Anyone can confirm would B100K or C100K be better? FUZZ control seems OK when it´s C1K.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I reveiced some new pots and tested this myself. B100K is good as BODY. And the other four are fine as stock.

      Delete
  40. I added a starve pot to mine, makes this even more versatile. 10k seems to be a bit overkill, so maybe a 5k or even 2k lin will do just nicely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not a bad idea!
      6 pots will make it rather tight for 1590B :) Should be doable, but tight.

      BTW, love you screen name :) Mistäs päin suomineitoa sitä ollaan?
      +m

      Delete
  41. I posted this to the FSB, and I'm hoping someone here might be able to help.


    I built a LMD on veroboard and I get no sound. I tried multiple transistors and still nothing but oscillation when the fuzz and the volume are dimed. I tried probing the signal from the output back, but as soon as I get to Q3 theres nothing. My voltages are really weird.

    Q1 9.2, 1.68, 1.52
    Q2 .99, .52, 0
    Q3 7.1, .99, .33

    I've been very lucky with the first fifteen pedals that I've built on vero. I'm always able to find my mistake. But this one has me stumped.

    Here are some pictures of the board.

    http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab154/VanDerchuck/D8902374-6FE9-496E-8A3F-C083A86B88C6_zpslqmxskke.jpg

    http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab154/VanDerchuck/E0D011DF-201C-42C5-B8D9-EB345B4CB981_zps3l5omfzt.jpg

    After taking the lower picture I went back and cleaned up that spot under my just under my finger at the top left. Any help at this point would be greatly appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Try inverting the three transistors, flat face left to right E B C. Clean the space between the rails!! :)

      Delete
  42. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  43. Isn't the 10u axial cap supposed to face the other way?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, it's a negative ground circuit so the input goes to the negative lead

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  44. This thing is killing me! It's my 12. build and the others have all been succesfull and I have already built one of LMD which worked straight away. Now I am on my second build an have run into trouble.

    Bypass works and the LED comes on but I get no sound when I switch the effect on. When I max the pots I get a high pitch noise and a grounding noise when I turn the body knob to full.

    I have checked all pots, cleaned between all the rails and triple checked all connections.

    The transistor voltages are:

    Q1
    C: 4,21
    B: 1,50
    E: 1,46

    Q2
    C: 0,95
    B: 0,56
    E: 0

    Q3
    C: 4,70
    B: 0,99
    E: 0,36

    I have taken pictures of the front and back of the board: http://www.inkshed.dk/2015/04/03/unavngivet-2/

    Any help, would be greatly appreciated at this stage:-(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi mate.the 100uf bottom left seems to me that had to be one hole below. am i right?

      Delete
    2. Mate, you're my HERO! I thought I'd been so careful building the board. Can't believe I missed that. But moved the leg of that cap one hole down and it fired right up.

      Thanks a lot!

      Delete
    3. glad i helped!
      sometimes a second pair of eyes, or your own eyes the next day, can spot what you will never find if you're on the same board for 3 hours or more searching for the mistake!
      speaking from my painful expirience...!!!

      Delete
  45. Yeah, I know. Nothing like a fresh set of eyes:-) Anyway, this is what you helped bring into the world (and onto my pedalboard): http://www.inkshed.dk/2015/04/03/walking-on-the-moon/

    And thanks again:-)

    ReplyDelete
  46. Hey guys, I need your help. I was playing with an overdrive in front (a PlexiDrive), and then suddenly the Skreddy stopped sounding. The voltages are very weird in Q3, the collector is only 0.74v. I noticed that the 10k resistor marks 6.40v on one end, the one connected to the 2k7 resistor, and 0.74v on the end connected to the collector. Any ideas? And also, when the pedal is connected to the power source, the box feels like having static, and when it's turned on, the "electric" feel goes - but so does the sound... Thanks in advance!

    ReplyDelete
  47. hi friends, just finish my broad, sounds very well,
    thanks for Mark's layout, and here sharing some photos, cheer.
    https://goo.gl/photos/oSAAP7L1kTcxUf286

    ReplyDelete
  48. Hi , anyone help On the LUNA Module where do I connect the LED+ wire too , from the Vero board. Sorry for the daft question Pedal building is still all very new to me.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Hey Stuart, on the pic LED+ goes above the Fuzz 3 wire on the vero and the negative connects to lug 1 on your 3PDT footswitch if you are following the usual ofboard wiring.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Gavin , I have a 2.2k resistor connected to the +leg and resistor connects to 9vDC. Does the above still apply .

      Delete
  50. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  51. So if you come across a vero with LED+ on the board it means you just need to connect to wires(red & black is what i use to distinguish + an -) without the resistor as the current limiting resistor will be on the board (normally a 4k7). The - then goes to lug 1 3PDT footswitch. If no LED+ is on the vero layout then the full offbard wiring applies were you solder your resistor to the LED + leg and attach that along with your +9v to the positive terminal on your dc socket and again the - wire goes to lug 1 of the 3PDT. Hope thats clearer.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Hi
    I have bought this pedal kit on bitsbox, and I'm very exited to trying to build it.
    Thank you very much for your diagram.
    I'm a very rookie in this exercice, and I have some trouble to connect componants that are not on the board (jack slots, alimentation slot, footswitch, potentiometers) because those are not on the scheme.
    Is there someone to share a complete scheme, with all components, wires and connections ?
    Sorry for my very low level of skill, and thank you very much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I realize that my question was a bit heavy.
      So I did a little diagram myself, it will be easier to help me, and it could be usefull for someone else.

      here : http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=746336schemacomplet.png

      Can you tell me if my connections you seem OK?

      And it remains for me 2 questions:
      - Where should I connect the mass of the jacks slots ?
      - If I connect 9 volt battery like on my diagram (on the alimentation) does not risk having problems?

      Thank you very much in advance for your help !

      Delete
  53. Hi Torto,
    your wiring diagram looks almost correct. The ground(mass) lugs of the jacks should be connected to any ground point. I usually connect the DC jack ground to the input jack ground and take a wire from there to the output jack ground.
    If you power your battery like in your diagram it will be in parallel with your power supply, which is not good. Most DC jacks have two lugs for 9V, one of which is switched off when you insert the plug. If you have one of these you can take your battery + to the switched lug so it's disconnected when you plug in your power supply. This document shows how it's done:
    http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_sw_dcjack.pdf

    And if you want to add a switch to turn your effect on and off, you can find a how-to here:
    http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.nl/2012/02/offboard-wiring.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello mr Luzz ! Thanks you very much for jour help ! It's really helpfull ! that is the perfect answer for me to start to work.

      Delete
    2. Hi
      I'm back...
      I have made a new diagram including footswitch and 9V battery here : http://hpics.li/98dd7e0
      I wish it's right, and may be it will be usefull for an another newbee.
      I'll start the hardware work the evening.
      Thanks again

      Delete
  54. Hello everybody.
    So I have finished my pedale yesterday evening, and as I suspected it doesn't work :).
    My suspicions goes to :
    - bad welds, too bigs and touching themself between different tracks. I will check this.
    - footswitch connections => there is 3 x 3 pods, but is there a top and a bottom ? If I turn it in a bad way, may be it can explain my problem. How can I reconise the good orientation of this part ?

    Thank you very much

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So it's me... Again...
      My problem is that the LED doesn't bright when I connect the battery.
      The funny thing is that when I connect the battery upside down, the LED is shining.

      I have check the welds, all is OK.
      I have check the wires connexions, all is OK.
      I have check the components location,all is OK.
      I have removed the footswitch and the DC alimentation, and connected directly the wires.
      I realized that 10uF and 47uF Axial Electrolytic have a polarity and that they was upside down connected :) => I have reversed them
      I realized the same stuff for the 3 BC109C NPN Transistors

      And now... the problem is the same... :(

      Is there an upside down component that can explain that the LED is shining when battery is upside down connected ?

      Thank you

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    2. There have been some reports lately of LEDs with the flat side not actually being negative, which would explain your issue.

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  55. lvlark, thanks so much for posting this one! I heard this pedal many years ago in a demo vid, and had the GAS for it. I bought a Dark Side of the Moon board from Guitar PCB and put it together, but always got a very gated fuzz sound out of it. I didn't spend a lot of time troubleshooting, but just left it in the Fail Pail.

    Finally got around to putting this vero together (actually, my first vero build, but I have a good deal of experience with perf and PCBs), and after a little bit of troubleshooting some solder bridges, I got love. Such a fantastic pedal. Thanks again!

    BTW, working transistor voltages for those who are debugging:

    Q1, C|B|E: 5.19 | 1.48 | 0.88
    Q2, C|B|E: 0.98 | 0.57 | 0.00
    Q3, C|B|E: 4.47 | 0.99 | 0.40

    This one is so epic, it may even force the Fulltone '69 clone off my board!

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    Replies
    1. Great..pls let us know what's the HFE/choice of transistors

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  56. anybody knows how to turn this to a Hybrid Fuzz Driver?

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  57. i've been downsizing my pedal collection... literally. smaller enclosures were needed and i can't go without the lunar module so i crammed it into a 1590g size
    http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah213/absolutelyfibulous/IMG_20170828_072932491_zpsh3yos3pd.jpg

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  58. 2nF is a strange value. What difference in sound would it make, if I just use a 2n2 cap?

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    1. Nothing audible. About all of the caps available have at least 10% tolerance. I'm quite certain you won't notice a difference with 1n8 or 2n2 in its place.
      +m

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    2. OK, thanks! I thought so. ;)

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  59. i made it...:) it sounds beautiful indeed! can someone explain to me what is the 5n6 cap doing? whats gonna change if i put lets say 10n cap there? (everything is soldered already and i wouldnt want to desolder) all i know is its connected to the body pot which defines the amount of bass going in predrive... thanks in advance!

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    1. The 10n cap will be fine in there. With the 5n6 you may find that there is slightly more treble at that side of the pot, but taming that side would often suit me anyway.

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  60. Thanks IvIark..
    that's why I was asking. It sounds good as it is but with that "slightly more treble at that side of the pot" as you said.
    Cheers!

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    1. IF you look at the Screwdriver which is very similar, I think that uses a 15n in that position. With anything like this your own personal taste is more important than what was in the original. And I say that despite having the utmost respect for Mark Ahlf's ears! :o)

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  61. i already put an old 10n/63v ERO KT there was a diference sonicaly and i found it more useful.
    just would share that my BC109C transistors are all in the 260-300hfe range. Q3 position ended up with a 2n5210 (305 hfe and lower transition freq). the pedal nails the "FF into a crunchy amp/drive pedal" sound.
    i like the result very very much...and that was possible thanks to this site and IvIark and all the guys here!
    and deep bow to Mark Ahlf of course:)

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  62. I built this and it works but my volume output at max isn't that loud. Not much over my bypassed signal.

    I used Liner Pots for the Body and Fuzz and a couple .5 watt resistors of the sale value in a couple spots. What wouldn't have an effect, would it?

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    Replies
    1. No, they wouldn't. As usual, start by checking for component placement, including transistor orientation, and then, if possible, try more transistors.

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  63. I got the transistors from Mouser.

    Is the 10uf input cap having the Negative side toward the input?

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  64. Transistors have an HFE of 600

    Q1
    C: 4.8
    B: 1.6
    E: 1.0

    Q2
    C: .94
    B: .57
    E: 0

    Q3
    C: 4.7
    B: .94
    E: .35

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  65. Thanks for the layout :) built this last year in an 1590BB enclosure and added a starve pot since there was room for an extra pot. Beautiful pedal that sounds great also as an overdrive. This was my second build ever so really happy that it turned out alright. Did experiment with different values for fuzz (5k, 2k) but ended up using linear 1k.

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