I updated this design again. It’s almost ready for production. In this revision, I improved the PCB layout by moving the components that make up the LFO to the left side of the board and the audio path to the right side; this meant I had to move the shape switch to the other side of the board.
I had the board made at PCBWay.com. Their prototyping service is very reasonable at $5 for ten boards, and they often send me 11. This price holds for boards up to 100 mm and 100 mm, which is a great deal!
I always build the boards after every revision to test them out. I’m happy to make another one of these tremolos because they sound so good! The audio path is all transistors. The shape knob opens up a lot of audio possibilities.
The v2.1 Build
I populated the board. Then milled and drilled an enclosure. I fit everything in the box before soldering. The pots and LED are soldered and mounted to the PCB.
Assembling everything without soldering! Makes sure that everything fits well without bending and stressing the leads. This process helps get the pots at the right height with the switch. It also keeps the switch perpendicular to the board.
I milled the enclosure to put the labels and logo on the box. Then drilled everything on the drill press. It’s possible to make holes with the mill but, it’s not practical. The mill is not fast, changing bits is slow, bits sometimes break, and they aren’t cheap.
The drill press, on the other hand, is fast and easy. If you have a stepped bit, you don’t have to change bits!
I wired everything up, and it all worked on the first try! This is the third revision of this board, so all of the bugs have been ironed out!
Close up the box and add some knobs!
This tremolo sounds excellent! I would recommend it to anyone that likes tremolo. The sound is as great, and shape control adds a lot of sonic territories to explore.
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