I made a few small updates to Ugly Face PCB. I needed to do a build to make sure that everything is working as it should. I ordered these boards from PCBWay.com. The service is a very reasonably priced which makes them great for prototyping.
I soldered up the board. This time I used a homemade LDR/LED combo. This circuit will work with just about any LDR/LED. I like the sound of VT5C9 the best, it has a fast response time and wide resistance range which makes the envelope sweep from subtle to crazy.
This board has been pretty reliable so I just solder the chips to the board without sockets.
In this run of boards I made some small 3PDT PCBs to make wiring easier. I soldered this to the ribbon cable and then to the main PCB. I did this all outside the box.
Milled an enclosure with some circles. The abstract designs seem to fit this pedal.
I drilled the enclosure and assembled everything in the box and soldered the pots. This gets the pots perpendicular to the enclosure without stressing them.
I removed the PCB from the enclosure and added the ribbon cable and 3PDT PCB. Then I put it all back in the box.
Before soldering the 3PDT PCB, I did the other wiring. I soldered the power and jack grounds. Then I soldered the input and output wires to the jack and left the other ends unconnected until the 3PDT board has been soldered to the switch.
Now it’s time to solder the switch! I soldered the PCB to the switch, then the input and output wires to the outside connections to the on the PCB. Following this procedure seems to be easiest and most foolproof system.
Signed the back plate, put some knobs on and we’re done!
There were no labels so I put a red knob on the volume pot. Everything else is fun and mysterious.
Would I recommend building this? Hell yeah! The Ugly Face is a rite of passage for DIY stompbox builders. If you haven’t built this yet you need to put it on your to do list!
Would I put this on my pedal board? Maybe, maybe not. It’s really hard to find a context to use this in most musical situations. It’s really hard to find a a place for this without the rest of the band giving you a side eye. If you do find a use everyone will sit up and take notice!
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