JHS Muffuletta

[KaosCill8r]

Yes, yes it was…
and strangely enough their band leader plays a bassoon-like instrument.

That isn't a bong?

True! But if you use your imagination, tools and some found parts, it can be.

[BLOOD EAGLE]

Yes, yes it was…
and strangely enough their band leader plays a bassoon-like instrument.

That isn't a bong?

True! But if you use your imagination, tools and some found parts, it can be.

WHERE THERE IS A WILL, THERE IS A WAY.

[pickdropper]

Yes, yes it was…
and strangely enough their band leader plays a bassoon-like instrument.

That isn't a bong?

True! But if you use your imagination, tools and some found parts, it can be.

WHERE THERE IS A WILL, THERE IS A WAY.

Careful, don't hit that too hard or you'll start randomly adding CGI characters everywhere. It gets ugly fast.

[Chankgeez]

Did Han really shoot first?

[lordgalvar]

http://www.effectsdatabase.com/interviews/brands/trogotronic - an awesome interview.

[Chankgeez]

That's a good read, thanks, I'm learnin' lots o' new things.

Never knew why 3MS changed their name.

Didn't know Trogotronic dude was involved with Arthur either.

[lordgalvar]

And Barely Legal.

I just really like that he has has gone back to the idea that these are "pragmatic" (his word) things that are meant to be messed with, repaired, and exist while still being realistic with materials and sourcing. The people that inspired him was pretty neat to see too. Makes a ton of awesome points about globalization and running a business with ethics and realism.

But yea:

Our instruments were built to last and be repaired rather than tossed in the landfill should they malfunction or get damaged in the field.

which I think, despite being reality or not, SMD is somewhat percieved as that (by manufacturers and consumers).

[jrfox92]

I built a Hammered Dulcimer with my Dad from scratch. We've had it for a couple of years and neither of us have ever even attempted to learn how to play it.
A friend came by the other day and played the coolest drone music I've ever heard on it without even knowing what it was or how to play it, plus it wasn't even remotely in tune.

[sonidero]

I built a Hammered Dulcimer with my Dad from scratch. We've had it for a couple of years and neither of us have ever even attempted to learn how to play it.
A friend came by the other day and played the coolest drone music I've ever heard on it without even knowing what it was or how to play it, plus it wasn't even remotely in tune.

Good Life Lesson...

[Chankgeez]

This is an interesting thread.

The board reworking / recycling / landfilling of PCBs really has more to do with the internal politics of the manufacturer and the quality of the parts/boards than whether or not it is SMT or Through-hole. Lots of consumer electronics companies have boards that can be easily swapped out, which speeds up the repair for the customer. The boards are then repaired, retested and put into refurbished units. This is a win/win for customers as they get fast returns and different customers can buy discounted refurbished units.

As far as how repairable a board is, there are so many factors it's impossible to boil it down to SMT/TH.

- For most standard SMT components, it's faster for me to repair if the components are on the open side of the board. I can pull of resistors and caps with a pair of soldering tweezers in seconds, clean up the pads and solder on new parts. If I don't have tweezers, I can usually sideswipe the part with a standard soldering iron and still be in business. For more complicated packages, like BGAs or QFNs, they are a bit of a pain. Companies that do a lot of boards with those will often have rework stations to deal with them, but that type of repair may be a bit more difficult for DIYers without access to that type of equipment. Of course, those types of parts don't often have through-hole variants, so it's not an Apples to Apples comparison. Now, if the SMT components are on the underside of the board, I'll need to take the whole pedal apart, which is a hassle.

- For TH parts, I can often change a resistor, diode or a transistor fairly easily without major effort. For many cap types (some of the more commonly failed parts in older pedals) I usually have to pull the board, which, again, is a bit of a hassle. It's more common for me to have to take out the board for TH repairs than SMT.

To summarize, sometimes SMT repairs can be VERY fast, others not so much. Same thing with Through-hole. It varies.

Nice post, pickdropper, reminded me a bit of this blog post I read a while back:

http://www.carolineguitar.com/what-were ... e-and-why/

[pickdropper]

This is an interesting thread.

The board reworking / recycling / landfilling of PCBs really has more to do with the internal politics of the manufacturer and the quality of the parts/boards than whether or not it is SMT or Through-hole. Lots of consumer electronics companies have boards that can be easily swapped out, which speeds up the repair for the customer. The boards are then repaired, retested and put into refurbished units. This is a win/win for customers as they get fast returns and different customers can buy discounted refurbished units.

As far as how repairable a board is, there are so many factors it's impossible to boil it down to SMT/TH.

- For most standard SMT components, it's faster for me to repair if the components are on the open side of the board. I can pull of resistors and caps with a pair of soldering tweezers in seconds, clean up the pads and solder on new parts. If I don't have tweezers, I can usually sideswipe the part with a standard soldering iron and still be in business. For more complicated packages, like BGAs or QFNs, they are a bit of a pain. Companies that do a lot of boards with those will often have rework stations to deal with them, but that type of repair may be a bit more difficult for DIYers without access to that type of equipment. Of course, those types of parts don't often have through-hole variants, so it's not an Apples to Apples comparison. Now, if the SMT components are on the underside of the board, I'll need to take the whole pedal apart, which is a hassle.

- For TH parts, I can often change a resistor, diode or a transistor fairly easily without major effort. For many cap types (some of the more commonly failed parts in older pedals) I usually have to pull the board, which, again, is a bit of a hassle. It's more common for me to have to take out the board for TH repairs than SMT.

To summarize, sometimes SMT repairs can be VERY fast, others not so much. Same thing with Through-hole. It varies.

Nice post, pickdropper, reminded me a bit of this blog post I read a while back:

http://www.carolineguitar.com/what-were ... e-and-why/

Thanks for posting that, Chank. It's indeed very interesting.

On a bit of a side note, I think some of the folks here are familiar with FFX largely because Brian, Forrest and I have been involved with the online DIY community for so long (I've been in it significantly less than Brian and Forrest). In addition to that part of the company, there's a different backbone: three of the founding partners have been involved in mass production of consumer products at various engineering and management levels. From PIC architecture design to setting up large scale component manufacturing all the way to setting up assembly lines for finished goods. We are sort of all over the place experience-wise.

Of the group, one of the guys isn't a guitar player (although we're trying to help with that) and his design and manufacturing experience comes from different industries. Some of the manufacturing expectations in the guitar pedal world (like no SMT) seem a bit dated to him.

[zeravla]

Using tubes seems dated to a lot of folks outside of the music world also

[Chankgeez]

I think it all depends on what you're trying to accomplish and what you're used to. It's all in the approach.

Yeah, guitar gear is niche market.

[pickdropper]

Using tubes seems dated to a lot of folks outside of the music world also

That's very true. I used to joke with my professors about it back in school. I'm a big fan of tubes and used to joke about putting them in every design.

I think the main thing that's important is to separate the differences that are real vs ones that aren't. Tubes do behave different than transistors. It's not pseudo-science.

[frigid midget]

Late to the party. As others said: Lame graphics and kinda pricey...

But it's probably the most versatile analog Muff I know of, espeacially in an eclosure that small and board friendly. Versatile as in 'not just an extra mids/eq control or two', but actually all different muff types crammed in one small pedal.

I'm clueless about JHS's lousy reputation, no idea what that's about.

So ignoring that, and assuming the tone of all those different modes is ligit...I wouldn't mind owning a slightly bigger deluxe version with some sort of presets saving/switching thing...