I was boxing up a circuit recently and the heights of my spacers weren’t working out - then I had a minor brainwave. Well I thought it was anyway, you may disagree.
You can thread the little hexagonal metal spacers on top of the nylon ones. It’s a very tight fit and feels secure.
Ok - next level nerd alert. Apart from being distracted by valve amp related things, I’ve recently started to use cable lacing to keep the wires looking tidy. Cable lacing was how it was done before cable ties appeared, and I believe it's still used in some areas of aeronautics and space programmes.
Sure you can use cable ties, or you could waste time away doing this instead.
I have a couple of dual pedals planned, so time to jot down some off-board wiring plans.
First off, I probably should touch on switched jacks - I'll stick to the Cliff style, as these are the most common type used for guitar pedals.
Switched jacks are great, as much as I like a solid metal Switchcraft input jack, the Cliff style switched jack is very reliable and has additional benefits. Apart from the switching, I find them much easier to work on in an enclosure compared to a regular jack. The jack is also completely isolated from the enclosure, so you can choose how and where to shield the enclosure (or not).
As the diagram below shows, one side of the terminals is switched - the switching is activated by plugging a jack in. It's very simple really, when the jack is plugged in, it physically forces the connection between the two sets of terminals to lift, breaking the connection between the two sides. Unplug the jack, and the terminals go back to their original position and reconnect.
The most basic option involving more than one switch - fixed order, in one side, out the other. Works well if you know that there will never be any need for more change, or maybe you just don't have room in the enclosure.
Each pedal is individually switched on and off, without a master switch. Effect 1 routed directly into effect 2 by default. Effect 2 input breaks the link from effect 1 out (by plugging a jack in), allowing full use of each circuits input and out jacks - basically two separate pedals in one box. This method is the same as patch bay normalling.
This is a little more interesting - dual pedal with a switch to change the order. This could be done with a standard 3DPT stomp switch or a 3DPT toggle. I can't really see myself swapping the order of the circuits on the fly, so personally I'd use a toggle. The toggle can also be labelled, so it's clear what the routing is - a 4PDT is required if you wanted an LED, which starts getting a bit much in my book.
I think something like this allows a decent amount of flexibility without too much trouble.
Something Marshall was using at one stage, but it never really caught on. It works the same way as an insert on a mixing console, using a switched stereo jack (example here) It's a handy way to switch two or more pedals on and off that you always want to stack, but you don't have one of those fancy switchers with loops.
Naturally, the insert can be placed before or after the circuit, and if you wanted to get really carried away, you could have two insert jacks for pre and post.
A short guide to off-board wiring for positive ground effects. It's not as complicated as it's sometimes made out, but I do get that it's confusing. If you want all the details, head over to the tech section of Amplified Parts - it may hurt your brain by the end, as it's very detailed.
Note #1: Positive ground effects are not the same as positive centre DC power jacks. People often confuse the two.
However, I have heard that some people do reverse the DC jack polarity for their positive ground effects, as they prefer the switching when a battery is involved. For me, this is just one more complication that should be avoided.
Note #2: Apart from the battery-only option, these all need a good quality isolated power supply to work (no daisy chaining with negative ground effects).
I use a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 Plus that I picked up second-hand. It's great, but it's not the most lightweight or modern supply - if you travel internationally, you'll probably want a lighter fast switching supply that can automatically handle variations in supply voltage (220-240v vs 110-120 etc).
Often just a DC jack on its own is fine - there are a lot of benefits with this approach. No batteries for one (obviously), mono jacks are fine and you gain space in the enclosure.
This is my preferred approach for anything that will live on my board. Note that the DC jack is wired in the normal manner and the polarity of the LED is reversed. Simple right?
Sometimes people want both options, which is understandable, but I'm not really into it.
It's not obvious, but two switches are now working in the circuit above. One in the DC jack, and the stereo input jack.
DC switch: When the DC jack is plugged in, it breaks a connection between the two positive terminals, so the battery is now out of the circuit.
Input jack switch: V+ is connected to the ring of the stereo jack. The circuit can only be powered up once a jack is inserted, connecting the ring (V+) to the sleeve (ground).
Possibly the easiest option, if you don't mind changing batteries occasionally and can remember to unplug a guitar lead. There is no cleaner power supply than a battery, although they are kind of an environmental disaster. Without an LED, they will last about a year or so in fuzz pedal. Some folks also swear that batteries sound better and only use carbon types.
Yes, you could just add a DC inverter, but then it's no longer a positive ground effect, is it? As far as the rest of your pedal chain is concerned, it's a regular negative ground effect.
I rarely do this, as I mostly use 0.15" vero board for vintage-style circuits. The hole spacing doesn't match the inverter IC and being a bit of a purist at times, I don't like the look of it. I've also had issues with dodgy ICs and high-pitched noise at times. It can work well and heaps of people do it, it's just not for me.
Just a reference for me - this is specifically for this layout mounted above the pots.
If you're wondering, transistors: Q1, OC71. Q2, OC44. Q3 NEC ST303 (later removed and replaced with an OC71)
As much as I like a bit of vero (clearly), vero is not meant for commercial-scale production, at least in the modern sense. Unlike PCBs, where pots and switches can all be mounted on the board, thus providing a convenient way to hold the board in the enclosure, vero layouts are almost never designed this way. This brings us to the issue at hand - I've built it, now how do I make it stay put in the box, or how do I know this thing will be reliable?
Vero, or stripboard layouts are often laid out by folks like me, with small size often being the main driver of the layout, without any consideration for anything else. What is rarely seen on layouts is space for mounting points, or any indication of how it should be laid out in an enclosure with pots, jacks, switches etc. Sure, we all like to do our own thing, but it's kind of hard to work out when you're just starting out. I know when I was starting out, boards were jammed in enclosures in any way possible, usually with a lot of excess wire. As long as it worked and I could close the lid, I was happy.
Well, kind of obvious - secure the vero board to the enclosure properly. The board is literally full of things that you don’t want touching the enclosure, switches or any other conductors.
Standoffs
This is my preferred method. Self-adhesive plastic standoffs are pretty handy - but you will need to check if there's space on the layout for a few holes and that there is enough room in the enclosure once the pots and switches are in (which should happen first, in my opinion). If there isn't enough room, see if there's room to add a couple of rows or columns to the vero layout for mounting holes.
Standoffs come in many different shapes and sizes, usually with a plastic snap to lock them in place, or a small screw. Naturally, if you are using the metal screw type, make sure that the screw isn't shorting the conductive strips on the vero board. Of course, there is the bulletproof method, of screwing the standoff all the way through the enclosure, but this is a little harder to do and can limit space for graphics on the front.
Glue
Quite a few people use hot glue guns to secure boards, and it works, but good luck if it ever needs repair.
Tape & Velcro
Thick double-sided tape and velcro also does the job. At least with Velcro, you can remove it for repair, but something about velcro in a pedal bothers me.
Gum
No not that type of gum. This is a suggestion from a comment left on the post (thanks Brain). There's a sticky gum/gel specifically designed for sticking down boards, but you can still remove them later (with a bit of effort).
https://guitarpcb.com/product/gum-wadz-pcb-mount/
I normally look at the vero layout, pots, switches and enclosure size before starting the build. This way I can get a feeling for how I might finish, before I start. Kind of frustrating to have something in mind, only to find that it was never going to fit after building the circuit. I learnt this the hard way, maybe more times than I care to admit.
After I've built and tested the circuit (with ample wiring already on the board), I double-check that everything fits, by first adding the jacks, switches and pots to the finished enclosure. Then drop the board in, to confirm the initial plans are still valid.
I usually wire up the jacks, stomp switch and LED first - then I attach the circuit to the enclosure, and cut the cable to size, and solder connections as required.
Another method I sometimes use is to create a cardboard wiring jig, and do most of the work there, before transferring to the proper enclosure. This just provides a bit more room to move, as some enclosures can be a little cramped to work in, and it works out about the same in terms of final product.
Now I think I've done nearly all of these things at one stage - so no judgement if you have too.
Try not to:
I'm sure others have done it; however, this is commonly known as the Voodoo Labs bypass. It's an interesting way of bypassing a pedal using a DPDT switch while including an LED indicator.
Before 3PDT switches became available, designers had to choose between not true bypass with a LED or true-bypass without an LED (until the millennium bypass appeared, but that's another story).
Here's how it works:
PEDAL ON
The LED in the photo FET turns on, and the resistance of the FET drops down to a few hundred ohms - signal flows into the effect circuit, and the effect circuit output is routed to the output jack.
PEDAL OFF
The LED in the photo FET is off - the resistance of the FET increases to a few hundred megohms, blocking the signal from reaching the circuit. The FET is also grounded. So the signal sees a very large resistor to ground instead of a circuit. The signal from the input jack is routed to the output jack.
Or an even better explanation by R.G. Keen can be found here
Off-board wiring for any Tone Bender MKIII or MKIV - this is just how I do it; it's not exactly vintage correct.
The cable with a grey offshoot is shielded. Note where shields are not connected. I've grounded the enclosure via a pot; this is only sometimes necessary or recommended, depending on the style of jack used (insulated plastic vs open metal).
It might also be advisable to create a dedicated ground connection to the enclosure instead of using a pot. It's the better way to go in most cases. I've only done it because I didn't want to drill another hole in the vintage-style tone bender enclosures I've been using lately.
One thing that I did recently was to use uninsulated wire to run through as many ground points as possible before soldering. I think it looks neater and is easier than daisy-chaining individual cables.
A 3DPT or a 2DPT switch can be used for this. Pete Cornish uses a 3DPT, perhaps because he solders the LED circuit to the switch pins - who knows...
I added secondary power filtering on the buffer, which of course, can be easily removed if you already have it on the effect circuit.
Stating the obvious: when using switched jacks, it's very important to ensure you are wiring to the correct side, or this will not work.
Make sure you have latching 3PDT switches, or prepare for disappointment.
The alternative to latching switches are momentary switches. Momentary switches are only switched while they're held down, and they look identical to a regular switch and are often stocked side by side in electronics stores. There are times when you might want a momentary switch, but the on / off switch for your pedal is not one of them.
Like all things, you get what you pay for. The cheap ones on Amazon, ebay or Temu may do the job (for a while), but when you put them next to a proper switch, the difference in quality is sometimes very obvious.
DPDT are normally only seen in vintage effects, that do not have a LED indicator. Quite often DPDT switches are of a more sturdy construction than modern 3PDT switches. Surprisingly, 3PDT stomp switches have not been around that long.
You can use a normal 3PDT switch instead of a DPDT, and just ignore one row - I prefer using DPDT when they're required, due to the better construction. I always use the one on the right with the circuit grounded when bypassed. Loads of pedals use both of these wiring methods.
