Time

Sorry It's been slow. I've been busy at work and have had no time to work on projects.

So here is the best music video ever:



Maybe some updates after the holidays.

Yamaha DX7 Key Repair: Screw the parts.

All of them.

Sometimes he just gets me.

Funny cause the SLO Clone goes to 11...

Important

Watch. Now.

Its officially December.

I Dream of Modular Synthesizers

Its True. If you love electronics, especially stuff with a classic old-school look. There is something I love about having to patch in the sounds you want with real cables, not by pushing buttons.

Yamaha DX 7 Key Repair, Part 2

Part 1 here
More progress here (READ FIRST)

It was easier than I thought. Sort of...

Next Project

A Survey:

Click Here to vote

I've talked about all of these ideas already, just can't decide what to build next. Vote on what I should build.

FYI:
BYOC Phaser
BYOC Trem

The Red Llama and Other

The Red Llama didn't make it into the Monster Guitar. OK. I have all of the parts to build it though, so I think I will build it. I'm not sure why it didn't work, but then again, I hardly expect anything I build to work on the first try. I just wanted the guitar to play. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out why it didn't work, its just a matter of sitting down with my DMM and prodding bits until I accidentally make it work.

I don't have an enclosure for it though, just a cheap Radio Shack metal box thing (otherwise known as a project enclosure, if you want to use real, big people phrases). It shall live there for now, maybe one day I'll but it a real enclosure. It will have to work first. the plan is to do this tomorrow. Or tonight, I dunno.

I also plan on swapping the middle humbucker in the Monster Guitar with a spare one I have hangin' about the apartment. Cause I want to. And its better.

Yamaha DX7 Key Repair, Part 1.75

Just bought: Key from the eBay place.

Unsure how to specify if I want a black or one of the many white keys...maybe he'll email me?

Anyway, if all goes well, I will have a new key soon. Soonish. Then I dive into the repair. Perhaps over the Thanx-Givin weekend.

EDIT (11/16): Emiled the guy and got black-key confirmation! Get excited!

And the Tubes

Pictures

Um...Pictures!

First, the Kaoss Guitar:




The five control knobs, hold button (red), and the bypass switch.



Single humbucker. Probably the only non-complicated thing about this guitar.



X-Y pad.



Output for the X-Y pad and the Hold button.

Then, the Monster Guitar:

Notice the "beat to crap" look of the guitar.

Master Volume knob, 5-way switch.

Left to right: Danelectro Lipstick - Humbucker - Tele Bridge.

Kaoss Guitar

I was going to wait until I got batteries for my camera to post this, but that night not happen soon, so here is a the post about the Kaoss Guitar:

Quick Update

Got the tubes. Re-biased the amp. Plugged in. Rocked Out.

My camera is out of batteries, thus no pictures of anything recently, but the tubes are almost a work of art. They are HUGE. I didn't think they would fit. They did. They look beautiful.

I...I...love them...

Tubes

According to the FedEx website, I have tubes waiting for me when I get home tonight. Expect pictures and other updates.

Tubes!

I just ordered new power tubes for the SLO Clone. I'm pumped. I decided to go for some Tung-Sol KT66 tubes. Tubes look perdy. I guess they sound good too. This time the tubes are meant to go in the amp, and they won't get blown because the plate voltage is way too high.

Also bought some knobs. It only had three before, now it will have all nine!

The Monster Tamed

It was a wet and, well wet Saturday. I was feeling antsy and needed to do something. I needed to get something to work, anything really, and I didn't have a lot to spend buying $60+ worth of tubes. So I got into my car and headed to Guitar Center. After playing with the keyboards for an hour I headed to the check out counter and bought a new 5-way switch. Made by Fender, not a wacky Chinese company.

AMpeD Up!

It is time to fix the SLO Clone once and for all. Or at least figure out what is wrong with it. Or...try to.

A 5-Way Problem

For some reason, I have never been good with 5-way switches, the ones you find in Fender guitars. I have no idea why. It should be simple, but I have never been able wire one correctly. I have a theory though. More of a hypothesis, actually. The only guitars that I have tried to re-wire have been Japanese or Chinese knock-off guitars (the Monster guitar, and another one that I bought in China...I should write about that one, its really cool).

My hypothesis is that because they are not actually made by Fender, or any relatively known guitar maker, the switches are weird. I've searched the Internet and every wiring diagram I find doesn't work. So I guess its time to buy a real 5-way switch, made by a company people have heard of. Next trip to Guitar Center. I really want to finish that guitar.

For My Consideration

For many months now I have been thinking about buying a kit from BYOC. For some reason I haven't done it yet. They have a lot of really cool kits. I've had my eye on a vibrato. Or their fuzz. I have a friend who built the fuzz, and it sounds sweet.

I also have plans to build a compressor. I have a mouser project list with all the parts, I just need to hit the "Purchase" button and say goodbye to $35. I already have the IC. I'm pretty sure the schematic I have if for this guy, which I hear great things about. Maybe if i choose to go the less responsible path with whatever Christmas money (in what ever form it comes) I get this year, I will finally buy the parts for it, instead of paying off various debts and student loans.

Although I might not do any of the above. I have been planning on building a Matchless Hotbox clone for about a year now. Again, have the Mouser project saved with all the parts, just need to hit the purchase button.

Meanwhile, I founda broken tube in my Fender Bassman head, which explains why it wasn't working. I'm also feeling a strong desire to replace all the tubes in it. And I have the strangest feeling that the power tubes have gone bye-bye in my SLO Clone. Sigh.

Yamaha DX 7 Key Repair, Part 1

Its a slow saturday. That means project time. Sort of. Eventually I will get around to replacing the broken key on the DX 7, but I was curious as to what that process would entail. As amazing as the internet is, I can not find any information on how to replace a key in a Yamaha DX 7, and that means its time to explore the DX 7.

The "Monster" Guitar

This was my first guitar. I did not look like it does now. I think it was black.

Welcome!

Howdy!

Just starting this blog. Its goal: to follow my progress in all the various music-electronic projects I have going on. Many of them are long term tinkering and experimenting. I plan on updating whenever I work on something, highlighting my progress, the what and how (any why, if there is a why) of what I did. Hopefully there will be lots of pictures, drawings, and other fun stuff.

I'll start with a list of current projects I currently have on the table. Some of them I haven't the slightest idea what I'm doing, so it will be a learning process.

Anyway, here is the list:

• Fix a broken key on an Yamaha DX7
• Finish putting a distortion circuit in a guitar. The guitar is some Japanese Strat knock off (Aria Pro II, if it matters). The distortion is a Way Huge Red Llama.
• Build a guitar. This is a very long term project. I'm just in the planning phase now. It will be cool though.
• Troubleshoot a SLO 100 clone (or should it be a SLO 50? Its the 50 watt version) I built a while back. Somethings wrong, and I don't know what.

There will be much more detail on all of these individual projects as I get around to working on them. In the next week or so, depending on time, I'll post detailed explanations of what I'm doing and a few pictures of them. I also have a few other projects that I might start, but those will be kind of spontaneous. If I dont have time to work on things, I might post pictures of past projects.

And about me? Well, I majored in Audio Technology at American University. That doesn't mean a whole lot though. I developed a passion for playing with electronic things during that time, but I have always enjoyed taking things apart. I don't work in the audio field, but I do have a decent job (I also majored in International Relations, you know, liberal arts BS) that I enjoy, and it helps fund my projects, so there you go.

Enjoy!