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PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 12:26 am 
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I've been building and repairing equipment in my studio for years, so wasn't worried about doing a good soldering job on the PCB, but I've never wired a pedal from scratch. Lots of cramped-quarters soldering I hadn't considered.

I also totally underestimated the difficulty of achieving a nice-looking finish. My first attempt at clear coat was pretty amateur, and I ended up knocking it way down with sandpaper and redoing it. In the process I also cut too deep on one side and then had to respray the white. I'm amazed it turned out looking as good as it did, and up close you can definitely see that my spraying chops need improvement.

But wow this was a lot of fun!

The finish is just sprayed on Volkswagon white Dupli-Color. The "artwork," if you can call it that is Sharpie right on the paint after it was dry enough to handle, and then I did the clear coat (also Dupli-Color).

The nice thing about Sharpie is it'll come right off of the paint with a little alcohol if you mess up. Then, when you're ready to commit, clear coat.

After the clear coat was completely dry, I put a coat of Turtle Wax on it.

You can't see it in the picture, but I managed to drop the bottom plate while buffing out the wax, and chipped the finish off three of the four bottom corners. Ah well, I kind of knew spray paint wasn't the most durable finish. At some point I may sand those corners down and repaint the bottom plate. Or I might just see how punk rock it looks after a couple years' worth of gigs.

I've got a completed and tested 27V Boost kit here as well, but I haven't finished its enclosure yet. I'm going to take a crack at using Envirotex on that one in the next couple weeks.

I don't really have an immediate need for more than these two new pedals, but I sort of want to build more just to improve my finishing skills. Now I'm trying to think of which friends of mine need gifts. Ha ha.


Attachments:
File comment: In retrospect I probably should have used some different colored hook up wire to make it easier to see what's up.
rats-guts.jpg
rats-guts.jpg [ 101.99 KiB | Viewed 5531 times ]
File comment: I got some cool red knobs, but after I finished the enclosure, the stock knobs looked better than the red ones!
rats.jpg
rats.jpg [ 60.85 KiB | Viewed 5531 times ]
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 1:05 am 
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I'm really really impressed with the Mouse.

For a long time I have run two Rats on my board where I use one as "fake overdrive" and one as full-on Rat distortion, and I run the lighter one into the heavier one. (Anybody familiar with the Deucetone Rat?)

It was finally time to retire the big box Rat reissue I've had since the mid 90s and find something that takes up less space. I'm so glad I decided to build the Mouse... It does everything the old big box could do, and the overdrive settings actually make it more versatile in the first "fake overdrive" position in my double Rat configuration. (I currently have a Chicago Stompworks Mr. Vermin in the second Rat position.)


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 9:56 am 
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Nicely done all around! Glad you like the pedal. Hope to see you posting again soon.

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 11:36 am 
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If someone else has done that graphic idea before, I haven't seen it. So to me, its looks sharp and clever, to boot.

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 11:40 am 
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Looks good! I had a Deucetone Rat at one point. Ah the pedals we wish we still had :lol:

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 11:53 am 
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Very nice! Image

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 12:37 pm 
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hylandren wrote:
If someone else has done that graphic idea before, I haven't seen it. So to me, its looks sharp and clever, to boot.


Yeah as soon as I had the idea I was sure I couldn't be the first one to have thought of it. The "Rats!" thing kept making me laugh while I was trying to come up with something more creative, so I decided it needed to be done even if it wasn't original.


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 12:41 pm 
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coolhand wrote:
Looks good! I had a Deucetone Rat at one point. Ah the pedals we wish we still had :lol:


Every once in a while I wistfully search eBay looking for one again. But then I remember how much I value pedalboard real estate now...

Someday when I've got the tools to drill my own enclosures well, maybe I'll rehouse this Mouse with a second one in a single box. The "Rats!" joke would then have a double meaning!


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 2:33 pm 
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Em Dash wrote:

Every once in a while I wistfully search eBay looking for one again. But then I remember how much I value pedalboard real estate now...


No kidding! You could get 3 or 4 mini pedals of the footprint of that thing :lol:

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 2:24 pm 
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coolhand wrote:
No kidding! You could get 3 or 4 mini pedals of the footprint of that thing :lol:

I'm showing my age, but have you ever seen the early Morley oil can echo machines?
I had one and there was a real good reason why it had its own carrying handle! I wouldn't want to pick up a pedalboard that had one of those mounted to it! lol
(Mine sat next to my pedalboard.)

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 11:26 pm 
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hylandren wrote:
I'm showing my age, but have you ever seen the early Morley oil can echo machines?
I had one and there was a real good reason why it had its own carrying handle! I wouldn't want to pick up a pedalboard that had one of those mounted to it! lol
(Mine sat next to my pedalboard.)


I've never owned one of those giants, but I do have a Morley/Telray "Volume Phaser" from that era which, when I use it, sits next to the pedalboard. It's less than half the size of the oil can pedal, but still more than twice as big as a standard wah pedal.

When I was soldering up the power connection and jacks inside the case for the Mouse, I finally understood why someone might make a pedal in a case that was larger than "necessary" for the circuit stuffed into it though. Soldering in tight spaces sucks even if you're handy with an iron. :)

The crazy thing about that bigass Morley is that the circuit really does take up a lot of the space inside the enclosure below the treadle!


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