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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 12:25 am 
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BradWorld wrote:
I have been starting really small on the breadboard. That seemed to be a good way to get going. I did a Bazz Fuss first. Five components. It worked like a charm and gave me some confidence.

Excellent advice. Start very small. The Bazz Fuss is a great starting project, as is the SHO. Then do a Fuzz Face. And then move up from there.

I've been trying to put to words how I go about breadboarding. It's not easy to communicate the technique in a way that make sense. But when I feel like I have the right words, I'll post something.

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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 1:17 pm 
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A breadboarding tip that may help someone: All the resistors I use for breadboarding have a masking tape 'tab' on them with the value written on. I don't read resistor codes. I find the tabs really help to 'read' the circuit on the breadboard. Here's an example:

Image

The mass of caps and diode on the left was the prototype power supply for my Murder One submini tube guitar amplifier. The tube circuit on the right was the prototype of my Vintage Vibe submini tube vibrato.

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Last edited by frequencycentral on Fri Dec 18, 2009 1:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 1:18 pm 
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That is freakin Brilliant!!

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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:34 am 
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BradWorld wrote:
"Modding your Beavis" is now my new catch phrase of the week.


That would make an awesome t-shirt.


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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:37 am 
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you ain't kidding. That would look killer on a Tshirt!


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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:15 am 
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Hi guys,

Okay, total beginner here. Just done my first build (a 250+) and it work out just great. Now that I’ve done that, I’d like to gain some understanding of why it does what it does and how a simple circuit works. I’m interested in trying my hand at breadboarding in an attempt to learn about basic circuit design. I figured I’d get some breadboard and start with a simple design like the Bazz Fuss here. It's the beavis board project.

So, I’m looking at ordering components and already the confusion begins! I figure I need:

-In / Out jack (these can be salvaged from my confidence builder kit)
-2 x 10uf caps
-1 x 2N5088 transistor
-1x 1N4148 diode

Now, I’m looking on http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/ecaps.html at caps and there are 16v, 25v, 50v and 100v versions of the same cap. Do I get the lower rated 16v ones? That would seem right for this kind of thing to me…

Also, I’d welcome suggestions of other components I could order to experiment with, to change out and try different sounds. I'd also like to get a good basic stock of those components that I might be using a lot in fuzz/dist box circuits. Any suggestions as to what should I get for some experiments? Basically, a beginners kit of stuff, diodes, caps, resistors, op amps, just the commonly used stuff I will need.

Now, I’m looking at the Beavis Board spec, I take it my generic bit of breadboard works the same way?

Finally, I’m interested in a breakout box, could anyone instruct me as to how I go about making and hooking one up. Whoa, lots of requests for info there! But hopefully this is all good stuff that will help to make the sticky more useful to beginners like myself. Mods, feel free to move this if it’s just cluttering up the sticky.

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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:36 am 
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Hey bison. I am also a relative noob, started with a 250+ kit, and have been hooked on the Bazz Fuss circuit for months. I have built about 20 of them in different variations, and still have a few more to try. Please post questions, or even contact me via PM if you have any questions. People around here have been very good to me when I was starting out, and I would love to pass it forward. Good luck. The bazz fuss is a great circuit, and sounds amazing, especially considering the low parts count.


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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:32 pm 
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bisonkills wrote:
Hi guys,

Okay, total beginner here. Just done my first build (a 250+) and it work out just great. Now that I’ve done that, I’d like to gain some understanding of why it does what it does and how a simple circuit works. I’m interested in trying my hand at breadboarding in an attempt to learn about basic circuit design. I figured I’d get some breadboard and start with a simple design like the Bazz Fuss here. It's the beavis board project.

So, I’m looking at ordering components and already the confusion begins! I figure I need:

-In / Out jack (these can be salvaged from my confidence builder kit)
-2 x 10uf caps
-1 x 2N5088 transistor
-1x 1N4148 diode

Now, I’m looking on http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/ecaps.html at caps and there are 16v, 25v, 50v and 100v versions of the same cap. Do I get the lower rated 16v ones? That would seem right for this kind of thing to me…

Also, I’d welcome suggestions of other components I could order to experiment with, to change out and try different sounds. I'd also like to get a good basic stock of those components that I might be using a lot in fuzz/dist box circuits. Any suggestions as to what should I get for some experiments? Basically, a beginners kit of stuff, diodes, caps, resistors, op amps, just the commonly used stuff I will need.

Now, I’m looking at the Beavis Board spec, I take it my generic bit of breadboard works the same way?

Finally, I’m interested in a breakout box, could anyone instruct me as to how I go about making and hooking one up. Whoa, lots of requests for info there! But hopefully this is all good stuff that will help to make the sticky more useful to beginners like myself. Mods, feel free to move this if it’s just cluttering up the sticky.

Here's the instructions for building a breakout box: http://www.beavisaudio.com/bboard/images/io_diy.jpg.

As for building up a 'beginners' kit', check out the components that Beavis includes with his Board (http://www.beavisaudio.com/bboard/parts.htm) and particularly the parts he mentions that can be useful for mods in his Project PDFs. These will be worth investing in.

Any technical questions you have starting out can probably be answered by reading Beavis' fantastic 'Hacker's Guide' PDF which can be found at the bottom of this link: http://www.beavisaudio.com/bboard/. Chock full of great practical information.

BTW, the Polyester Polybox Capacitor Development Kit @ £4.99 and the Electrolytic Capacitor Development Kit @ £4.85 at Bitsbox were the first caps I bought when I started building up my component stash. I can recommend 'em.


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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 3:12 pm 
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Location: York, UK
Thanks man, that's awesome. Will put in an order tomorrow!

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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 4:44 pm 
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Quick breadboarding question:
If I am lacking a pot, can I sub a resistor in its place? If so, which one? Example: schematic calls for a A100K pot, do I stick a 100K resistor there? 50K? 25K? 200K?
I'm thinking it would be like a knob stuck at one specific setting.

I know this is not ideal, but I do not have a stash of pots. (that's a funny sentence coming from a guy who lives in B.C., Canada).

Thanks!

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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 6:01 pm 
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loves_guitar wrote:
Quick breadboarding question:
If I am lacking a pot, can I sub a resistor in its place? If so, which one? Example: schematic calls for a A100K pot, do I stick a 100K resistor there? 50K? 25K? 200K?
I'm thinking it would be like a knob stuck at one specific setting.

I know this is not ideal, but I do not have a stash of pots. (that's a funny sentence coming from a guy who lives in B.C., Canada).

Thanks!


Yes. No. Maybe.

Typically, no. But if the pot is just being used as a variable resistor (i.e.: two of the pot shafts are connected) then a resistor will do the trick. In the case that the pot is being used normally (such as shaft 1 from the signal, shaft 2 to the circuit and shaft 3 to ground) then there is a bit more involved since the pot is working as a voltage divider in that configuration.

Check this out: http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/potsecrets/potscret.htm

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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 10:08 pm 
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does anyone ever experience extra noise when breadboarding? I've been playing around with a lot of fuzzes on mine lately and they're all really noisy. Is this due to the lack of shielding??

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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 10:59 pm 
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DavidGiandiletti wrote:
does anyone ever experience extra noise when breadboarding? I've been playing around with a lot of fuzzes on mine lately and they're all really noisy. Is this due to the lack of shielding??


Yes!

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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Thu May 27, 2010 11:05 pm 
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Thanks for this, guys! I tried bread boarding before but ended up getting nothing out of it, now I know my errors :)


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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 12:27 pm 
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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Thu Sep 30, 2010 9:18 am 
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After building pedals for almost 2 years now I've finally dug out the breadboard I bought at the very beginning that has since sat unused. Wow. I should have done that a long time ago!

Here's some advice for people just learning how to use them (from one novice to another):

1) Start simple: Brad mentions the Bazz Fuss, which is perfect. I've been doing the Atari Punk Console as well--anything with minimal components (Tim Esobedo's Circuit Snippets page is a great resource for stuff like this too).

2) Stranded-core wire sucks for breadboarding. Use solid-core. For short connections you can also just use the cut off leads from resistors etc.

3) Gator-clips are your friend, so stock up on them. Whenever you think you have enough, double that. They are great for hooking up off-board components like pots or switches. Eventually you'll want to build a Beavis Board or likewise, but gator-clips will get you started and always come in handy (I never have enough).

4) Multiple breadboards will become necessary (just look at frequencycentral's pics to see what you can test with these bad boys...amazing). You don't want to have to rip apart the PWM you've tweaked to perfection in order to test something else, right? I have 4 right now with several different projects on them.

I hope that helps. It's probably a lot of stuff that's really obvious, but those are the things that I would have benifitted from knowing at the beginning.

As always (and as mentioned previously), Beavisaudio.com is an invaluable resource for this stuff. He's got breadboard layouts for a number of great circuits to get started with as well as a detailed explanation of how they (and schematics, vero, perf...) work here:

http://www.beavisaudio.com/techpages/SchematicToReality/

Beware though: since I started breadboarding I don't want to build a single circuit that hasn't been amply messed with first. It's addictive.

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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 8:25 pm 
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crbmoa wrote:
DavidGiandiletti wrote:
does anyone ever experience extra noise when breadboarding? I've been playing around with a lot of fuzzes on mine lately and they're all really noisy. Is this due to the lack of shielding??


Yes!


That is reassuring to know that you are getting extra 'noise' when using a breadboard. I made the Valvecaster tube overdrive pedal on my breadboard and there A LOT buzzing and hummimg. Is there any way to determine how much of that noise will be removed when I solder the circuit and put it in an enclosure.

A local DIY guru here in my city has said that he doesn't even bother with breadboards b/c they don't give the same sound that a soldered circuit would.

Any thoughts on this? I got so tired of trying to clean up this buzzing noise on the breadboard that it led me to order 2 pre-drilled enclosures. Maybe a blessing in disguise?

-Bill


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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 9:45 pm 
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This wire bundle I bought from Mammoth is AWESOME for breadboarding..
http://www.mammothelectronics.com/4SBRD-BNDL75-p/1100-300.htm
It has the bendability of stranded wire, but with solid-core tips. All that, and it's a steal at under $4 for 75 wires! Yeah, I know.. wah wah.. it'll cost more than that to ship. Suck it up and by some pots or enclosures :P

I've been doing a lot more breadboarding since I got these..

Here's my DIY beavis board:

Image

And this is how I hook up the pots:

Image

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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:01 am 
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thats a nice set-up. Where do you get those little screw clamp things from? I am kinda bumming it and using 22 gauge wire and just stripping the ends of it. If my camera was any good I'd post a pic. I am at the point were I need another breadboard to built a voltage pump for the one that is on there now :?

I am just beginning to get into this DIY stuff. I should have enough parts to have a breadboard enclosure soon. It sure is a pain using the 1/4" jacks when they aren't screwed on to something.


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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 9:41 am 
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BarnyardBill wrote:
thats a nice set-up. Where do you get those little screw clamp things from?


That's a Terminal Strip I got at Radio Shack. The piece of aluminum that the pots are mounted to is also from Radio Shack - it's one half of a cheap 2-piece project enclosure that I bent and drilled to suit my needs..

Also from Radio Shack- little copper clips that i soldered wires to, for solderless pot mounting! 8)

and finally, a piece of foam housed in a plastic playing card case and mounted to a cheap cutting board.. great for organizing all the components ahead of time!

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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 12:53 pm 
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BarnyardBill wrote:
A local DIY guru here in my city has said that he doesn't even bother with breadboards b/c they don't give the same sound that a soldered circuit would.

Any thoughts on this?

-Bill

I get what he is saying (I think), but I disagree.

That's like saying, "I can't test my pedal through my practice amp, I need my Marshall stack.".


And I am giving him the benefit of doubt. I presume you/he meant to say "don't sound the same as AN ENCLOSED circuit would." The electrons don't care whether you are using solder or not. The CIRCUIT will care if it is getting exposed to RF that would be shielded by an enclosure, but a soldered connection is electrically the same as a breadboarded connection.

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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 12:05 pm 
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I'm highly interested in this breadboarding process. I have two questions, though:

1) Can anyone suggest a good source to purchase a breadboard? I've tried my local Radio Shack and they didn't have any in stock so I will have to order by mail. I've seen them for as low as a couple of dollars to one almost forty dollars. Aren't they all the same?

2) Any thoughts on those virtual breadboards available on the internet - like Java Breadboard?


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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 6:22 pm 
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Bumping...

Let me put it this way, would it be paying too much for this unit?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002H ... 1349MPOHNV


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 Post subject: Re: Breadboarding
PostPosted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:35 pm 
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Thanks, will do.


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