Rehousing cheap pedals

A forum devoted to mod, tips and suggestions for upgrading and rehousing your VERY CHEAP commercial stompbox to near boutique excellence.
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danielzink
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Post by danielzink »

Image

Image

Has R.G.'s enhanced sweep mod also.
http://pws.cablespeed.com/~danielzink/salad.htm

Dan
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tuemmueh
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Post by tuemmueh »

danielzink wrote: Has R.G.'s enhanced sweep mod also.
Great enclosure! Really nice work ...
Some details on the sweep mod, maybe?

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puppiesonacid
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Post by puppiesonacid »

yeah definetly share some more information. I've always thought that the Chicken Salad was one of the cheapest way to get a "real" univibe sound. It's not as close as my buddies neo-vibe that he just finished but better than the bbe mojo vibe he used to have. Also.. tried the VooDoo Labs Micro vibe and that sounds like a phaser to me... can get near the bent sound the univibe is famous for but distorts like a phase 90 with certain dynamics ( then again i was playing it through one of those vox modeling amps on the clean channel, it was a 10 in speaker so maybe that had something to do with it.) Either way, the added features you have on yours makes me very curious about opening mine back up. maybe ill rehouse mine soon and rename it "el pollo loco"(the crazy chicken in spanish) or the "drunken chicken"... :hmmm: :wink:
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Fuzzer
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Post by Fuzzer »

puppiesonacid wrote:yeah definetly share some more information. I've always thought that the Chicken Salad was one of the cheapest way to get a "real" univibe sound. It's not as close as my buddies neo-vibe that he just finished but better than the bbe mojo vibe he used to have. Also.. tried the VooDoo Labs Micro vibe and that sounds like a phaser to me... can get near the bent sound the univibe is famous for but distorts like a phase 90 with certain dynamics ( then again i was playing it through one of those vox modeling amps on the clean channel, it was a 10 in speaker so maybe that had something to do with it.) Either way, the added features you have on yours makes me very curious about opening mine back up. maybe ill rehouse mine soon and rename it "el pollo loco"(the crazy chicken in spanish) or the "drunken chicken"... :hmmm: :wink:

JAJAJA, Greaatt, el Pollo Loco Bastaarrdooo
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Post by modman »

Very very nice indeed... but where did you find a sloped box?
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Post by Emanuele »

modman wrote:Very very nice indeed... but where did you find a sloped box?
yeah that case it's definetely PRO

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DWBH
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Post by DWBH »

pedalenclosures.com, I guess.

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danielzink
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Post by danielzink »

puppiesonacid wrote:yeah definetly share some more information. I've always thought that the Chicken Salad was one of the cheapest way to get a "real" univibe sound. It's not as close as my buddies neo-vibe that he just finished but better than the bbe mojo vibe he used to have. Also.. tried the VooDoo Labs Micro vibe and that sounds like a phaser to me... can get near the bent sound the univibe is famous for but distorts like a phase 90 with certain dynamics ( then again i was playing it through one of those vox modeling amps on the clean channel, it was a 10 in speaker so maybe that had something to do with it.) Either way, the added features you have on yours makes me very curious about opening mine back up. maybe ill rehouse mine soon and rename it "el pollo loco"(the crazy chicken in spanish) or the "drunken chicken"... :hmmm: :wink:

Hey Puppies....

Just wondering where you got that schemo from ? have you been following the Harmony central discoussion on the CS ? (just wondering - being as my wife made that schemo up on AutoCAD and I'm wondering if it's being posted around the net).

Yes, the enclosure is from Pedalenclosures.com

RE: the sweep mod

Image

and it came out like this:

Image

Thanks for all the kind words !

Dan
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puppiesonacid
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Post by puppiesonacid »

Dan could you make up a wiring diagram for your mods for me/us?

THank you,


puppiesonacid

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Cow4prez
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Post by Cow4prez »

the guy who makes that enclosures told me he was working on a couple of new enclosures. It looks cool but functional, i would rather have something like a boss enclosure, with the back end recessed for knobs.

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Belt
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Post by Belt »

MicFarlow at diystomp makes recessed enclosures.

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Post by Cow4prez »

Belt wrote:MicFarlow at diystomp makes recessed enclosures.
i have one now ;)

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rmendozajr
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Post by rmendozajr »

So I was looking at rehousing this new pedal I just got! I figure it falls under the cheap category since it was only $39 bucks new!

Somethings I've noticed though...it gets a volume boost when activated and it has a second delay on the effect when the switch is activated! I am thinking I may take a look at everything inside to see if I can pimp it out. Anyone try it yet or have one of these??

After careful examination, here is what the pots are labeled as:
Mix: B50k
Speed: C50K <--(reverse taper)
Intensity: B50K
And of course it has an internal trim pot.

I'll post some inside shots tomorrow! I'd like to try and fix the volume boost and delay but my biggest thing is doing a rehouse in a casing like KR's Megavibe. I've got the enclosure. Anyone try this yet... I mean everyone seemed to love the Chicken Salad rehouse so I thought I'd get this one started!!!
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DWBH
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Post by DWBH »

Why rehouse it?
I mean, the enclosure is metal, tough, resistant, and the switch is a 100% mechanical 3PDT like any other one.
I wouldn't rehouse it, unless you want to add more features to it, and may need the extra space.

Anyways, I'm also curious about fixing that volume boost and delay thing. I will keep an eye on this thread.

Isn't the internal trimpot a volume pot?

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rmendozajr
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Post by rmendozajr »

Well...I just felt like rehousing it since I have an enclosure from a NEOVIBE project that I never got off the ground! I think the pedal looks great the way it is but I'm like everyone else in this forum...I have to tweak to make it my own! Kinda like all my guitars...first thing I do when I buy them is upgrade the pots, wiring and shield it! Go figure...I think it's an illness :lol:

As for the internal pot...I was thinking it was more of a bias pot than anything else but I will have to take a closer look inside.

Besides...I just love the way KR's Megavibe looks...it is wicked cool but I don't have the $300.00 bucks to get one so consider this a poor man's vibe clone!

I got an enclosure from Jameco that should fit the bill!
CASE,ALUMINUM,7.5"x4.3"x2.4"
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rmendozajr
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Post by rmendozajr »

So here we go guys...as promised, the gut shots! Hmmm...I wonder why everything is 50k across the pots? I would think I would see a C100k and maybe something different on the others?!

I think the pot value may have something to do with the volume boost! Not sure about the 1 sec delay of the effect. Tomorrow I'm gonna see what's under the hood...maybe the secrets underneath the little silver box :-) hehehe Curious to see if its a bulb or led!
IMGP4085 small.jpg
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IMGP4095 small.jpg

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wildschwein
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Post by wildschwein »

I've heard that it has a bulb - pretty sure the Chicken Salad did too.

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Post by snoof »

surely there are a bulb and LDR's under the shield. I would bet that that trimmer is for bias as someone pointed out above.

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rmendozajr
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Post by rmendozajr »

So yes...your thoughts are confirmed--it is a bulb sitting underneath the silver cover along with 4 sensor LDR's. At first glance, this looks like it is going to be a fairly simple rehouse and that's got me pretty excited!

I did find out what is happening when there is a delay in the vibe sound as you activate it...the bulb doesn't turn right on! When it is activated the bulb warms up like a tube in the back of your amplifier. Don't know if there is a way to adjust this or not but it isn't too big of a hassle.

Secondly, the internal trim adjust the lamp brightness. I would call this intensity but there is already an intensity knob on the outside so I will just say that this is the BIAS pot and adjusting it actually appeared to reduce the delay when activating the pedal. But I only played with it for a little while so I'll let you all know what else I found out.

In case you haven't tried it, the internal trim pot it flushed all the way to one side which basically means it is quite bright! So when I adjusted it, the bulb got dimmer but the effect got sweeter...does that make sense?

I'll post some pics tomorrow when I get my digital camera.

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Post by Cow4prez »

on the chicken salad, which is probably a similar circuit, you need a fresh battery or an adapter, otherwise it doesn't behave like it should. This might be the reason for the delay.

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