Yeah sure, all that is natural with any amp. Different strokes, maybe.

Speaking of which, I tried a cool old Telecaster bass (nice neck!) through a Walmart-style Mark Bass amp today. God that amp sounded like total shit to an extent that the only control that could help that thing was the off switch.

BF-30. Double power version of the BF-15 amp i've made quite a number of. My buddy played one of my backline amps at Main Drag Music and totally loved it and wanted one of his own. I think he was a little concerned that 15W wasnt enough so this one is 15/30W switchable.

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Fri Jan 05, 2024 10:42 am

benadrian wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 12:39 pm I appreciate your commitment to perfboard and hand wiring.

I'll see this and raise you.

BALLS DECATHLON. Pretty straight-up clone of the old (~1980) Electro Harmonix Attack Decay tape reverse simulator. Power supply has been modified to run off 18VDC instead of wall voltages, but that's about it. All analog in all of its weirdness.

Been back-reading the thread since I've been offline so long, and goddamn! That is some madman shit right there! It's amazing how nicely you translated the circuit to strip board. If you weren't successfully independent, I'd say build one of those and name it "resume," walk into a joint, plop it on the table, and ask for a job.

I once built an Attack Decay clone, but it used a pcb from the Madbean website. I was working on making an overdrive based on part of this circuit with footswitchable "edge," but that was right about when I found out I didn't live where I though I did anymore and was separated from most of my stuff for a year or so. Not sure if any of the project survived.

VaticanShotglass wrote: Wed Oct 01, 2025 4:28 pm Been back-reading the thread since I've been offline so long, and goddamn! That is some madman shit right there! It's amazing how nicely you translated the circuit to strip board. If you weren't successfully independent, I'd say build one of those and name it "resume," walk into a joint, plop it on the table, and ask for a job.

I once built an Attack Decay clone, but it used a pcb from the Madbean website. I was working on making an overdrive based on part of this circuit with footswitchable "edge," but that was right about when I found out I didn't live where I though I did anymore and was separated from most of my stuff for a year or so. Not sure if any of the project survived.

THANKS! I have a weird obsession with veroboard it seems. I like the flexibility of just having it on hand so I can make whatever, whenever. And I like laying out my own stuff, so it works out. There's two dudes from the D*A*M forums (one of them is from Chicago band "Soft Speaker" if anyone knows them) that basically challenged me to make these. They asked and I said maybe and I hit them up when I was confident I could do it. Next they asked about doing an EHX PolyChorus and that one is still in limbo because I cant get it working right in all of the modes.

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Thu Oct 02, 2025 9:13 am

VaticanShotglass wrote: Wed Oct 01, 2025 4:28 pm Been back-reading the thread since I've been offline so long, and goddamn! That is some madman shit right there! It's amazing how nicely you translated the circuit to strip board. If you weren't successfully independent, I'd say build one of those and name it "resume," walk into a joint, plop it on the table, and ask for a job.

I once built an Attack Decay clone, but it used a pcb from the Madbean website. I was working on making an overdrive based on part of this circuit with footswitchable "edge," but that was right about when I found out I didn't live where I though I did anymore and was separated from most of my stuff for a year or so. Not sure if any of the project survived.

THANKS! I have a weird obsession with veroboard it seems. I like the flexibility of just having it on hand so I can make whatever, whenever. And I like laying out my own stuff, so it works out. There's two dudes from the D*A*M forums (one of them is from Chicago band "Soft Speaker" if anyone knows them) that basically challenged me to make these. They asked and I said maybe and I hit them up when I was confident I could do it. Next they asked about doing an EHX PolyChorus and that one is still in limbo because I cant get it working right in all of the modes.

I've come to appreciate building off of a well planned veroboard layout, but I can't really wrap my head around designing layouts with it. Well, I've hardly ever tried. I've done plenty of perfboard builds where, for simple stuff, I just stare at the schematic and do a quick sketch on graph paper and bam, it works. Once it gets more complicated, perfboard can really challenge your 3D mental rotation skills, which is kind of a tedious fun. I never made that sort of connection with vero.

So what did you think of the Attack Decay circuit? It can be a challenge to get the hang of, but really cool. FM sleepkid got me on the project and really seemed to know his way around using it.

VaticanShotglass wrote: Thu Oct 02, 2025 6:29 pm I've come to appreciate building off of a well planned veroboard layout, but I can't really wrap my head around designing layouts with it. Well, I've hardly ever tried. I've done plenty of perfboard builds where, for simple stuff, I just stare at the schematic and do a quick sketch on graph paper and bam, it works. Once it gets more complicated, perfboard can really challenge your 3D mental rotation skills, which is kind of a tedious fun. I never made that sort of connection with vero.

So what did you think of the Attack Decay circuit? It can be a challenge to get the hang of, but really cool. FM sleepkid got me on the project and really seemed to know his way around using it.

Have you fuked with DIY Layout Creator at all? Its what I use for veroboard layouts, as well as tagboard layouts for amps (and it has a perf feature as well). It is fucking AWESOME and I'd be nowhere near as capable without it. Start small and work your way up from it and before long you'll be able to make layouts for more complicated pedals. I find it immensely helpful to color code grounds and voltage rails, which makes it easy to check the layout and troubleshoot any thing that doesnt work. Here's an example of a recent one I worked up for a TS-808 Tube Screamer. The red trace is source voltage (9V), the yellow is Vref (4.5V) and the grey is ground (0V):



The Attack Decay is a cool circuit! Its very EHX of the time to me.... let's make something bizarre and complicated and you figure out how to play with it, rather than a Slow Gear or the like which is a little more utilitarian.

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Fri Oct 03, 2025 8:56 am Have you fuked with DIY Layout Creator at all? . . .

Maybe? It's been so long. I used an old version or something similar that looked a lot like that. I never got more complex than a Big Muff with the perf designer. I do recall having a lot of fun with the free schematic builder on Digi Key or something. I don't really have time for a lot of that stuff anymore and just collected a handful of PCBs to add offboard mods to. I really like the little mini boards Madbean was making for a while. They were cheap and went on sale often. They allowed me to fit the core circuit in whatever size box with plenty of room to add my own nonsense and custom control layout.

Dr Tony Balls wrote: The Attack Decay is a cool circuit! Its very EHX of the time to me.... let's make something bizarre and complicated and you figure out how to play with it, rather than a Slow Gear or the like which is a little more utilitarian.

I love that attitude they had, and that era's graphic design is some of my all time favorite. It been nearly a decade, but from memory the overdrive section seemed to me similar to an IC Muff with maybe fewer gain stages, definitely lower compression (I think the diode clipping section used four diodes where usually you see two), and a switchable boost. Maybe it was soft clipping? I can't recall. Could be an interesting project to isolate. I started a breadboard, but progress was lost when I had to move under short notice.

DIY Layout Creator rules! I've done a few amps in it for personal projects - it made layouts fun/helped me avoid so many mistakes. I COULD do it in illustrator or something, but I don't? This I actually do

I should probably start contributing code

Sometimes going with a kit is the best option...

FM four_oclocker_2.2 hit me up about a straight-up 5E3 Deluxe clone. He wasn't wildly specific about the aesthetics but the idea being to get it sonically as close as possible to the real thing. The speaker is always fundamental to the sound (especially in this amp) and its widely regarded that the Weber 12A125A is one of the best clones of the original. It also happens that speaker comes with their kit, at a very solid price, which knocks off a lot of the labor for me so its a better deal all around. Neal chose the finish, and I just replaced the shitty components that can come with their kits and rolled from there. The only modification is replacing the second speaker jack with a proper line out jack (post-OT, like on a Matchless Spitfire).

I feel like it's time for me to ask my every five years question of "any luck with the EHX Freedom Preamp"?