A Custom Triangle Big Mutt Phi!

The Triangle version of the Big Muff Pi is one of the more popular versions of the venerable circuit. I've built one in the past using a Tayda board, and it came out really pretty well. A friend was in the market for a Big Muff clone, and so I brought in pretty much my complete stable of variants to my favorite local guitar store (Five Star Guitars) so he could try them all on relevant amplifiers. In the end, he decided he wanted a triangle variant. He also wanted something in a form factor slightly larger than my standard 125B Big Mutt Phi build, so I decided to just go back to the Tayda board and come up with a suitably cool 1590BB2 enclosure for it!

Steggo Studios Tayda UV Printing Tutorial

A lot of people have asked about the art on my enclosures. Almost all of my enclosures are UV printed by Tayda. They do some amazing work, but there is a learning curve to getting it "right" - so I've put together this tutorial on the steps and programs I use to get my enclosures together. I will have a PDF version of this tutorial as well and I can send it out.

Steggo Studios Tayda UV Printing Tutorial

This guide is designed for individuals wanting to create enclosures using Tayda Electronics’ (https://www.taydaelectronics.com/) UV printing service using Adobe Illustrator. At this point, Illustrator is the only program that is known to work correctly 100% of the time with the Roland VersaWorks printers used by Tayda. This tutorial will assume that you have a basic working knowledge of how to use Illustrator, but I’ll include a few fun tips and techniques as well.

Step 1 – Start with the Right Template!

Tayda has both Adobe Illustrator and PDF versions of their UV templates. Each size of enclosure has its own template, and they’re available online when you order the UV print job:

https://www.taydaelectronics.com/hardware/enclosures/enclosure-uv-printing-service.html

Ukrainian Army BMP Auction is LIVE!

My Ukrainian Army BMP serial number 2 went up for auction on the Pedals for Ukraine Instagram site this morning. Bidding starts at $50 and goes through Thursday May 7 at 11:59PM. The bidding takes place via replying to the comment with the most current high bid. I'm hoping that the pedal will bring in some decent money for relief efforts in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Army BMP SN 002 Going to Auction

Over on Instagram there's been an auction of sorts going on to benefit Ukrainian relief efforts called "Pedals for Ukraine." A few weeks ago, I finished up my first early 90's Sovtek Big Muff Pi clone and at the time was trying to figure out a way to give back since I'd sourced a lot of the key components from Ukraine. Well, now that serial number 002 is completed, I've decided rather than trying to sell the pedal and give half to relief, I'm going to just donate it to the Pedals for Ukraine effort so all the funds get to those who need it - and someone gets a really great sounding pedal to boot!

Renaming a Classic Big Muff Variant - Because... Reasons...

When I did my first build of a Tayda Big Muff Pi board back in January, I mentioned that the board included a set of instructions to allow you to build a total of seven (of the myriad) variations of this venerable circuit. I built my first one up as a Triangle, and it quickly became one of my favorite BMP pedals (okay, to be honest, there's none I don't like, but a few rise to the top). After finishing up that one, I'd devised a "cunning plan" to create not only a few more fun BMP pedals for my use, but a few to sell to "support the habit" as it were. Since I'm fairly good at Soviet green paint jobs (as you can see in my first Civil War / Red Army build as well as the enclosure I painted for a friend), I figured it would be fun to try and build a Sovtek BMP clone with as close to the original components as possible.

More Pi - Two New (for Me) Takes on the Classic Effect

The Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi remains one of the most popular and ubiquitous pedals out there. In a previous blog entry, I'd built up two of the Aion FX Halo boards in different configurations. I had a lot of fun with the project, but given there are over 20 variations on the BMP circuit I figured there was room to add a few more flavors to the stable. While I was at it, I decided to look at other board sources as well (though there will likely be more Halo variants coming out in the future!). One of the boards I built up was a Tayda Big Muff DIY board. It's relatively inexpensive and tiny, but the instructions do come with component lists for seven different variations of the board. The second build was a bit (read a lot) more ambitious. A friend and fellow pedal-builder from Kansas City sent me a bare bones board he'd etched for the Ram's Head Big Muff based on the pattern from the Effects Layout blog. I've done some of my own photoetching for hobbies - I first learned from the gurus at the Ohio State University Chemistry department's electronic shop - but I've never etched my own PCB. Therefore, this was the first time I'd attempt to use a truly "old school" board. That being said, now I've now found a completely new rabbit hole to go down - so look for some "home brew" stuff in future blog entries!