Sharkfin

Category: Pedals

Another weird effect... can't seem to get enough of them. This one is an auto-wah envelope filter as well as a 'sample hold'. The sample hold circuit grabs the note you play, then repeats it with randomly higher and lower tones. Very awesome, but no idea whether it has any practical use. At high speed it is like a modulation with a bit of random jumping around, which might be useable. At slow speeds you can basically play one note and let it play itself from there.

The filter setting can get some really funky auto-wah going on, as well as some crazy 'brown pants' sounds when hooked up to the bass guitar. Had me rolling on the floor.

For this build I have tried spray painting the top of the enclosure white, before applying the sticky printed label. The technique worked well. I've also attacked some of the pots with an angle grinder, as they were longer than the others. I couldn't stand the knobs not being the same height, so angle grinder time.

I've used a two colour LED to show when the effect is on (blue), and a flash for the sample hold speed (red).

The photo was one that I took in New Zealand recently. Beautiful animals, when there is 5cm of plastic between you and them.

One issue I had with the build was that the sample hold circuit seems to interfere with the grounding somehow, and there is a ticking sound being added to the bypass signal. Changing around a few connections seems to have quietened the ticking enough, but it is still there in the background if you know what to listen for.

 

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