Build Your Own Clone Message Board

So i was asked about the Danelectro Chicken Salad rehouse I did. In the interested of helping other DIY'ers, and with huge kudos to Daniel Zink, here is my response to the inquiry. Accurate steps can be attributed from what I've learned here. Mistakes are my own.:

Basically, take apart the entire pedal and take pictures of everything. This build assumes you will not be using a battery. This pedal eats batteries for lunch. You're better off without a battery snap. It also assumes you know how to solder/desolder. Go slowly and be careful. The circuit boards involved are small with tiny solder points and small gauge wire. Too much heat or sloppy soldering will be disastrous. It also assumes you are not modding the circuit.

You will need:
1. A good soldering iron, solder, solder removal braid or a desoldering bulb.
2. An enclosure
3. A stereo 1/4 inch jack
4. A mono 1/4 inch jack
5. A DC Input jack
6. Build wire. I use solid core, pre-tinned, 22 gauge in multiple colors.
7. A 3PDT Footswitch
8. (2) 1M Resistors
9. (3) 4.7k Resistors, 2 for the Power Supply board and 1 for your LED
10.(1) 10 uF 30v Electrolytic Capacitor
11. A small piece of Perf Board to make a bias supply.
12. An LED in your favorite color w/bezel (I used orange for my orange enclosure)
13. (optional) An LED in your second favorite color w/bezel plus another 4.7k Resistor
14. Replacement Intensity Pot
15. (optional) A 100 oHm pot if you are replacing the trim pot. (Or you can make one by putting a resistor or appropriate value (approx. 90 ohm) between lugs 1 and 2 of a 1k linear pot.)
16. Replacement Stacked Speed Pot 100k Linear
17. Patience

Here are the steps I went thru:
1. Remove the top and bottom circuit boards.
2. Discard the lower board
3. Desolder the input and output jacks, the potentiometers, and if you plan on extending the adjustment trimpot out of the enclosure, desolder that, too.
4. Solder lead wires to the input and output jack points,
5. Solder leads to each of the lead wires coming of the main board as they are too short. If you desolder and replace them, make a note of the original colors. (you didn't forget to take lots of pictures, did you?)
6. Solder leads to the same solder points from the original pots 1,2,3 for the Intensity Pot, 1,2,3,6 for the Stacked Speed Pot (Counting up the PCB from center) to your replacement pot. Be sure to include the case ground lead on the stacked pot. The stacked pot uses lugs 2 and 3 on both pots. Bottom pot is solder points 1 & 6. Top Pot is solder points 2 & 3.

7. (Optional) Solder leads from under the optical unit (the round black circle with two exposed wire leads) to support an LED that will flash in time with the Speed
8. Build the Bias Supply on perf:
8a. Tie the one end of each of two 4.7k resistors and the positive end of the 100k electrolytic together. This end will ultimately attach to the Orange lead from the circuit board. This is the 4.5v+ lead.
8b. Tie the negative side of the 100k electrolytic and one of the two 4.7k resistors to the -9v side of the DC power supply.
8c. Tie the remaining lead of the second 4.7k resistor to the +9v side of the dc jack and the green lead from the circuit board. This is the +9v feed. You will also attach a 4.7k resistor to this point and to the anode (+/round side) of your LED.
9. Install the Pots (already wired to the PCB), 3PDT switch (Not yet wired), DC Jack (Wired to the Bias supply), and Bias Supply.
10. Wire the PCB leads. The 3PDT switch should be oriented like this
1- 2- 3-
4- 5- 6-
7- 8- 9- ***Oops! This is numbered wrong!! My instructions below assume this numbering tho***
not this
| | |
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as follows:
10a. Blue Wire (Input) to pin 5 on the 3PDT (Center Row, Center Lug)
10b. Green Wire should already be attached to the bias supply +9v
10c. Yellow wire (Ground) to the sleeve of the input
10d. Orange wire should already go to the bias supply between the electrolytic an 4.7k resistor as described previously.
10e. Red wire (Output) to pin 9 (bottom row, pin 3) of the 3PDT
10f. Brown wire (LED -) unused
11. Wire the balance of the pedal as follows:
11a. Lead from Input Sleeve to 3PDT lug 7 jumper to lug 2 to Output Sleeve
11b. Lead from Input Ring to -9v at DC Jack
11c. Lead from Input Tip to 3PDT lug 8 jumper to lug 3
11d. Lead from LED - (Cathode/Flat side) to 3PDT lug 4
11e. Lead from Output Tip to 3PDT lug 6
11f. 1M Resistor from 3PDT lugs 5 and 7 (Optional pull down)
11g. 1M Resistor from 3PDT lugs 7 and 9 (Optional pull down)
12. (Optional) Attach the pulse LED to the leads you installed in step 7 above. (Test to polarity before you solder it up. (You may need a resistor on the anode leg (4-5k, more or less.)
13. Button it up.

That's pretty much it. As I understand it, any of the Danelectro mini pedals that only use the input board for on/off switching and power bias can be rehoused the same way. If they use the switching chip for additional functions (ala the Milkshake/Chorus) this will not work. If done right, you should have a true bypass version of the pedal in a sturdier enclosure than the original. Good luck.

** edit 4/28/09 to clarify stacked pot wiring.***

Great work. Very thorough. One day I will attempt this.

I re-housed mine. It seems to sound a bit different now. Could this be because of the additional wiring and replacement of the posts and jacks? Or is it just my imagination becasue I have not used it for two weeks? I did put a high brightness 8mm led in for the pulse w/speed mod.

It should sound the same. Mine does. I didn't do the LED pulse mod, however. You could clip/desolder the LED and see if it has any effect...

Yes I could clip it and see. The problem is I jammed it all into a hammond 1590B MXR-Like box and I dread opening it back up again. I had to really crank the screws to get it to close up. I have all sorts of electrical tape and paper in there to insulate and prevent shorts. Works!

I did some checking and the difference between 5mm and 8mm appears to be only the case/lens, not the actual LED. Still not sure if that is correct though.