www.Jedspeds.co.

uk
The Optical Compressor
Difficulty: Beginner Board

A simple optical compressor, ideal for new builders

who want to challenge themselves.

Parts List
R1 10m R6 330r C1 1n IC1 TL072
R2 10m R7 47k C2 1u Led+Ldr
R3 220k R8 10k C3 100u D1-4 1N60*
R4 10k R9 10k C4 100u D5 4001
R5 10k C5 10u Sus 100ka
C6 100n Vol 100ka

The diodes, IC, and any transistors are heat sensitive. Use a heat sink and take your time! You don’t
want to kill them.

*Other germanium diodes will work.

The box caps have a + shown on the silk screen. Ignore it, it’s just off the software I use to build the
PCB’s…one day I’ll edit the logo! They are not polarised so can go in facing either way.

Building The Pedal!

This guide document has been put together in consultation with a friend who knows next to nothing
about electronics! Their knowledge is basic, they know what parts look like, and have soldered a
little bit when in school. The pictures shown are their actual build, which was successful!
With any build the first thing you must do is identify and separate your parts. This only has a few
parts so this will not take too long. The parts values then correspond with the chart above, and the
PCB.

The only part that will require a little forethought is the Led + LDR combo.

Click Here for help calculating the values of resistors.

Click Here for help calculating the values of your capacitors. Capacitors have codes stamped onto
them which generally convert to their value.

Click Here for a top guide on soldering.

The next step is to start populating your PCB.

Each person has their own way to do this but I populate a few resistors at a time and then solder
them all at once, I then move through the other parts in height order as this makes soldering much
easier.
As this is a beginner kit I suggest that you add one resistor and solder it into place. Once you are
satisfied that you have all your resistors in place and your soldering is good you can move onto the
next components.

Right now your board will look a little like this…

The next components to add would be diodes. As you can see, one of the
diodes in this kit is a small glass style diode. These are quite fragile so be
careful when you bend the legs. The diode has a stripe at one end. Take a
look at your pcb, the stripe is also indicated on the PCB. You need to ensure
that you insert the diodes in position matching this layer.

The second is a 4001 which is less fragile but you should still be respectful to
it!

This is how mine looked when I had added all my resistors and
diodes.

Its then a tossup between capacitors and transistors or chips.

Continue to add your parts in height order until you have added all
your parts to your board.
 Electrolytic capacitors have a positive and negative
side. This is generally quite clearly labelled on the
component. This will also be shown on the PCB.
Ensure you solder it in the correct way around.

Be careful soldering transistors in place. Consider using transistor sockets. The same goes for chips,
solder the socket in place without the chip inside it. This should prevent any heat issues for the chip.
We provide sockets with the kits when in stock.

Right now, the PCB should look like this. All components should be in place and the next step is to
add the off board wires.

The Led / LDR combo fits in place as shown in this image. The LDR
legs can go in either hole. The orientation of the LED should match
the shape shown on the silkscreen layer of the PCB.

When you come to test the PCB later, you will need to cover the
circuit up so the Led/LDr works as it should do.

As you can see, the chip has a spot on it to indicate pin 1. This sits at
the top left as shown.

Take four lengths of wire, strip a

short amount off of each end and
solder them in place.

Pin Numbers for the pots. This PCB does not

take board mounted pots, The pots need to be
wired.

The little metal tag snaps off with some pliers.

The PCB should now be complete and ready to test. Please read the next two stages in full
prior to continuing.

Hooking up Jacks
Our jack sockets are really easy to use, but they are the main cause of customers asking us questions
so here’s a paragraph on how to hook them up.
There are two connections on the jacks we supply for our kits. Sleeve aka ground and Tip aka
positive. The positive connection will eventually hook up to your 3PDT but for now just leave it as an
unconnected wire. Once you understand which connection is which then hook a wire up to each
and move onto the next paragraph.

TEST THE BOARD

When you get to the stage with the board and pots wired you need to test the board before you add
the foot switch. Connect Input pad to TIP of Input jack. Same with output. Then connect the power
to the 9v pad. Connect all grounds together (board, jack sleeves and 9v) If your board is working at
this point then you can start work on the switch! If not…get double checking! If you email asking me
why your pedal isn’t working the first thing I will ask is…did it work without the switch? So make sure
you do follow this step.
Footswitch wiring.

There are loads of ways to wire up the footswitch. Two examples below! It shows you how to add a
battery should you choose to. We don’t like batteries and the kits are 9V supply only so if you do
choose to go this way you need a stereo jack, battery and clip.

*2.2k shown for led, but any value up to 4k7 will work. If using the on board Led spot you can ignore
the +ve side led connections as they are on board. Run a wire to the 3PDT from the –Ve led leg.
Wiring shown to add battery clip if desired. Kits all come without battery clip so no stereo jacks
included. Who uses batteries anyway, it’s so 1980!
By this point your board will be working (coz you tested it!) you are ready to connect the board to
the footswitch! Follow the diagram and all being well by the end of it you will have a lovely finished
pedal!

Good luck and happy soldering!