What you will need

1. 5.1k Ohm Resistor
2. 3.6 Volt 5mm LED, color or your choice (I used blue)
3. A small length of wire
4. Some electrical tape
5. Wire strippers, cutters, soldering iron, solder, etc.

Step 1: Case Mods

This is the easiest part. You will need to drill a hole in the front cover to support the 5mm LED. I also cut a hole in the side of the BBB07 with a Dremmel to pull the battery clip through so I can connect it my power supply. I had originally intended to add a small, Boss style power jack but because the BBB07 is wired in reverse that would be a pain to engineer for a hobbyist like me.

Step 2: Finding the right LED + Resistor

In order to make the LED work, we need a resistor connected somewhere in the circuit to reduce the voltage to something more suitable. There are several LED resistance calculators on the net (I used this one), and if you wish to use a LED with a different voltage rating than I did you will need to recalculate the resistance for the circuit. I picked a 5.1k Ohm so that the LED glows nice and soft. I previously tried a 248 ohm resistor, but it was so bright it nearly burned my eyes out. One good way to preview your work is to grab a 9V battery, connect the anode to negative, connect the cathode to your resistor, and then connect other end of the resistor to the positive terminal on the battery. If all is connected properly, the LED should glow as brightly as it will when placed into the real circuit.

Step 3: Modifying the Circuit - Connecting the Anode

The BBB07, like most good fuzz pedals, is wired in reverse. This makes wiring the LED up a bit more tricky than if this were conventional polarity. The easiest way I have found is to wire the anode (negative or short end) to the top terminal in the center pole of the switch, and then connect a loose wire from the center terminal to the ground wire of the battery clip. This way, the current running to the LED doesn’t affect the signal at all. You will have to chop the battery clip negative lead in half and wire up a T. After you solder all three leads together, use some electrical tape to protect the joint–or some shrink tubing if you are less ghetto than I.

Step 4: Modifying the Circuit - Connecting the Cathode

Connecting the cathode is a bit easier. All we have to do is wire the resistor up to the long end of the LED and then connect the other end of the resistor to the hot terminal on the input jack (oddly enough, it’s not the terminal the red wire from the battery clip connects to, but instead the middle one). We want to make sure that we get the right pole of the switch so that our LED will only come on if the pedal has a cable plugged into the input. Use this as a guide:

Step 5: The Finished Product

Finally we can enjoy the convenience of knowing if our BBB07 is on or off on dark stages. Those of us without guitar techs who run our pedals for us anyway. Below are some shots of the finished product. Forgive me for not going into the gory details of why each lead goes where. More or less I poked around with an alligator clip and some basic knowledge of e-mag until I found something that works. For the newbies in doubt: just make your circuit look exactly like mine and make sure all your solder joints are clean.

Chimaira - Resurrection
Opeth - Watershed
As I Lay Dying - Frail Words Collapse
As I Lay Dying - A Long March
As I Lay Dying - Shadows Are Security
Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape
Foo Fighters - Foo Fighers
Foo Fighers - There is Nothing Left to Lose

The Chimaira album is quite obnoxious–it seems they are very angry at something and I have yet to figure out exactly what it is. This type of music is perfect for power lifting at the gym when you need to psych yourself up about nothing in particular; normally I go for the rougher side of music–as indicated by the three As I Lay Dying albums on the list–but unfortunately the lyrical content of that entire album is void of anything positive. The Opeth album, however, is stellar. It’s dark and very well written. There are only seven tracks, but all of them flow and move about in elegant, symphonic ways. Overall, I’m very satisfied–though there are some lyrical problems with it as well. Why can’t someone with something good to say about the world and/or their condition come up with such artistic and engaging music?

Shadows Are Security is the best As I Lay Dying album I bought. The others are more or less older recordings of older songs (some of which are performed terribly) and I wish I had known that before I bought them. At the very least I can say I own all their albums save the original EP.

Of course, all the Foo Fighters albums are great. Dave Groel has to be one of the best musicians of our time.

[See post to listen to audio]

It was recorded with my Firebird studio through my Orange AD-30R amp–miked with a SM-57 on axis, center cone. You can obviously tell that it’s compressed–a downer for some of you tone snobs out there, but I love the warmth that the Keeley adds to my bird.

I have resurrected a couple of projects related to my musical creative endeavors and I’m going to attempt to finish them up so that I can share them with everyone. One is an untitled song that I have written some fun delay parts to, and  another is to finish carpeting my pedal-board so I can actually use it.

The guys down in the singles ministry at FBA said they want to use me occasionally on electric guitar. I’ll need a completed board to be able to do that. In any event, I’m excited some of my harem of beautiful guitars may see the light of stage during a performance sometime soon. Excuse me, I’d better start working on my windmill. No time for writing.

Long time.

Previously, my budget consisted of whatever I spent during the month. I am not a lavish liver. I don’t buy expensive clothes, I don’t spend money on partying, bars, alcohol, or other often worthless money sinks, and I am very careful about going into debt or making large purchases. Recently I considered buying a new car–a Toyota RAV4–but I eventually backed out because the car I have works just fine. Well other than the AC being broken, but hey, it’s winter now. I’m good ;). The point is, I could be content with the car I have or go into debt to live more comfortably. I chose no debt.

My point is to underscore that even though one can be well off and have decent spending habits in some areas there is still a need for universal financial discipline and self imposed limits. My standard of living has indeed been kicked up a notch in some areas; I eat out more and spend money on things that I really want or enjoy like my lovely Macbook Pro, my bike, guitar toys, good concerts, and my friends. Nevertheless, I believe I should pay more attention to the budget I have established and get into the habit of enforcing it. Yodlee has an awesome budgeting tool (among other great features) that tracks how much you have spent during the month versus your goals in an intuitive graphical way. It’s a great tool for visual people like me to use to get a handle on how much money I have left in the monthly budget. I highly recommend it.

Unfortunately, it looks like I am really close to my limit on eating out (which is a problem area according to my transaction history), so please excuse me while I go to the store and buy some PB&J. Hooray for self imposed discipline!