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Hi there. I have an old 2011 Current lover that I put together but never used. Today I got it working again and it is really distorted. It is completely quiet when I am not playing but especially when strumming...distorted. I have adjusted the bias and clock but if the clock is too low I get no real flanging and as I bring it up it distorts, bringing it up a little more cleans it up a bit but then I start to oscilate weirdly. I saw something about r29 at 10k being too small (I have tried 9v and 12v supplies) and that I could increase it so that the clock volume would not go to low and cut out. Would this allow me to bring it up more without distorting?

Thanks,
Ben

I am trying to figure out how to make an amp switching pedal that will switch both the pre amp effects (dist etc) and the effects loop ones (modulation etc) with 1 pedal and hopefully 1 stomp switch. Tell me if this sounds right.

1) IN of amp1
2) Output of pre amp effects
3) In of amp2

4) Send of amp 1
5) input of 1st modulation effect
6) Send of amp 2

7) return of amp 1
output of last mod effect
9) return of amp 2

My question is how should I be grounding this? Do the grounds need to be switching too. Do I need to worry about any situation where both amps are on at the same time.

Sorry this all seems like it should be obvious but I am having difficulties
Thanks,
Ben

Ok, so I did something bad to my CL somehow when I boxed it up.
I am not getting any sweep and the rate knob does nothing. As a result the effect
is something like a cocked wah, and I can manually move the range knob to artificially create a sweep.

Am I right in assuming that the sweep comes from the LM324n and that pin 14 should be oscillating?
It is not and is a constant 4.2 volts. Pin 8 is giving a constant 0.56v.
pin 9 is 4.2V

I have replaced the chip with no change.

Ben

This isnt actually a help request but I thought I would put it here for others that are trying to get 9v to work with mn3007

I just finished building CL with 3007. This is the first flanger I have built. I do have a phaser (smoothie) and a chorus.

At 9v I found it impossible to bias into flanging without pretty heavy distortion. I was pretty sure I did something wrong until I plugged it into 12v.
At 12v I get can get a very clean flanging (close to smoothie phaser but...ummm smoothier?) and that airplane sound on chords when upping the feedback. Very very nice.

Has anyone managed a 9v 3007 build that sounds good?

(FWIW In adjusting the clock with 12v, it is not distortion that stops me moving it, but a detuning sound. With a single note I hear it warble, a kind of chorus that then detunes down in an unpleasant (to my ears ymmv) way. It is very clear when I hit this point and just moving the clock back some cleans it right up. )

Ben

Just noticed another thread that mentions this so:

The orientation of q2 and q3 on the pcb is for which Transistor

I believe:
The pinout for 2sk30 is DGS
The pinout for 2n5457 is DSG

It seems to me from the schematic that the pcb has is oriented for the 2n5457

If that is correct then I am really confused because I have what I think are 2sk30...marked K30A and they are working stuck in as DSG...errrrgh

So I got a new amp this weekend. SS Fender Ultra Chorus...not everybody's cup of tea, but I love the clean channel with my Ricky and for $125 I now own an American made amp...yea!

Anyway, one of the surprises for me was how good the built in chorus is. I compared it against my BYOC chorus, and the main thing I find different is a separation of notes (someone help me here), with the BYOC, the notes seems to blend together more...I dont want to say muddy, but the Fender is definitely clearer to my ear at any level of depth.

My question is would this be just related to the ICs?...the fender uses 3101 and 3007 and the byoc uses 3102 3207. I thought maybe as the mn3007 can take 15vdc, maybe the amp was providing more power, but TP18 on the following schematic shows 8vdc.

I noticed that the Pork Barrel has the option of using either pair. Have people done a comparison?



http://support.fender.com/schematics/guitar_amplifiers/Ultimate_Chorus_schematic.pdf

So my lowrider is working very well with DOCT 1 and DOCT 2 and the clean signal is fine.
The Octave up signal is just the clean signal with higher gain (If I dial it up all the way)

The trimpot doesnt seem to do anything. I am reading between 0 and 27k on the trimpot when it is in circuit (from 1 to 2). Is this correct? (it is 0-99K when out of circuit)

Before I continue on can someone tell me what I should be hearing? If all pots are down I get nothing. If all pots are down except the UOCT should I be getting just the UOCT or should there be some original tone coming thru?

The doubling of the frequency is happening in ic6 correct? If so I will get voltages for that.

Thanks,
Ben

I am out of 1n34a and have ordered some from tayda, but can I socket and put in 1n914s just to test everything or will I damage something?

Thanks,
Ben

Ok, so probably like many others, I find myself ordering a bunch of pcbs from Brian, and then I set about making sure I have around all the parts to build them, or if not I order those I need.
Problem is, that I have to go to each project page to see what is needed against a list of what I have and then mark down what I should order.
Brian, do you happen to keep a list of all components for all projects in text form somewhere (or excel) and is so would you be willing to share that list? That way I could just copy/paste into excel and immediately know what I need....

Anyway, obviously not a big deal, but would be cool,

Thanks,
Ben

So a friend wants a leslie sounding phaser so I though I would try this.
I am using the LERA from geofex
http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/lera/lera.htm

Has anyone already tried this?

For the LDR could I just use this: (?)
VT43N3
LDR, 500KOHM, 400mW, VT400 SERIES
Power Rating: 400mW
Dark Resistance: 500kohm
Series: VT400
Operating Temperature Range: -40°C to +75°C
Voltage Rating: 400V
Resistor Case Style: Radial Leaded
No. of Pins: 2
RoHS Compliant: No

In general I should be looking for a LDR that goes between 0-500K like the original speed pot for smoothie right?

Thanks,
Ben

So my Honeydripper has a background noise the depending on the 4 way switch sounds like either
EEEEEE
AAAAHHHH
MMMMMMM
or
AAAAAAAAhh

The noise seems to be coming from the effect itself and is not changed by putting a compressor either before or after.  Other than that the box works great.

Is this normal?

Ben

Just finished the Karate shop and am wondering if I am getting the proper sound out. Can anyone point me to sound samples on the net. The only stuff I have seen is the Triskelion, which is really different than what I am seeing.

I had to make some subs. A bf245a for2n5457 which seems the same with pinout reversed, and an LF347N instead of the tl074.
In using it, I am not hearing very much from the BDW until the last 10% of the range. The Freq and Gain do work but the gain isnt that big....

But sound samples would help me determine if it's just me ;-)

Ben

(SOLVED: swapped out a different lf347 and now it is big!)

So I am wanting just a tad faster tremolo from my double flush...Could I just increase r17 a bit?

Thanks,
Ben

So I now have my double flush working but was wondering what kind of resistance range I should be seeing in the ldr.

Currently the sound is good if I put the balance all the way to one side and the volume all the way up. At that point I get about equal to bypass. The range goes from fairly slow to nice and fast. But the actual "wetness" does not seem nearly as high as the youtube examples out there. I am thinking my ldr might not be giving the resistance range I need. What should I be looking for?

Thanks,
Ben

I am builting a double flush and don't have an 18k resistor for r14. Can I sub a 15k or 22k and if so what would this change? I could also put a 10k and 8.2k in series I suppose...ugly though.

thanks,
Ben

Just built the hipster with BC550 trannys and have a few questions.

These three items are from the build docs:

1)R1 is optional, and may not be needed.
    Ok, so what is the downside of putting this in, does it change the tone at all? I can't tell the difference.


2)C2 can be increased if oscillation occurs at maximum fuzz. Incremental increases in value will result
in incremental decreases in treble. Suggested alternate values are 22pF, 47pF and 100pF.
   So, when I turn past about 95% I start getting oscillation. I started with 10pf and still have the same oscillation with 100pf.....I haven't really noticed a change in treble except at the low fuzz side of the pot. Should I just keep increasing up to 1n?


3) Adjust the BIAS trimpot until you read approximately 4.5v on the collector of Q2. Note that 3.5v – 5.5v
is the nominal range so feel free to experiment with your bias setting. 
     This is very sensitive to adjust, I finally managed to get it to 4.6....What would changes in this typically do? Could I solve my oscillation problem by playing with this?



I am also going to try some 2n3xxx and see how they sound.

Thanks,
Ben

Note when making the Red Llama, you need to the left and middle boost pads or it will not work.
(Brian said it first, but it's kinda hidden in the forums)

Thanks,
Ben

Ok. I have a honeydripper that is built to spec, and was working before I boxed it. Trying to fit it into a 125b, I had to make things tight and ended up scraping the top of 2 of those 4 caps on the top right (next to the 1054) with the output connector when inserting it. I can hear output fine on bypass, but when engaged I hear a very quiet signal (whisper), with some fuzz but no quacking. When I started pulling it back out of the box I got full volume for a second as I was pulling out the pots, but since then back to whisper
I have pulled out all the ic's, reflowed everything, and swapped new ic's in with no luck.  I will take readings tomorrow, but before I do, would the caps have anything to do with this? Should I pull them and check them? I am getting steady 9v into the 1054. The 4558 is showing output of 14-16 V.


Also, I pulled out a pot thinking it was bust because it was measuring 0 , but when I unwired it and tested it was fine. The other measures fine when wired. Both 10kB.  Would this be a bad diiode somewhere?

Arggh, this is such a cool effect, I should have waited for my BB enclosure to arrive.....

Thanks,
Ben

Could I replace the d4 with an on/on switch with a led on one throw and a wire on other, creating a sym/ asym switch?

Thanks,
Ben

Just built a mudbunny creamy dreamer and am having some problems.
The sound I get is very low volume fuzz when sustain and tone are at mid. If I bring them up any
it starts crackling and I get some oscillating volume that goes from silent to very very loud.

I am using the newest pcb. I am using 4  5088s and oriented them per the pcb art. Also using 2n914s (d1-d4) and verified they are correct. Did the diode test on the 5088s and they seem fine. Unfortunately I did not socket anything (next time). Reflowed everything and checked the resistor values.

How should I take voltage readings here? From the emitter to ground?

I looked up past posts and found one that mentioned he couldnt get the creamy dreamer specs to work and ended up subbing the r20-24 resistor values for those in mayo....has anyone verified that creamy dreamer specs work on the pcb?

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Ben