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I had entertained the idea of making a mini mega pedal (single row) by using individual 1590b cases and leaving off the input/output jacks and routing a hardwired disconnect through a hollow bolt across the input to output holes, and using a spacer of some sort to compensate for the cases side slope.

I have 4 vfe pedals on my board right now and if I turn on 2 or more and one has a charge pump, I get ungodly amounts of noise so that has deterred me somewhat, so watch out for that. (Merman>Enterprise>AlphaDog>Triplet)

Good idea. I have a couple of OP07 chips that I pulled from the aforementioned Duecetone that I didn't even think to try. I also have a metal can LM308 from Small Bear on the way. The chip I'm using now is a National Semiconductor version so maybe it is different enough to make a difference.

My burning question is still... What does that cap across the BS170 do?

Thanks, I wasn't sure about the 33pf cap. My main target for the mica swap is the 10pf low pass cap in the feedback loop which is supposed to affect the clipped waveform corners.

One of my first and still favorite pedals is a 1998 Maxon made Ibanez TS9DX that was modded (not by me) with a silver mica cap for the 51pf cap in the feedback loop. I have bought several other TubeScreamers that didn't have that particular mod and none can hold a candle to the smooth sweetness that comes out of the one with it. I have a BYOC Overdrive 2 that at first had a ceramic and then was modded to a mica and it now has a very similar smoothness as well. Btw, I believe the AM "Silver" mod is essentially the TS9DX in + mode(4 diodes), the 808 mod, and the 51pf cap changed to a silver mica.

I am hoping to achieve a similar result with the Alpha Dog

I've been playing around with a replacement for the 1n34a side of the soft pot and have tried various sym and asym combinations using ge, si, led, zener. I can't really find anything that sounds better or different. It seems any sym combination I try sounds essentially the same, and any asym combination is still essentially a BBoF. I'm curious what the parallel cap on the BS170 is doing to smooth the asym out? So, I guess my question is... why is there a cap on the BS170 side and not the 1n34a?

Also, I broke my sockets off for the 1n34a so have to go back in and do some desoldering so while I'm in there I'm going to replace a couple of the MLCC pf size caps with silver mica caps. I only have 68pf and 100pf values. Are these too high of values for replacements to the 10pf and 33pf caps?

Ok, I verified values for everything and the only thing out of the ordinary is that I used 3 different Nichicon electrolytics for the seven 22uf caps. See pic. The only one that looks like it would affect the LFO is C23. Is that the one to the left of the 4580? I used a low profile there.

Ok, thanks. I have some 1uf film caps that I think I'll try there.

I do like the Old School alot and I did watch a few demo videos. It just didn't occur to me until I finished building it that, out of the box, it may not be quite as versatile as what I had in my head. The old version even had a fast/slow speed range  switch, so that's probably what threw me off. It really is a very good and versatile pedal.

The only thing that is not on par with the demo videos is the Depth taper. I don't have a B or C, but I actually do have a 1MD pot that came from Peter that I thought about trying but I'm am thinking it will just make it worse. Seems like a K taper might do the trick if such a beast exists

Also, the speed range seems to be kind of mediocre as well... Not too fast, not too slow.

This is my first Tremolo and I don't know jack about the EA, but most other tremolos I have heard (I think) go faster and slower.

I am slightly underwelmed with the speed/depth controls/range since the VFE description says "Derived from a rich sounding, but feature-limited tremolo circuit from the 1960s, we added extra range to both speed &
depth controls".

Sorry to vent... It sounds really good, but I had high hopes to be blown away with options on this one. I'll try and fiddle with some values. I'm a little confused at exactly what to tweak for the speed as well. Thanks for the input folks

Do you think he used a custom pot in his productuion builds?

Always go with the build document. Designs/Values often got adjusted after the PCBs were printed, so the values on the silkscreen are not always the best thing to go with. The build docs are up to date.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I am talking about whats in the build doc

Also, on the BOM, there are two 220n caps listed. Am I taking crazy pills or is there really just one?

I'm starting the White Horse and reading thru the build doc and notice it talks about the differences in building version 4.2, which is what is on the PCB, and ver 5. I see the clipping diodes are different and there are some cap changes as well. What do the changes in the cap values affect? Are the values interchangable?

Hi folks,

I just finished up the Old School and it sounds great. However, the Depth knob doesn't seem to kick in until at least halfway up. I know VFE stuff tends to have some extra range on the knobs. Just wondering if this in particular is normal?

Wow, cool. Thanks for that

Double pole low pass filter with a dual ganged pot.. I think. To separate the low frequency band from the mid band

Edit.. sorry, I didn't look at the doc... no dual gang pots... Looks like trimpots to set the range of the filter