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Messages - slowpogo

#16
I built the CurrentLover 2023 in the MN3007/18V configuration. It worked right away and sounds like a flanger should.

I followed the setup instructions exactly. However, through the entire range of the Clock trimmer, there are always clock chirps as it peaks. There is no setting that eliminates them, even all the way up.

Possibly related: the build doc lists a 10k trimmer for Clock in the tables, but the board graphic on page 3 shows 20k. I'm currently using 10k

Any initial advice? Do I need to adjust some values somewhere (ie a 20k trimmer)?
#17
General Questions / Re: Aquaboy vs Man O War
May 12, 2021, 01:19:17 AM
I once owned a DM2 and from what I recall it's on the darker and grittier side of analog delay. But the PCB topologies are so similar between these two, if not labeled I would assume the Aquaboy was the Man O War...all the chips, pots, switch are in the same place. I know that's potentially a superficial similarity but that makes it feel like a redundant build. I'll probably do it anyway  ;D
#18
General Questions / Aquaboy vs Man O War
May 11, 2021, 10:34:10 PM
I've built the Man O War DX and the Total Recall delays and love them both.

I was interested in building the Aquaboy Deluxe too but at first glance the PCB looks extremely similar to the Man O War. How are they different? They seem to have the same feature set so I assume it comes down to a slightly different voicing.

Can anyone compare and contrast these two delays and if I have one do you really think the other is worth building?
#19
Thanks all!

Quote from: Bio77 on April 05, 2021, 08:28:34 PM
That looks great! Did you use any of the add-on services (white, gloss, or emboss) for this?

It does have the "emboss" option. The graphics are raised and tactile with a glossy, gel-like appearance, looks really pro. Everything is also printed in the white layer under the colors.

Since I did this, they've added a "double-pass" option for white and color, but I don't think you'd need that unless your enclosure is black or very dark.
#20
Build Reports / Man O War DX - Tayda printed build
April 05, 2021, 04:05:13 PM
I had this enclosure printed and drilled by Tayda (I did the graphics myself). I image-traced a drawing I found of a man o' war jellyfish, and used the Nintendo font in italics for the main text. Turned out exactly as it looked in Illustrator, including the colors. In comparison to Pedal Parts Plus, who I used a few years ago when they still did one-offs, the printing quality and fidelity is WAY better. For all I know PPP has upgraded their printer since then but in any case I consider Tayda a fantastic option. Also, the enclosure cost about $17 TOTAL which is an absolute steal.

The pedal is a real banger. It pays to take a lot of time to calibrate it because the trims are so interactive with each other. I actually found that different compander chips -- Philips, Sigma, CoolAudio -- DO sound a little different, more than you might expect. I was able to eventually dial in an ideal analog delay sound and I like it even better than madbean's Total Recall.

#21
update...I had been testing the modulation with the delay time in the top 1/3 or so.

However with shorter delay times (about 2:00 and lower) the depth knob DOES work more or less as expected.

I don't usually use modulation with shorter delay times so that's not too helpful. But I think I can say there's nothing functionally wrong with the Depth pot.
#22
Quote from: Thewintersoldier on March 17, 2021, 11:45:12 AM
I'm getting ready to build one so I'm really curious whats going on with your modulation section. Are all the values correct for the lfo section?

Yes, values are correct and I reflowed the joints to be safe.

Quote from: Govmnt_Lacky on March 17, 2021, 01:47:52 PM
Honestly, I cannot ever remember a project that has anything less than 100K for a Depth control.

My guess is that the BOM is incorrect and the schematic is the way to go.

Maybe you're right but thing is, this project has been around for years. You'd think that would have been clarified in the doc by now.

#23
Everything else about the pedal seems to work great, voltages look normal etc. But as the title says, I only hear modulation when the Depth knob is maxed. I'm using a 9203 photocell from Small Bear. I've tried pairing a bunch of different LEDs with it and even swapped in a VTL5C3 - the only thing that varied between them was the depth of the modulation (at max)...with brighter LEDs the mod is BIG when it's there, as you'd expect. But turn the knob below maximum, even a little bit, and there's zero modulation.

I'm using a 50kB pot for Depth as listed in the parts list. However the schematic shows 100kB, so not sure which is correct. Is that the issue? any other ideas?
#24
I built Dead End FX's E. Nigma, which is a Lovetone Flanger clone. The biasing instructions weren't working for me but after a lot of playing around, I'm finally getting flange sounds.

Problem is, even with the rate knob turned all the way down, it's modulating at about 6Hz. That's as slow as it goes, for both the flanger and tremolo sections. I'm unable to get a traditional slow sweep flanger sound, although this pedal is capable of that, based on youtube videos.  A secondary issue is that I only get strong flanging in the noisiest bias range of the BBD.

Any initial suggestions? What might cause the rate to be too fast? Here is a link to the build document:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kqEvRodTRtgS7zFl3puy6qp6RXRRoSle
#25
Thank you, I will pull it out of the enclosure sometime soon and check all those things.
#26
I played with the input/output wires a bit to make sure they're out of the way, but it didn't change anything.

Any ideas scruffie?
#27
I'm using the 1 Spot CS-12 isolated power supply. The flanger is not daisy chained. My studio has lots of other electronics in it, but everything (including the 1 Spot) is plugged into a Furman power conditioner. I'm not sure what other interference you might be referring to.

Here's a photo...the enclosure ended up being pretty tight. The stomp PCB is almost touching the inline ICs and is actually resting on the corner of another one. I used some bigger caps I had lying around so they got pretty crowded on the right side and leads are longer than ideal.

#28
I built this flanger and calibrated it according to instructions, with assistance from some helpful youtube walkthroughs. 

It sounds good but at slower speeds there is a noise every time the flanger goes "through the null," a kind of soft crackly white noise which dissipates.  It's not super loud; busy playing will cover it up, but it's very noticeable with quieter chords or just less busy playing.  Obviously it kind of ruins the effect, when the pedal is sounding awesome and clean and then this fizzy noise pops up. To be clear, this is not just the flanger effect itself, I'm familiar with flangers and this is extraneous noise.

What might be causing this?  Everything is properly calibrated, including the range/manual which were quite tricky to get right...I played around with the bias, volume, enhance pots a little but that didn't help. 
#29
Thanks, lots to check out here.  DeadendFX looks like a gold mine for this sort of thing...their Lovetone Flanger piques my interest especially.  The Silver Rose looks awesome too, surprisingly big for a dual fuzz.
#30
I built the Flintlock and started to calibrate it, and found out that my fancy Klein multimeter only measures up to 50kHz.  So I couldn't properly calibrate the C_Max or C_Range right away.  Even so, I played with the other trim pots like volume, enhance level, etc as best I could.  I loved how the pedal sounded this way, a nice vivid flange sound.  I was getting a pretty spot on "Lightning Crashes" type tone out of it.

Anyway I ordered a cheapo multimeter that could handle the measurement, and then proceeded to calibrate everything (with the help of moosapotamus's videos).  I did everything the proper way, using audio software to get the levels right, etc.  I got Range knob to meet the 69.6kHz/2.6MHz specs. 

AND.....I don't like how the pedal sounds nearly as much.  When I did the initial measurements, the Range was something like 45khz/4Mhz, way off.  But it sounded better to my ears.  Is there anything wrong with running it this way, will it harm the ICs?  It may not be accurate to the original A/DA specs, but I've never played an original anyway and I like a bit more high end in my flanger.