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Hi All,

Just finished my first Madbean build, the Egghead.  I love this darn thing, it's got everything I'm looking for in an overdrive; slight compression, no mid-hump, dynamic response to pick attack, and the most useful tone knob I've ever used.  A full build report with photos will come shortly.

Anyway, I notice that Brian takes a no mojo bs approach to his builds and I really appreciate that.  What I can't understand is why a silver mica is required in the Egghead in the feedback loop along with other designs where it's clearly stated that "a silver mica is recommended for Cx".  Can someone explain why this is and how it could affect the tone to use a cheapie or better quality dipped ceramic in its place?  Just curious!

-Pete

Hi all, is there a way to add a shape control to an EA tremolo for more chop i.e. square wave?  Thanks.

Re: transparency, I'm ultimately looking for something that's not going to kill the highs.

The problem is that all compression reduces treble while compressing full frequency ranges. You therefore have only a couple choices in that matter: (1) Boost the highs, which makes it sound less "transparent" at lower compression settings; (2) bypass some amount of treble so that it's never compressed (which sounds funny and thins out your sound, rather than beefing it up, while compressing); (3) use parallel compression and a blend circuit, which has its own issues (e.g. I find a blend with an orange squeezer -- like what JHS does -- to be incredibly pointless because the only thing it does is sag the front of the note).

I definitely do like the springy response when the compression is turned up.  If the attack can be preserved by turning compression down then that would be ideal.

"Attack" is complicated, and sometimes set in ways that we can't alter. The Afterlife's attack is set by the LDR in the vactrol itself -- the feature you want to look up in the datasheet is turn-on time. Some vactrols are faster than others in turning on or turning off. In the orange squeezer, it's set by the 1.5K resistor just after the germanium diode. Altering that can also affect the threshold in some small manner. It's of dubious utility to mess with it.

A slow attack actually gives the appearance of retaining your pick attack under certain circumstances. But the decay also plays a role, because you're not going to get your pick attack from any compressor on every note unless you're using a blend control. And if you want a spongy feel, a blend knob is the opposite. You can't have everything from any effect.

So is it your experience that building the Afterlife exactly according to the build document is sufficient?

Building either stock is "sufficient"; if you're talking about getting the absolute most you can out of any build, it might require deviating from the proscribed parts. I mod almost everything I make to some extent, even my own designs ...

Thanks Jon, I'm building an Afterlife exactly according to the build doc, ill let you know how it comes out!

Hi all, which of the above 2 is the preferred build?  I know it's apples and oranges, no pun intended, but which of the 2 satisfies the following:

1. Transparency
2. Balanced frequency response
3. Good snap for country twang

Thanks all!

#1 is a very, very poorly defined buzz word in the guitar pedal community. It could mean several things with a compressor: can't tell it's on, unobtrusive/non-obvious compression (low ratio, long decay, etc.), full-range frequency response, probably some things I'm forgetting.

"Snap" could also mean a lot of things. Do you want the compression to feel "springy" like tube amp sag? Or are you looking to keep your pick attack?

The Afterlife is optical. The Orange Squeezer uses a FET. The Afterlife has a longer attack (as long as 20ms), while the Orange Squeezer will turn on within one and a half wave cycles (less than 10ms usually). The Afterlife has a long decay (as long as 2s, but it's somewhat poorly defined) while the orange squeezer's is pretty short at 470ms. The Afterlife has an adjustable ratio/gain control without modifications so it will work better with several different guitars with the controls meant to go on the outside (you can add one to the Orange Squeezer). The Afterlife is usually a slightly quieter build without any extra work. Both have a similar frequency response, but the Squeezer tends to swallow the highs a bit more while compressing. The Afterlife is more expensive to build but easier to get working right.

Thank you so much for the detailed response Jon.

Re: transparency, I'm ultimately looking for something that's not going to kill the highs.  I consider the basic MXR DynaComp to be pretty transparent but with a scooped response which I don't like.  I consider the boss CS3 to be flatter but it kills the highs.

I definitely do like the springy response when the compression is turned up.  If the attack can be preserved by turning compression down then that would be ideal.

I don't mind spending a few dollars more if there's less required tweaking and the additional volume control.

So is it your experience that building the Afterlife exactly according to the build document is sufficient?

Thanks Jon,

Why not both???

If I had all the time In the world, I would!

Hi all, which of the above 2 is the preferred build?  I know it's apples and oranges, no pun intended, but which of the 2 satisfies the following:

1. Transparency
2. Balanced frequency response
3. Good snap for country twang

Thanks all!

This is a good question in general I think.  I've seen everything from 1k to 4k7 used (for 9v designs).  A larger resistance will limit the current and brightness.  I also imagine that different types of LEDS will respond differently to the current going through them.  Just typing out loud, never mind me 😊

Hi all, I've been looking through all the projects and noticed the Madbean cherry-bomb looks pretty interesting my question is regarding the capacitors.  I see there's a lot of spacing on the printed circuit board for larger capacitors. is this purely retro or mojo for sound quality?

Hi all.  I was just curious to know if there is any PCB/project that existed on the Madbean site for a type of overdrive pedal that's got that "Nashville" sound?Fat, thick and hairy but still retains the tone of the guitar.  Any ideas?

I don't know why they chose a 25k for the output pot, but I'd guess that a 20k or 50k would work fine here. You could give it a try.

If you really want to use fixed resistors, it will need two. They should be setup as a voltage divider with one hooked to ground, one hooked to the output of C2 and the connection to the output coming out of the center of the two. The best thing to do to get the values you need would be to set the pot you have in there to where you want it to be and then measure the resistance on the two sides of the pot. You should measure both sides because the pot probably doesn't actually add up to 25k. So, to get the actual values for the voltage divider, you need both the 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 R values from the pot.

Thanks for the info RobA, I never realized a pot in this configuration is a voltage divider thus requiring 2 resistors.

I can't wait for the Madbean Phobos; the EA kits are so sloppy once you've seen a Madbean.  Installing 2 resistors in place of the pot is going to be a royal pain because of the hokey layout.

You want to replace the Volume knob and just have a fixed volume? Probably the best solution would be to replace the 25k pot with a 25k trim pot. It would be straight forward and you could then set the output to just where you wanted it but still not have a knob on the outside.

Hi RobA and yes, exactly.  I considered a trim pot but couldn't find one from mammoth for a 25K that's why I decided to put a fixed value resistor Instead.

I'm sorry I'm having difficulty pasting the link from GGG's website here

Hi all I have a question I built a GGG EA  Tremolo a while back and I want to just get a fixed volume without having a volume knob so basically just a resistor of some value.  I'm not sure.  I'd like to be approximately 1dB above unity To compensate for the perceived volume drop.  Thanks!

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Thanks for all your help!

Hi all,  is there a better one-stop-shop for pedal building?  I feel that their paint quality is sketchy at best and feel nickel and dimed on some of the components.  The website is very nice however and quick to order from.  Any better ideas or is this as good as one can get?