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Oh thanks! I looked at the build doc and thought it said it was looking for a more flexible "TS9," and now I see it says "ST9!"

Does anyone know what the approximate knob and trimmer settings would be to get to a stock-ish Tube Screamer sound on the VFE Ice Scream?

If I remember correctly, when I bought the psvane a few months ago, they were 17 and change. Cheaper than JJ and EHX but not by much.

However, one of the 2 tubes I mentioned trying in the Archibald since taking out the psvane is a "yugo" 12ax7. 50 with shipping which is the best price I could find. I don't think I hear a difference worth double the price.

I took the new Psvane tube and tried it in my AC15 and it works fine there as well. Weird that it didn't like the Archibald. The Archibald has not had any problems since I took out the Psvane. I have tired 2 12AX7s in it and it's fine.

I put the brand new Psvane tube in my Effectrode Tube Driver and it acted fine for about an hour. So, is it possible that it doesn't like my Archibald? Or  is there something with the fact that the Effectrode has 3 tubes?

In my recently built Archibald, I put in a brand new Psvane 12ax7 to see if there were any sonic differences compared to the one I had in there. After deciding that I don't think I heard much difference I turned it off and messed around with a new pedal build. When I came back to the Archibald, it was a very quiet futzy sound. Bypass was fine. I unplugged it for a few and tried it again and it was back to normal but after a few minutes I heard it go from normal to the very quiet futzy sound. Bypass was fine again. I took out the Psvane and put back in the tube I started with and played for a while, waiting to see if it happened again. It didn't. Can one assume the brand new Psvane was bad?

This is my first build report on this forum, for my first madbean pedal. I had been looking at this project for a couple of years, since not long after I first started building pedals. Last year I started getting more adventurous after building several boosts, fuzzes & ODs; I completed a chorus, an univibe with a bulb& LDRs, a delay that used a SMD Spin FV-1 IC. So after my brother in law bought a BK Butler Tube Driver I felt like it was time for the Archibald. I love it! Thanks for the help in my "Archbald Capacitor Question" thread that started as one question and ended up as several.

For anyone following this now or in the future, I switched 12AX7s and the output was significantly greater. One of the tubes I am trying was causing noise in an amp a couple of years ago but instead of isolating which one it was I just replaced both v1 & v2 in the amp. So I had 2 sitting around and I'm assuming I put the problem one in the Archibald first. Unless a bad tube would cause more output.

Yea, I misspoke in my Feb 10 post.

What I have is - with Gain full CCW, the Hi & Lo knobs at about noon, Bias full CCW, with the Level all the way up, it is just under unity volume? This is at 9v.

I did try it with 12v and it just over unity with those settings. The only reason I asked is because I even line the sound of the pedal with the Gain full CCW. Just want to see if that is normal.

Hmmmm. Let me try it again. It's possible I had the gain all the way down and was getting that result.  Also, I will try it at 12v.

Ok, hopefully my last questions on the Archibald before I make post my first build report on this forum!

I finished it and it seems to work. All the knobs and switches do what they are supposed to. And it does sound really good. There is a certain characteristic about the overdrive that is spongy like an amp but also like a drive pedal. It seems to have it's own thing. Thanks for all the advice on this project already.

But, is it normal, that when I have it in Hi-Lo mode, with the Gain at about 9 o'clock, the Hi & Lo knobs at about noon, Bias full CCW, that even with the Level all the way up it is just under unity volume? This has just been at 9v. Have not tried 12v yet.

Great, thanks!

Should it be 6.3 exactly? the trimmer I used is very sensitive and it's easy to barely touch it and go over and under. Closest I have gotten is 6.28.

Thank you! Getting close to that point in this build.

I have another Archibald question. The build doc says:

Before powering up for the first time, set the T1 trimmer to 50%. After powering up, use your DMM to measure the voltage at the test point. Adjust T1 until you read about 6.3v for the heater voltage. With the trimmer in the middle, it will already be very close to that.

I have only had to bias a pedal couple of times so I want to be clear on how to do this. With my DMM put the black lead on a ground point on the pedal and the red lead on the pad that is labeled "63.v TEST"? Because of the higher voltage in this pedal (my first tube one) do I need to be careful of touching anything while doing this??? And do you have to re-do this bias if you move form 9v to 12v and back?