Recommendations - Cheep easy DIY chorus / flanger

[angrykoko]

So, my wife has been asking me to take a break from Iron Maiden / Aerosmith / Priest and play some old Cure for her (A Forrest, A Strange Day).
What I heard is:  "build a chorus and flanger" 

Any recommendations for decent sounding easy DIY ones?
Depth and rate controls would be my only requirements.

I stumbled on the one chip chorus over at diystompboxes, it looks interesting. 


Those old Cure cd's are amazing, really cool stuff... haven't listened to Pornography or Seventeen Seconds in probably 10 years.

[culturejam]

I haven't tried the one-chip chorus, but Rick's original Little Angel is nice sounding. I honestly think it's best with depth left maxed, but the speed control is nice. You could easily do a one-knob version of it.

[angrykoko]

Awesome! Thanks culturejam!

That one is more mature and looks like it may support more features than the one chip.

I don't suppose you know what the final or best version is?  there are 44 pages of discussion with around 10 layouts etc intermixed.

[culturejam]

The one that has the "lockup protection" sub-circuit is the final one, I think.

Pretty sure it's this one:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=86297.msg791360#msg791360

[jkokura]

I built the Little Angel, and I've been trying to improve it. It's alright, but only in a minimal sort of way.

I'd much rather build an MN3007 chorus myself.

Jacob

[angrykoko]

I think minimal is ok for what I'll do with it.

I started this morning off looking at the 2 on tonepad but something simple with less expensive parts would be fine for this adventure.

As long as I'm close sound wise , the wife wont notice and I'll get the good husband points I'm after (and a new pedal) 

[Scruffie]

I woudn't personally go with a little angel for Cure type tones, the delay is just a bit too long, when I think of the cure I think of an electric mistress/CE-2 blend sound (although I think he just used a CE-2 considering his use of BOSS). Not to mention the issues that seem to arise from using a PT2399 in that fashion.

The madbean pork barrell would be the obvious choice, using an MN3207 (or V3207) if you wanna save cash, simpler than that i'd go for the John Hollis Zombie Chorus (although it needs some alterations, it was designed as 'stripped down' but the few parts it managed to strip really aren't worthwhile omitting IMO considering the issues they cause).

I did this schematic, it really is very simple, it just uses the Zombie chorus signal path (which parts wise is as simple as you're gunna get) but I made it cheaper using a multivibrator instead of a CMOS clock chip (also meaning you can use bog standard NPN transistors) and cut the OpAmp count by using a transistor based phased shift oscillator (think I stole it from the EA Trem? Can't remember) also converted it to the 3207, i'd expand on it a bit but it works nicely as is.

[Haberdasher]

Funny, I just built a little angel a couple of days ago.  I also think there isn't quite enough chorus effect in there to cop a cure sound.  It's so subtle it almost isn't even there at most of the settings.  I think I remember someone saying the LA is chorus for people who don't like chorus, and I would say that's a good description.

[angrykoko]

Ok, well darn..Ive got 7 PT2399's looking for a home (I got carried away with tayda's prices and ordered a bunch.. there may have been beer involved too with that order... why did I order 60 led's??).

Regardless, thank you very much for the help.

Pork Barrel looks like it would be the fastest route simply because I wouldn't have to etch anything but, wow that's quite the part count.  Looks like a BL3102 & V3207 from mammoth would only be 4.00 vs 18.00 for the MN3007 & MN3101 at smallbear.  Is there a noticeable difference between the different ic sets?

Scruffie, yours looks like it's about 1/2 the parts, how does it sound compared to pork barrel? Or would you still recommend I go the pork barrell route?

Thanks again!

[Scruffie]

Ok, well darn..Ive got 7 PT2399's looking for a home (I got carried away with tayda's prices and ordered a bunch.. there may have been beer involved too with that order... why did I order 60 led's??).

Regardless, thank you very much for the help.

Pork Barrel looks like it would be the fastest route simply because I wouldn't have to etch anything but, wow that's quite the part count.  Looks like a BL3102 & V3207 from mammoth would only be 4.00 vs 18.00 for the MN3007 & MN3101 at smallbear.  Is there a noticeable difference between the different ic sets?

Scruffie, yours looks like it's about 1/2 the parts, how does it sound compared to pork barrel? Or would you still recommend I go the pork barrell route?

Thanks again!

If you wanna hear the sound, check out the zombie chorus demos on youtube, it wont sound the same due to the 'LFO' & delay range but the filtering is the issue here, it's incredibly minimal, while it does mean a brighter sound, it also means more noise, BBD designs need filtering to keep nasty aliasing articfacs (digital sounding noise) and hiss out the signal, this has the bare minimum to pull it off.

The pork is the ol' BOSS CE-2, very good chorus, very cure sounding, that has decent filtering so shouldn't have the hiss issues or aliasing. It's also going to have a wider range of speeds and depths than what I posted, that is really meant to be theee cheapest and simplest probem free analog chorus, not the best. Plus with the pork there's already a PCB, no layout for what i've posted yet.

The 3207/3102 are great chips, some people don't like them, they can distort a little easier than the 3007 but unless you use active pickups or high output pickups, shouldn't be an issue, many well regarded choruses use the 3207. Slightly less headroom and slightly worse S/N & THD but really nothing to worry about with guitar. Use with confidence.

So I reccomend the pork barrell, those extra parts are worth the $1-3 or so they'll cost you extra, what I posted is an exercise and an experiment for beginners. But if you really are set on simple, then what I posted will work and produce a decent chorus.

[nzCdog]

Once you've tried the pork, there's no going back

[angrykoko]

Once you've tried the pork, there's no going back

LOL!! mmmmm.. bacon   http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/squeez-bacon.html
I think that's the name going on this build:  "Squeeze Bacon" 

Ok, I'm happy to find out now that my idea for simple was bad instead of later after I built something.

Ordering a pork pcb asap.
May as well order a current lover too to get my flanger on... why is that one marked Genius?  it doesn't look any worse or harder than pork barrel?

Thanks again!

[Scruffie]

Once you've tried the pork, there's no going back

LOL!! mmmmm.. bacon   http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/squeez-bacon.html
I think that's the name going on this build:  "Squeeze Bacon" 

Ok, I'm happy to find out now that my idea for simple was bad instead of later after I built something.

Ordering a pork pcb asap.
May as well order a current lover too to get my flanger on... why is that one marked Genius?  it doesn't look any worse or harder than pork barrel?

Thanks again!

Little harder, you have to set a few more trimmers to get it right and the clock & bias can interact so there's more playing about to get it right and not have dead spots in the sweep/oscillation/distortion etc.
Also the Clock on that can be a pain for some people, rare but it can play up, but when it works (which in almost all cases it does) lovely effect.

Where as chorus it's the one trimmer usually, turn 'till you get chorus and tweak for the least distortion, done.

Simple isn't bad, it's just are you willing to compromise, some people are, some people want the best and with DIY, unless it's just for home use or to try something out for fun, may as well go for the best IMO.

[thesameage]

What did you end up building?