FLAPJACK FLAP — HOTCAKE MODS BLUESBERRY VS SHORTSTACK

[Feral Feline]

'allo 'lo

Coupla questions sort of related to each other...

I've got both Madbean's Fritter and the Aion Anomaly... The plan is to mod the H E double-hockey-sticks out of the Aion (big box, lotsa switches etc) and then incorporate what I like into the Fritter (1590A, no room for switches etc).

I will breadboard, eventually, but I'm moving soon so all is packed away thus I can only pontificate on builds for the foreseeable future...

I'm guessing you've all got the Fritter schematic already if interested at all in this circuit, but here's the Aion schematic for reference and comparison:


Q1:
I would like to add the PNP of the Anomaly to the Fritter, which to my understanding requires a 2v7 Zener between the PNP's base and VA. I was going to solder the legs of the collector and emitter to [the Fritter's] op-amp pins 5 & 6 respectively. There's another Zener in the Aion schematic's power section, but I'm hoping I can get away with just the one Zener.

Is this feasible?


So researching that led me to a comment here, https://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=16120.0 , which suggests that the Short Stack is the Bluesberry mod.

Looking closely at the schematic in that thread, though, the Short-Stack diodes have nothing to do with the Bluesberry goings on in the power section of the Aion schematic. So...

Q2:
Is the Bluesberry mod the Short-Stack situation or ... shenanigains [sic] and if I add the Short Stack diodes on a switch to the Anomaly, is that redundant? (ie, Short-Stack=Bluesberry)


Thanks in advance &
Cheers,
FF

[Aentons]

Yes, I too am confused on how to implement the bluesberry mod on the Fritter...

Aion has put together a nice article about his recent findings that in include the bass mod and the "offset null" bluesberry trickery.
https://aionfx.com/news/tracing-journal-crowther-hot-cake/

https://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=4565.0
And there is an old post where Timbo shows us the bluesberry mod as:
'the "Bluesberry" mod which puts a 1N914 from pin 2 (cathode) to pin 3 of the IC, and from pin 2(cathode) to ground (pin 4)'.


And to stir the pot a bit, there is an even newer "V2" version of the Hotcake that now has external switches for the renamed and supposedly slightly modified mods.

Bluesberry is now called  "+Cream"
Bass mod is now called "XLF (extended Low Frequency)"

[aion]

My understanding is that the earlier "Bluesberry mod" was just speculation and not based on an actual trace. There are a couple of ways to get a similar effect to the offset null trick without using the actual offset null pin, but the Bluesberry-speculative diodes aren't quite the same. So, my somewhat-but-not-entirely informed opinion would be to avoid the diodes if you want to stay original.

There's a bit more to Bluesberry mode than just the zener and the PNP, the toggle switch also interacts with the bias voltage which is different between the two modes. It may be tricky to retrofit. But, I can also say that I heard very little difference between the two modes. I don't think it's probably enough of a game-changer to warrant all the complexity. Definitely check it out yourself before working too far ahead!

[Aentons]

Aion, I think this is the thread where some of the "speculation" came into play (I see you posted you work near the end of it).
https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=85&start=20

But... In the "exposed" pics on page 2, aren't those the diodes in question right across the top of the opamp, or are they both for power bias? Plus, there are a couple of other folks (mdd59 & sonicvi on page 8 ) that say they have the diodes as well. There is even a sort of in between 3 diode with trannie "asym" version that JHS (09 Sep 2008, 10:11) posts about on that same page. My theory is that the bluesberry diodes was probably a "fix" that evolved over many years into what your newish version has.

[aion]

Aion, I think this is the thread where some of the "speculation" came into play (I see you posted you work near the end of it).
https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=85&start=20

But... In the "exposed" pics on page 2, aren't those the diodes in question right across the top of the opamp? Plus, there are a couple of other folks (mdd59 & sonicvi on page 8 ) that say they have the diodes as well. There is even a sort of in between 3 diode with trannie "asym" version that JHS (09 Sep 2008, 10:11) posts about on that same page. My theory is that the bluesberry diodes was probably a "fix" that evolved over many years into what your newish version has.

Yep, mine had those same components across the op-amp - the one on the left is the zener (10V) and the one on the right is the 220R power resistor. (It's a red flameproof type, but definitely a resistor.)

But, thanks for pointing out the firsthand accounts from mdd59 and sonicvi, that does sound reliable - so you're right, probably something Paul did for a bit between 2003 and 2007 before settling on the "official" version.

Edit: I originally had a bit of a tangent about how I've found JHS's early posts on FSB/DIYSB (2004-2010) to be unreliable and lacking in details. He'll frequently drop into a thread and make brief yet confident statements of fact without backing it up. Many times it's not confirmed by anyone else, and so I will generally not take anything he says as fact by itself when I'm doing research.

After looking through more of his posts (he's made nearly 1000 across DIYSB and FSB) I have come to the following conclusion:

The user "JHS" from both forums is NOT Josh Scott, but rather someone from Germany or nearby.

Josh was commercially active around the same time, but he's from Mississippi (later relocated to Kansas City where JHS is currently based). The JHS from the forums does not come across as a native English speaker, and occasionally makes mistakes such as omitting spaces between adjectives and nouns, and replacing hard "C"s with "K".

What sealed it for me though was when I saw a post on DIYSB where he wrote "für" instead of "for". I can't picture a world in which a Mississippi boy would make that sort of typo. Add to this that he frequently posted cross-reference links to threads on the Musikding forums and I think that is enough evidence for me.

JHS is also a major musical instrument distributor in the UK (John Hornby Skewes) so it wouldn't be the first time that JHS wasn't JHS.

Anyway - I've now satisfied my own curiosity, hopefully this was interesting to someone else too

[Feral Feline]

Sincere thanks for everyone's input.

What was once mud is now brackish swamp-water.
Looking forward to breadboarding this stuff.

[Aentons]

The user "JHS" from both forums is NOT Josh Scott

Wow, that's good to know. I remembered hearing some other negative things about his early internet days so I guess I equated the two.But, he seems like a pretty ok guy from his youtube videos. Thanks for doing that research.

Yep, mine had those same components across the op-amp

You are right, sorry I should have looked at your pics more closely.