Germanium Birth - Face and Range vintage awesomeness

[MattOcaster]

What up guys,

Wanted to recreate that vintage Germanium goodness.
Pure unadulterated mojo!

Germanium does 2 things well:
Fuzz - softer than Silicon = Fuzz Face
Boost - for that vintage twang = Rangemaster.

Only added:
1. Bipolar charge pump for PNP Germs.
2. Range knob for input cap of the Rangemaster.

I used a Lin pot for the "Range" which was fine, but a reverse log may work better.
I suppose it depends on your capacitor choice as well.
I think I used a 10nF, 100nF and 100k pot combination.

Also the first time I tried axial caps.
Had no idea about the sizes until I received them so its a snug fit.

Tried to simplify wiring as well.
Ie board mounted pots, clear labels etc

As to using the charge pump, it works as expected.
I was also careful to physically isolate the power section from the audio section on the PCB.

As per RG's idea, I left pads to connect pins 1 and 8 to prevent a high pitch squeal coming through on the Range side.

I used a 7660SCPA, perhaps subbing a MAX1044 might act differently.
Charge pumps can be funny things sometimes.

Still gonna add a graphic overlay but inspiration has not come knocking as of yet.

Got 2 spare PCBs if anyone wants to trade.














Matt

[midwayfair]

WOW. That enclosure is teh hottness.

[raulduke]

Me likey!

I'm on a vintage trip too at the moment.

We can console each other in our quest for mojo madness!

[wgc]

love this!

[selfdestroyer]

I love the paint on this.. simplicity and beautiful.

[wolfingsworth]

Classy build! I currently have the parts and plans to do something similar with a FF and RM. I like that you made your own board layout, something I would like to do someday! As with all of your builds, A++.