Nautilus start up lag question

[MIM#1]

Well, I've had my Nautilus on the board for about 8 months and it rules! What a great filter! I have one issue that I've learned to live with but would be most awesome to resolve!
When I initially turn it on theres about a 3 or 4 second period where it seems to be charging up and doesnt envelope then it works fine and sounds great.Its only when Its turned on after being off a couple of minutes. It seems as if the charge pump takes a few seconds to get juiced up?Is this a common occurance?
I've tried a few  different charge pumps and they all perform well, but dont address the lag at start up.
Anyone else experience this or have any advice on a possible remedy?
Thanks!   BK

[Bret608]

Hmm, I've actually experience this on another build, and a much simpler one. It's a Distortion Plus circuit. I once forgot to plug in the DC jack and turned the pedal on, getting no sound of course. I switched it off, plugged the power in, and switched it back on. It took 4-5 seconds for sound to appear. I never notice it now as I use a battery with it and have the input plugged in for a bit before I ever turn it on. I do think it's a "powering up" kind of scenario, but I wonder how common it is as well.

So in your case, this happens even after the power has been plugged in continuously?

[midwayfair]

This happens with a lot of envelope effects especially -- I've got three or four compressors like this.

See also the Orange Squeezer's bypass issue ...

When you say "turn on" are you talking about POWERING UP, or flipping the BYPASS switch?

[MIM#1]

This happens with a lot of envelope effects especially -- I've got three or four compressors like this.

See also the Orange Squeezer's bypass issue ...

When you say "turn on" are you talking about POWERING UP, or flipping the BYPASS switch?

I'm refering to stepping on the bypass switch. There is no drop in signal but the effect kicks in like the gain pot is rolled back, very bassy then in 3 seconds [I timed it now] its filtering perfectly. Like I said its such a perfect filter that 'live' its little more than an inconvenience, but I have lost the first few notes of a couple solos as a result. When finished if I turn it off then back on within 20 seconds or so it comes on right away, no 'lag'. But if its off longer than that its back to the bassy three second lag on start up.

[midwayfair]

I'm refering to stepping on the bypass switch. There is no drop in signal but the effect kicks in like the gain pot is rolled back, very bassy then in 3 seconds [I timed it now] its filtering perfectly. Like I said its such a perfect filter that 'live' its little more than an inconvenience, but I have lost the first few notes of a couple solos as a result. When finished if I turn it off then back on within 20 seconds or so it comes on right away, no 'lag'. But if its off longer than that its back to the bassy three second lag on start up.

There's really only one realistic way to fix that assuming nothing is actually BROKEN (and I doubt it), and that's a buffered bypass. This is similar to what happens when switching on a TB Orange Squeezer (and the Blue Warbler to some extent, I think). It could also simply be that DC offset (no pulldown on the input) might be triggering the envelope as hard as possible. Does it "break" in a different way if you change modes?

I've considered just buffering the bypass in mine anyway because there's a pretty bad switch pop. Makes the guitar volume a little less interactive, though.

[MIM#1]

No switch-pop in mine and I kinda like the idea of wahs/filters being true bypass.I've got a great buffer on board with my Kingslayer :-).All my mode switches are internal trimmers,I've got it hardwired to low-pass with only gain and peak accessible externally. I'll probably just live with it as its a minor inconvenience. It really sounds like the charge pump is a little slow in coming up to voltage, but only when its initially engaged.

[MIM#1]

Well, just an update as I solved the start up problem. I had socketed R15 and used a lower value of 4k7 to try and quicken the attack. I swapped that back to the recommended 47k and its firing right up immediately now,no lag.
Just thought I would post an update in case anybody else messes with the R15 value and runs into this problem. 47K is really just right so no need to change that value IMHO.
Still cant get over how great this filter sounds, sold my vintage MXR and made some $$$ thanks to this bad boy!