Pork Barrel Kinda Stiff

[pryde]

OK first I have to say I am no chorus guy so take all with a grain of salt. I built up the PB using MN3007 and running it at 15v (with a road rage) and did the R39 depth/LED mod per the build doc and...

The chorus to me is kind of "meh". Not very wet/deep/lush etc. Don't get me wrong everything works and is functioning ok (I think) but it sounds a bit stiff, thin, dry overall. I am comparing this to a danelectro cool-cat chorus as I have not really heard many others.

Is this the nature of the circuit? Has anyone been able to increase warmth, wetness, depth, etc in any way? I dunno, maybe its just me 

[Scruffie]

I think the CE-2 is a bit of a light chorus, some say 'watery'.

You can certainly play about with it to get more chorus if you want, R9 & 27 are your mixing resistors & C18 is your delay time cap... so increase C18 and decrease R27.

To get more 'warmth' you'd probably have to play around with the pre & de-emphasis networks.

[PimpMyTone]

I built a pb a long time ago as a backup for my original ce2 but I never boxed it because it sounded exactly you you described .

I cant help but I can sy that my ce2 sounds really good so it´s not the nature of the circuit IMO .  I read somewhere that the output buffer was important in that circuit to sound like the original . I dont really understand what it means but maybe you will .

[mjcyates]

I love my pork barrel chorus I think it sounds great.

[Scruffie]

I built a pb a long time ago as a backup for my original ce2 but I never boxed it because it sounded exactly you you described .

I cant help but I can sy that my ce2 sounds really good so it´s not the nature of the circuit IMO .  I read somewhere that the output buffer was important in that circuit to sound like the original . I dont really understand what it means but maybe you will .

Just to clear this up, here is the factory schematic for the CE-2



If you compare it to the pork barrel schematic the only difference in the audio path is at the output is Q9 has been removed, the only purpose of which is to act as a FET switch, it may have some minute effect on tone but not a noticeable one.

There is no output buffer.

So... circuit is the same, has to be some other reason for the difference in tone down to the build, not the project.

[pryde]

Cool thanks for the info. I will play around with some values and see if I can squeeze anymore juice out of this one.

[pryde]

Just wanted to update this thread and some findings I had experimenting a bit on the PB.

I played with R39 values with and without the LED and settled on using the 22k and LED per the build doc BUT... the choice of LED makes a difference in overall depth. A 3mm clear, high-brightness green LED produced the best results here IMO.

Also, I changed C17 to 15n (reduced from 33n) and this seams to produce a nicer overall depth and warmth to my ears. I think these simple changes helped it a good deal.

[Jabulani Jonny]

Pryde,
Thanks for going through that and outlining what you did.  I'm getting ready to build 2 PB's, so I'll take a look at those.  I wonder what the forward voltage was on that green LED, if that's what made the difference.  If it was, I wonder if simply replacing with Zener or higher voltage diode might give a little more depth.   

I tell you, I'm really interested to hear if it can hang with my old Ibanez CS-9, which I modded a little.  Talk about depth, now that thing can go from subtle "Badge" tones to Cold Shot to Scofield.  I love the tones but hate the housing and switch, so I think I'm getting ready to rehouse it, as well as build the Pork Barrel's for comparison.

Here's the schematic for the CS-9.  http://www.freeinfosociety.com/electronics/schemview.php?id=2292

I'd love for someone to put together a layout based on it, with the Vibe mod and swapping out a couple IC's, this thing sounds fantastic.

Here's a video that quickly compares the original to the modded version.  I have to say though, that you wouldn't dime the dials on the modded version, as you can hear.  You still have all the subtle settings of the original, but you can dial in more vibe with a resistor change.  And, as you can hear, you want depth?  It's got depth!

And here's a video comparing the CE-2 to CS-9 for reference:

[Willybomb]

Well... I love the actual sound of mine, but it needs more depth.  How essential to the mod is the LED?  Can I just up the resistor in R39 to 22k?

[Herostratus]

There's another thread where r39 was replaced with a 47k. I did this mod just now and it has heaps more depth. Have to turn to about a third to get it to sound like the stock version at max depth. No led used.

[pryde]

Just posted a build report of mine with a demo today. check it to get an idea of my results.