Naughty Fish success update and thoughts for people building one

[harpplayer]

Hi there! I am about to build mine, but I have no TL1054 around (would have to import them).

I have a few MAX1044 though. I think that for this pedal the current draw shouldn´t be a problem (the maxon af9 is a similar pedal and it takes a bit less than 20mA), and my power supply is 9.3V. I am just wondering if I should change the 12v zener for a 10v zener just to be safe with the MAX1044 (10V max). Other than that, I should connect pins 1 and 8 as per the instructions on the road rage, right?

Luckily I have the vactrols with me, so at least that should be no problem!

Tks,
André

[midwayfair]

Yes, you'll need to jumper the pins.

I'm not so certain that current draw WON'T be an issue, though that doesn't mean that it's going to break anything in the pedal. You don't have to hit the 20mA ceiling on the MAX1044 to cause an issue -- you can lose voltage long before you get there. Since there are three LEDs running constantly off the charge pump (the two in the vactrols and the indicator), plus a total of six op amps, you can get over 10mA before you put any current demands on the circuit from the envelope triggering, which can be substantial. I'd suggest making the pin jumper removable in case you can get an LT1054 in the future.

Clifford (and anyone else): Just use the VTL5C3 (though there are other VTLs that might work, the VTL5C1 definitely does, and the C9 might). Getting the macrons to work properly requires alteration to the envelope and dry circuits. There might have been a time when they were usable when they first came out, but the current ones definitely aren't.

[harpplayer]

Thanks for the reply!!! Got myself some ICL7660SCPAZ. 45mA seems like a safer bet, right?

[GGBB]

So ... I am also building a NF and running up against the workalike issue (I assume) - trying to use the ones from smallbear. I can get some sweep in both directions (very finicky) , but the sound is truly horrible with in most cases a lot of distortion.

Jon if you're reading - I have some VCT5C1s in my V1 cardinal. Will these work better in the NF, and will the smallbear 5C3 workalikes work in the Cardinal? Shot in the dark before spending $30.

[midwayfair]

The workalikes won't work in the Cardinal either. Their response to reach their high dark resistance is too slow and their on resistance is too low. It's similar to the reasons they won't work properly in the NF.

About the only places where the workalikes are useful are in effects where the vactrol really doesn't matter much. Like you can use one in the Tremulus Lune but you can also use a bunch of cheaper things there, including the $1 LDRs from Tayda.

Macron has been a huge disappointment on these since they marketted them as a replacement for the Perkin Elmer ones. The company that makes the MN3005 repros (whatever their name is) is doing 5C3s, but they cost more per unit than just getting real 5C3s. And since cesium isn't ROUS* compliant, they're all going the way of the dodo eventually.

I would say that the better sub for the 5C3 in this is the NSL-7532 and a red LED. They're less than $3 at Smallbear. They're still not as good but they're definitely better than the Macrons.

[size=8pt*yes, I know.[/size]

[GGBB]

Thanks Jon. I guess I'll cough up the CA$38.41. This build has been enough of a pain already - I just want to get it done (and I want it to sound as good as possible).

[harpplayer]

Finished it! It works quite alright compared to my maxon af9. On some settings it just starts to squeal like crazy and i have to turndown the peak or gain.
Two weird things i noticed is that the led indicator is always on (it gets darker as you turn off the effect, but is never off) and the intensity led indicator doesn't work. Anyone has any idea what may have gone wrong?

[harpplayer]

Took everything apart, but no luck... If i touch the led leads with the multimeter it lights up... Very weird. Can't see anything wrong with the solder, but if I measure the resistance between dc + and - pads I get some readings on 200k scale and over. Is this supposed to happen?

[harpplayer]

Well, it finally works everything alright!

As for the intensity indicator, i had a wrong resistor in between the led (22k instead of the 1k needed). But the effect indicator led was still on all the time... Reflowed all the solder and eventually it worked, but still have no clue as it was pretty clean in the first place.

Anyways, really great effect! My maxon af9 is ashamed to be next to it now...

[fredwreck]

FINALLLYYYY!!! I got my NF to work.  It sounds beautiful!

I swapped out those MI1210CLF-R vactrols and got some Xvive VTL5C3 from cabintech for $15.00.

Honestly what confused me is the PDF.  On one page it lists the MI1210CLF-R vactrols in the parts, then on another page it tells you otherwise. I dont even know why they have it in the BOM, but it should be removed from the PDF for clarity.  I think anyone having problems with this build should get the VTL5C3 before even posting anything.

Good luck! and thanks to everyone who chirped in to help.