Ehx Ripped Speaker - what is it?

[Aentons]

A friend brought over a EHX Ripped Speaker fuzz. It's a gated fuzz type thing. Sounds pretty good, kinda muff-ish, but not really. I'm just curious... Is this something new for ehx? Are they rehashing something with mods, or did they copy something else?

Pedalpcb Paper Scratcher is the only schematic I found
https://www.pedalpcb.com/product/pcb374/

3 big trannies are 3904, the 4th is smd and has no marking

[Bio77]

It's interesting that they mix box caps with SMD.

[alanp]

It's a reference to The Kinks -- their legendary hit "You Really Got Me" had the guitar recorded on an amp that Ray Davies took a razor blade to, cutting the speaker cone to create distortion.

[imjonwain]

Maybe similar to the Ibanez FZ7 Fuzz in 100% damage mode?  I recall that being a "ripped speaker" sound.

[pickdropper]

It's interesting that they mix box caps with SMD.

I've done that in the past where I used film for any caps in the signal path.  Once you get out of NP0/C0G dielectrics, capacitance is more stable with film caps than with MLCC caps.  For power supply, bypass caps, etc. MLCC often works just fine.  And SMT resistors and ICs work just fine.

So, you can sprinkle film caps around on a mostly SMT layout in a manner that actually matters.

[Aentons]

I looked at the schematic for the FZ7 and it does have some similarities but I don't think it's close enough to call it a copy or variant

Here's a screenshot of the Pedalpcb schematic for the Ripped Speaker

Here is the signal chain as far as I can see:
Input > lpf > hard limiting diodes > buffer > single transistor "Fuzz" gain stage  > two transistor, biased "Rip" gain stage > tone stack (baxandall?) > Output

...not sure what the other transistor is doing in the power section, or is that part of the bias?

[electrosonic]

It's a reference to The Kinks -- their legendary hit "You Really Got Me" had the guitar recorded on an amp that Ray Davies took a razor blade to, cutting the speaker cone to create distortion.

I think Link Wray was poking holes in his speakers in about 1958 to get a raspy overdrive (about ten years earlier)

Andrew

[nzCdog]

It's a reference to The Kinks -- their legendary hit "You Really Got Me" had the guitar recorded on an amp that Ray Davies took a razor blade to, cutting the speaker cone to create distortion.

I think Link Wray was poking holes in his speakers in about 1958 to get a raspy overdrive (about ten years earlier)

Andrew

Must try it myself sometime

[matmosphere]

Interesting, I remember being surprised when this one came out because most of the others in the series were straightforward clones. Seemed like a departure for EHX. Think it came out with the Soul Food and the East River (a tube-screamer), and there were 3-4 others as well if I recall. I'd be surprised if it wasn't heavily based on something else honestly.

[BricksnBeatles]

Interesting, I remember being surprised when this one came out because most of the others in the series were straightforward clones. Seemed like a departure for EHX. Think it came out with the Soul Food and the East River (a tube-screamer), and there were 3-4 others as well if I recall. I'd be surprised if it wasn't heavily based on something else honestly.

I personally don't think so. The Soul Food (Klon), East River (tubescreamer), Glove (OCD), Satisfaction (Jordan bosstone) etc. were all released around 2013-2014. The Ripped speaker fuzz came out in 2021, around the same time as the Mainframe (bit crusher), Eddy (Chorus), Nano Pulsar and Nano DMM, and Inteligent Harmony Machine (harmonizer)— those all seem to be original designs (or nano versions of their older original circuits) with in the nano XO series of pedals, which leads me to believe the Ripped Speaker is original as well. The last XO nano sized pedal that was a blatant clone was the Flatiron fuzz (Rat) in 2018, and even that was sandwiched between mostly original effects like the Mod11, Nano Battalion, Ocean's 11, and nano operation overlord. I think EHX has mostly moved away from clone designs in the past 5-6 years, and re-focused on new designs.

[Derpinador]

I'm not to surprised on the mix.n.match of through hole and SMD. 1 or 2 amp kit makers have switched to similar. Solid states(the SMD, I guess) for the power and tubes(tried and true analog tubes/through hole) on the audio path.

I think I see writing on the SMD transistor, might have to turn it in a yellowish tinted light to see. I was looking inside a walrus aud's Lillian  for an attempt to make an 'improved'(mine the rate knob only works on the top 1/3~1/2) A couple trans were faint like that.

[matmosphere]

Interesting, I remember being surprised when this one came out because most of the others in the series were straightforward clones. Seemed like a departure for EHX. Think it came out with the Soul Food and the East River (a tube-screamer), and there were 3-4 others as well if I recall. I'd be surprised if it wasn't heavily based on something else honestly.

I personally don't think so. The Soul Food (Klon), East River (tubescreamer), Glove (OCD), Satisfaction (Jordan bosstone) etc. were all released around 2013-2014. The Ripped speaker fuzz came out in 2021, around the same time as the Mainframe (bit crusher), Eddy (Chorus), Nano Pulsar and Nano DMM, and Inteligent Harmony Machine (harmonizer)— those all seem to be original designs (or nano versions of their older original circuits) with in the nano XO series of pedals, which leads me to believe the Ripped Speaker is original as well. The last XO nano sized pedal that was a blatant clone was the Flatiron fuzz (Rat) in 2018, and even that was sandwiched between mostly original effects like the Mod11, Nano Battalion, Ocean's 11, and nano operation overlord. I think EHX has mostly moved away from clone designs in the past 5-6 years, and re-focused on new designs.

Totally stand corrected. For some reason I thought this one came out at the same time.

[Scruffie]

I looked at the schematic for the FZ7 and it does have some similarities but I don't think it's close enough to call it a copy or variant

Here's a screenshot of the Pedalpcb schematic for the Ripped Speaker

Here is the signal chain as far as I can see:
Input > lpf > hard limiting diodes > buffer > single transistor "Fuzz" gain stage  > two transistor, biased "Rip" gain stage > tone stack (baxandall?) > Output

...not sure what the other transistor is doing in the power section, or is that part of the bias?

Opamp Buffer (LPF is just RF, diodes are op amp input protection) > 2 x LPB-1 style gain stages (basically a big muff, minus clipping on the 2nd stage) 3rd stage is another LPB-1 style stage with a Maestro FZ-1 style bias control, > Tilt Style EQ > Output.

Transistor in the power section is a buffer for the V.Ref, saving an op amp.

[Aentons]

I looked at the schematic for the FZ7 and it does have some similarities but I don't think it's close enough to call it a copy or variant

Here's a screenshot of the Pedalpcb schematic for the Ripped Speaker

Here is the signal chain as far as I can see:
Input > lpf > hard limiting diodes > buffer > single transistor "Fuzz" gain stage  > two transistor, biased "Rip" gain stage > tone stack (baxandall?) > Output

...not sure what the other transistor is doing in the power section, or is that part of the bias?

Opamp Buffer (LPF is just RF, diodes are op amp input protection) > 2 x LPB-1 style gain stages (basically a big muff, minus clipping on the 2nd stage) 3rd stage is another LPB-1 style stage with a Maestro FZ-1 style bias control, > Tilt Style EQ > Output.

Transistor in the power section is a buffer for the V.Ref, saving an op amp.

That's a great breakdown. Thanks. Sounds like it's not an outright clone or copy and is something new they did.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Guessing that Q1 and Q2 are on the other side of the board.