Lowrider question...

[v00d00blues79]

I just got done putting my Lowrider board together and so far so good.  I do have a question though:

I'm experiencing some gate-ing on the decay of notes.  Is this normal for this type circuit?  The note will sustain for a bit and then start getting blatty and cut out.  Would I benefit from running a compressor in front of this guy to help with this?

If this needs to move to the Tech Help section let me know and I'll move it over there.

Thanks!

Andy

[lloyd17]

I just finished boxing mine and have found it can get a little blatty on open strings. Boost in front didn't do much but a buffer did help some. I play with low output pups so effects not triggering are pretty normal for me. I had to put a boost into my meatball just to get the envelope working in down mode. That's kind of why I do this though.

My build tracks single notes perfectly above the third fret though which is exactly what I wanted. Using the neck pup helps with tracking some as well. I haven't tried a compressor let us know how it works!

[madbean]

What transistors did you use? 2sk30 or 2n5457?

Some amount of minor gating and blattiness is normal on the lower octaves. That's pretty much the downside of analog octave. It excels at short staccato notes but doesn't track perfectly for long sustaining notes. So, you should have it to some degree but not TOO much.

[Scruffie]

I have no experience with note decay etc but a compressor in front of a usual Octave effect almost always helps, i'd certainly try if you can.

[v00d00blues79]

Thanks everybody.  I don't have alot of experience with octave effects so I didn't know what to expect.  It definitely sounds killer though!  Im going to play around with it and see what works for me.


Thanks!

Andy

[LaceSensor]

The transistors were important in my 2 builds, found it tracks much nicer with the 2n5457, even sustains pretty good.

[v00d00blues79]

I put the recommended 2N5457's in there.  It sounds good with and without a compressor in front of it and tracks like a dream.  I did notice that if I'm sloppy in my playing and have a lot of extra string noise that the pedal will have a mini freak out and generate some gated noise, but stops after a second with the strings muted.  I think a lot of it is me getting used to an analog octave down effect and not anything out of wack with the build itself.

I'm also going to try a few more CD4013's in there to make sure its not the chips.  The local place I got them from had the Motorola version, and even though the datasheet looked the same I'm still going to get some of the CD4013BCN's from somewhere just to be on the safe side.

Thanks,

Andy