Lowrider fuzziness?

[add4]

Just finished the lowrider, it fired up at first try, some things are good some are less good...
Clean is ok ..
I have LOTS of fuzz for the octave up ... and basically a very tiny octave up note when i play high notes (12th fret, small E string of the guitar). It basically distort everything i play and sounds very bad.
i made the mod mentioned on the pdf : removed C12, changed C10 for 1n .. didn't made it much better at all..
any suggestions?
Octave down 1 is GREAT!
octave down 2 .. i can't hear it .. there might be an error on the circuit there i'll have to audio probe..


Any suggestion to further improve octave up?

[add4]

just for the sake of being precise, i should mention that i made a sub : didn't had any 33n left so i subbed C2 for a 22n but it seems like an input cap to me .. it should't play a role in the fuzziness, should it?

[LaceSensor]

doing the cap mods adds fizziness in my build, with the benefit of making the upper octave pop a bit more.

return it to stock (c10 = 10n, c12 = 33n)

You could tack a 10n in parrallel with your 22n to approximate the 33n on the solder side of your board.

what amp are you playing through? inc speaker size?
I guess the very sub octave sounds might not reproduce well through certain setups but I may be talking rubbish...

[add4]

Thanks for the info, i didn't even tried with the stock values (being out of stock for the 33n, i was very glad to see that i could avoid plugging it in )

I'm playing through a fender tremolux : 2 10 inches speaker.. that might explain the sub octave thing.. but i guess i should hear it if i play very high notes on the guitar?
small E string, 12 frets -> 2 octaves up is A string, 9th fret, that definitely goes through my speakers :p

i'll try audio probing the 2nd octave part of the circuit.. haven't tried that yet.

Also, i'd LOVE to have someone explaining what happens in the circuit.. i understand fairly well the dirt pedals, but i'm at a loss when i try to understand other things (except tremolos and whas).
I guess theres a way to divide the frequency by exactly 2 but i don't see how it happens in the circuit.

[LaceSensor]

I wouldnt even know where to start explaining whats happening

I have found the the 2oct down isnt something I use so much, but I definitely have it on my build.
Agree that it should transpose if you like, playing higher up, to generate notes you'd "normally" hear, so perhaps there is a bug somewhere.

I know that messing with c10 and c12 did have significant variance on the tone of my +1 oct sounds, so would be worth having a futher tweak and play, perhaps beyond what is in the build doc.

FWIW I built 2 identical pedals in parralel and both perform identically.

[add4]

FWIW I built 2 identical pedals in parralel and both perform identically.

That's cool .. building in parallel .. i really should try that once.
:p love the idea

[LaceSensor]

FWIW I built 2 identical pedals in parralel and both perform identically.

That's cool .. building in parallel .. i really should try that once.
:p love the idea

I just mean I made them at the same time, not they are in an enclosure and played in parrallel.
one for me one for teh bass player in my life...

[add4]

That's how i understood it ..
I just love the idea of stuffing 2 pcbs at the same time.. it has a pro feeling to it

[claytushaywood]

I just finished my lowrider board and sound checked it.  I'm getting a great lower octave and cleans come through nice- I heard my double lower- but i was playing it through my little bass amp- but its only an 8" speaker, it is faint, which I expected. 

What I did not expect was that doing the mod would bring all out distortion to the upper octave... it's not a little fizzy or even fizzy imo- it's fizzy like an MXR dist + (sorry i wanted to like the dist +.  I'm still looking for clipping diode suggestions actually)  Anyways- It's more like a shitty sounding distoriton pedal on the upper octave that when at like 9 oclock on the dial, it takes over everything else- except maybe 20% of the sub octave (and its all the way up)

If this mod was intended for this kinda sound- i pity a fool, at least in the description departmnet.  This upper octave is on its way to fuzz octave land

I did use a 1uf film cap in the location near up oct 1 where it calls for electrolytic in a couple spots.  and a tanatulum 1uf where it calls for electrolytic 1uf at c25.  All I had- figured it wouldnt be a big deal- though c13 is the last cap in the signal path

I used cd4013be- dunno if that matters-

I also did the mod- where i left c12 off and subbed 1n for c10.  Neither of the mods are supposed to be downright fuzz.  So i'm thinking it's somethin else?  Is this a trimpot issue?

[LaceSensor]

I just finished my lowrider board and sound checked it.  I'm getting a great lower octave and cleans come through nice- I heard my double lower- but i was playing it through my little bass amp- but its only an 8" speaker, it is faint, which I expected.  

What I did not expect was that doing the mod would bring all out distortion to the upper octave... it's not a little fizzy or even fizzy imo- it's fizzy like an MXR dist + (sorry i wanted to like the dist +.  I'm still looking for clipping diode suggestions actually)  Anyways- It's more like a shitty sounding distoriton pedal on the upper octave that when at like 9 oclock on the dial, it takes over everything else- except maybe 20% of the sub octave (and its all the way up)

If this mod was intended for this kinda sound- i pity a fool, at least in the description departmnet.  This upper octave is on its way to fuzz octave land

I did use a 1uf film cap in the location near up oct 1 where it calls for electrolytic in a couple spots.  and a tanatulum 1uf where it calls for electrolytic 1uf at c25.  All I had- figured it wouldnt be a big deal- though c13 is the last cap in the signal path

I used cd4013be- dunno if that matters-

I also did the mod- where i left c12 off and subbed 1n for c10.  Neither of the mods are supposed to be downright fuzz.  So i'm thinking it's somethin else?  Is this a trimpot issue?

Try reverting back to standard. You should lose the fuzziness, but the upper octave might be more muted. I didnt mind a bit of fuzz. I dunno if you ever saw my demo video but I think the amount of fuzz is totally acceptable.

[djaaz]

Great demo.

Mine is even a bit fuzzier than yours. It wasn't at all before I used a 1,5n for C10 and got rid of C12. I must admit that i did not try to set the trimmer (i completely forgot about it and once i modded it, i stared at it for 2 minutes slowly remembering what it was for).

The low rider works incredibly well. I could not be happier.

Claytushaywood, maybe you could post an audio demo even a bad one?

[harpplayer]

Hi there!

Finished building my Lowrider few days ago, and quite impressed with the tracking and sounds! I think I´ll "externalize" the trimpot, which plays a significant difference in the upper octave IF c10 and c12 are ommited. Maybe a couple of spdt to tweak their values on the fly. This is particularly useful if you are to use the Lowrider with the harmonica (a subtle upper octave cap. setting fattens up the signal in quite a cool way).

Only negative thing so far is that even with all the knobs down all the way, with the amp somehow loud, I can hear all the octaves sounding really fuzzy. Did this happen to you as well? Is there a fix? Pots are almost spot on in their values.

Tks!
André

[madbean]

I believe you may be getting some bleedover. Try moving your input and output wires around a bit in the enclosure. Does it make any difference at all?

[harpplayer]

Hi Brian! Here are the pictures. No wire running below the circuit, everything is going through the sides. But, the power jack is just over the board, do you think this could be the reason? I could add a large filter capacitor , but I don't know if it would help much...

[harpplayer]

Darn flickr... I see no image here. You have to right click the picture and copy the address.