Nature Dweller [90% successful ...] and Ghost Note (3-knob Afterlife)

[jimilee]

The cave dweller is bar far my favorite delay. Mine has a permanent plac on my board. That being said I am going to build a second one and use the mod posted a few days ago with a second stomp on it to go back and forth between long and short delays. We play a Manson song and the cave dweller with long delays is great for industrial type noise.

[midwayfair]

C1 - 4.7nF (used this instead of 47nF by mistake, but it sounds soo better).

? C1 is supposed to be 100nF, not 47uF. The only 47uF cap in the cave dweller is the reference voltage power filtering cap on the PT2399. It is not part of the audio circuit and simply provides DC ripple filter.

Also there is a little issue with distortion that shows up when you hit strings really hard.

Is it a really hard, "bladt" distortion sound just on the front of the note?

Well... It sounds transparent on clean, when I use distortion before it it still darkens the tone heavily. I guess its impossible to solve?

For the most part, in the Cave Dweller, yes. We're partly limited by stuff internal to the PT2399, especially the internal op amps. Try putting it before your distortion pedals.

[Rethfing]

@Jon

No no, I said 47nF in the first place, not 47uF But by mistake I have soldered 4.7nF instead of 47nF suggested by you in your first post. It sounds good though.

About this distortion - its like Tube Screamer distortion on the front of the note as you said. Its about 0.5s long. I had this problem with Deep Blue Delay too, but it was partially solved by folks from DIYStompboxes (here: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=101035.0). I guess I can live with that.

The only thing that bothers me is volume boost. There MUST be some way to decrease it. I really hate when my pedals boost volume, because playing in a band requires me to play at specified volume. I cant allow myself to boost volume when I turn my delay on, its just undesired.

[midwayfair]

@Jon

No no, I said 47nF in the first place, not 47uF But by mistake I have soldered 4.7nF instead of 47nF suggested by you in your first post. It sounds good though.

Oops! Sorry!   

I'll PM you the mod to deal with the distortion.

Did you try increasing the 1K at the output? Remember, it's a voltage divider, and a high-pass filter in conjunction with the output cap. Decreasing JUST R9 is reducing the bass, but not decreasing the volume. It's like you've used a smaller volume pot at the end, but you're still leaving it almost all the way up. Try a 2.2K, and go up from there.

[Rethfing]

Thanks for the PM.
Can I increase the input resistor? Will it cause lower signal to go through the circuit? I would rather decrease the volume at the beggining (so it wont distort) than at the output.

[midwayfair]

Can I increase the input resistor?

Yes. It will reduce treble as well, maybe in a different way than reducing it at the ouput.

It's usually better to reduce volume at the output of an effect as you get a higher signal:noise ratio, but if you're getting PT2399 distortion, then it's probably the right call to reduce it at the beginning.

[studiodunn]

Jon, Can you pm me the distortion fix as well?

[midwayfair]

Jon, Can you pm me the distortion fix as well?

See the Hamlet Delay thread. I'm not going to post it here because it's not a verified mod. I don't know what it'll do in the Cave Dweller. It might make the whole signal below unity.

[nottoohigh]

Ghost Note - Afterlife with Sensitivity knob.

Brian suggested that fiddling with R7 could change the sensitivity. So I put a minimum resistance of 24K on a 50K pot. Stock settings are near the center. CCW is more dynamics and headroom before it squishes, and CW is squishier with a hint of bloom. I highly recommend this mod if you use multiple guitars with different pickup outputs.

Hi! First time poster here. I know this thread is very old but am hoping Jon or someone else can answer this as I am interested in building an Afterlife with the sensitivity pot mod:

Question is trying to understand how you "...put a minimum resistance of 24K on a 50K pot. "

I haven't found any clear answer to this after doing some googling and such. Thanks!

[midwayfair]

Ghost Note - Afterlife with Sensitivity knob.

Brian suggested that fiddling with R7 could change the sensitivity. So I put a minimum resistance of 24K on a 50K pot. Stock settings are near the center. CCW is more dynamics and headroom before it squishes, and CW is squishier with a hint of bloom. I highly recommend this mod if you use multiple guitars with different pickup outputs.

Hi! First time poster here. I know this thread is very old but am hoping Jon or someone else can answer this as I am interested in building an Afterlife with the sensitivity pot mod:

Question is trying to understand how you "...put a minimum resistance of 24K on a 50K pot. "

I haven't found any clear answer to this after doing some googling and such. Thanks!

Use a 24k resistor in series with a 50k pot (just lugs 1 and 2). When the pot is at 0, the resistance will be 24k.

[nottoohigh]

Use a 24k resistor in series with a 50k pot (just lugs 1 and 2). When the pot is at 0, the resistance will be 24k.

Thanks Jon for a speedy reply! By that does it mean connect the 24K across lugs 1 and 2, or just connect one end of the 24K to either lug 1 or 2? Sorry, I've not done such a thing before.

[thesameage]

Nice thread. I'm going to have to try this extra knob on my afterlife.

[thesameage]

For anyone wondering, here's how to do the Ghost Note mod:

Connect lugs 2 and 3 of the pot. Solder one side of the resistor to lugs 2/3, and the other side goes to the PCB. A wire from lug 1 of the pot goes to the other resistor hole on the PCB. Order doesn't matter. You could use a 100K pot without the limiting resistor (or even larger) instead if you like, but I found the 50K + 24K gave plenty of range.

I used a linear so that noon was the original value, but feel free to deviate!