Dinky Drive HELP??

[aaronishere]

Ok I got it all working properly, the only thing about this pedal is that its got tons of treble and not enough low end to it. Will the J201 help this at all?

Thanks for the help!

[jkokura]

If you don't mind my asking - what was it that ended up being the problem? How did you solve it?

As for the bass problem, I'm not sure that a J201 would be the solution - what transistors did you use? Perhaps lowering C6 to something more like a 10n or a 15n. I doubt going lower than that would be good, and I'm not even sure that lowering it is the right solution as I haven't built it.

Remember that it is a simulation that harkens back to an AC30 - it will be a trebly sound, not a bassy one.

Jacob

[aaronishere]

Honestly Im not real sure what the deal was. I checked all of my transistors and checked some solder points and finally got the output volume it was supposed to have. The audio probe was a crucial key to figuring this thing out. Im not a huge fan of the pedal, but it could possibly get better if the controls would be a little less harsh. Not really looking for more bass so to say, but less highs, its super brilliant and I love AC30s / british made amps.

The transistors Im using are the 2N5457.

Thank you for your input, i really appreciate it.

[madbean]

Increase C9 to 1n to take out some of the brilliance. The tone controls are interactive, so reducing highs will give more bass. By increasing C9 it will most likely balance out for you a little better.

[aaronishere]

That helped out a lot, i would still like more range of bass response if possible. What could I do to get more low end and maybe a little less highs?

Thanks for the response!

[madbean]

You can go up to 1n5 or 2n2 on C9 and reduce R5 to 47k.

Have a look at the "Vox" tab on the Duncan Tone Stack Calculator. You can play around with the values there to get what you want.

[aaronishere]

Awesome! I'll get on this first thing tomorrow. Im running apple computers so I cant get the tone stacker, but i'll play around with a few different values in the morning. Thanks a bunch!!

[madbean]

This should give you an idea of the difference. Top is unmodded Dinky with both pots at 50%. Middle is modded values at same position. Bottom is modded Dinky with bass and treble at their max and min settings. When both are maxed, the response is fairly flat.

This may or may not be a good thing, overall, but it's worth a try.



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[aaronishere]

So exactly how would I go about knowing how to get less TREB? Like I can't tell you how piercing it is, the treb is all the way down to get a good balance.

[madbean]

Increase C9 until you get the response you want. You could go up to 10n.

I need to pull my build out again...I don't remember having such an excess of treble in mine.

[aaronishere]

Yeah please do and check it, cause on mine the bass is almost all the way up and treb all the way down and its and good balance. But anything other than that on those two settings is ear piercing!

Let me know what you find out! Thanks man...

[madbean]

Sure, I'll check into it. Keep in mind that this is a very standard Vox type tone stack. But, that doesn't mean we can't alter it into something more useable for you. I will spend some time on it later today and report back.

[aaronishere]

For sure, I totally understand! Its taught me so much about how to deal with components and what they do in relation to audio. Thanks for checking on it for me!

BTW, Im the one who emailed you about the solder mask a few days ago. Just got your last email about that. I might try a few things!

What boards do you use? the black and red ones? Where do you get them at?

[aaronishere]

I also built the SHO, it is popping real bad when you turn it on & off. Ive tried the resistor on the input/output jacks and also tried a different switch wiring and still getting the pop. I used the same wiring for the Dinky drive and its fine with NO pop.

Any ideas to fix this? also how to get rid of the "crackle ok" thing on the SHO? (not a fan of the crackle)

Thanks for your help!

[madbean]

The blank PCB material can be gotten from this fellow: http://stores.ebay.com/PCB-Laminates-Copper-Clad?_rdc=1

I've bought from Bill for years and he's terrific.

For your SHO: don't put resistors on the input/output jack! This is a tone sucker because those resistors will always be present in the signal path, even when the effect is off.

I've never had a problem with popping on the SHO, but the first thing I would try is temporarily disconnecting the LED. It's possible that the LED is actually the cause of the popping. If that's the case, you can try a different one, or try using a higher value for R5 and switch to metal film for that one.

If it still popping even with the LED disconnected, then consider replacing C1 with a lower value. You could actually go very low with the input cap and still retain the full range of the guitar due to its high input impedance. Best thing there is to socket that cap and try a few different ones in decreasing value, like 47n, 22n, 10n, 1n.

I don't recommend putting a pulldown resistor before C1 as this will alter the overall input impedance of the circuit, and while it will still work, it may alter it in some small way.

Here's one last brute force method: toggle the effect on and off several times when you first power your pedalboard. This should help discharge the input cap. I have to do this pretty regularly with another boost (Jack Orman's Mosfet Boost).

Last thing: you can't get rid of the crackle. At least not without altering the circuit. There are a couple of designs out there that implement the SHO in a different way to eliminate the crackle. I can't recall the names of them at the moment, but if you search on freestompboxes or diystompboxes, you should find them. I believe one of the designs was done by Soulsonic on FSB.