Cupcake - rut roh

[camsna]

So. I tested my "Apple Juicer" and wonder if my experience is normal.

1 - It overdrives quite nicely. Lots of gain/volume on tap. I suspect that this is normal. But...

2 - It doesn't sound particularly squishy. It's hard to tell it's compressing at all, really.

3 - When I dime the 'sus' pot, it goes 'whoof' and the signal disappears. It does this past, say, 3:00. Back it up to < 3:00, sound is back.

4 - It's hard to tell that the 'sus' control really does anything.



Any ideas? Compared to my Keeley and the Orange Squeezer vids I've seen, it's obviously less squishy. Apart from the giant volume boost (it seems that 8:00 is unity. Maybe cuz of the linear pot? At any rate, can hardly turn it up without, y'know, turning it UP), it's hard to tell it's on...How do I get the squishy?

(Otherwise, it's perfect. It's quiet, it engages and bypasses, it works with a battery or external supply, the battery disengages when external power is present, etc. )

[jkokura]

Sounds like it's not biased right to me. Have you adjusted the trim pot properly?

Jacob

[camsna]

Sounds like it's not biased right to me. Have you adjusted the trim pot properly?

Jacob

Well, I moved the trim off the board and to the box. Where ought it to be biased (don't know what "properly" amounts to).

But, since the SUS is the bias, it makes sense that when I dime it, I get "whoof" then no sound.

It should be, as I understand it, that I get more compression as I turn SUS up - up to the point that it gets noisy. Well. It never gets noisy and it doesn't SEEM like the compression is really changing.

But, then again, I might just be thick.

[jkokura]

Hmm. I think you misunderstood the trim pots function. It's for biasing, not a sustain pot persay. The way you're using it is why you're having problems. At a very precise setting you will the circuit working, but it isn't meant to be a variable control, it's a set it once control. That's why it's a trim pot, not a variable exterior pot.

Best solution is to switchnit back to a trim pot and properly bias the circuit.

Jacob

[camsna]

The build doc says:

The SUS trim pot adjusts the maximum compression allowed. As you turn it up, compression will increase, but so will noise and distortion. Set this trimmer at a point where you feel you get the most compression with the least amount of noise and distortion. You may sub a 10kB pot is you want this as an external control.

I can TOTALLY buy that it should be set and left. That's not a problem. But WHERE to set it?

(Thanks, by the way )

[jkokura]

I can't tell you that. You have to hear it.

Try turning the volume up to a fairly high level and find someone to slowly turn the sus pot from zero and up. Note the places you like the sound, and then work from there.

Jacob

[Haberdasher]

I remember when I built mine there was actually only a very small "usable" range on the trimmer; throughout the rest of the turn there was either no audio or woofing.  For me, the ideal setting was somewhere right in the range where there was a lot of crackling while turning.  Right there in that range, where there was the most compression and least noise, is where I left it.  Very tiny adjustments.

I also found that since I don't have a nice regulated power supply, I had to use a battery for this pedal or there was just too much noise altogether.

I have never found it to have a lot of squish.  To me, it is a subtle effect- and while it adds character and body, it's not really one of those compressors that sounds extremely "effect-like".


I'm looking forward to Brian's upcoming demeter comp project.

[camsna]

Thanks, guys. It was (is) working as it's supposed to. It was just that there's a narrow range on the SUS control where compression really occurs. Dialed it in and it's nice 'n' squishy now!

Pop LOVES it!