Friday, August 8, 2014

Tidbits for a time-based unit

Alright, so I don't plan on just making pedals. There are some effects I would just rather have on for the most part and not have to deal too much with since I like them being on a majority of the time.
Enter the Roland Chorus Echo
This is basically what I want to try and Frankenstein out of some of the pedals that I would just position on top of my amp and just leave on.  I've since learned about Beavis Danelectro endeavor using many of the cheap Danelectro pedals that are available out there.  I liked the idea...alot.  Basically I have 3 pedals I want to modify and put into a box unit like this.  Albeit it won't be a tape based echo, it'll still be something.
1.) Electroharmonix Small Clone
2.) Danelectro BLT echo pedal
3.) Danelectro Milkshake chorus pedal

I've found a couple youtube videos on how to mod the Small Clone and the BLT echo to give me a couple more options.  In addition to this I'd want to have a couple of inputs, and a couple of outputs (stereo if possible).  I'd like to be able to switch in the circuits as well.  I'll have to think about it more, but here's another example that inspires me as well, I probably won't need it to be as big, but I like the look of the faceplate...

A little bit of a lesson

Alright, so I have not quite got the current Binary Filter to work.  I messed around with the wires, testing just one capacitor per filter, and still it just goes from Farty to clear sounding, with little variation on the sweep of the potentiometer. It sounds interesting, but not quite what I had in mind.  All of the PCB and wires makes up a giant rats nest which is hard for me to diagnose where I've gone wrong.  Ultimately I think that due to my lack of knowledge in this area I'll have a hard time going through and assessing where things are going wrong.  Heh I'll admit it was quite frustrating, this is the 3rd time I've attempted to make this circuit.  Which leads me a very crucial tip.
MAKE SURE YOUR CIRCUIT WORKS EXACTLY AS YOU LIKE BEFORE YOU PUT IT IN THE ENCLOSURE!!!

Unfortunately for me I get too excited and map out the graphics for the enclosure before I have the circuit done and pretty much finish the enclosure before I've even tested the complete circuit.  So now I am left with this metal box with wholes in it that I've got to make work for me, otherwise I end up with well, just another metal box with holes in it.  Big picture here is to not get too ambitious with your first couple of circuits.  On the positive side of things, my 3PDT switching has worked for my past 2 failed attempts.

Ultimately the idea is to create a dual boost pedal, where I can choose to either boost the bass or treble side of a signal. Which would allow it to work great with most any other pedal.  I see this as a great sort of "support system" type of pedal.

So I'm going with the idea of just keeping things simple.  Lets go caveman style!  This should be a positive distraction to keep me from thinking about how much desoldering I'm going to have to do in order to salvage the components and the PCB.  Since the first pedal was an LPB-1 in a pedal, I figured I'd extend my abilities from there.  Apparently switching out the input capacitors on this circuit changes the frequencies that are allowed to pass.  If i could load up a good number of those on a rotary switch then I think it would kind of function like a tone knob from the LPB-1/my signal.  Add on a 3PDT switching system and I'm already getting started.  For further tailoring I think I'll follow it by a Tone Stack and a recovery stage.
This is what I've drawn up so far.


I apologize for the blurry image, but my camera is messed up, and besides there are not values or even a tested version that I can tell you works at all. But you get the idea of what I'm going for.  I think this should be more straight forward than the previous design and I believe should operate in a similar manner.  The other issue is what to do with the two extra holes in the front of the enclosure.  Previously these were for the High and Low pass capacitors, but now I'll have to come up with something else. (Once again this is where I'll have to continue testing out my circuit ideas...)  But in the meantime onto the next paragraph.

Tone clipping is the focus here!!!  For those of you who haven't been to the AMZ site, take some time and go over there to absorb some knowledge. I've found it to be chock full of resources.  Here I'll direct you to his discussion of Tone clipping.  The idea is that you can place clipping diodes (i.e. Silicon, LED, etc) after your filters and they will clip that portion of the filter.

So If I add clipping diodes after the low pass filter, then it will make the low frequencies fuzzy with a somewhat preserved high frequency response. The opposite will happen when I put clipping diodes after the high pass filter. Once I get it breadboarded I''ll have to test out the multiple combinations to see which  combinations sound best for each filter.

Well that's the basic idea.  I'll have to see how it goes.  I'm also planning on making a modded fuzz face in the near future as well.  I'll post some of my thoughts on that too.