hmmm...remember kustom amps?

[pinkjimiphoton]

if it starts at c36, would seem q10 is the front end tho? doesn't seem to be for switching, looks like it's a buffer maybe for the audio before it hits the first stage of the fuzz?

[digi2t]

if it starts at c36, would seem q10 is the front end tho? doesn't seem to be for switching, looks like it's a buffer maybe for the audio before it hits the first stage of the fuzz?

It doesn`t make sense to me as a buffer. Not according to the mosfet buffers I`ve seen. I have a feeling it`s for the switch S3. If S3 grounds, I think it changes the voltage on the diode CR9, which throws the two other mosfets into bypass.

I think....

[R.G.]

It's not a buffer. It shunts the input of the fuzz circuit to ground to force it to be quiet, as noted.

[pinkjimiphoton]

okeedokee. i still don't comprehend this stuff very well...

i will start messing with it tonite i guess.

[R.G.]

Been reading patent.

The vibrato is a two-pole all-pass implemented as a cap and a gyrator/inductor. The function is equal to two sections of all pass phaser sections, like the phase 45, or possibly like two stages of a small stone in effect, but with different circuits to get the same effect.

The tremolo is a straightforward amplitude modulator, done with an OTA.

The OTAs are probably really 3080s, not something exotic.

The patent makes a big deal of the LFO modulator being a sine wave and the vibrato being driven 180 out of phase compared to the tremolo, and even invokes the sacred "Leslie" name.

It's susceptible to direct re-implementation in OTAs or functional re-implementation with different circuits. Direct re-implementation will probably have hiss, as I remember the original Kustom amps having, as the OTAs are hiss-prone.

[pinkjimiphoton]

well, then, what about indirect reimplementation?



i have much faith in your ability to be able to distill this rare essence to modern componentry!!

[pinkjimiphoton]

well, if anyone is bored, and wants some vero to play with...

here ya go.

gonna go cobble it together for fun now:





edit: fixed the pic

[pinkjimiphoton]

i made one mistake on this vero, r2 should be 2.2m

i updated it, but apparently photobucket hasn't yet.

i built this, it's verified, and it sounds great... a real nice bright classic overdrive.

i added the 100k pot, and put the signal in. makes it much more versatile i think, it lets ya dial in a fair amount of crunchy, treble-boosted distortion.

gonna go with a 50k, maybe 100k output pot..10k chokes it off way too much for use as a standalone fuzz.
i subbed one .039 cap for one of the .047's (c3 on the vero) and made the 640k resistor 660k, a 510k and a 150k in series.
used one 1n60, and one 1n34 for the clipper.

used vn2222's or whatever the hell they are... about 40 charachters long, some kind of 2n2222 fet i think.

gonna play with it a little more tomorrow, but this thing coud live on my board. i like it. kinda reminds me of the harmonic perc a little bit, but more treble boost and a bit less overtone.

[digi2t]

Run you Liberal Komrade into it, sit back, and enjoy the fireworks!

[pinkjimiphoton]

i gave the lib away to a local guitar god a while ago.

this thing doesn't need ANY fuzz in front of it....tried it with a perc, the new od, and a fuzzface.

stupid pedal trick to come.

[pinkjimiphoton]

i just took a nice cleanish fender twin patch in my cyberdeluxe, added some tremolo and a lot of reverb and got lost in this thing for two freaking hours.
just guitar/clipper/amp. insane. playing classical stuff i learned as a kid, fingertapping, the whole nine yards.
cranked up some echo and played some floyd.
called my old guitar player in san antonio and said dude, what amp am i playing thru? and played suzie-Q.

he goes, wow, dude, you got one of them tuck n roll's again?

i'm boxing it, it's going live tonite, and i bet i don't need another pedal. pretty savage interaction between guitar knobs..
throw something with humbuckers in it thru it, roll your tone knob off, then sweep up to the first of multiple sweet spots.
turn it down, it gets clean.turn it up, it gets ...just right. for me, anyways.

i made a couple changes.
i used these for trannys... i think they're some kind of FET or something.

vn2222llrlrag

battery: 9.54v

after 100r resistor : 9.36v

q1
c  1.98
b  1.96
e  0.00

q2
c  9.36
b  3.54
e  1.89

stupid pedal trick soon. i think you'll be surprised.

also...duh....

change the volume pot to 100k. much better sweep, and you get the full output (or close enough)

really really nice sounding box, i'm pretty amazed at how good it was for how simple a circuit. bud ross was on to something before that fateful poker game...

[digi2t]

vn2222llrlrag

A MOSFET.... REALLY?

I`ve never swapped a tranny for a MOSFET (or vice-versa) before. At first I thought you were meaning 2N2222, or PN2222 (made more sense in my head). I have some BS170`s at home (N-Channel MOSFET), I`ll try them.

MOSFET replacing a tranny... nuts! Can`t wait for the video.

EDIT: OK just rediscovered the Multi-Face (http://www.home-wrecker.com/multiface.html).  Gonna try it with MOSFET`s.

[pinkjimiphoton]

yep.

same thing as the sterno face, but BOTH npn mosfets.

i may be hallucinating, but it may be the most useable dirt i ever played thru.

i'm juuuuuuuuuuuuuust stupid enough where to me, there;s two kindsa transistors... ones that work in my circuits and ones that don't. these do.

[pinkjimiphoton]

hmmmmm.... any clues to make it just a smidge louder?

[digi2t]

hmmmmm.... any clues to make it just a smidge louder?

Increase R6 maybe? Use a 10K pot here and see what happens.

[pinkjimiphoton]

good call;

i tried dropping it yesterday, which didn't help. so i'll go up. there's a volume pot at the end, so i'm gonna take it up by a factor of 10. seems to work that way for some reason.

while it sounded brilliant here thru the cyberdeluxe yesterday, it sounded way too bright thru the cyber twin last nite...

so i gotta add a snubber or two i think. tried 100p between what should be b and c, wayyyyyyy too much treble reduction. so i'll try 10pf there and see if i can nuke it down some.

stay tuned.

[digi2t]

i tried dropping it yesterday, which didn't help. so i'll go up.

Yup, go up, not down. Down will only reduce your resistance to ground, and choke your signal. But, I`m not sure how it will affect your voltages. Go with a bigger out pot first, maybe 500K. May provide the volume increase you need, and also tame the highs at the same time (I`m thinking Fuzz Face here).

I`m at work, so I can`t see your vero. Are you using the 0.0047 cap to ground at the end? If so, try changing it, and see how it sounds.

Also, try changing the out cap (.068 if I remember correctly) as well. From diystomp pedal mods;

Increasing bass response in and out of distortion box

If the box has a small value input or output capacitor like .01uF, you can change the capacitor to a larger value such as .1uF and this will feed the unit more bass. If you change the input capacitor to a larger value, you will put more bass into the distortion circuit. If you change the output capacitor to a larger value, you will output more bass after the distortion.

Decreasing bass response in and out of the distortion box

To decrease the bass response going into the clipping part of a pedal, decrease the input capacitor's value. Usually anything smaller than .01uF will start cutting off bass. If you change the output capacitor to a smaller value, you will have the same type of clipping but will reduce the bass response at the end of the circuit. Basically a high pass filter at the end of the pedal. If you make the input capacitor very small i.e. .005uF etc... you will basically make any pedal that boosts into a treble booster!

[pinkjimiphoton]

thanks bro.

i'll play with it in a little bit, the tone is perfect...just the super high fizzy-fizzys and mexican am jesus freak broadcasts kinda stuff gotta get nuked.

i'll try the 500k pot...good call!!!

will post my results asap.

[pinkjimiphoton]

hey bro,
last nite i upped the input cap to .22u, gave it a bit more "body" and fuzz. still playing with it.
tried a 47k resistor for the q2e to ground. made it almost imperceptibly louder, thinking maybe have to play with the voltage divider at q2 to get a little more out of it.
thinking of trying 50k for output pot, 100k works but a large part of the range is for all intents useless...just seems to add more glass.
toying with snubber caps on the mosfets... there's a sweet spot that seems to work, but it's gotta be really tiny caps, still experimenting.
i used it live the other nite, and tho it sounded good hear with the amp cranked up with it's trem on, it sounded great,  but the noise gate was trying to fight it too much on the cybertwin. gotta nuke it some with a big freekin' cap or something.. onwards and upwards. i think you'll like the sound of it once it's dialed in. really needs a bit of treble de-emphasis on the front end i think... sounds SWEEEEEEET with the tone control close to off...goes from dark and muted to real nice compress-y clean with an edge. for me, it's great.. (sounds kinda likea kustom)

anyways...stay tuned

[digi2t]

I don`t have the schem in front of me (and i can`t see it here at work), but I think there are .22 caps at both ends. If you blank out the three dual fets, and follow it from the preamp, all the way back to the preamp, I think it starts with a .22, and ends with a .22. The .0047 is bracketed by two 10K resistor, and then a .22 cap after the output volume, before returning to the preamp. There are resistors that you could probably leave out before and after the circuit to try and keep the signal strong, but try a .22 at both ends, first, and last, and see if it gets you into the zone better.