Neovibe build. (pics!)

[no one ever]

  Finished my Neovibe, technically (it makes sounds! but no status led, rate led, or light shield yet).



there's the board... sans lamp. that came in later. the lamp sits too high!



the falsely populated enclosure (not the final finish, mind you. neither led works).


Impressions: Without a shield.. not very deep at all, but a great big throb nevertheless. With a bit of aluminum foil dropped on top, it got a tad nicer... but so far I only like slow settings, though they're not very deep. I've yet to add the mix trimpot and the trim on the rate LED, which I've read to affect the bias of the lamp also. Also, if the guy I'm building this for wants it, I'll do the speed mod later.

No clips... yet. But my customer has easy access to a studio, sooooo 





oh. AND IT WORKED ON THE FIRST POWERUP. that made me feel cool. odd moment of triumph, when you see that lamp shiiine



maaaany thanks to mr. R.G., who i missed at NAMM (studied the workhorse amps booth for a bit as I walked by, lookin for that nametag.)

and mr. hammer, for help on the rate LED issue.



EDIT: oh yeah, and I need some help on the lamp... i (unknowingly) soldered the photocells in too short, I didn't know that the radioshack lamp would sit in so high. Any lamp suggestions, or should I just order new cells and make a taller shield?

[LyleCaldwell]

Just put foil inside your shield and the LDRs will work fine.

[no one ever]

Just put foil inside your shield and the LDRs will work fine.

Thanks, Lyle. I see your project turned out pretty good as well.. although with a few mods. I'll have to try those. What are the JC Maillet cap values?

[LyleCaldwell]

What are the what?  I don't understand the question.

[no one ever]

What are the what?  I don't understand the question.

eh, I guess that wasn't directed towards you. I did a search a few hours ago and found somebody that put in "jc maillet's cap values" and after looking over your post, I see that wasn't you.

JC Maillet of www.lynx.bc.ca/~jc/ . never heard of him? interesting stuff. although hard to read schematics/layouts...

[LyleCaldwell]

I'll have to check out his site.  Thanks.

[gregcavi]

I would really love to build one of those some day.  I need to get better first!

Greg

[no one ever]

I would really love to build one of those some day.  I need to get better first!

Greg

Not to coerce you into something that's beyond your tools and expertise, but this is only my fifth project. I've stepped up in difficulty... started with the Fulltone AB Box (easy peezy lemon squeezy)

then a wah (beginner)

then a kit from byoc (beginner w/ more parts)

a DS-1 (intermediate)

and this (advanced but I got lucky).

[Roobin]

looks cool. was the ds1 the one off tonepad? and how was the byoc

[Alex C]

That looks great.  For some reason I have not gotten around to putting a light shield on mine.  I initially thought it was just to prevent outside light from affecting the photocells, and thought I wouldn't need one since the box is sealed up, but I learned that the foil on the inside helps to reflect and direct the lamp's light, which should result in a deeper "throb".  I will try to add this very soon and report back. 
Is there a chance we could get a shot of the inside with the board and parts in place?  Nice work, sir.

-Alex

[no one ever]

looks cool. was the ds1 the one off tonepad? and how was the byoc

Yep. The reports there perfectly describe my build. Great sound, a tad noisy.

As for the byoc.. terrific outcome, sounds great especially with a good amp, but could be had for cheaper if you bought the parts yourself.

That looks great.  For some reason I have not gotten around to putting a light shield on mine.  I initially thought it was just to prevent outside light from affecting the photocells, and thought I wouldn't need one since the box is sealed up, but I learned that the foil on the inside helps to reflect and direct the lamp's light, which should result in a deeper "throb".  I will try to add this very soon and report back.
Is there a chance we could get a shot of the inside with the board and parts in place?  Nice work, sir.

thanks... I haven't completely housed it yet, but I will post pics later.. currently its hanging out of the case and powered by 2 9v's, its not exactly showroom floor-ready yet  . clips + pics in a few days, I promise.

Yes, the light shield is very important to the sound.. that central part of the pcb is like the cerebral cortex of the vibe.

[Alex C]

Well I cracked 'er open and took out the "non-foiled" half of a film canister that had been my light sheild.  I moved the LDRs a bit farther back from the bulb, as they had been pretty much touching it, and I think they were a bit below the filament.  So I moved them back 1/8", tilted them slighty up, and lined the film canister with aluminum foil covered with clear packing tape to prevent contact with the LDR leads. 
I re-installed the shield and tweaked the trimpot a bit while I was in there.
It sounds a lot better now.  It's deeper and fuller (and richer, warmer, smoother, thicker, sweeter...)   It really is deeper and fuller.  I think most of the difference is due to the adjustment of the physical position of the LDRs.
I'm even more pleased with this pedal now.  I'll try to get pictures up soon.  I posted a while ago (many months ago) when I initially completed it, and have yet to post pictures.
Thanks again, R.G.
-Alex

[no one ever]

calling all good samaritans...

how can i "darken" the vibe some more? i have it running off ac, does a dc supply make a difference? does this "dark" quality of a vibe result from treble loss or notch depth/character?

[alderbody]

Here's mine:


It runs on external 24VDC supply.

Really good, but at slow speed it could be better.

Still haven't found the way to make the bulb flash the same way as it does at higher speeds. 

Does anyone know what's behind fulltone's "vintage/modern" switch on the deja-vibe?

[no one ever]

Here's mine:


It runs on external 24VDC supply.

Really good, but at slow speed it could be better.

Still haven't found the way to make the bulb flash the same way as it does at higher speeds. 

Does anyone know what's behind fulltone's "vintage/modern" switch on the deja-vibe?

Yours looks MUCH more attractive than mine, looks like a boutique prototype. Awesome fonts and knob choices. Why are there 3 jacks, may I ask? Or is the LHS one the power.


more pics!

external (i wish this was the final finish... meloves my handwriting  )



and regrettably, the internal (maybe i'll organize those wires later  )

[petemoore]

  I'm not entirely sure LED's need to be 'maxlighted' into the LDR's, I pulled them away from the LDRs in an EZ vibe, because it has a brightness control on the LED's I could still get 'bottoming out' [LFO Movement ... but sweep 'pinned' to the top during the brightside of the LFO sweep' iow too much light for too long 'pins' the phase at teh top of the sweep portion until the LFO dims them]..
  So I didn't worry so much about getting them very close, even put a piece of paper as 'light diffuser', I'm pretty sure the lightcontroller assembly should be isolated from 'outside light sources, because it seemed even a little bit lessened sweep, but as far as LED's 'barely' lighting the LDR's enough to maximize the phase sweep depth...that's the part I'm less certain of.

[no one ever]

  I'm not entirely sure LED's need to be 'maxlighted' into the LDR's, I pulled them away from the LDRs in an EZ vibe, because it has a brightness control on the LED's I could still get 'bottoming out' [LFO Movement ... but sweep 'pinned' to the top during the brightside of the LFO sweep' iow too much light for too long 'pins' the phase at teh top of the sweep portion until the LFO dims them]..
  So I didn't worry so much about getting them very close, even put a piece of paper as 'light diffuser', I'm pretty sure the lightcontroller assembly should be isolated from 'outside light sources, because it seemed even a little bit lessened sweep, but as far as LED's 'barely' lighting the LDR's enough to maximize the phase sweep depth...that's the part I'm less certain of.

I pointed mine away from the lamp... its fun to expose the ldrs to light and use your hand to do the phase shifting. 


Odd, theres seems to be a shortage of vibe mods... I need to darken the tone/decrease the treble, but want to do so creatively, not just a tone control or something like that.

[BDuguay]

Bump and a comment.
Nice work all-o-you's! I've built a number of easy vibes but I really gotta get to making one of these for myself and now here is more inspiration.
Thanks!
B.