BUILD REPORT: ROG's May Queen

[Bucksears]

I finished up ROG's May Queen tonight with some added features. I subbed the 2.2k resistor for a 1.2k res and 1k pot in series and added a low-pass filter (10k pot and .02uF cap) for a tone control. I did NOT add the treble suppressing cap.
My initial impressions are:
1) It does exactly what it set out to do: recreate that Brian-May's-Treble-Boosted-Vox-Distortion. Given that is what it set out to do, it's a success.
2) The distortion sounds like it's going through a wah with the pedal rocked back; trebley, midrangey and not much bass. I messed up wiring the gain control, so I'm assuming that the gain is maxed out.
3) The adjustable tone control helps a bit in adding some lows, but I'd like to play with some other factors and see if there is more that can be done.
4) Oh, and another thing: this pedal is NOT noisy, hardly at all. One of the quietest ones I have, actually.

I really like this pedal. A lot. I wanted to crank it a bit, but my roommate was here tonight and she has to go to work in the morning like I do. It's the best ROG circuit I've done yet. It's DEFINITELY a keeper and a permanent fixture to my pedal board. It's got a classic rock, garage rock flavor to it, but the harmonic characteristics of the distortion make it a little more sophisticated and ready for some harmonized, dual-guitar solos. I'd like to bring up the bass a little and have more adjustable control over the treble, but other than that, it's definitely worth the time to build.

Stay tuned: I hope to have my ROG Eighteen finished in the next day or so.

- Buck

[chemman]

Rog May queen 2 is a great pedal on ROG. Built it with 2n5089 as Q1 and everything else to ROG spec. No filter cap and the J201 biased as described and tweaked till it sounded nice. Both Q1 and Q2 biased fine with set layout. Q3 is very easy to bias a well. Much easier build than thunderchief considering the problems of biasing those damm trannies (still can;t get Q3 good on thunderchief).

With 2n5089 as Q1 it has tons of gain but not overkill and low noise. Playing with the guitar volume knob gives excellent control. Thinking of replacing the 100k pot with something smaller because its drives my blues junior like crazy.
I figure something like a 10k A pot or something.. don;t have much experience with pot subs and level affect.

Excellent distortion sound.
Amazing considering many of my IC based distortions (D+, DS-1, and Rat) just don't live up to the hype that got me building them in the first place.

-matt

[Renegadrian]

Resurrect this old topic to just tell you that I finished mine, but got me 

It is deadly silent, ok, and it has a great sound, but it seems to act like a noise gate, say it's great for chord progression and something like this, but can't hold a chord or worse a single high note, it "closes" like a noise gate or a extreme setted filter...

I used this layout, didn't change any component...

(which I redrawn with DIY LC after that layout)


Any clues?!

[oldrocker]

I love this pedal.  I built it a little while ago and I think it sounds great.  It is what it is and I didn't mod anything.  I have other pedals that sound bassy with tone and gain adjustment.  I just use this one as is.  A quick perfboard build and it sounds like I expected.


I used the layout from the ROG website.  I can't tell if the vero layouts are totally right since I never work with it or vero layouts.  I breadboarded this first before I put it on perf but vero is a different animal to me.  If it's gated there could be a bias problem with one or more of the transistors.  Try posting voltages.

http://www.runoffgroove.com/mayqueen.html

[Renegadrian]

i believe you man...Please check the layouts above...Is there something I missed...Are those layouts correct??? Dunno...

It seems you used more or less the same layout, judging by the pic...Just some differences...

[Renegadrian]

Puzzle solved...While I was redrawing the layout, I just left out the jumper that you can see in the second layout...The one that is connecting track a and b close to the j201 socket...

Put the missing jumper on...My hair start curling like this --> while riffin' some Queen tunes...

EDIT: Man, this thing SCREAMS!!! I got some SLAYERish tones from it...You know when they start the solos and they got that sound like a fixed wah...

[Renegadrian]

How do I add a gain control? Is it going pot lug 3 to the central pin of Q3 and pot lug 2 to the last electrolytic, positive leg? lug 1 to ground? Is that correct'??


Anyway, it's a great circuit...Glad I built it...

[arma61]

Hi all

it seems I'm not able to get it working!, I've checked voltage as per ROG, I can get 7v on Q1, and 5.5v on Q3, but at Q2 I can only get .1V! (2v on ROG schem). If I take the voltage at the pin's socked (without Q) I have 6V, when I insert the transistor then I get .1v, no matter the way I turn it! and it has very low volume and farty sound, it improve a little bit (still low volume, but good sound), almost all components as per ROG schem except for Q3, I've used a MPF102 (3 units tested with same results) and a BS170 , no soldering bridge, as far as I can see!, Qs oriantation looks good (I've tried anyway all positions!). So where's the trick with it.

I've also tried with a 2n5457, it broke my ears, too loud with volume almost to 0, still farty anyway.

thx 4 help

p.s. I redrawn my on PCB with ExpressSCH/PCB, it looks right though, an easy one anyway!

[Renegadrian]

Armando, take a look at the vero layout above, the second is correct and the first is missing that jumper I wrote earlier - and maybe you can compare to your pcb and find the issue...ciao

[arma61]

Thx Renegadrian, I've checked it looks ok, my PCB has same "connections" as your layout, must be something else may be MPF.. BS... 2N.. aren't good for it ?, I may need a J201 in there, though I went yesterday for shoping and it seems I cannot find them in Italy so need to expand my order @Banzai.

Anyway I'll continue to debug it tonight.

non mollare mai!! (never give up!)

Ciao
Armando

[Renegadrian]

Armando, I went to the best electronic store here in Rome (Pastorelli) some months ago - he told me that the trannies I was looking for (j201, bs170, ecc) are so out of date and nobody wants them anymore, also he did laugh at my request...

I believe Banzai is the solution for us italians...(not Hara-Kiri) 
At least it works for me...

Ciao

[Mick Bailey]

I'm in England and use Banzai for some stuff. Can you order from Rapid Electronics?  They carry most components for pedal builds and stock the BS170. Can be much cheaper on some items and carry a wider range of components (but not J201).

I built the May Queen and it sounds exactly as per the ROG clip. I then modded it for more bass, but lost the '%^&*ed wah' sound so put it back to standard.

Only thing is, it picked up radio quite badly where I live, so I soldered a 51pf cap across the input which cured it.

[arma61]

Armando, I went to the best electronic store here in Rome (Pastorelli) some months ago - he told me that the trannies I was looking for (j201, bs170, ecc) are so out of date and nobody wants them anymore, also he did laugh at my request...

I believe Banzai is the solution for us italians...(not Hara-Kiri) 
At least it works for me...

Ciao

I think that nowaday the "gain" they have on selling this stuff is so little compared to a "video surveiilance system" or "golden plated 6 mts video cable", that they don't even loose time listening at you and they just answer "no, we haven't this kind of trannies", with an ironic smile in the face and looking at the next customer!

I'm in England and use Banzai for some stuff. Can you order from Rapid Electronics?  They carry most components for pedal builds and stock the BS170. Can be much cheaper on some items and carry a wider range of components (but not J201).

I built the May Queen and it sounds exactly as per the ROG clip. I then modded it for more bass, but lost the '%^&*ed wah' sound so put it back to standard.

Only thing is, it picked up radio quite badly where I live, so I soldered a 51pf cap across the input which cured it.

I jgave a short look at RE, it seems they only send parcels abroad through TNT, so very expensive, thx for the advice, I've bookmarked it anyway.

ciao
Armando

[Renegadrian]

Is RE in England? If so, you must think about the bad change £-->€ (it's like 1:1,50) so i try to avoid buying anything from the UK - Banzai is based in Germany (not Japan!!!  ) so it's part of the Euro countries.
At the same time, I have to say that I still haven't bought anything DIY related from the US,  where the change €-->$ is just so good for us europeans (it should be 1:1,55).
All the other things, I buy them via ebay.com - it's cheaper to buy in the US and have items shipped here than buy items directly here...

[arma61]

yes, the rate of exchange with £ is holding me to buy from UK, I buy from Banzai since I've started with DIY, buying from US, although is cheap at the moment as you say, it could be almost prohibitive due to shipping costs and customs costs, what you save buying items you spend shipping them!, I would like to buy a wah enclosure from smallbear, its cost is $41.00, so about €20.00, but then you have to add shipping costs $32.50, so I can by a brand new Behringer hellbabe for €20.00 and cannibalize it, not the same pedal but cheap.

about ebay, I'm scared about what I've red about some transactions!

have a nice day!

Ciao
Armando

[arma61]

sorry lads, I went out of topic, will be back OT tonight after new test!

cheers
Armando

[Renegadrian]

Dunno, Armando...After all shipping charges from the US arent so high...like 5 to 10 $...
Say, I bought some tubes from the US, I ended up paying something like €2.50 each and that never can be thru ebay.it...
And that for all the things I buy from ebay.com from US sellers...

Back IT...
This May Queen rocks!!! I love it!!! Great distortion with a different sound...

[rikkards]

Silly question but did you try using a different J201 for Q2 and see if the results are different?
I know when building my Thor I killed a couple of hours troubleshooting the circuit before putting in a different transistor and everything worked. My May Queen was one of the easiest ones to be put together. Now the Electritab JCM800 Emulator I am doing now...

Hi all

it seems I'm not able to get it working!, I've checked voltage as per ROG, I can get 7v on Q1, and 5.5v on Q3, but at Q2 I can only get .1V! (2v on ROG schem). If I take the voltage at the pin's socked (without Q) I have 6V, when I insert the transistor then I get .1v, no matter the way I turn it! and it has very low volume and farty sound, it improve a little bit (still low volume, but good sound), almost all components as per ROG schem except for Q3, I've used a MPF102 (3 units tested with same results) and a BS170 , no soldering bridge, as far as I can see!, Qs oriantation looks good (I've tried anyway all positions!). So where's the trick with it.

I've also tried with a 2n5457, it broke my ears, too loud with volume almost to 0, still farty anyway.

thx 4 help

p.s. I redrawn my on PCB with ExpressSCH/PCB, it looks right though, an easy one anyway!

[Mick Bailey]

On e-bay take a look at items offered by DPI4PARTS.

I've bought  a few hundred transistors and FETs, all branded, all top spec. His postage is really fair to England (cheaper than domestic rates!) and I've had excellent dealings with this guy.

[arma61]

Silly question but did you try using a different J201 for Q2 and see if the results are different?
I know when building my Thor I killed a couple of hours troubleshooting the circuit before putting in a different transistor and everything worked. My May Queen was one of the easiest ones to be put together. Now the Electritab JCM800 Emulator I am doing now...

I've tried in Q2 almost all kind of trannies I have (2N2222, BC...,) but it's still farty and cannot get those 2V at Q2's collector.

On e-bay take a look at items offered by DPI4PARTS.

I've bought  a few hundred transistors and FETs, all branded, all top spec. His postage is really fair to England (cheaper than domestic rates!) and I've had excellent dealings with this guy.

thanks Mick, it looks really interesting.

Some tests yesterday night failed again, must be something wrong with components value (despite they look what's requested). I'll take them all off and re-build it measuring the value of each one before  soldering.


By the way could it be that a J201 is a must in it, and MPF102 BS170 are not good for it?

Armando