stupid discovery

[birt]

I made some lofi pedals before but was never satisfied about the sound. it always sounded "fake".
after letting the idea rest for a very long time i got this stupid idea...

I sent my guitar trough a small amp into the speaker of a very old (bakelite old...) phone. then i taped that speaker to the carbon mic of that same phone (search in OT for a topic on how to hook these up) and amplified that trough my guitar amp. instant telephone sound :p

if i built this as a pedal i want to be able to switch to transistor radio sound too, less lows and more biting highs. i haven't figured that one out yet. a second speaker isn't really an option. it would be very hard to tape 2 speakers to one mic and fit that in a pedal...

[gez]

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=56863.0

Similar principle.

A couple of transducers taped together will give you a twangy thin sound.

[birt]

this isn't really twangy, but the principle is the same

[GREEN FUZ]

Maybe twangy isn`t the right word to describe it  but it certainly degrades the signal and it gives it a certain resonance. I`m still monkeying around with this idea. I`d love to fit it in an enclosure but it`s difficult to avoid the attendant microphony.

[gez]

this isn't really twangy, but the principle is the same

I mentioned the transducers (cheap disc type) as it will give a similar sound to a crappy transistor radio (bright/brittle).

[birt]

yeah, the phone speaker/mic setup doesn't make it bright. it has way more mids and less high. i had the test setup on top of my marshall and even with a lot of volume i didn't get any feedback. i used a ruby type amp with 2 LM386 to drive the speaker part.

[brett]

Hi
Early transistor radios had fairly poor output transformers (yes, just like tube amps).  I'm fairly sure that using one of those in-line would give a fair bit of cheap radio sound to a signal.
IMO the cheap output transformer is a reason for the fat mids and ringing harmonics (and loss of bass and treble) in the famous "Deacy" amp used by Queen.
cheers