Hearthrob finished!

[adam_f]

Well I just put the finishing touches to my hearthrob tremolo, plugged in and...got nothing lol. Then I realised one of the caps was shorting on the back of a pot. A few pieces of tape later and WOW this thing sounds so beautiful!

It has really great depth and speed control. I can get a fantastic post-rock clean sound (think Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky) with my Strat. And with my tubescreamer, think the begining of 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' by Greenday - well nearly (maybe that's not a tremolo at all?) but hey. It sounds awesome.
Huge thanks to Mark M for the schematic, and to this whole site, as I've learnt practically all my pedal building skills from here.

Anyways, I'll try and get some samples recorded tomorrow - I couldn't find any of the hearthrob when I looked before.

There's just one minor problem. It's pop when stomping is quite loud. Not excesive, but it is deffinately louder than my tubesceamer (also homebuild). It's particuarly noticeable when playing quiet and clean, and then switching it on. Is there anything I can do to try and reduce it?

Cheers,

Adam

[John Lyons]

Add a 1M resistor from the input (and output) to ground. 
I'm not sure why Mark didn't so this...
The cap at the output is putting DC voltage on the switch pins when the effect is in bypass so you get a pop when you stomp the switch and the DC voltage hits the signal path.

Mark...?

[markm]

I don't think anyone else has had this problem although, I could be wrong about that.
This is on my list of things-to-do which is right next to the "honey-do" list.
Which do ya think is going to happen first?!! 
I'm not happy unless she's happy!! 

[vacuumdust]

I just finished this one too...difinitely a must build.  Easy, cheap, and one of the nicest trems i've played.  I also have a pop and I'll probably add pull down resistors but it also goes away if you just stomp it 10 or 20 times when you first plug in.  Only thing I might add is a volume control or just put a 10K resistor in series with the 470K and see if that's close to unity.  Thanks MarkM for the layout AND the syrrup...built that one too.

[oldrocker]

I noticed on a schem I saw of a circuit close to the Hearthrob and it used BC170's.  Would 3904's be okay to use?  Or would they make it too noisy?  I have a ton of those and no 5088"S. 

[markm]

Hey Randy,
I think 3904's could be okay in it, you may lose a bit of depth with them and may add a bit of noise too but, all in all I would think it would function fine like that.
I myself am still impressed by the sound of this build and versatility......seriously! 
Not bad for a circuit-hacking Redneck!! 

[adam_f]

Add a 1M resistor from the input (and output) to ground. 
I'm not sure why Mark didn't so this...
The cap at the output is putting DC voltage on the switch pins when the effect is in bypass so you get a pop when you stomp the switch and the DC voltage hits the signal path.

Mark...?

I put a 1M resistor on the input and it was exactly the same, but one on the output seems to have made a big difference, much quieter now. It's funny, it seems to depend on in what order the pedals are in the chain. I noticed it's the same with all my home made ones.

[markm]

It's funny, it seems to depend on in what order the pedals are in the chain. I noticed it's the same with all my home made ones.

If that's the case, it may not be the circuit in question. It may well be a different circuit that's the problem. 

[oldrocker]

Thanks for the info Mark.  Yes I'm really excited to build this.  There seems to be so much positive feedback from those who have built it.  I'm ready to add another tremolo to my collection no doubt.  I'm itching to build since it's been a while.  The last one for me was the hysteresis.

[Barcode80]

Add a 1M resistor from the input (and output) to ground. 
I'm not sure why Mark didn't so this...
The cap at the output is putting DC voltage on the switch pins when the effect is in bypass so you get a pop when you stomp the switch and the DC voltage hits the signal path.

Mark...?

I put a 1M resistor on the input and it was exactly the same, but one on the output seems to have made a big difference, much quieter now. It's funny, it seems to depend on in what order the pedals are in the chain. I noticed it's the same with all my home made ones.

it could be that one of your non-homemade ones has a leaky in/output cap. this would mean the dc is being dumped from that cap through the cable into your homebrew pedal, which would be the sam thing you are putting a drop down resistor for to prevent on your own pedals. since the dc would be coming in from the other side though , the resistor has no affect. someone correct me if i am wrong, but i think that's what i remember...

[markm]

Actually Patrick, I think you hit the nail on the head.
I remember the same problem from someone a couple of weeks ago.
Turned out to be the Factory Mass produced pedal and not the DIY one! 

[cab42]

I just finished mine, and it sounds GREAT.  Adam calls it beautiful in the original post and i think it describes it very well.

I build it on perf using Marks layout as a guide.

I added a little gimmick. I like pulsing LEDs, and you can get this effect connecting the cathode of a LED to the collector of Q4 and the anode to battery + with a suitable resistor in between. As far as I can hear it doesn't affect the sound.

Huge thanks to Mark M for the schematic, and to this whole site, as I've learnt practically all my pedal building skills from here.

+1

Regards

Carsten

[John Lyons]

I finished my Heartthrob Tremolo today (it's only been 90% finished for 2 months!.
Here are a few soundclips.

This one sounds really nice and is quite variable in depth/speed and does the chop thing very well.
Good work Mark.

I don't have mine wired to a switch right now so I can't comment on the pop... Hardwired baby!

John

[markm]

 
Wow!
John, I am floored by the sound clips on your site!!
AMAZING!
Thank you!! 

[searoad]

great effect!!
great playing!!!
GEART JOB!!!!!!!!

[John Lyons]

Thanks fellas. I'm no player but I wanted to get some clips up for folks to check out.
Still healing this somewhat amputated second finger tip!

I really dig the Tremolo Mark, I didn't think it would do the chop thing but it sure does.
Great that it's pretty simple and doesn't need any esoteric parts. I used 2N5089s by the way.
Still gotta get the pro vibe populated...

John

[MartyMart]

Sounds great John - seems very flexible and gets quite extreme too !!
Nice work MarkM