Skyripper and W.T.F. vero layouts.

digi2t · January 11, 2011, 01:15:46 AM

Hey all,

Since I'm on vacation, and have no life, I decided to do two layouts for veroboard. The Skyripper layout already exsists in the Effects Gallery, but I thought I would update it since it's just a hand drawn job. This is the way I built mine, and it works great. The only thing I didn't put in is a 4 position switch that I added after the fact, allowing me to choose between different input caps in the Range section. Here it is;

All the components correspond to the hand drawn layout in the Effect Gallery, and the bypass switches are wired as per the N.V.N. schematic. I also added more (like there's not enough already!) wiring for the LED's.

Also, here is a vero layout for a 386 based octave up, What The Fuzz, from the Transistors and Beer site http://www.forrestwhitesides.com/node/91. This will be my next build, so as far as I'm concerned this is unverified. I'll probably put this together tomorrow, I'll post the results thereafter. In the meantime, feel free to let me know if something looks %^&*eyed. Here it is;

I seem to be on a 386 spree lately. I really liked the sound of it from the clips, and the Uglyface and Parallel Universe builds are my favs right now. I might try and do a vero layout of Tim Escobedo's Digital Octaver Fuzz soon. Haven't found one of those yet, but if one exsists, please let me know. I heard a clip recently, and it just crushed me solid. I like!

Cheers,
Dino

joegagan · January 11, 2011, 02:16:19 PM

nice work, looks beautiful.

thank you for doing this. did you get the bias switch bias settings to dial up per the schematic? it is a bit of a balancing act to get it to hit both the 4.5 v and 1. v on the two settings, but these are pretty critical numbers.

have you tried boost, octaves, uglyface, etc in the exp loop?

digi2t · January 11, 2011, 03:22:14 PM

Hi Joe,

First of all, let me say that I feel honored that you took the time to comment on my layout. I'm very new to this stuff, but I've been, and continue to be, awestruck at the versatility of the Skyripper. You, Mr. Gagan, are a Rock God in my books.

As for the biasing, a little tricky at first, until you grasp the inter-relation between the -4.5 and -1 volt adjustments. Yes, the numbers are critical. You'll never get the right kick out of this unit if they're not spot on. I went with multi-turn trimmers, rather than single turn, since I like the fact that they tend to be a bit more precise (something I learned from my Gristleizer build). As for the Range circuit, it dials in to -7 volts much better with a 25k trimmer, as opposed to the spec'ed 10k. I find the Range circuit a bit hissy on it's own, so I tend to always lean on the Buffer for relief. I also installed a 4 postion switch to switch between 4 different input caps. It's really cool, now I can travel through 4 octaves with the Ripper on, or boost through 4 different frequency ranges. The extra off-board wiring did boost the hiss as well, but the Buffer tames it pretty well.

I tried a myriad of different Ge trannies on this build. It was like a quest for the Holy Grail, but the ride was worth it. I finally settled on a pair of 2SB172's (Q2=95 and Q4=160), and an AC128 as the diode. For some reason, I found that enticing some noises out of this puppy come easier with a Ge tranny in the diode postion, instead of a regular Ge diode. Mojo, I guess.

At the moment, I have my Gristleizer running through the loop. Here is a taste of that;
http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=9913046&q=hi&newref=1

I've managed to get all the advertised noises. The zipper is one of my favs, especially when I cut it in and out via the guitars volume control.

This pedal is sheer brillance. Thanks Joe.

Have a Happy New Year Sir,
Dino

joegagan · January 11, 2011, 03:33:39 PM

thank you , nice report. everything you said mirrors my own experience, including your preferred gains on q2 and q4. i can tell from your remarks that you did get it right.

i designed it when i knew very little, i still know very little. your compliment is sweet.

again- many thanks to a small army of guys who advised on the circuit early on. i could not have built or publicized it without the help of rg keen, jack orman, aron, stuart castledine, doug hammond, most of all gus smalley.
also thanks to bill bergman, john lyons, ry, ed guidry, tony baxter (aka tungngruv) and a bunch of others.

joegagan · January 13, 2011, 11:00:13 PM

this thread sank like the proverbial led zeppelin. no complainin, this forum has been very active lately, no sweat.

but also i thought a few guys would like to know about these two layouts that may have missed them a few days ago.

digi2t · January 21, 2011, 12:32:58 AM

Thanks for the kick Joe, I'll give it one more as well. I missed your last post though. This is vacation time for me... read "Home Renovating" time.

I wonder if you need to have a special invite or something to get these into Aron's gallery. I could post them there and share from there. After all, that's where I've gotten a lot of my pedal builds from (including your). I have a penchant for veroboard personally, and I was really glad to find the Skyripper vero there.

I've taken from there, so I'd like to give as well. Fair's fair.

Cheers,
Dino

joegagan · January 21, 2011, 08:59:25 AM

digi2t · January 23, 2011, 02:28:23 PM

WOW!!!

Way cool Joe! I've seen 2 or 3 of these videos, that was part of the mystique that drove me to build this pedal, but witnessing the whole collection is really way cool.

I've really got to experiment more with the loop. The possibilities are limitless.

Thanks again Joe!!

Cheers,
Dino

John Lyons · January 23, 2011, 04:20:04 PM

Here's a whole pile of skyripper.
http://www.mrdwab.com/john/soundclipspage.html
Scroll down a bit. Also scroll down to the noise maker section.

digi2t · January 23, 2011, 10:09:07 PM

Thanks John. I actually have that page bookmarked

. I always seem to consult this page for inspiration when I get the urge to put together a new pedal. Fantastic collection.

Cheers,
Dino

digi2t · January 24, 2011, 01:53:34 AM

OK... just finished the WTF, and it works great. Built it as per the vero I posted. Bit of a bastard son of a one nighter between a FTM and an Ampeg Scrambler, and quite loud to boot. It's now replaced my Scrambler on the pedalboard.

Kinda reminds me of that red-headed step-child that everyone wants to beat.

Cheers,
Dino

WhenBoredomPeaks · June 20, 2011, 01:50:30 PM

I have built the WTF according to the vero in the first post, it worked at first try.
I have matched the two transistors' hFe and the few caps and resistors around the octave up section as close as possible. (like within 1%, but i think i couldn't get the hfe's that close, i forgot the readings but they were pretty close.)

Octave up sounds awesome, tracking is the best i have heard but i have only heard the Green Ringer, Tyco Octavia and the FTM. I get octave up almost everywhere on the fretboard when i roll of the guitar tone knob and the effect's tone knob too and it kinda works with chords too.

This one is a keeper.

digi2t · June 20, 2011, 03:12:14 PM

I find it's a great cross between the FTM, and the Scrambler where the octave is concerned.

Glad it worked out for you.

Cheers,
Dino

culturejam · June 20, 2011, 03:19:13 PM

Cool, just now saw this thread.

I'm planning on going back to the first version of the WTF that I got to work, which has an inductor as part of the filter and also separate pot for octave mix. It can actually do non-active dirt as well. I was just trying to come up with a workalike when I did the 2-knob version (I was trying to eliminate the expensive inductor). It definitely works, I just don't think it sounds as good as the inductor version, but with some more filter tweaking, I think it could be as good.

Here's the original development thread (with several iterations of the schematic):
http://circuitworkshop.com/forum/index.php?topic=318.0

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Skyripper and W.T.F. vero layouts.