How to make tremolo faster on this DIY kit? (SOLVED)

[kitsune]

Hi guys!

I've built 3 DIY kits from Landtone (Aliexpress), they came with bad instructions but I've still managed to make the Klon clone, a tremolo and their OPAmp Fuzz (big muff clone?) work.

I really like the tremolo kit but the maximum tremolo speed rate is too slow to my liking.
I tried to replace the B20K Speed pot by a B100K pot but it seems like it did not improve the maximum speed.

I was wondering if maybe I would need to also change a resistor to make it go faster?

The problem is I can't find any schematics on the net and I am not even sure which tremolo it is cloning but I have pics of the board.




It would be nice if one of you guys could help me find the  resistor to change or if you guys have any ideas about how to increase the max speed.

It might be an EA tremolo type but I can't be sure. It has a nice volume boost, depth and speed knobs.

Here's a video of this tremolo in action:

thanks for your help!

EDIT: I am checking other topics and I found that I might need to change the three 1uF capacitors for a smaller value to reach faster speeds. Will try that while waiting for any suggestions from you guys.

[ElectricDruid]

Ok, a couple of guesses:

1) I'm guessing S2 and S3 are the connections for the Speed pot.
2) If so, the pot connects to ground via the 2.2K resistor (below S2) from the top of the 1uF cap (below that resistor).

I'd start by reducing the 2.2K resistor to 1K and see if that changes the top speed. If that didn't work, I'd try replacing that 1uF cap with a 470n.

Both of these guesses might be way off.

[kitsune]

Ok, a couple of guesses:

1) I'm guessing S2 and S3 are the connections for the Speed pot.
2) If so, the pot connects to ground via the 2.2K resistor (below S2) from the top of the 1uF cap (below that resistor).

I'd start by reducing the 2.2K resistor to 1K and see if that changes the top speed. If that didn't work, I'd try replacing that 1uF cap with a 470n.

Both of these guesses might be way off.

Thanks for your answer, I tried changing the three 1uF capacitors  with 100nF (don't have higher value with ceramics capacitors) and it made the tremolo faster but now it's really too fast. I will try revert to 1uF capacitors and changing the 2.2k resistor to 1k see if it helps.

[PRR]

If you have three 1u caps, and want faster, three 0.5u caps will be double speed.

0.1u caps makes 10 times faster which is probably way too fast.

Even double speed can be a lot. Unless you want a lot faster, 0.68u caps may be a happy value.

[ElectricDruid]

Yeah...I suggested replacing *one* of those caps with *half* the value, not *all* of them with 1/10th the value! Not surprised it speeded up a lot!

But it sounds like the experiment was a success and now it's just a question of getting the values tuned in to get the range you need. That's definitely a step forward. Good work.

On further comment - re-replace one cap at a time, and test it after each one. I know that's more work, but it's worth it. You might find that not all of those caps affect the rate. That would be important to know. If you replace them all and the rate changes, you'll never now which of them is the key component, or if they all have an effect.

Good luck!

[kitsune]

If you have three 1u caps, and want faster, three 0.5u caps will be double speed.

0.1u caps makes 10 times faster which is probably way too fast.

Even double speed can be a lot. Unless you want a lot faster, 0.68u caps may be a happy value.

OK thanks a lot for the info, I figured it was too much but I don't have enough choice in my stock of capacitors, I wanted to put something like 0.47uF but I did only have 0.1uF...

[kitsune]

Yeah...I suggested replacing *one* of those caps with *half* the value, not *all* of them with 1/10th the value! Not surprised it speeded up a lot!

But it sounds like the experiment was a success and now it's just a question of getting the values tuned in to get the range you need. That's definitely a step forward. Good work.

On further comment - re-replace one cap at a time, and test it after each one. I know that's more work, but it's worth it. You might find that not all of those caps affect the rate. That would be important to know. If you replace them all and the rate changes, you'll never now which of them is the key component, or if they all have an effect.

Good luck!

Thanks for your answer, I already had replaced all the caps before I could read your post, but now as you said I know where to look to make the changes. I want to change the resistor you suggested first and test it before changing capacitors values again one by one.
I'll keep you guys updated

[kitsune]

Yeah...I suggested replacing *one* of those caps with *half* the value, not *all* of them with 1/10th the value! Not surprised it speeded up a lot!

But it sounds like the experiment was a success and now it's just a question of getting the values tuned in to get the range you need. That's definitely a step forward. Good work.

On further comment - re-replace one cap at a time, and test it after each one. I know that's more work, but it's worth it. You might find that not all of those caps affect the rate. That would be important to know. If you replace them all and the rate changes, you'll never now which of them is the key component, or if they all have an effect.

Good luck!

Ok, so I did not have 1K resistors to swap with the 2.2K one. As I did not have the good value in my ceramic capacitors stock  I decided to check my film capacitors and I found a 470nF to put instead of the top 1uF next to the 2.2K resistor and it worked! It made the tremolo faster enough to my taste.

So in the end I swapped the 20k pot for a 100k one and swapped the top 1uF capacitor for a 470nF.

Thanks a lot to all for your help!