Home made Tube Screamer - output voltage??

[fake]

Dear mates,

I've just finished my home made Tube Screamer based upon this tutorial:
http://f.defaut.free.fr/drupal/?q=node/6 (Sorry it's in French).

The thing is that when I have the DRIVE set to 7:00 PM (0) and LEVEL to 3:00 PM (10), I get a lot of distortion distortion.
I've noticed that the distortion goes away while I turn down the volume of my amp (Transistor amp used for test).
I really seems like with these settings, the distortion is not generated by the diode clipping by by the amp itself which receives such a high signal that it cannot behave in a linear way.

To confirm this I've checked the voltage output of the pedal, when LEVEL is set to the maximum, I get more than 1V on the output of the pedal (between Tip and Ring of the output Jack) whereas the input signal (coming from the guitar) doesn't go above 35 mV.

I've checked all components and wirings, it seems OK.

My questions are then:
Is this voltage output level - 1V - normal or do I have something wrong?
In case this is the real reason why, how could I lower the output voltage?


Thanks in advance for your answers.

Best regards from the cheese country!

[cd]

Lower the output voltage?  1V peak/peak is normal, but depending on what you're using to measure it, it could be way off.  Anyway, just turn down the volume control.  That's what it's for - to reduce the output voltage.

[fake]

Thanks for your answer.

I measured it with a Volt Meter, caliber set to Alternative Voltage.

Everything sounds OK then, I was just quite impressed by the Output Voltage level, I never imagined it could be so high.

The thing is that with this pedal, you can get distortion from the Diode Clipping and/or by overdriving the amp. I just have to find the right balance between both.
The question will then be, what do I prefer, the Cipping from the diode or the natural distortion of the preamp of my guitar amp?

Cheers.

[petemoore]

The settings, type of usage [internal dist or pushing a tube forinstance], and sounds may vary alot from one user to the next user, amp to amp....

[cd]

The question will then be, what do I prefer, the Cipping from the diode or the natural distortion of the preamp of my guitar amp?

Keep in mind that as you've experienced, solid state front ends are less tolerant to overloading compared to tube front ends.  The input of your amp is looking for a low (100mV) guitar signal.  If you whack it with 1V of signal, it's going to overload, and not gracefully either.

[spudulike]

Ive had wildly different results with a SHO in SS and tube amps. About 2/3 level kicks ass thru a 30W tube combo, but is really messy through a SS. Need to measure the output  :wink:

[fake]

Exactly, I really have the feeling that Solid State Amp are less tolerant.

I hope that it will overdrive correctly my tube amp (H&K Tube 50) that contains IC just before the Preamp Tube...


Let's see..

[fake]

BTW anyone having experienced this pedal with a Tube amp featuring an IC before V1?

[fake]

BTW anyone having experienced this pedal with a Tube amp featuring an IC before V1?