Help tracing out a mini Q-tron!

[jimbob]

thats right. forgot the q is EH stuff. i used to own one and even got help fixing one from puretube. I liked it but traded it off. I did like it though. Im always happy to get pics though- never know when youll need to use it for a fix later on ..ect..

[Mark Hammer]

Though there is a general gentleman's agreement to not steamroll over recently-developed products by providing/distributing complete instructions for reproducing them (thereby killing off a portion of the retail market), there is nothing wrong with discussing ideas.  After all, this is in fact what those applying for patent protection have to put into their patent applications, and patent applications are publically available.

Should Nish (Sir Modulus) post a note that said something like "I peeked inside, and it appears to be a standard Mutron variation, using a dual optoisolator", or "It seems to use OTAs for the filter section", then the user has some idea of what the design principles are for the product, even though they don't have a how-to-make-one-in-33-easy-steps description.

Where a particular pedal has been around for ages (and if the BMP or Dr. Q doesn't count as one of these, I don't know what does), there is less concern about "sheltering" that product line for the manufacturer, even if it is still in production.  As far as E-H goes, there have been a number of new and interesting pedals from them in recent years, and it is the continuing profitability of E-H that lets them take such chances, and even sell the parts (pre-punched chassis, tubes, transformers) to make similar things.  I can't speak for other forums, but folks here do try and shelter the more recent interesting products from more innovative manufacturers of both small and large size.  They are much less protective of the unimaginative.

For my part, I imagine the Mini Q-Tron to be analogous to the Little Big Muff from way back.  That is, the core is identical to the Q-Tron (or Mutron), with a couple of well-chosen presets replacing variable controls.