the clean booster that didnt boost

[cakeworks]

hey all,

I'm new here and i'm new to the diy pedal thing.

I have just made a 'mr clean' clean booster from http://www.vmsrecords.com/dissolute/pedals.html (down the bottom)



I followed the schematics to the letter (or pixel as it may be). The bypass works very well but when I switch it on, it does not boost but in fact subtracts the sound if that makes sense. so the pot turns the sound down. When the pot is at full, the volume is at the same level as the bypass but when its half way, for instance, it is much quieter. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks heaps if anyone can help me

-Jack

[petemoore]

  That's a bypassable Volume Control with a high frequency bypass cap on the VC.
  'Boost' is bypass...
  To increase volume over unity, you'll need an active circuit [that uses some kind of chip and a power supply].

[cakeworks]

Ah. now it becomes so terribly obvious...

You have no idea how embarrased i am right now

[Mark Hammer]

You're going to have to take a number and wait your turn to blush.  And make sure you bring a lunch and change of clothing because it is going to be a LONG wait.  The notions of "boost", "clean", and "gain" are generally less well understood amongst musicians than concepts like "god", "sin" "conservative vs liberal", and "what women REALLY want".

So, don't sweat it.  Your oversight is as common as looking down at your hands and wondering how the hell your nails got so long "all of a sudden".

[petemoore]

  Your project has a lot going for it.
  It seems you've gotten it wired correctly enough that it is doing what it was intended to do.
  And have tested the working model you now own, and have found out many things.
  As it sits it is a useful item, closely 'replicating' whatever sound goes in [including Fuzz] but at a smaller amplitude, introducing an active to 'boost' [used in a more 'literal' definition here] will have a tendancy to be able to 'color' the tone more [*probably and depending], for better/for worse. As a 'lead boost' device, it will perform the act of 'boosting' by...not attenuating, in practice this probably works quite well, the little cap included may even be used to accentuate high frequencies a bit when the attenuation [attenuator = volume pot] is in the signal path.
  I've used compressor after Fuzz to accomplish this, setting the Comp's volume LOWer than unity, using the unit bypass as 'boost', this worked well also.
  *The reasons for alot of what you read here as being labeled 'Probably and depending' is that variables outside, any given circuit can have as much to do with 'how the circuit performs as the circuit itself.
  *This volume control in a box circuit being a near exception, it will always and 'only attenuate/not attenuate, if the HP cap on the volume control was eliminated, the only difference to the signal besides volume reduction would be the slight HF rolloff present when the pot was turned down some, a result of running the signal through a 'large' resistance. In view of the big picture of tone shaping these are very slight differences. Mainly volume attenuation.
  OFten times when going from rythm to lead, volume attenuation ONLY is what I want, it can/may, probably and depending...be easy or hard to get just volume difference with no tonal coloration.
  Your circuit, like the volume on my FF, [but in a separate box, and bypassable] is something I twist with my foot on a regular basis...for leads I twist the volume a touch, I would probably use a BPswitch and preset if I had that, I might just get it too!!
   
 

[Joecool85]

Just because it's not a boost doesn't mean it's bad.  I use the mr clean for various things.  It was my first stompbox due to the insane simplicity.  It works well if you want a low/high overdrive situation, you leave your amp on a high overdrive, then cut it a little with the mr clean and bypass the mr clean for full overdrive.

I liked it so much I even put snoopy on it:


And to the left of it is a Woodstock overdrive I did and then a dano black coffee metal disto.