Recommendations for Tonebender Mk11 layout that's newbie friendly

[Skruffyhound]

I've got a mate who's just starting out and would like to build the Tonebender. It's been years since I built mine and I wondered if any new layouts have come out. I'm a perf man myself but I think my mate is open to vero too, perhaps etching a pcb might be too much to bite off at this stage though. Any thoughts/ transistor suggestions appreciated.  

[midwayfair]

Here's my perf layout, made for an "easier" MKII building experience. Since the first transistor is the one that's fussiest about leakage, I just made space on the layout for the biasing network necessary for a FET, silicon, or germanium transistor (actually, you could even use a MOSFET for Q1 if you have a small 22uF electrolytic/tantalum to use as a source bypass cap). I also added all sorts of modernizations.



https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9878279/Jon%20Patton%27s%20mini%20layouts/Tonebender%201590A%20Modular%20MKII.pdf

There's also an etch layout in here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9878279/Jon%20Patton%27s%20mini%20layouts.zip

[cab42]

Hi Aston

One of my very first builds (I think number three) and my first vero-layout was RDV's NPN Si Tonebender. It uses easy to get NPN transistors (and sounds great).

http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/Cab42s-layouts/tbnpnsilayout.gif.html

I have it built and boxed, so just give me a call, your friend is welcome to try mine out before building.


There's a slightly smaller layout here (This also includes an offboard capacitor I forgot in the one above):

http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/Cab42s-layouts/tbnpnsilayout_rev1.gif.html


Another option is the Jordan Bosstone. I have seen both  vero and perf layouts for that. Sounds great! It also uses common NPN transistors.



I also made a layout for Dragonfly's FaceBender on request from someone. It's unverified and I don't know if anyone has ever built it.

http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/Cab42s-layouts/facebender.gif.html

Regards

Carsten

[Electric Warrior]

If you can get transistors as leaky as OC75s, go for this one:



Don't miss the trace cut under the 470Ω.
Drop the 100Ω and increase the power filter cap value to 50µF instead, if you have problems with oscillations.
Use of a bread board or sockets is highly recommended. Just swap around transistors until you find a set that behaves well and sounds good.

[Skruffyhound]

Thanks very much guys, I'll send your suggestions along to Jim.
I'd love to take you up on the offer Carsten but Jim is in England so it's not practical, but very kind of you.
Any further comments are welcome.

[peterg]

I'm working on a tonebender(just need to pick up the trans. The board is 12 x 21 holes and is going in a 1590b box. It has posts and the led. If ou got rid of those y ou could reduce the board to 8 x 21.

[JimmySnips]

  Many thanks all for this...  Thank you Aston for the thread..  I now have one built , it works but has poor sustain , particularly with the higher frequencies and doesn't pick up hardly  at all on low amplitude / 'light strums' is there anything I can do to improve this ?  How much of it might have to do with the gain/leakage of the transistors I've usesd ? I have got a trimpot wired into the collector of Transistor 3 (Q3) , but it doesn't seem to do much !

Many thanks for any ideas...

Jim

[gjcamann]

Try swapping your transistors around.

[Magnus]

Hello,
here's my layout for an TB MKII (I have built it - verified), it shows all the offboard-wiring too
like on "Electric Warriors" great layout, but its perfboard instead of vero (choose what you like):
http://forum.musikding.de/cpg/albums/userpics/17258/Sola_Sound_Tone_Bender_MKII_PROFESSIONAL.jpg


Greetings
Magnus