weird smells, levitating waitresses and the lm386 overdrive

[pinkjimiphoton]

so...i built an lm386 overdriver based on forrest whiteside's  dead easy dirt a while ago.
cool pedal for what it is, it sounds pretty good with asymetric diodes on the tail end (i used ge into silicon on one side, which i've been digging lately).

so anyways, i had loaned it to a friend to check out, and he returned it because it crapped out on him...turned out to be a cold solder on the power supply input jack, so i fixed it
and brought it out to play with last nite so he could check it out again.

he was using it intermittently, when we noticed this...well, HORRID smell of impending electronic doom!!  i mean, the classic burnt electronics stank, the kind that makes beer coasters levitate
and even homely barmaids look sweet if ya breath the vapors too deep.

now, there's virtually nothing inside the sucker...

there's a 100u 50v cap and a 1n4001 diode wired right on the power jack, a 10u input cap, a 386 and a 47u cap on the output after the diode clipper.

seems pretty bulletproof, and i've built probably a dozen of these thing for friends now.

but this one SMELLS roasted...but still works!! and works fine, in fact, and SOUNDS fine.

i opened it up, everything is there, it all looks clean, it sounds as great as this crappy little circuit can (kinda a very loud fuzzy overdrive)...

but this stench...it smelled like someone was smoking peyote buttons or something (if ya ever ate any of them back in the day, they have a similar dipped in dog poo acridity).


any ideas wtf may have happened, or what's causing the stink?

i figured i'd find SOMETHING cooked. but it all looks good!!

i dig the pedal, but i have a feeling if the stench doesn't let up, the fire dept is likely to be called.

[Mark Hammer]

No idea, but your level of familiarity with the spectrum of bad smells is unsettling. 

[pinkjimiphoton]

[WGTP]

What kind of music was he playing? 

[petey twofinger]

how well do ya know the guy , could he have been pranking ya ?

or maybe PART of the ic smoked that isnt in use ?

can you look at everything under magnification ?

[Gurner]

What kind of music was he playing? 

probably skunk rock.

perhaps it's urban myth but I have heard of TV engineers placing bits of poo on TV tripler (for bad customers)- when the tripler heated up inside the TV...the smell of faeces would permeate into the viewers room - nice.

[pinkjimiphoton]

ok, opened it up and checked it out.

my friend did none of the above. what DID happen is this...

the output has a diode clipper right after the 386.

i used 1n34a and 1n914 on one side of the clipper, and a single 914 on the other.

the glass 34 EXPLODED. never saw THAT before!!!

that's why the pedal still worked...it was still capable of overdriving, and it had turned the clipper into a half wave rectifier. it could still pass signal.

so...the stank? burning germanium!!

[WGTP]

So, super heated Germanium can levitate waitresses? 

[pinkjimiphoton]

apparently...she MUST have been pretty "levitated" to give me that many beers for free....BURPPPP!!!

[Gordo]

Burning Germanium, good band name...

Surpass' my previous favorites: Free Beer, and Smell the Germaniums

[digi2t]

Well... this thread has effectively put a positive end to a crappy day at work.

Think I'll laugh myself to sleep now. Thanks bro!

BTW, a 6 hour car ride with my son can take your olfactory senses to lows that you never knew existed. He can probably put your "Eau de Germanium" to shame. Sorta like Neet... for your nasal passages.

[pinkjimiphoton]

whoo hoo...i know that odor...

i gotta boy, too. NEVER let him take off his boots inside.

it'll peel the walls off the frame of the house.



that said,

i replaced the burnt diode with another (the diode smoked cuz the glass case was against the 386 i think...reciprocal heat led to failure

cut the track between pins 1 & 8, and added a 1 meg linear "gain" control...most of the distortion is in the very end of the sweep, but i like it...can dial in a really tubey kinda mild overdrive right up to a load of filth that would make a diaper washer puke.

and added a tone control...a .22mf to ground from pin 3 (i think) of a 10k pot, and the wiper going to the INPUT of the 386...i tried various tone pots at the end of the circuit, but none of 'em were particularly dramatic enough to be worth adding.

but this way, it's almost like rolling down the tone of your guitar. it's pretty weird, but it seems to change the whole character of the overdrive.

i figured, hey, if a tone control on a guitar works simply by paralleling it with the signal, why not IN a pedal?

stupid pedal tricks to come soon.

[petey twofinger]

 

you could do a whole line of "pootique" pedals , the stomp-n-whiff series , maybe get jeff baxter or john lydon to endorse a few for ya .

starting with your dank drive , brown squeezer , fuzz fece ,  sulfur buffer , tube steamer , phew phew (wah wah) , big must ,  (deceased) fox machine , treble pooster ,  lutefisk looper ,  phase shitter , chum eliminator  ... heave-inside charminizer ?

i'll be here all week , so maybe check out that other place , try the veal .

dont forget to tip your waitress as she levitates by .

http://instantrimshot.com/

ok , i am done for today , sorry . 

[pinkjimiphoton]

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that said...you're too much, petey...lol