Hotline 2 Cab sim - vero layout + soundclips

[Ozsi]

I've had need recently to come up with an ampless setup for when it's not practical to be micing up my amp+cab. I tried a few of the cab-sim pedals that are around and found none of them particularly convincing.  But a number of people were singing the praises of the "Hotline 2" circuit. 

But alas, no vero layout that I could find, so I've done one up.  And wow, it really does sound amazing!  Definitely a recommended build if you need a cabinet simulator.

Firstly, a few sound samples.  Setup is Strat -> pedal board -> Hotline 2 -> PC.  Each pair is first with Hotline 2 bypassed, then again engaged. Difference is night and day to my ears...

Hotline 2 sound samples

Based off this schematic which I found linked to elsewhere on this forum.  All I know is that it apparently originates from "the russian forum"...

And the layout.  I hope everything is explained on the image.  Only thing I've left off from the schematic is the switch around the accent/volume pot.  Just seems to set that opamp to unity gain?  I didn't really see the point, but you can easily add it directly to the volume pot lugs.

[Kipper4]

Thanks good job. It sounds nice.
What's your signal chain please?

[Ozsi]

Pretty simple signal chain at the moment, with the intention that what I'm hearing at home I can reproduce pretty much exactly when I'm playing out.

So just to add a little to what I had in the original post, the sound samples were done with

Guitar (Strat) -> Pedal board -> Hotline 2 -> Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 audio interface -> PC (using REAPER to record)

As far as pedals, the first hi-gain one was using DeadAstronaut's Spitfire, the second was the guitar straight into the Hotline 2, third and fourth was just a Timmy straight in to the Hotline 2, and the last was clean guitar again with a little delay.

So all pretty straight forward.  I'm planning to look next at an "always on" pre-amp emulator pedal to run in to the Hotline 2, just to add a little bit more especially to the clean sound.

[Sostenuto]

Sounds really good, I want to build this as well.

What does the "sand-cut" do exactly? I was not able to find any info on this.
Also, what do the different cab models correspond to on the DPDT switch?
Are they like 1x12, 2x12 and 4x12 and if so, which position is which?

[Mustachio]

Hey Sos! How ya doin buddy (I know you)

Looks like the sand-cut is the tone pot in this layout (the dual ganged pot)

As for the types of cabs corresponding to the switch I'm not sure. But it sure sounds nice.

[J0K3RX]

Sounds really good, I want to build this as well.

What does the "sand-cut" do exactly? I was not able to find any info on this.
Also, what do the different cab models correspond to on the DPDT switch?
Are they like 1x12, 2x12 and 4x12 and if so, which position is which?

Sand cut is a low-pass filter of sorts.. Sand = rough and I guess Cut = ummm Cut..  It really has a wide range of controls on the highs and lows, goes to the extremes!!

http://rutube.ru/video/fd5bef825afdd000fa8cfeb8812d38a2/

[Sostenuto]

Hey Mus, doing well thanks how's it going there?

Thanks all for the replies. 

I figured the sand cut is some kind of a treble cut because that's what it sounds like in the demos.

But yeah it sounds really good, I will attempt a build in a few days.  I will try to figure out what those cab switches are exactly.
So far at a first glance they look like filters with different cutoff frequencies so I'm guessing they change the frequency response, simulating different cab sizes I guess.

I almost bought a pocket device (modeller) for practice and quick recording but there are no current budget offerings that suit my taste and the pandora px4d is impossible to find so that's what lead me back to this site to explore other possibilities and I think that a good cab sim is one of the keys to get a natural tone.  At least I can feed whatever preamp or pedal into it and get a headphone out along with a direct signal to the console/interface.

Eventually I would like to slap an attenuator on my 15W practice amp and tap the output, which would go to this cab sim as well, similar to how the Palmer PDI-03 does it.  I would attempt to build that but the transformer is proprietary so that's a no go.

[Ozsi]

Eventually I would like to slap an attenuator on my 15W practice amp and tap the output, which would go to this cab sim as well, similar to how the Palmer PDI-03 does it.  I would attempt to build that but the transformer is proprietary so that's a no go.

Something I've been playing around with is running my amp head on standby and taking the effects loop send in to the Hotline pedal and then in to PC.  It means you lose the power amp section, but you still get a real tube pre-amp which so far sounds better than the amp-sim pedals I've tried (not surprising, I guess... ).

Obviously it's not a fully portable solution for playing out, but for silent, mic-less recording at home I've found it to sound very good.  Worth a try at least before you get the attenuator built. 

You can also still use a mic on the cab as well and record both signals for extra options when mixing.

[Sostenuto]

Something I've been playing around with is running my amp head on standby and taking the effects loop send in to the Hotline pedal and then in to PC. 

That's an excellent idea! Especially for those who get most of their tone from the preamp.  I don't really need portability anyway, just silent playing/recording and that setup can be made somewhat portable with additional pedals too.

[geisenaj]

Looks like a great build. Thanks for the layout. Before I get into it, I have a couple of quick questions about the tone pot.

I was going through the schematic and noticed that 1b, 1c, 2b, and 2c of the tone pot are all connected to each other. That's not in your layout so I'm assuming it's implied. Am I right about that?

Also, the schematic shows 1a going to the 10k resistor and then to pin 5 of IC1. Your layout says 1b. Is that a typo or did you change that?

Thanks so much for your help!

[Ozsi]

I was going through the schematic and noticed that 1b, 1c, 2b, and 2c of the tone pot are all connected to each other. That's not in your layout so I'm assuming it's implied. Am I right about that?

Below the board it notes that Tone 1b should be connected to 2b, definitely make that connection.  The "c" lugs are shorted to the "b" ones in the schematic, but are otherwise unused so they can be left hanging.  That bit shouldn't make any difference.

Also, the schematic shows 1a going to the 10k resistor and then to pin 5 of IC1. Your layout says 1b. Is that a typo or did you change that?

Hmmmmm, good pickup, you're right it certainly looks like the Tone 1b on the right of the board should actually be Tone 1a    It's been a while since I did this, and the pedal I built seems to work... but I'll have to check when I get home to see what I actually did!

[geisenaj]

I'm putting the pots on today. I'll try them both and see what happens.

[geisenaj]

It's definitely Tone 1a. If it's connected to 1b, the tone doesn't change the sound at all. It's a great pedal. Thanks for the layout!!

[Ozsi]

Yep you're spot on, I had checked my actual pedal and saw I'd wired that point to tone 1a.  Went and checked the vero layout file and had 1a there too.... obviously a bug I'd fixed right at the start and posted the wrong version in this thread    Sorry for the mislead, but sounds like it was no real problem, and at least the layout is fixed in the original post now   Glad it otherwise works for you!

[mm28]

Thanks for the infos. Is Sw2 an on-off-on switch?