Pivoting - Changing Course Mid-Design

[Bill Mountain]

I've been using this term a lot lately for when I hit a road block and need to change course.

I built a bass fuzz that I have spent an absurd amount of time on.  I plugged it into my rig at practice and promptly blew my speakers.

At first I was really let down.  After an objective review of the circuit there was too much subsonic low end and the voice coils in my cab just melted instantly.  I spent so much time making it bassy that I forgot to make sure it was safe and that I could hear it in the mix.

So...after the minimum standard moping period I decided to Pivot.  I removed the the bass heavy clipping stage.  Added more high mids to an earlier stage. Lowered the gain. And now I have a pretty killer trebly overdrive.

It's not what I set out to build but it'll actually work out better than the speaker killer.

So...any similar stories?  Something you changed mid-design that turned out way better?

[blackieNYC]

I set out to make a Jordan Bosstone.  Exhibiting no knack for self-restraint again, I put a mosfet booster in front of it.  then I decided I need a notch filter in between.  Some filter.  I don't remember because I lost the schematic.  This was last fall.  I couldn't commit to a few trim pot settings, so there are two drive pots, a center freq pot, a god-knows-what pot, and an output volume.  And a diode insert switch.  ( I think the Bosstone has 1 or two knobs)
At first I thought it was great, but then I noticed some awful low frequency farts, when all gains and drives were cranked.  To look at them more closely, I boosted the thing more, with a fuzz face in front.  The farts, if you hold one note, turned out to be bursts of one octave down, alternating with a distinct 5th (!) one and a half octaves down.  One held note would jump around by octaves and fifths about every 1 or 2 seconds.  The frequency knob determines where on the neck the intervals pop out most.
Five knobs and a toggle, and most modes of the pedal didn't end up to be what I wanted, other than one particular setting that has a gnarly punkabilly twang.  Some kind of severe notch.
So now - I'm going to get rid of all the pots with fixed resistors, add more front end boost, and have the pedal do just... two... things:  Punkabilly overdrive, and the awesome interval-skipper fuzz.   One toggle, one volume knob, one freq knob  I've got to stop being afraid of one(or two)-trick-pony pedals.  I've got to stop adding feature after feature.  I have so many pedals, they all don't need to do everything.  Look at that thing in my profile picture over at the left.  My first pedal.  Ridiculous.

[CodeMonk]

I set out to make a Jordan Bosstone.  Exhibiting no knack for self-restraint again, I put a mosfet booster in front of it.  then I decided I need a notch filter in between.  Some filter.  I don't remember because I lost the schematic.  This was last fall.  I couldn't commit to a few trim pot settings, so there are two drive pots, a center freq pot, a god-knows-what pot, and an output volume.  And a diode insert switch.  ( I think the Bosstone has 1 or two knobs)
At first I thought it was great, but then I noticed some awful low frequency farts, when all gains and drives were cranked.  To look at them more closely, I boosted the thing more, with a fuzz face in front.  The farts, if you hold one note, turned out to be bursts of one octave down, alternating with a distinct 5th (!) one and a half octaves down.  One held note would jump around by octaves and fifths about every 1 or 2 seconds.  The frequency knob determines where on the neck the intervals pop out most.
Five knobs and a toggle, and most modes of the pedal didn't end up to be what I wanted, other than one particular setting that has a gnarly punkabilly twang.  Some kind of severe notch.
So now - I'm going to get rid of all the pots with fixed resistors, add more front end boost, and have the pedal do just... two... things:  Punkabilly overdrive, and the awesome interval-skipper fuzz.   One toggle, one volume knob, one freq knob  I've got to stop being afraid of one(or two)-trick-pony pedals.  I've got to stop adding feature after feature.  I have so many pedals, they all don't need to do everything.  Look at that thing in my profile picture over at the left.  My first pedal.  Ridiculous.

That sounds kinda freaky.
Any chance of a clip?

[DougH]

I think there are some write-ups on here somewhere about the Bosstone doing that octave thing with the correct choice of input capacitor.

[CodeMonk]

I think there are some write-ups on here somewhere about the Bosstone doing that octave thing with the correct choice of input capacitor.

Input AND Output cap value x 10 or so.
But if you let the cap values get to far apart from each other, it gets kinda ugly.

[blackieNYC]

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=109392.0
This was my thread from a little while ago.  Got a lot of help, but I didn't get anywhere. Mine is more than a bosstone - I have a booster and some kind of eq in front of the bosstone.  Ill get back to that thread when I finish modding that thing.
Point is, if the pedal gives you lemons, make whiskey sours.  Like the OP.  Good post - who's got another Pivot?

"If at first you don't succeed - try, try again.  Then quit. No point being a damn fool about it."  WC Fields

[Blitz Krieg]

more speaker melting circuits please...