Questions RE: Orange Squeezer Schematic by Nic Kula from Tone Report 169

[brazdj]

Good morning everyone,

I have a few questions regarding the subject line pedal, found in Tone Report Mag issue 169.

http://www.magazine.tonereport.com/tone-report-weekly-169/0597404001488576457

As a disclaimer, this is my first pedal build/layout etc.  So my questions are likely easily answered, with the source of my errors being my lack of understanding.

Absent of me blindly following the build instructions, I am attempting to breadboard the circuit based on the circuit schematic (page 28 in the issue).  However I am using the veroboard scheme (page 25 in the issue) as a sanity check.

My questions:

1.  On the electrical schematic, in the lower right corner it appears that 2.2uF and 150k are in parallel, but back checking to the veroboard scheme it seems Nicholas built them as though they are in series.  So am I reading the electrical schematic incorrectly?  Or did he draw it incorrectly?  Any advice for being able to tell the difference for future reference?

two other less important q's that I will likely answer once the time comes, but if anyone else has wrestled with them then...please let me know:

2.  On his veroboard scheme, there are 14 cuts shown, but he says 13 are needed.  So is it 14 or 13?

3.  The sustain potentiometer is shown to have lugs 2 and 3 going to one location on the board, ergo lugs 2 and 3 are soldered together, but on page 27, a snapshot shows that lugs 1 and 2 are soldered together.  So is the veroboard correct in saying lugs 2 and 3? or should it state lugs 1 and 2 go to sustain 1 instead of lugs 2 and 3 to sustain 3?

Thank you in advance for your time and help.
- Daniel

[pinkjimiphoton]

hey daniel, welcome to the forum

yeah, mr kula likes to misdraw things. <g>

look around for a proper orange squeezer schematic.. i think they should be in aron's gallery here, use the search function.

look at a schematic that is proper, and adjust your project accordingly.

if ya get stuck, hollah back. personally, i boycott that particular guy and site.

[GGBB]

Avoid that particular version of the squeezer. It's not faithful to the original circuit, and there is at least one problem with it - the "sustain" control.

You are right about the pot lugs - the layout doesn't match the pic - but for this control it wouldn't matter, because its not a sustain control, its the bias adjustment, and if you use an external pot for that you'll be disappointed. The bias adjustment is finicky - you set it once and never again. Although some have tried to fashion a compression control out of it, it works poorly even when adapted specifically for that purpose (~1k pot plus resistor). The fact that he calls it sustain shows his lack of understanding about this circuit, and apparently his lack of effort into research because this is a well documented circuit. He's been suspected of copying other people's material and passing it off with some minor changes as his own in the past, so maybe he's doing the same thing again.

Not that it really matters since you won't be using that layout now - but I think the 150k and 2u2 are correct on both the schematic and the layout - follow the jumpers and pay attention to which 470k is which. Note that the 150k and 2u2 are not faithful to the original squeezer - maybe other values are also wrong.

Don't know about the cuts.

[Ben Lyman]

I couldn't load the link but I googled Tone Report Squeezer and read a strange article that seemed to be full of misinformation but I can't be sure because I'm no expert.

Then I looked for vintage OS demos on youtube. I think there are only 4 demos in the whole world  again, I'm no expert... even at searching so maybe there's more demos.

Here's something weird: some demos have it plugged into the amp and some have it plugged into the guitar. How can this be? Maybe two different versions existed? It clearly has a built in 1/4" phono plug for either the input from guitar or the output to the amp... but it can't be both 

[brazdj]

Thanks to the three of you for your thoughts and help.

It is kind of a bummer that mr Kula doesn't review his work before it is published, as I really like the presentation for veroboard assembly and offboard wiring.

As a beginner I have done the "choose a few builds and buy all of those components" method of accrual.  Two of which were in anticipation of building Kula's projects; the orange squeezer and a ross distortion pedal (tone report issue 165).  The third being a red snapper from tag board effects.

For a final question, though likely the most important:

1.  Seeing as Aron's Gallery was a provided resource for schematics, could you take a minute or so to list a few preferred schematic/build sources?  a la tag board effects, Aron's Gallery, etc.

Thank you again,
Daniel

[pinkjimiphoton]

you may have to ask for specific schematics thanks to botophucket's draconian new viewpoint on displaying images. look on freestompboxes.org too for stuff. a lot of it has dissappeared. i do have a bunch of schematics for it but i couldn't tell which is right without breadboarding it.

the tagboardeffects.blogspot.com site is pretty stellar for vero layouts. they have just about everything. look at their links, too. a lot of stuff out there!

[pinkjimiphoton]

I couldn't load the link but I googled Tone Report Squeezer and read a strange article that seemed to be full of misinformation but I can't be sure because I'm no expert.

Then I looked for vintage OS demos on youtube. I think there are only 4 demos in the whole world  again, I'm no expert... even at searching so maybe there's more demos.

Here's something weird: some demos have it plugged into the amp and some have it plugged into the guitar. How can this be? Maybe two different versions existed? It clearly has a built in 1/4" phono plug for either the input from guitar or the output to the amp... but it can't be both 

thats cuz they were "convertible". if you played a strat, it wouldn't fit in the jack. so ya took the plate off and reversed the jack and the plug and resoldered them. seriously. then you could have it work either way, into your guitar or into your amp.

this was, believe it or not, a "feature" particularly when the reissues happened. a bud ended up with a bunch of non-functioning ones from that series of effects and repaired a bunch of 'em years ago for the guy who bought them.

my fav was the red ranger, personally.. that thing would really make a princeton or bassman sing

[Ben Lyman]

thats cuz they were "convertible". if you played a strat, it wouldn't fit in the jack. so ya took the plate off and reversed the jack and the plug and resoldered them. seriously. then you could have it work either way, into your guitar or into your amp.

this was, believe it or not, a "feature" particularly when the reissues happened. a bud ended up with a bunch of non-functioning ones from that series of effects and repaired a bunch of 'em years ago for the guy who bought them.

my fav was the red ranger, personally.. that thing would really make a princeton or bassman sing

Thanks Jimi, that was gonna drive me crazy until I knew what was up!
Red Ranger looks cool, probably super easy to make in a pedal format. I inadvertently made my Ge Rangemaster clone with the same switch on it: bass, treble and full range boost!

[pinkjimiphoton]

yeah ben, that is a fun circuit!!

they actually had instructions... at least the WD reissues... on how to swap the ins and outs. "only two wires per side".