New BOOSTER for ya !!!!

[Dragonfly]

can anyone make sound-clips of this baby?
it wouldbe appreciated,
Thanks

Keep in mind that boosters in general are very amp dependent, so it makes it hard to have a meaningful clip. It's also the beauty of them, because they form a symbiotic relationship with your amp (or the next effect in the chain). They also work well for both clean and dirty tones. The *SparkleBoost* is a very close relative of the Fetzer, with the ability to crank up the *grit-factor* some more. If you have a *vintage-style* tube amp and passive pickups, you should try a bunch of these type circuits to find the one that works best with your setup (and your ears). Not to say they won't work with active pickups and *triple-rectum-fryers*. As a matter of fact I'd be curious to hear reports of how this family of circuits (single-stage discrete boosters) work with a so-called *modern* setup (multi-channel cascaded gain stage amp, active pickups, multiple facial piercings, etc).

Kerry M

...what "he" said ...

[RjM]

Where it says 100K trim, is that a pot, or some kind of special resistor? I'm kinda new to this kind of stuff, but I plan on building your booster as my first build. Also, I see you're using a 3PDT, can I use a 2PDT or even a 1PDT?
On Torchy's layout:Are those + signs for the polarity of the caps? Those red dots inside of the squares outlined with red, are they tracer cuts? Thanks. I really want to build this.

[Alpha579]

has anyone compared the sparkle drive and the fetzer valve? i wonder if they sound much different, being very close in spec...me thinks the choice of fet will decide the sound more...

[Karmasound]

Where it says 100K trim, is that a pot, or some kind of special resistor? I'm kinda new to this kind of stuff, but I plan on building your booster as my first build. Also, I see you're using a 3PDT, can I use a 2PDT or even a 1PDT?
On Torchy's layout:Are those + signs for the polarity of the caps? Those red dots inside of the squares outlined with red, are they tracer cuts? Thanks. I really want to build this.

I believe a 100k trim is a little tiny pot

[Dragonfly]

Where it says 100K trim, is that a pot, or some kind of special resistor? I'm kinda new to this kind of stuff, but I plan on building your booster as my first build. Also, I see you're using a 3PDT, can I use a 2PDT or even a 1PDT?
On Torchy's layout:Are those + signs for the polarity of the caps? Those red dots inside of the squares outlined with red, are they tracer cuts? Thanks. I really want to build this.

hi...glad youre interested i building the Sparkle Boost...its a great sounding pedal !

the 100k trim is indeed a trim pot...i used a trim pot in the design instead of a resistor, so that i'd be able to easily "bias" the fet....

yep...you can use a 2pdt or 1pdt...obviously, if you use the 2pdt, you wont be able to use an LED *and* be true bypass (unless you build something like the millenium bypass)...i wouldnt recommend a 1pdt...

torchy's layout....  the + signs are polarity for the caps.... and the red dots inside the squares are indeed trace cuts...

sounds like you should do just fine in this build !

andy
dragonfly fx

[RjM]

Can you show me some super close ups of your PCB in your sparkleboost?

[drummondrs]

How do attach a DC Jack? And the pots seen as there are three lugs? What are the parts required?

[SysCrusher]

Hey Dragonfly! I have built a simliar circuit for use for active pickups very much like this. Thinking of ditching that project since I didn't care for the sound of active pickups. I like the sound of the circuit and I probably get basically the same tone. Kind of a nice Sabath tone from my setup that sounds too cool. Kind of a blast back to the past. I like it.  I might try the fet you got for more gain. A couple of suggestions and one I think you should incorporate. Ditch the 2.2m resistor from input to ground. 1m is good enough, if anything use a single 3m after your input coupling cap. Bypass that 3m with a low value pf ceramic cap. Like around 25pf. May need to adjust to taste. That will kill any rf or noise that will get past the steel box. Trust me, I found out the hard way.  
I did see where one guy tried the sparkle and didn't like it for lack of mids. Here's the trick to that. Change the output coupling cap from 1uf to 20uf. Yeah it's excessive but that will allow the full frequency sprectrum through to the amp. Then you can change the input coupling cap to cut bass/treble/mids or add a tone circuit and actually hear the results. The 1uf output coupling cap is only allowing the higher mids to treble frequencies to pass through. The input and output coupling cap go hand in hand. Best to limit at the input and pass all frequencies at the output for more user control. Only limit the frequencies at the output if you know exactly what frequencies you want to amplify or cut in the next stage which we don't need to do here.  For some fun, make the input cap on a rotor switch with different caps to dial in and add one .0047uf cap(Old dallas range master trick) for one of the selections. This works great for me. Just my 2cents for the cause.

Man, you sure stay busy! I still have two or 3 more of your circuits to build. Did you ever get the design finished on the little Cookbook circuit that used the quad op amp (LM324 I think)? My computer at home is belly up, so I didn't get a chance to see if you had finished at the end of the thread, or if you had actually built it to know what it sounded like. I scabbed Tim's Octup Blender on mine.

ive finished the "design" of the cooker fuzz, but havent finished the layout...as soon as i finish that, i'm gonna build it and see what tweaking it needs.....

i saw your octup combo...great idea to paste those two circuits together...

as for the Sparkle Boost..i'd suggest moving it up to the front of your "build line"...its easy, inexpensive to make, and sounds absolutely amazing ! i'm not "pulling your chain" on this one...i'm REALLY proud of this little circuit.

i'll post a couple pics of my Sparkle Boost in a few minutes....

[GreenEye]

I just got the parts for a Sparkle!  Going to try it on a breadboard this weekend.  Got some diodes laying around - I'm going to try those near the output end...if it works, I may put a switch to go from boost to distortion!    

[Dragonfly]

I just got the parts for a Sparkle!  Going to try it on a breadboard this weekend.  Got some diodes laying around - I'm going to try those near the output end...if it works, I may put a switch to go from boost to distortion!    

tell me how it works with the diode clipping !  i would guess that it should sound a bit better than most boosters with a diode pair at the end, simply because you can get some nice controllable crunch from the boost itself, before it gets clipped...

andy
dragonfly fx

[GreenEye]

After three attempts on the old breadboard, finally got her working.  Third time, I didn't use a tranny socket - maybe the pins don't reach their contacts on a breadboard. :?:

The Sparkle sounds real good through my modified Precision Electronics PA with EL84s.  I tried 2 diodes after the output cap, and the sound was OK, but then I put 4 in, and BAM - it had a really good distortion.  I had to back off on the circuit's gain knob, but once I did, I couldn't put the axe down for many a lick.  I think I like this circuit good enough to solder one up with a "distortion" switch.

[Dragonfly]

After three attempts on the old breadboard, finally got her working.  Third time, I didn't use a tranny socket - maybe the pins don't reach their contacts on a breadboard. :?:

The Sparkle sounds real good through my modified Precision Electronics PA with EL84s.  I tried 2 diodes after the output cap, and the sound was OK, but then I put 4 in, and BAM - it had a really good distortion.  I had to back off on the circuit's gain knob, but once I did, I couldn't put the axe down for many a lick.  I think I like this circuit good enough to solder one up with a "distortion" switch.

sounds very cool....what diodes did you end up using?

and were the 4 diodes in parallel running to ground, or 2 sets of two ?

[GreenEye]

The diodes were all 1N914.  From the negative end of the 1uF cap, I put two back to back that were both "pointing" towards the cap, and after those, two back to back that were both "pointing" towards the ground.  I basically followed Aron's "booster to distortion pedal" on his "simple mods" page, and used the second pic with four diodes.

He describes a 50k knob that can be added to blend in the distortion from the diodes (his "softness control") - I'm gonna have to try that...

[Dragonfly]

The diodes were all 1N914.  From the negative end of the 1uF cap, I put two back to back that were both "pointing" towards the cap, and after those, two back to back that were both "pointing" towards the ground.  I basically followed Aron's "booster to distortion pedal" on his "simple mods" page, and used the second pic with four diodes.

He describes a 50k knob that can be added to blend in the distortion from the diodes (his "softness control") - I'm gonna have to try that...

i thought that might be the case....try doing 2 1n914s on one "strand", and one 1n914 and one 1n34a (or other germanium diode) on the other... :wink:

[donald stringer]

I am really wowed at how neat and tidy the wiring ends up on these builds. It seems like wiring on mine always ends up as last on the list. By the time I get to the part where it is almost a working circuit I end up cramming everything in to the box. Even though I may start out with the right intentions. Nice build.

[Dragonfly]

I am really wowed at how neat and tidy the wiring ends up on these builds. It seems like wiring on mine always ends up as last on the list. By the time I get to the part where it is almost a working circuit I end up cramming everything in to the box. Even though I may start out with the right intentions. Nice build.

thanks...ive really been working on it lately...funny thing is that the builds pictured here actually look messy compared to my last two !!!  im trying hard to live up to the standard set by the old Hiwatt amps

[dosmun]

Hey Dragonfly.  Nice boost.  I built one this weekend and really like it.  It replaced my SHO on my board.  It works better with Humbuckers than the SHO.  I like that fact that it is pretty flat EQ wise.  I can't remember what I ended up with for input and output caps but it works well with my rig.

[Rodgre]

I haven't read through all four pages of posts, but I wanted to add my 2cents.

I built it up a week or so ago and I liked it, but I wasn't as impressed with it through my workbench test amp (a Vox AC1!)

Then I took it downstairs to try it through a Fender Blues Deville 4x10. I LOVED it. It made that amp sound so much better I was starting to wonder why Fender wouldn't build a circuit like that into the input of the amp!

For the record, I have tried j201, 5457 and MPF102 in the circuit, rebiasing for wach one. I think I like the 201 best, but the 5457 sounded very similar to me. The MPF102 needed to be biased at the extreme end of the trimpot and never sounded as powerful.

Roger

[Alpha579]

Dragonfly, i was just looking @ the schematic, and noticed the 100K res in parrellel with the 100k log pot. was there a reason for this? If your looking for a high pass filter, i dont think it will affect the guitar frequency range, and it will add a strange taper to the pot, so if you must have a parrelleled 50K resistance there, a 50K log pot would be better, and have a smoother action....

[Dragonfly]

Hey Dragonfly.  Nice boost.  I built one this weekend and really like it.  It replaced my SHO on my board.  It works better with Humbuckers than the SHO.  I like that fact that it is pretty flat EQ wise.  I can't remember what I ended up with for input and output caps but it works well with my rig.

wow ! i'm flattered ....the SHO is a great sounding boost, so to even have this mentioned in the same sentence is an honor !  that being said, for my needs, the Sparkle is the best sounding boost ive tried....

i'm glad its taken up residence on your board !!!