Roland AP7 Clone - Almost Completed

[DarkSide]

Hi people,

To those who helped me on this project, thankyou very much.

Here is a pic of the Phaser so far. It is almosy complete.



if anyone needs any PCB's let me know. I have a some spares.

Regs
Rod

[Bill Bergman]

That looks great !
I''m glad someone else has finally made one of these. I really like mine. I added a toggle switch that somehow reverses the phase and also add a panel mount pot instead of a trimmer to control the frequency.

[nelson]

Thts REALLY nice...the PCB layout/artwork would be nice


Also where did you get that enclosure?


coincidentally this is on ebay.





http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=22669&item=7340862040&rd=1

[puretube]

[edit]: the forum is lame today;
esp.@ thru-zero-postings/editings...

[DarkSide]

i have one of them



I havent taken a pic of it after i rebuilt it.. but it looks great and works nice .

 

They are a good phaser, im currently workin on a way of adding the touch control to the AP7. Also working on a digital switch rather than the 4pole 6pos switch which is rather difficult to get hold of.

Regs
Rod

[puretube]

information lost...

[DarkSide]

I had the enclosure cast from the AP5 i have. I can get enclosures, but they usually require a bit of elbow grease to get them to the stage they can be used. Lots of sanding and filing. Wasnt a job a like doing  

However, i can get more of the cases (upper shell only) they cost 95$ Aus each + postage. Not cheap, but hey.. its cheaper than buying an ap7 off ebay.

Also i used better spec parts than in the original. no carbon resistors (they create noise), only metal film resistors.

All in all the phaser was a bugger to build.. but way worth the effort.

Regs
Rod

[Bill Bergman]

Here's the pcb I re-drew... http://aronnelson.com/gallery/3dm/r7

[jimbob]

NIce work- I want to do one some when I can find time..also- this might help http://aronnelson.com/gallery/3dm/r7    

[Bill Bergman]

Thanks Jimbob, I fixed it.

[Bill Bergman]

Rod,
Here's a cool mod to try... Wire a jack in to by pass the trimmer and use an expression pedal. The trimmer has a major effect on the dynamics of the pedal so you'd get a wild variation of sweep using an expression pedal in place of it.

[Mark Hammer]

Bill, you are a prince.

One comment for people's consideration here.  In general, placing a harmonically rich signal before any sort of filter will make the action of the filter seem more robust.  That strategy is used here by sticking what is essentially a "bargain basement DS-1" ahead of the phase-shift section.  Builders will note that the fuzz ( schem is here - http://aussiechat2000.com.au/SP/sch_ap7.zip ) uses a BMP type of tone control with a slight midscoop, but merely selects from one extreme or the other of an "imaginary 100k tone pot".  Builders might want to consider replacing the 100k fixed resistor that the tone switch connects to with an actual 100k pot for a little more flexibility.

More importantly, though, when filters are placed ahead os a clipping device, interesting things start to happen.  Chiefly, the filter has the habit of forcing some frequencies to fall below the clipping threshold, while letting others remain above it.  As the filter sweeps, there is a really interesting sort of animation added to the sound.  This is one of the many reasons why many folks prefer to stick their wah before their fuzz and their univibe before their fuzz.  Certainly, for long slow sweeps of the "jet plane" variety, I would personally prefer to stick the fuzz section first.  But for medium "watery-sounding" speeds, it is definitely worth considering a way to flip the order and stick the onboard fuzz after the phase shifter section.

Finally, you will note that there is no means for selecting how many stages are used (8 is the default), nor for where the regen signal goes (it always goes right back to the beginning).  Some options for one or both of these would also increase the flexibility of the unit.

[Bill Bergman]

I need to try and make some sound samples of the mod I've done as well as just the overall sound of this pedal because it really is a unique phaser.

[Bill Bergman]

Rod,
I made some really cheezy mp3's of my AP7 clone.  :oops:
I'm curious if it sounds similar to yours minus the cheezy playing.

Is there any where I can post these. There are 3- mp3 at about a meg a piece.

[puretube]

information lost...

[Bill Bergman]

Thanks Puretube!
In the clips you can here me rotating pot that I suggested be put on an expression pedal. On the schematic it is a trim pot. I dididn't do all the sound and setting that you can get on this pedal plus I did't show the whole range of the rate. The set rate foot switch is cool. It is set at a fast rate and when you click it off it slowly decreases to match what ever setting the rate knob is at.
any way, here they are.....

http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=13840
http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=21341
http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=33258

[Fret Wire]

Nice! Sure sounds like it's working right to me. The expression mod sounds pretty cool.

[puretube]

Sure sounds like the original,
like the one Larry Graham (right):

uses, when he does his "JAM"-solo on bass...

[Bill Bergman]

Is that you singing!

[puretube]

yep, I had the honour of doing: "If You Want Me To Stay" live with GCS
some years ago in our town,
after spending their day-off with `em,
and having invited them to our home, and jamming/singing/...
together.