2nd Build Finished! (Highway 89)

[col]

When I built this I had a severe problem with oscillation and put it to one side for a while. I eventually solved it by grounding everything to the box and putting caps across the BC junctions of the transistors one at a time and keeping the values as low as possible to prevent it affecting the sound. It is now stable with everything on full and sounds superb. It is very loud and I sustained an open E5 chord for 58 seconds. I suspect my problems were due to using stripboard for such a high gain circuit as I have experiences similar problems in the past but I'm glad I was able to solve it this time. It really is a good design,

Col

[Doug_H]

That's weird... I wonder if you wired something incorrectly?

Thanks for the compliments but it's not really a high gain circuit. I use it as my low-med gain overdrive and my Fab Distortion for the high gain stuff.

[RedHouse]

I think Redhouse is talking about the clip here, bottom of the page (runoffgroove's first site?):

http://home-wrecker.com/salvo.html

My favorite is the Vibe clip playing the Zep.

Thats the clip! when I heared that lead guitar kick-in I said "I gotta build this one" but then after I built it, well I didn't get near the sustain that clip has, they must have other things going on. It must be as Doug says best used to assist the amp into overdrive rather than the source of the overdrive.

Doug, it must be another DougH in that pic then.

I got that pic off the Les Paul Forum some time ago and had been meaning to ask if it was you. I been wanting an EDS-1275 for some time now and was droolin when I saw that pic. Almost bought an Epi 1275 copy but bailed at the last minute.

[Doug_H]

Thats the clip! when I heared that lead guitar kick-in I said "I gotta build this one" but then after I built it, well I didn't get near the sustain that clip has, they must have other things going on. It must be as Doug says best used to assist the amp into overdrive rather than the source of the overdrive.

Just to be clear- You don't have to use it to boost (overdrive, etc) the amp. The pedal is the source of the overdrive when I use it. I'm just saying you need to have some air moving (amp turned up) to get it to come alive.

[JimKo]

Doug,

This circuit sounds very cool.  Is is proprietary?  I can't seem to find a copy of the schematic.  Maybe I'm looking in the wrong directories.

Jim

[Mark Hammer]

Doug had it "out there" for a little while some time back, and eventually decided to withdraw it because it seemed to have enough commercial potential that he was darned if he was gonna watch others milk it without seeing a penny himself.  I'm not sure what stage it is at right now, but I gather that it is the sort of schematic you would have to ask Mr. Hammond for directly, and it would be at his discretion (and rightfully so) to decide if he really wanted to distribute it to you.  My sense is also that folks who were able to snag a copy at some point are probably declining to distribute it out of respect for Doug.  He's a generous guy (as his thoughtful and meticulous work made available to us amply demonstrates) but sending him your request on Behringer or Dunlop stationary probably isn't such a good idea.

[Joe]

This is one of the "great" pedals, Doug is the OD master!

[Doug_H]

The hwy89 has something in common with a current production amp. I don't feel right about posting it for that reason. (It probably doesn't really matter at this point but I may as well be consistent. Others have posted their interpretations of said amp, etc.) If anyone wants a copy of the 89 schem, email me and I'll be glad to send it. I only ask that you don't post it either. 

(Mark, I think you may be thinking of something else.)

[Mark Hammer]

The hwy89 has something in common with a current production amp. I don't feel right about posting it for that reason. (It probably doesn't really matter at this point but I may as well be consistent. Others have posted their interpretations of said amp, etc.) If anyone wants a copy of the 89 schem, email me and I'll be glad to send it. I only ask that you don't post it either. 

(Mark, I think you may be thinking of something else.)

Quite possibly, or maybe confusing the H89 with some other design that GGG was going to sell or something like that...although I did get the direct request part right! .....that, and the "generous" part!

[RedHouse]

....I don't feel right about posting it for that reason...

Jeez man, it's your stuff and everybody knows it, move forward with any plans you may have.
(we all got your back)

[Doug_H]

Jeez man, it's your stuff and everybody knows it, move forward with any plans you may have.

I'm not concerned about that. It's just my rationale for emailing and not posting it.

A friendly reminder: If anyone wants this, email me and I'll respond to your email. Do not PM me. I cannot attach files to a PM, and I don't have time to cut & paste email addresses from the PM window into a mail window to send it. It's much simpler for me if you just email me and let me respond. At this point I'm tossing all schematic requests I get in PMs. So if you're feeling ignored- that's why.

You're On Notice!

[Jay Doyle]

Doug,

I love how you (or I'm guessing your better half) left Barbra Streisand on the list. 

Jay

[Doug_H]

Yeah, I did that...

There's a site (listed in the corner) you can go to and it will generate the list for you. By the time I got to Babs I couldn't think of anything else to put on there. Then I looked at it and thought, hmmm, that's pretty funny as is...

[col]

Doug,

I didn't mean high gain as in an angry wasp type but this pedal has so much power it's amazing. The note just doesn't fade away. Ihave checked the layout and measured between points for resistance and all is OK. I used some 2N5089s from RSH and maybe they have very high gain, I didn't measure them. Thanks,

Col

[Doug_H]

Cool! It sounds like it is working correctly then.

[swt]

mine is unbelievable. i used bc549 and it gets pretty clean with the guitar rolled down, and it's nasty at full tilt. i use it to play stuff like hendrix, etc, instead of the fuzz faces. i really want to thanks doug for the amazing design, and also ask a question: when you create this pedal, you used a scale down version for the resistors and pots, comparing to the amp. all rog circuits use same values as original amps...i wonder if it would be better to have it scaled down, for better gain, vol, and tone characteristics, matching the fets tech, instead of trying to emulate the tubes circuits...

[Marcos - Munky]

It's a great sounding circuit. I was planning to build one when I got the schematic and never got to start it, but finally yesterday I've etched a board for it. Hope to start to solder the parts tomorrow.

[Doug_H]

i wonder if it would be better to have it scaled down, for better gain, vol, and tone characteristics, matching the fets tech, instead of trying to emulate the tubes circuits...

Correct. And in this case it provides a few more db in gain.

[swt]

thanks doug!. i'm about to build a firefly...yet another unbelievable circuit. and will also use it as a firezog

[smank]

Hi Doug,
the H89 is a great circuit!
But I've found it a bit trebly, so I'm tweaking the related control (added cap + different pot connection).
When I'll reach a good compromise, if you agree, I can post here my mod... (without schematics, obviously; please tell me what do you think).

I've also increased the input impedance, simply tweaking resistors and caps around the input (decrease the cap inversely respect the resistors, X4 or X5 just needs a try). In this way it charge less the guitar pickup.

For the gain and bass controls I've found them very useful (I've read in the past some critical posts about that...).