2nd Build Finished! (Highway 89)

[Antero]

I just finished my second build today, Doug Hammond's Highway 89 (Or in my case, the California 1).  It sounds EXCELLENT, full, biting, crazy sustain.  A lot of high end output - some folks might not like that (I think a cap switch tames it?) but I approve.

Man, this is awesome.

One troubleshooting issue that I don't know how to solve: the gain pot is scratchy, seems to heavily affect the volume, and cuts out at the very top of its range.  A post I found searching suggesting a capacitor somewhere, any idea where/how much or what else would help?

Thanks for your help, folks

[Toney]

Congrats!

Scratchy pot+cuts out...sounds like a little contact cleaner in this case.

You know, its easier than it seems to overheat a 16mm pot...gotta be quick~!

Change it out for another to test.

[MartyMart]

The '89's a little cracker isn't it ?
Well done, that's a cool 2nd build .

MM.

[Antero]

Thanks, gents!  I'll put up pics of this and the bazz fuss once I label/paint them. 

Scratchy pot+cuts out...sounds like a little contact cleaner in this case.

Where do I put the cleaner, and what's a good variety to get?

[MartyMart]

Thanks, gents!  I'll put up pics of this and the bazz fuss once I label/paint them. 

Scratchy pot+cuts out...sounds like a little contact cleaner in this case.

Where do I put the cleaner, and what's a good variety to get?

Use anything that "evapourates" 100% and leaves no residue !!
The stuff for cleansing "Floppy disks" is good or just good 'ole isopropyl alchohol

MM

[cbriere]

here is mine,

looks is psychedelic,,,,,

Yeah for the scratchy pot, i know that the first one is the schematics is scratchy
on mine also. This because it is not decoupled. One mod to try is to put a higher Ohms value (250k)
and decoupling it with a 0.1uF and put it to ground. Are you following me?

cbriere


edit: URL of pic repaired

[Doug_H]

I'm glad you like the Highway89.

The gain pot will be scratchy since there is dc voltage flowing through it. If you need to tame high end, tweak the LPF on the output.

[Antero]

here is mine,

looks is psychedelic,,,,,

Yeah for the scratchy pot, i know that the first one is the schematics is scratchy
on mine also. This because it is not decoupled. One mod to try is to put a higher Ohms value (250k)
and decoupling it with a 0.1uF and put it to ground. Are you following me?

cbriere

Kind of?  Switching to a 250k pot I can figure, .1uf to ground I can figure, decoupling I don't know.

Also, would this change the sound aside from the scratchy pot? 

[Antero]

Searching the archives, I see a number of references to DC voltage on pots and needing a cap to ground, but nothing where someone describes where to put it.  Can anyone tell me?

Danke

[Doug_H]

Never heard of such a thing. For "rangemaster-style" volume control you will have pot scratching, no way around it.

[markm]

Sort of the same reason the SHO has a scratchy pot.

[Antero]

Ah!  Well then, no sweat!  It doesn't actually interfere in any way, I'd simply assumed I'd screwed something up.   

This is really glorious - I'd wanted a RAT, but I don't need another distortion pedal at all now (though I'm certainly keeping my fuzzes).  Hell, after my other guitarist hears this he'll probably want one too. 

[cbriere]

Here are the mods i did on mine,


-Changed the "treble/bass" section , replaced with 100k to ground.
-Put an Tone pot. at the output just before volume, 100K pot+4n7F to ground
wipper goes to volume pot. Easy an effective. Acts like a high frew. roll off




cbriere


edit: URL of pic repaired

[RedHouse]

I built one a couple month ago and was disappointed with mine. 

Mine got no where near the sustain that the sound clip got.

[Doug_H]

Which soundclip?

My soundclip is on this page: http://dhammond_1.tripod.com/sounds.htm

It was recorded through a transistor amp at "bedroom volume".

One thing about this pedal is that it really comes alive at stage volume. Once you get some air moving it easily sustains, blooms into octaves, etc, all the while being pretty touch-sensitive too. It's been my go-to pedal for a few yrs now and sounds great with the band at a decent volume level.  It's funny because it's one of the few things I've built that I actually love more now than when I first built it. I'm even thinking of commercializing some version of it.

[RedHouse]

Hmm, that's not the clip I was refering to.
(but I do have that clip BTW and kudo's for your talents Doug)

The one I have is Hwy89.mp3 and it's 1,216kb, when I right click on the file, select properties (in WinXP) I get this on the "Summary" tab of the property page:

DESCRIPTION:
TITLE: Doug H's Highway 89
COMMENTS: Highway 89, max gain, max treble, ~min bass.  Rhythm is bridge HB with vol. way down.  Lead is neck HB with vol. up full.  This clip was recorded direct through a speaker simulator.  Only reverb was added.
ARTIST: RunoffGroove
YEAR: 2003

A quick check over at http://runoffgroove.com/salvo.html doesn't show the file there but it must have been at one time.

BTW ...Doug is this you?

[tungngruv]

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.

[Doug_H]

BTW ...Doug is this you?

Nope.

That guy has much more hair than I do. The beard's almost right though, except for the color.

Re. the clip: My point is that the hwy89 is not a bedroom pedal. Do you have problems with it not sustaining when you are cranked up? If so, there may be a problem with yours.

[Phorhas]

The HW89 is one of the best circuits I've herad. If you'd go commercial with it, I wish you the best of luck with it (although with it's tone - you won't need no stinkin' luck )

I wanted to thank you for sharing this one with us as not only it's a treat to play, I personaly have learned a great deal about tone design and I got inspired to go out and try all sorts of gain blocks, values, placements and tone shaping.

A few of my favorite designes would have not come to life if not for this one.

Again - thanks

[Doug_H]

Cool!