Jordan Bosstone and Bossboost pictures

[Sir H C]

It is a beauty but its not mine A friend sent the pics to me.

Sir H C, I saw lots of gut shots, these were the best. As far as I can see there was not any foam or anything else in there to keep the battery from bouncing around.

Anyone know where to get those input jacks?

The male jack?  It looks like they took a standard 1/4" jack from switchcraft or the like and put a nut on it and called it an input.  The output is just a stereo plastic jack, nothing special.

Two of the three had that ugly foam, seems another variable thing they did.

[RLBJR65]

The male jack?  It looks like they took a standard 1/4" jack from switchcraft or the like and put a nut on it and called it an input.

I thought of that after I posted and went searching
I don't think they have enough threads to go through an aluminum box. The mechanical drawings only show the tread size and not the length so I could be wrong.

Thanks

[Sir H C]

It is just a very thin piece of metal for the enclosure then immediately the nut.  The other side has the gnarled look of most switchcraft male jacks.

[Dan N]

I built the CA version and must confess was disappointed. Good crackly fuzz, but quick gated sustain. Real old school in a bad kind of way.

I switched the PNP to an NPN ( e to ground, b in and c out) and this little guy came roaring to life! Pretty damn good fuzz. Fuzzy with plenty of bass and nice sustain.

Here's a small pcb if anyone wants to try it. Kind of a tight squeeze for cap experimenting. Oh well.

http://users.rio.com/senorris/junk/jbtcapcb.gif

I also have some extra boards etched and drilled if anyone wants. Too small to just etch one...

Thanks for the new fuzz, Chris!

I used Q1- BC549C, Q2- 2N3904.

[Burstbucker]

Funny that you bring up the Bosstone, I just finished mine last night!
8^)

I followed this schematic:
http://www.geofex.com/FX_images/bosstone.gif
I used the 1N914a diodes.

It's a pretty cool sounding fuzz, pretty nasty really but in a good way.  I ended up putting in a switch to add a 0.1uF cap in parallel with the 0.022uF input cap, this really makes it go berzerk!  I'll call it "FAT" mode I guess.

I'm not sure if my pedal actually sounds a whole lot like the originals though.

[Sir H C]

The M924, 2N3565,  cross-select with an NPN (NTE 123) on the NTE site.  The 2N3397 also comes up NPN but a different number.  Can not find a cross listing for the MMPS5513 other than as a 2N5513 which is a FET.

So it seems that they did use two NPN transistors in this design, just that they were two different types.

[RLBJR65]

Here are the trans specs. for the Bosstone I posted. Found these some time ago in an old thread that I can't seem to find now. Glad I save everything Thanks to whoever posted them first!


Sir HC A low Hfe 2N3904 works great for Q1. Q2 thats the strange one 200mW Hfe280.

It's funny that everyone seems to like the Nashville version with .02 caps but I've never actually seen one with them.
Is that maybe what Voodoo Lab had in theirs when they reissued them? Never seen the guts of one of those.

Richard

PS don't you love how almost every GP NPN you put into NTE's cross reference comes back to a NTE123 or 123A.

[Sir H C]

I have had my NTE and ECG guides since college (gads almost 20 years back!) and when I seen NTE-123 I just laugh.

[RLBJR65]

Hey guys I was wondering if you could take a look at this PCB layout I did.  I've looked over it several times and the layout looks sound but maybe some fresh eyes will find an error. http://aronnelson.com/gallery/album69/jordanbosstone?full=1

The reason I'm asking is the clone I built sounds very good but does not have as high a gain level as the original. I built it like the one I posted the pics of with .05 and 50pf ceramic caps all carbon comp resistors for Q1  2N3904 Hfe 140 - Q2 2N4249 Hfe 150. I used 100K pots for both the attack and level.

Hfe of Q2 looks a bit low according to the data maybe thats the problem.

The clone is currently with the owner of the original so I can't check the voltages until I get it back.

All pics and transistor data are posted in the same folder as the layout just scroll L or R.

Thanks
Richard

[Sir H C]

Are you sure about the outline for the PNP?  Is the collector the opposite side as the NPN?  Otherwise looks right.

Can always try an NPN in the second stage to get more gain.

[RLBJR65]

Thanks for checking it out Sir HC.
Actually the 2N4249 is round so ignore the foot print drawn on the layout. I pretty sure the pinout is labled correct per schematic.
Added the schematic for Model 6248. http://aronnelson.com/gallery/album69/Bosstone_6248

Richard

[markm]

These are some real nice Pics in this thread.
Thanks for the detailed info guys. 

[Sir H C]

Thanks, I have pictures of other fuzz guts and can get photos of other ones that I have lying around too.  Right now I have pictures of:

Sekova fuzz (Maestro FZ-1 clone)
Ampeg Scrambler (Pretty useless unlike you like the look of epoxy)
Arbiter Fuzz Face
Kay Fuzz
Maestro FZ-1 (can do a FZ-1A too)
Rosac Nu-Fuzz, Nu-Fuzz Nu-Wa, Distortion Blender
Crazytone (Fuzzface clone)
Sound City Fuzz Wah Face
UMI Fuzz

[chrisguitars]

Hey gang, I decided to reply to this thread instead of starting a new one as it is packed with great info. I have been obsessed with the Jordan Boss Tone for some years and have dedicated many hours to their study. I have determined that there were a total of five different models. They all share the same box but the boards varied. I have met with one of the owners/designers of the Jordan line and he has helped answer some of my questions. I am working on a history of the Boss Tone and if anyone has info they care to share, I will include it.


Here are some photos of the timeline:

Version 1


Version 2


Version 3


Version 4



Version 5

[chrisguitars]

I have made my versions of these as well as a version of Jordans tremolo called the Vico Vibe. I am also just finishing my version of the Orange Squeezer called the Orange Tone. It is the famous Squeezer with true bypass and LED, very cool sounding. Here are a few photos:

[Dan N]

Hi Chris, it is pretty weird how the bosstone evolved. There are photos of what you call the first in this thread:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=57936.0

Do you have cap values for that first type? Is that a tantalum output cap? With these "timeline" circuits, how would you characterize their individual tones?

Very nice work on your clones!

Ha, if you ever wanted to share the schematic for the VicoVibe, this is the place to do it.

[chrisguitars]

Hi Dan, I have tried to find the scheme but had no luck. I will post it when I find it. The first version does have a tantalum cap up top. That model is my next project and it should be easy as both transistors are the 2N3397. Once I lift the components I will measure them and let you know the values. That version that I have has a cool mod and it sounds unearthly good.

[Rob Strand]

I was poking around on my hard disk and I came across a pic of a Jordan Boss Tone which looked different to the one that has been on Aron's site for the last 20yrs or so.   Unfortunately I missed this thread when it was active.

If you look at the effect database pics the sticker changes from Jordan Electronics to SHO-Sound at some point.   The circuit seems to go through three versions.  The first two are similar but not the same.  The last one is the one that's been on Arons site for some time.   I don't know if there is any correlation between the company changes and the circuit changes.   The model changes from 1000 to 6248 at some point as well.


Anyway, the one I had was this one, it's the very first version.

Circuit 1:
http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/jordan/bosstone

Which has some details here,
http://tonemachines.blogspot.com/2011/10/jordan-boss-tone-1967.html

Here's a schematic of the circuit,


Just found this.  It's the schematics for the second version and the last version (the one on Aron's site),



So it's possible the value of C2 on the first version is 220pF.

[ljudsystem]

Wow, cool thread.

Think I'll need to build a California Bosstone now

[Rob Strand]

Think I'll need to build a California Bosstone now

FWIW, when I look at the circuit it seems to bias centrally for gains around 100, pretty low.
The datasheets 2N3397's have *ridiculously* wide spans for the gain.  I've got no idea
what the typical gain would be in the actual units.

Anyway it's probably worth playing around with the biasing for best sound.  That might turn out to sound better than the original  .
----------------------------------
Some useful info:

Based on the 2N2926 transistor, which is manufactured with the same process as the 2N3397, the transistors have colored dots indicating the gain.

2N2926     hFE
Unsorted: 35 to 470
Brown      50
Red          74
Orange     135
Yellow       225
Green       350

The pics for the Boss Tone V1 shows transistors with orange dots which corresponds to hFE=135.
That lines up reasonable well the value I calculated.  The V2 pic shows the Q1 with a yellow dot which is hFE=225.