skyipper history

[John Lyons]

Joe

That's psychic story is really odd/funny/a coincidence/cool etc etc..and then the birthday coincidences!!! 
Maybe this was meant to be!

John

[Mark Hammer]

You sure that isn't just the lyrics to a Joe Ely or Chris Rea song?

I'm not a big believer in the supernatural, and don't turn to probability as a basis for belief in the supernatural or "kismet".  I think that, when you consider the size of the any given language, the capacity to guess the next thing a person is going to say, at least several times daily, represents a much much smaller chance probability of occurring than being born on the same day (1 in 365) as someone with similar interests.  And yet we do it daily, without so much as blinking an eye, because as humans we're accustomed to it.  We make a big deal of the mundane and ignore the almost miraculous simply because we're jaded about the miraculous.

And yet.....

....some sorts of improbabilities have the capacity to rivet us, creep us out, and make us believe that there are "forces at work".  I think I've told this story before, but in 1970 I was sitting in English class in junior college.  Our prof, a real s**t-disturber who went on to become editor of National Lampoon came in and said we would do "an experiment".  He called up a student to the front whose gender was unclear to me for most of the term (deep voice, floppy hats, big coats, no particular gender-specific build), thrust a book of art prints (of no particular era or culture) in their hand and asked them to randomly select one and "project their thoughts".  I was sitting at the back of the class, thinking "Yeah, right, sure".  Suddenly, I had a moment of clarity, and my hand shot up.  "It's mostly black", I said, "with diagonal movement from the upper left to the lower right, and some sort of bright area in the middle.  There's yellow and red."  The student turned the book around and it was some abstract painting by someone I never heard of then or since, and it was black with a jagged yellow lightning-strike sort of line going from upper left to lower right, and a red blotch smack in the middle.  Seriously.  I mean seriously.  It was as if I was holding the book and trying to describe what I was looking at to someone over the phone.

Things like that just creep you right out.  When they're events that scream out "DESTINY!!" at the top of their lungs, they're kind of hard to shake, eh?

Now, if Zachary started finding himself wanting to play double-necked left-handed instruments, THEN I'd start to worry!

[Paul Marossy]

Did she make it happen or was this for real?

Joe-

Maybe you made it become a self-fulfilling prophecy? 

[8mileshigh]

Joe,

That's a very cool story, thanks for sharing.  I'm a firm believer that there are "forces at work" You just have to move forward with it and things will fall into place.  From what I can gather, your time is now, you just have to pull it all together.

Chris


Mark,

In the late 80's, my Mother treated me to a psychic reading from a known clairvoyant from Ontario.  Being a non believer, I agreed to attend and, well, to keep it brief, the guy totally blew me away & my mind have been quite open to this day.  I'd consider this to be a significant life experience just like Joe's was to him.

Chris

[JonFrum]

Back in the 70s, I worked at a major electronics parts wholesaler (of course I didn't even play guitar then, much less make amps and pedals). There was  a guy I didn't like, but my friends there had known him for a while, and they did like him, and went to his mother's house one night. She was a palm reader, and she did a reading for one of the girls. The next time I see them, the girl told me she had been  totally freaked out when the woman told here that a friend would have an accident in a sailboat. It just so happened that I was on vacation that week, and I was taking sailing lessons on the Charles River in downtown Boston.


Amazing psychic powers? I had talked about the sailing lessons at work, and the woman's son had the opportunity to hear me, or hear my other friends talk about where I was that week. And the son of a professional grifter is probably going to be in on the scam, no? To this day, I guarantee that if you asked my friend Ann - wherever she is - she would tell you about the time the psychic hit the nail on the head.

Hmmm... the "mark" doesn't speak Spanish.... a Brazilian girlfriend, who does know about the guitar playing.... a few words pass between them.... Voila! psychic powers!   



There is no other thing - there is only this.

[joegagan]

quote:
Hmm... the "mark" doesn't speak Spanish.... a Brazilian girlfriend, who does know about the guitar playing.... a few words pass between them.... Voila! psychic powers!   


ok I should've known someone was gonna go there

the two women hadn't said twenty words prior to this, fortune teller lady did not own a phone and I do understand spanish well enough to know they weren't talking about me

I like everyone's stories on here, this thread got twisted fast!

[Fp-www.Tonepad.com]

Joe!

Nice to have you back.

[EdJ]

Hi Joe!

I am still using the Skyripper!
Not that everybody is happy with that all the time but that`s another story:-)

Greetings from fryslan,Ed

[tungngruv]

Now here is Skyripper history in black and white:

04/06/01



08/02/01



09/30/01



So it seems that 2001 was the year Fuzz was changed forever.

[Paul Marossy]

Cool, a chronlogical history in schematics! 

[oldrocker]

Hey that's cool to see how schematics evolve over time.  I assume the last schem is the one to build.  I've been jealous everytime some says they built one.  It's killing me that I haven't had the balls to try and perf that thing up.  SOO000ooo many knobs!!  Gotta love that.  Now I have to see if my wife is willing to part with her frying pan so I have an enclosure.  I'd better find out what's for dinner first.  It might have some dents in it after having too much contact with my head.
A couple of odd trannies used I'll have to track them down.  One of these days I'm gonna built it.

[petemoore]

  I tried once, IIRC it was the skyripper..I know I tried a Bronto, but I wasn't ready.
  If I tried this time, I'd lay everything out, clearly mark everything, double triple check a few times...have color coded wires for everything...all coded/marked offboard wires / switch diagrams, plenty of step by step debugging.
lots of 'twists/turns/convolutions'.

[tungngruv]

Hey Oldrocker, it's not that difficult a build. Easy vibe much more difficult and we've done that one. The part that takes the most time is the wiring. Just make sure to true bypass the buffer. Also, a skillet isn't really necessary.



And the ones I built fired up first time using this:




PM me for my email and I can help if needed. The Battle of Midway and Paul Marrosy have PH D's in wah wah's. I'd like to think I have an associates degree in Skyripper
Also, the Trannies aren't really that critical. 2n9304's, a trannie suitable for a Rangemaster and Q4 is just a germanium suitable for a Fuzz. The diode can even be a plain Germ. diode. The Schems are intimidating but once you treat it like 3 separate pedals in one box, it gets cleared right up.

In my experience, you only need up to 3  stomp switches (if you want to make the buffer footswitchable), other wise two is good. I also have an extra 500k dual gang and a 100K Rip pot with a switch on the back that will work if you want it. This thing does the Rangemaster, killer Fuzz that goes from woolly to overdrive (really) and when you add the Rip Bias and buffer into the mix, you are in another universe. Definitely a worthwhile build. Let me know about the pots. We can work out a trade or I can just donate them to you, from one old cronie to another!!

Check out the range of tones from Aron's mp3 pages:

http://aronnelson.com/gallery/album72?page=2
http://aronnelson.com/gallery/album72?page=3
http://aronnelson.com/gallery/album72?page=4

Just my arthritic fingers, telecaster and a clean Marshall.

[dxm1]

I'm thinking of building a simplified version of the SkyRipper, mainly to save money on switches and real estate on the enclosure. Looking over the sample settings on tunngruv's excellent SkyRipper page, it looks as if the Rangemaster and Fuzz bypass aren't used.

With the idea to lose these two switches (and have both effects always on), I'm trying to reconcile the SkyRipper schematic (v2.4) and tungngruv's perf layout. Here is what I've come up with so far:

To eliminate S1 (Range B/P)

o   The center pole of S3 connects directly to the end
    of the 5nF cap connected to the base of Q2. I can
    also lose the two 1M resistors to ground.

o   The end of the 1uF cap opposite to the connection
    to the "Range" pot wiper would connect to the top
    lug of the "PreGain" pot, again removing the 1M
    anti-pop resistor.

To eliminate S2 (Fuzz B/P)

o   The wiper of the "Volume" pot directly to "Out".

Also, I have no interest in the Expression Loop, so I
intend to wire that portion of the circuit as if no
plugs were connected.

Anyone see any obvious errors with this logic?

[tungngruv]

That would work but in my experience, the ability to use the really wild potential of this pedal, you need to be able to bypass either the fuzz or range. When the fuzz and range are on together, the rip and rip bias knobs really come alive. What I'm trying to say is you can have the rip knob "preset" while being silent, then activate it by turning on both the fuzz and range. Then you would also have the ability to use either the fuzz or range separately. One thing I hope is not overlooked is the fuzz on the Skyripper is really a cool pedal by itself. The tone control dials in almost every fuzz tone imagineable at both extremes. Same with the Rangemaster part, use just that on any slightly breaking up tube amp and your in Brian May territory. I have built a few Rippers and in my experience, the buffer, fuzz, range, rip and rip bias are almost bypass necessary to be able to use this live. The cut/boost switch is the one I use the least, due to a pretty significant drop in volume (although the tones resulting from having it are really useable in a studio). If you are going take the time to build this, please don't short change yourself by taking out parts of the circuit. Half the fun is learning to tame this wild beast. I'm sure John (BasicAudio and LPHovercraft will vouch for my above recommendations).

Also, I have no interest in the Expression Loop, so I
intend to wire that portion of the circuit as if no
plugs were connected.

I have to admit I rarely used that loop also but I have read that Joe Gagan and LPHovercraft have gotten lots of synth type sounds using the loop, plus I remember reading that you can use the "send" (IIRC) as an alternate "out" for the Fuzz with yet another unique tone. I also remember reading a post where Joe even acheived a univibe tone with a tremelo pedal in the loop. See what I mean? Endless insanity if that's what you are looking for. You really need to hear the samples that Joe made on the ampage site. Take the time to listen through them, they are truly amazing. Go hear (from the man himself, Joe Gagan):

http://sounds.ampage.org/files/skyrip6harmonized.mp3
http://sounds.ampage.org/files/skyrip7leadtone.mp3
http://sounds.ampage.org/files/skyripper1.mp3
http://sounds.ampage.org/files/skyripper2.mp3
http://sounds.ampage.org/files/skyripper3[1](1).mp3
http://sounds.ampage.org/files/skyripper4.mp3
http://sounds.ampage.org/files/skyripper5.mp3

[John Lyons]

There are some sound clips here as well. (some are duplicated though) www.mrdwab.com/john/soundclipspage.html
The skyripper, as well as several others are there.

The Range master section of the Skyripper is great by itself as recorded in tony's clip. I really love tony's recording of that. AC/DC city!!!
Then the fuzz by itself is a very nice FF circuit was a blendable cap which really adds versitility.

I thought about striping it down as well but if you figure that it is two solid pedals rolled into one ( if not three) then you can justify expense and enclosure real estate. The buffer switch can be a toggle DPDT instead of a Foot switch  but other than that I'd leave em all in.

I have yet to add in the loop but just talking about it makes me want to hook it up.
I know tony has spent hours and days hunched over this one as have I.
Add in an effects loop and it's going to be a whole new world.

Here's my Skyripperbuild since this has turned into the Skyripper super thread....



I'll post my PCB and wiring diagram soon.

John

[joegagan]

hey, a 'sky-renaissance'! Tungngruv, I will agree with your associates degree status, as long as I am still the janitor doing the math in the hall after school (Good Will Hunting style)

tungngruv, DXM's idea doesn't take anything away from the more radical aspects of the pedal.    the whole point of building it is to get all the interactivity.        most of us have built ffs and rangemasters, the only thing that makes the Srip more interesting is the way it works together in a way that those two wouldn't if just chained together.        This is why I no longer care to use the fuzz or rangemaster inpedpendant of each other, but I can still see why a lot of people would want it your way as well. but if DXM wants them all on all the time that is still the essence of the pedal IMO

DXM, your logic is all correct on your query. I assume you will be wiring the entire circ to a trubypass switch like most pedals, right?

the loop is not essential but a lot of fun. it is good because it puts whatever other tones you want right in the point where the fuzzed tone gets injected back into the RM. also the loop works as an expression jack input making a simple vol pedal take the place of the 'rip' control (leave rip control full cw for this function)

Tungngruv, did you build your Skyrippers using Si for the Ff section (maybe I forgot). have you compared Ge and si for this?
Also, can you send me a quickie drawing of how you bypassed the buffer? I could trace mine out to see how i did it but you might have documented yours? That way i can mod the schem to reflect the new recommended setup.

I have never wired up S3 like the 9-30 01 revision. this was a Jack Orman addition. what does it do to the buffer /no buffer pot at the front of the circ when disengaged?

another thing: the expression loop jacks must be wired exactly as drawn to complete the loop when nothing is plugged in there. You have to use switching jacks like the ones on 60s 70s fender amps for the extension speaker jack (1/4" = part # Switchcraft 12A)

one more thought, I think the buffer/ no buffer blend pot might be a great addidtion to a lot of other pedals since it does such interesting gain reduction in it's middle settings.

hello to everyone else who popped on this thread, feels great to be back
John, I like the oak enclosure, never saw that one!

[dxm1]

Ok, I'm convinced... I'll build up the the whole thing. I was planning to use the perf layout posted above to guide my PCB design. I've noticed several 1M resistors from the schematic missing from the layout. Were these wired off board, or just removed from the design?

[tungngruv]

Tungngruv, I will agree with your associates degree status, as long as I am still the janitor doing the math in the hall after school (Good Will Hunting style)

Just my addiction to the Rippin! Your more like the science teacher/couseler who writes the bogus pass when we are late to class.

Tungngruv, did you build your Skyrippers using Si for the Ff section (maybe I forgot). have you compared Ge and si for this?

I used these Joe:

Also, can you send me a quickie drawing of how you bypassed the buffer?

I wired a DPDT switch like this to true bypass the buffer (your idea, remember?):

Pull down resistors? Were these wired off board, or just removed from the design?

I saw on another post that this layout was Gagan approved, minus the extra 1m resistors. Wait till everyone see's John's pcb for this. It's truly awesome. BTW John, that is one sharp looking Skyripper.

Also Joe, it's great to have you back here, really.

[joegagan]

ok, here is the revision
once the tru bypass is on, fuzz is on all the time. rangemaster can't be on by itself, if you want a RM , build one

all other features intact. thanks Tunggruv and everyone else for the help.