Roger Mayer Page-1 Gutshots

[tcobretti]

I'm not planning on drawing a schem because it'll take me a week and I plan to return the pedal in the next couple of days.  However, I will be very, very happy to answer any questions any schem-drawers might have while I have the pedal.

It sounds really good.  It feels like a dirtier-than-usual booster with a tone knob.  I was surprised as hell to see how complicated it is.

[Shed_FX]

 

As a big Jimmy Page fan i was always intrigued by this pedal. Thank you for posting that. I will definitely trace it when I have time (Unless someone more experienced than me wants to do it.

Thanks for the photo's and all of the valued that is completely awesome.

How does the pedal sound any good? I presume as it runs on AC128s it can vary quite dramatically!

Thanks again

[analogguru]

I traced the schematic but I am really scared to post it.... if I want to avoid that suddenly will appear a Fuzz Factory III.... 

So what do we have ?
A "voltage Regulator" for the Fuzz stage done with the LM 301 - atdjustable with the trim poti.
Input buffer silicon, 2 germanium trannies fuzz, biased with the "Drive" poti.
Big-Muff Pi style tone control, marked "Fatness".
Volume poti marked "Output".

IMHO the PCB-routing has the same aesthetical value as some high priced "borderline-art" housed pedals.  I don´t know, why he used a double sided pcb - even with the exact same component placement it can be done on a single layer. 

An intersting design, but what it has to to with jimmy page ? I don´t know.

@tcobretti
can you please measure the voltages on pin 7 and 6(or 2) ?
please control the trannies, they should be bc549c or bc550c

analogguru

Edit:
Oh I forgot an (octavia-style) output buffer and a millenium-type led-driver.  RM again "invented the wheel", here you can read (at the bottom):

"THOSE WHO CAN INVENT DO"
"THOSE WHO CAN'T INVENT COPY"

[Shed_FX]

Hey analoggurru,

Could you send me the schem via PM i would really like this one to have a play about with. Also what values do you need for the DOD mini chorus as i'd like a copy of that if I have to fix them at any time.

Thanks

[Pedal love]

Thanks Travis. I see a couple germanium transistors. Its been pretty hard for me to make silicon and germanium transistors work well together in certain circuits. This does interest me.

[tcobretti]

The voltage at all those pins is 3.9v.

You are right, they are BC550C transistors.

My initial impressions of the pedal were based on my in-store demo.  When I plugged it in last night, I had a very different experience.  With the fatness knob all the way down you get some pretty good Orpheum like tones.  As you increase the fatness, it gets pretty huge sounding but without too much gain.  I guess as AG was saying, there really is not a gain pot, because the Drive pot really just changes the texture of the fuzz.  It doesn't sound much like any pedal I have heard, although it did strike me as Tone-Bendery with the  fatness up. And while the tonestack may be BMP-like, it doesn't sound like a BMP tone stack at all.

AG, will you please send me the schem? And, for the record, I think you should post it here.

travis

[R.G.]

IMHO the PCB-routing has the same aesthetical value as some high priced "borderline-art" housed pedals.  I don´t know, why he used a double sided pcb - even with the exact same component placement it can be done on a single layer.

I suspect that Roger did his own. It has the look of a first PCB done with tape and paper dolls. Double sided was NOT needed.

[jrc4558]

IMHO the PCB-routing has the same aesthetical value as some high priced "borderline-art" housed pedals.  I don´t know, why he used a double sided pcb - even with the exact same component placement it can be done on a single layer.

I suspect that Roger did his own. It has the look of a first PCB done with tape and paper dolls. Double sided was NOT needed.

To me it looks like an Eagle autorout...

[analogguru]

The voltage at all those pins is 3.9v.

This might be true for pin 2 and 6, but not for pin 7 - ther must be something beetween 8V and 9 V.

AG, will you please send me the schem? And, for the record, I think you should post it here.

This is very difficult.  For the reason that RM included a millenium in the Page-1 I must suspect that he is (at least) a (secret?) reader of this forum.  And you now, it´s not allowed to post schematics of (hidden) forum members.  They could tell you one day, how to hold your soldering iron correctly - and this is a very important information.

Could you send me the schem via PM i would really like this one to have a play about with.

All of my (released) schematics can be found on my website.  You can try a google search with "analogguru" and "schematics". Good luck !

Also what values do you need for the DOD mini chorus as i'd like a copy of that if I have to fix them at any time.

I will mark it in your photo and post a link in the dod 460 thread.

To me it looks like an Eagle autorout...

Me too.... Only autorouters are so stupid that they need a double layer for this schematic.

So now lets go to the circuit analysis:

Basically it is an attempt to construct a Maestro Fuzztone with modern means.

Q1 acts only as an input buffer, for this reason it doen´t matter that it is silicon.

IC1 acts as a voltage-divider/driver for the Fuzz-part.  3,9V is a little bit higher than the 3V ued in the FZ-1 (2 batteries).  I would recommend to place a cap 10µ to 100µ at the output (Pin 6) of IC1 to GND.  Every OP-amp can be used here, RM seems to have in stock a lot of LM 301.

The fuzz-part with 2 AC 128 is similar to the 2nd and 3rd transistor in a FZ-1.  What the "Attack"-poti does in the Fuzztone, RM is trying to achieve with the "Drive" poti.  Remarkable is the low value of the collector-resistor of Q2 with only 1k5.

The "Fatness" is only a modified Big-Muff-Pi tone-control to vary the "annoying" fuzz-sound.

Than we have an output buffer.  Why RM didn´t use an electrolytic with 10µ and 100k to ground, nobody really knows.

The Milenium should be well known, here it is realized with a P-channel FET.

Yes. that´s everything - oh no:

Did you recognize and wonder about the  "1964 - 2004" on the Page-1 ?  Jimmy Page wasn´t born in 1964.  Does RM want with this to make us believe that he invited the Fuzztone as a scholarboy ?

analogguru

[aron]

analogguru,

What an informative post. I felt like I really understood the circuit the way you explained it.

The interesting part is that it almost sounds like something we might try and design on our own.

[Ivana]

analogguru - ай, спасибо, Айболит!     Айм вэри глэд ту рид зис! 

[tcobretti]

AG, thank you very much for the work you have done on this pedal.  Your analysis is a great description and very inspiring. 

This pedal does seem like something someone here might come up with, but the Opamp voltage divider seems like a very nice touch to me.

[analogguru]

@tcobretti

The voltage divider doesnt ´produce a stable voltage, if battery voltage drops, the output of the OP-amp also drops. For this reason it would be important to know the Voltage on Pin 7 of the LM301.
Would be nice if you could measure the voltage on pin 7 (to gnd) and the according voltage on pin 2/6.
The 3.9 V can come from a higher supply voltage if you use an adapter.

analogguru

[Ivana]

Imho this is right - because of internal trimpot. Roger Mayer wrote in his manual to Page-1 about it. And a procedure of tweaking pedal using this trim ander max drive....
It is so hard to explain anything in english....

[tcobretti]

I measured the wrong pin before.  Sorry.

Pin 1 - 1.37
Pin 2 - 3.8
Pin 3 - 3.8
Pin 4 - 0
Pin 5 - 1.3
Pin 6 - 3.8
Pin 7 - 7.9
Pin 8 - 3.3

Battery - 9.5v

[Pedal love]

Thanks again Travis. Well its pretty much what I thought it might be. Noticing electrolytic capacitors between the 1st & 2nd, 2nd & 3rd  germaniums ala. Maestro fz-1 and similar to the Foxx Tone Machine. Travis, you said it sounded good and dirty and seems like it didn't have much drive. Does the distortion sound splatty? Just curious.

[analogguru]

@tcobretti
Thanks for the voltage readings.

@Ivana
Hmmm... english is more easy for me than russian.  Thanks for the tip, I have to look for a manual.

analogguru

[tcobretti]

It is sorta splatty, but not on par with a Orpheum.  It does kinda get that vibe though when the fatness is turned down all the way. 

I have to say that every time I have plugged it in I have gotten a different impression, and I have no idea why.  It seems incredibly sensitive to the amp you plug it into, which is where the fatness knob comes in.  Thru some of my Line 6 models it sounded almost Big Muff like, thru others it sounded Tone Bendery.  It certainly seems like one of the more versatile fuzzes I have heard.  With the fatness cranked it is pretty thick, and with it all the way down it is somewhat piercing.  I did get the distinct impression that it could be "fuzzier".  As it is, it's strikes me as being a fuzzy overdrive.  If I build it, I will certainly aim for a fuzzier pedal with more gain.

I guess I can record some sound clips before I return it.

AG, thanks again for figuring it out!

[vortex]

I have to say that every time I have plugged it in I have gotten a different impression, and I have no idea why.  It seems incredibly sensitive to the amp you plug it into...

Perhaps the GE trannys are having "mood swings"?

[analogguru]

Here we go:

RM Page-1 setup procedure

enjoy,
analogguru