Tube boost + overdrive running off a 9 volt battery

[Trippy Demon]

yeah, i'm sorry, that's just my ocd kicking in once in a while. But rest assured, the end result will not look as uptight as the designs

[Trippy Demon]

Allright, build it, works, but...

came across a lazy mistake in the pcb image, forgot to rotate D1 and C12 when I moved the 24vdc line to the right of the Gnd, so the verified pcb is this:



And another strange thing is that the the led on the right, after the millenium bypass, is not as bright (barely visible) as the one on the left, tried to lower the value of R14, and even bypassing R14, but it won't get any brighter...

Ideas anyone?



The etch of the box didn't come out real sharp, still have to figure out a better way to etch these boxes, but it looks nice and vintage this way...

[thomasha]

Very nice build and material!

Any chance of some soundsamples?

[duck_arse]

you might try changing to a mosfet for the millenium, it works much more the way you'd expect. watch the pinout.

[Trippy Demon]

Yep, thanx, had been sniffing around in the millenium articles and found this page http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/bypass/bypass.htm

Where it sais: "Using a high-threshold JFET or one with a low Idss will mean that the LED won't turn completely off, and may not be very bright when it's "on". Using a low-threshold JFET and one with an Idss rating of 5ma or more will give a much better change in on-to-off brightness in the LED. You can also use a diode or two in series with the LED to sharpen things up a bit."

So I changed the J201 for a 2N5485 and that's a little better, the 2N5475 does a little less...

I also have some BS170's but that means changing the circuit a little bit...

[duck_arse]

yes, j201 is not your friend here. your above linked-to and problems is exactly why I went to the mosfet version. and you'd really want those 2n's for some audio work, no?

[Trippy Demon]

I put the 2N5485 in some feet so I can reclaim it when I get around making a little mosfet millenium daughterboard, but first I wanted to play with the soundoptions for a while

[Trippy Demon]

I've made a little video testrun of the pedal, on bass, as I'm a bass player... Don't think I'll make a guitar version, I'm just too terrible on six strings 

[deparisn]

Hi everyone,

I am an Electrical Engineering Major working on my senior project. What I want to do is to put the matsumi 9v tube circuit into the Build Your Own Clone 5 knob compressor. I am trying to put it all in one enclosure but have to PCB's one for the COMP and one for the tube. Would I just be able to put the output of the comp into the input of the ValveCaster, also would I be able to remove the the volume section on the ValvCaster and tie that in to the volume on the compressor?

[mth5044]

You can run the valvecaster right into the compressor as long as you no longer want the ability to turn either stage on or off, although without the volume control, you might clip the input of the compressor. You might be better off using an internal trimpot and set the amount of volume going into the compressor.

[XI93909834]

MY FIRST TUBE BOX

[duck_arse]

that's a nice looking thing xi. can we see inside as well? (and welcome to the forum.)

[teej]

I've got another thread going but maybe I'll get more responses here. Since I have the other thread, I'll provide the jist of what's going on.

Original Thread: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=108569.0

What I Have: Valvecaster as a preamp, 10-watt TDA2030 power amp, 5" Celeston neodymium driver (pulled from a Trace Elliot cabinet)

The Problem(s):
1) I have to turn the volume and gain all the way up in order to get loud.
2) My biggest problem is the lack of crunchy goodness I'm hearing in all the YouTube videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cMqYlhSQ8c)

[vigilante397]

I've got another thread going but maybe I'll get more responses here. Since I have the other thread, I'll provide the jist of what's going on.

Original Thread: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=108569.0

What I Have: Valvecaster functioning as a preamp fed into a 10-watt TDA2030 power amp.

The Problem(s):
1) I have to turn the volume and gain all the way up in order to get loud.
2) My biggest problem is the lack of crunchy goodness I'm hearing in all the YouTube videos.

I actually experimented with doing the same thing a while ago and could never get it working 

[teej]

I've got another thread going but maybe I'll get more responses here. Since I have the other thread, I'll provide the jist of what's going on.

Original Thread: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=108569.0

What I Have: Valvecaster functioning as a preamp fed into a 10-watt TDA2030 power amp.

The Problem(s):
1) I have to turn the volume and gain all the way up in order to get loud.
2) My biggest problem is the lack of crunchy goodness I'm hearing in all the YouTube videos.

I actually experimented with doing the same thing a while ago and could never get it working  

I'm glad to hear it's not just me. I can't for the life of me figure out why this doesn't work. In principle, it seems straight-forward. Signal leaves the Valvecaster, amplified by the TDA2030 and out the driver.

The Valvecaster / TDA2030 combo is a little amp I'm building for my wife who is learning guitar and likes metal, which is why I need crunchy distorted goodness. Once I get my amp running again (jacks and switches overhaul), I'll test just the Valvecaster through it to hopefully pinpoint the problem.

First Vid:

Second Vid:

[stallik]

I've tried running a Valvecaster into a simple 3 watt amp (Velleman P8066). This is also unsuccessful. In my case, the 8066 is designed to take a wide variety of input signals and strengths without much overload so there is obviously some input compression going on. This makes overdriving the amp near impossible and while a signal actually passes through to the speaker, the sound quality is very poor.
I wonder if something similar is going on with your TDA2030?

[vigilante397]

I've tried running a Valvecaster into a simple 3 watt amp (Velleman P8066). This is also unsuccessful. In my case, the 8066 is designed to take a wide variety of input signals and strengths without much overload so there is obviously some input compression going on. This makes overdriving the amp near impossible and while a signal actually passes through to the speaker, the sound quality is very poor.
I wonder if something similar is going on with your TDA2030?

That could very well be. I tested my valvecaster separately first and it worked beautifully (found myself a vintage Mullard 12AU7 ) but for some reason when I threw the TDA2030 into it it just kind of died.

[stallik]

Bet the Mullard sounded good. Interestingly, old Mullard and Brimar AX7's sound great in the Valvecaster while modern equivalents don't. I'm using a JAN AU7 which is great and these old AX7's sound about the same. Go figure...

[tonyharker]

It appears to me the input impedance of the IC amplifier is dragging the gain down of the valvecaster. 
The output of a valvecaster normally is connected to the input of a guitar amplifier which is high impedance - 470k or 1M.
Try putting a fet buffer similar to that in a Ruby, or noisy cricket between the valvecaster and the TDA2030.

[teej]

It appears to me the input impedance of the IC amplifier is dragging the gain down of the valvecaster. 
The output of a valvecaster normally is connected to the input of a guitar amplifier which is high impedance - 470k or 1M.
Try putting a fet buffer similar to that in a Ruby, or noisy cricket between the valvecaster and the TDA2030.

I'll give the buffer a try. Now to find a buffer circuit that will work...