Tube boost + overdrive running off a 9 volt battery

[Renegadrian]

While I'm looking, I guess I should ask what everyone here is using to supply their valvy with 9-12vdc. Obviously some are putting a 7812 or something in to regulate the power but are there any wall warts out there that will eliminate the hum without having to put more into the pedal itself?

You have two options
1) Use a 7812 and a cap to filter and regulate the voltage coming fron whichever WW you may use - I use chines made, 4 euro WW and got no issues with them...
2) Use good WW, which are more filtered themselves and a 7812 (I'd put one inside anyway...)

[bassmannate]

Hmm...I'll have to do a bit more research. It's hard to find a wall wart in the US that's more than 12vdc (if I go the 7812 route) that's not made for a laptop computer. Having a hard time finding a 12vdc adapter that's filtered as well.

[shimster]

Hmm...I'll have to do a bit more research. It's hard to find a wall wart in the US that's more than 12vdc (if I go the 7812 route) that's not made for a laptop computer. Having a hard time finding a 12vdc adapter that's filtered as well.

I recommend Dunlop ECB 006 for 18 VDC 1AMP available thru musiciansfriend or amazon. That's what I use and it is super quiet.  But I still use a filter cap in my pedal.

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Dunlop-ECB06-18V-Power-Adapter?sku=333100&src=3WWRWXGB&ZYXSEM=0

[bassmannate]

Hmm...I'll have to do a bit more research. It's hard to find a wall wart in the US that's more than 12vdc (if I go the 7812 route) that's not made for a laptop computer. Having a hard time finding a 12vdc adapter that's filtered as well.

I recommend Dunlop ECB 006 for 18 VDC 1AMP available thru musiciansfriend or amazon. That's what I use and it is super quiet.  But I still use a filter cap in my pedal.

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Dunlop-ECB06-18V-Power-Adapter?sku=333100&src=3WWRWXGB&ZYXSEM=0

Wow! That's great! 18vdc at 1.0A! I'm assuming that it's tip negative since that seems to be the standard.

[shimster]

Wow! That's great! 18vdc at 1.0A! I'm assuming that it's tip negative since that seems to be the standard.

That's right.  By the way, the reason I'm using this adapter is that this is what comes standard with the Dunlop DC Brick which powers my entire pedalboard.  I've never used a different adapter except for that one time I tried one from Radioshack and got tons of noise.

[bassmannate]

After a little more searching, I found this: http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Visual-Sound-1-SPOT-Power-Adaptor-for-Wireless-?sku=151693

It's a bit less expensive, is filtered/regulated and I wouldn't need to put a regulator in my pedal! I'm gonna get one of these for the valvy!

[shimster]

After a little more searching, I found this: http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Visual-Sound-1-SPOT-Power-Adaptor-for-Wireless-?sku=151693

It's a bit less expensive, is filtered/regulated and I wouldn't need to put a regulator in my pedal! I'm gonna get one of these for the valvy!

Nice find! Please let us know how well it works.

[terminalgs]

other sources for wall wart power supplies: At Goodwill, in the back with the electronics...  there are baskets of crap remote controllers, power supplies, old curling irons etc....

if you have a big enough enclosure,   you can get a 120v -> 12v transformer from mouser.   I got a 500ma Triad transformer from them for $10 or so, and a Stancor 1amp that was a bit bigger for $12 or so.  KBP005M-E4/45 is a integrated bridge rectifer that I've used ($0.58 ea) plus  2200uf/16v filter caps.  not as fancy (or perhaps as quiet) as some good wall warts,  but probably better than some of the cheap wall wart units.

[KorovaMilkBar]

well i am pretty much done with this project, and i must say it has been a SEMI-SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! 

i put in the voltage regulator and it cut down on about half of the hum. it sounds pretty nice though, still has some weird partials at times though, thats why im calling this a semi success. yet, i did enjoy every second of doing this and cant wait until i can afford another project.


pictures to come soon, and when they come you will realize why i have named my pedal (after a snide remark by my dad) the FrankenTube.

peaceful grooviness to all.

[doitle]

I hope it is alright that I bump this.

I recently read through the whole thread and got very excited and enthused about building such a pedal. I am an undergraduate Electrical Engineer and while we learn all about OP amp and transistor based filters and amplifiers we learn nothing of Vacuum Tubes. I've always thought they looked rather cool and were an interesting device. Now I've started to learn more about working with them and designing for them. This seemed like a great introductory project and it would have been but I screwed mine up right at the end. I had everything else wired and was soldering pin 8 of the socket when I applied too much solder and it ran up the recepticle on the socket meaning pin 8 of the tube would no longer fit in the socket. 



You can see the solder in the 8th pin receptacle. I'm not sure how to go about remedying this. I'm hoping some solder wick will work but otherwise I don't know what to do. I really wish I had gone with my gut instinct, put 8 wires from the socket to a bread board and done everything on there for testing purposes.

So in short, any suggestions on what to try? I really dont want to buy another socket and rebuild the whole thing if possible.

[JOHNO]

Solder sucker. Or just heat it up and blow it out while its still hot.

[Ripthorn]

If you can find a piece of wire or something about the diameter of the hole, you can heat the solder and then shove in your piece of wire or whatever all the way through, if you can.  Then let the solder cool, remove as much as you can, and then remove the wire.  I do this when solder is clogging a lug on a pot that I don't want clogged.

[doitle]

I will try the thick wire method today sometime. If that fails looks like I'll be heading to radio shack to buy one of those bulb blowers. I sure hope I can get this figured out I was so excited about this pedal build. :/

[Ripthorn]

You should still be excited.  All of this stuff here is tons of fun and that is how it should remain.  I remember when I first joined the forum, someone said that if this ever gets to the point where it isn't fun, take a step back and a couple days off.  Great advice.

[doitle]

I got it working! I used the heat the solder and bang the socket to knock some of the solder lose giving me a small hole in the center of it. Then I heated the solder again and attacked it with a pushpin. The tube slid right in. : ) Unfortunately it doesn't sound too good but it works! That's the first important milestone. Next I get to troubleshoot and figure out why it sounds kinda crummy.

It hums loudly and has some very weird crackly sound to it. Also I can sort of hear an octave effect going kind of like an octave fuzz on some notes. I'd post a clip but I'm so terrible at the guitar it wouldn't be much use. Here's a picture of it though:

[tranceracer]

The hummm could be from the power supply.  Try using a battery and see if the hum goes away. 

[doitle]

Here's a sound clip of it working. Like I mentioned before I'm pretty terrible :/ First is clean then Valvecaster on. Mine only works on maximum gain. Spin the knob down a little bit and there's no signal. Obviously something wrong there as well.

http://doitle.markdelano.com/stuff/tubes.mp3

Be careful as the tube engaged section is a little loud compared to the clean. See if you can hear the like... fuzzy octave effect. Is that supposed to be there or is something else acting up in my build?

[doitle]

It doesn't seem like I can edit my post but wow! I just got home for the father's day weekend and had my dad try out my Valvecaster. I must have had it setup wrong or something because it sounds amazing! It still hums really loud and I wired the pots backwards but it sounds great! I am renewed with vigor for this kind of endeavor. I can't wait to start my next build and also to get this one packaged up and switching in a nice enclosure. I think it may be going to my dad as a belated Father's Day present. I'll get a clip if I can manage but there's no easy way to record here at home.

[Renegadrian]

Yeah Mike, good job! The Valvy is the kind of circuit that makes you wonder "how a circuit so simple can give out such nice sounds!!!" - It just needs a good filtering...so try to use a good Wall Wart and use the 7812/el.cap at the power jack.
I built several this way and virtually no hums or hisses...

[doitle]

Yeah I think I might go with the 7812. My dad has some 18V Wall Warts from Rechargable drills he said I could use. That should give me a lot more headroom. The 7812 can take a maximum of 35V input so 18V shouldn't be much of a sweat for it with a nice heatsink. Gotta get rid of that hum and figure out a way to prevent the peices that are built on socket from touching each other and shorting it out. Then add two switches (I figure Power and "Standby" Sort of like an amp) and I'll be ready to rock.