easy trem build

[superfish]

does anyone know any trem pedals that are somewhat simple? im somewhat of a newb; ive only built 3 pedals and a little gem. any help would be great

[foxfire]

look for either the EA trem or Heartthrob trem. they may not be the easiest but, i hear that they are the better of the easier trems.

[bipedal]

I really like my Tremulus Lune, so you may want to look at that one.

It was my third or fourth build; I used Tonepad's PCB for it, and it went together smoothly and quickly.  It sounds great to my ears, and the rate-indicating LED looks cool.

Cheers,

- Jay

[oldrocker]

Pulsar

[Dragonfly]

You might mess around with Nordines' "NEGISTREM" circuit. Easy to build, common parts, and sounded good from his clips.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=58718.0

[sixstringphil]

I've built several EA's and just finished my first Heartthrob. Maybe it was just me, but I had problems EVERY time with the EA, but none with the heartthrob. I've read where others had the same experiences. The EA circuit sounds great, but it's always given me headaches. The heartthrob is also deeper and has a wider range of speed.

[jambers]

@ Dragonfly: interesting circuits.
The base of the 2n2222, have they no connection what so ever?
I've tried to do a simulation of the circuit in switchercad III to check out the effect on the inputsignal, put I get no significant results.
The soundclips in the thread you're referring to, aren't their anymore.
And Nordine's gallery is just the picture.

[darron]

if you want ease then i say go with the pulsar:

http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=14

[foxfire]

if you want ease then i say go with the pulsar:

http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=14

what about your trem Darron?

[darron]

if you want ease then i say go with the pulsar:

http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=14

what about your trem Darron?

that's a dead easy build i suppose, providing you have the correct LED/LDR

it's not compatible enough with different setups etc. i've actually finished an active version which sounds the same as the passive, but will accept any signals from a CD player to guitar to keyboard. i've gotten all the resistor/cap values exactly where i want them, but it's for the LED/LDR that i used. if i decided to make everything variable pots instead you pretty much have a tremulus lune with a jfet buffer and a slightly different LFO module that can also make square waves. once i verify the layout firefox, i'd be happy to send you a suiting LED/LDR module to make one for yourself. give me a little while though, it's hard to find the time to to buy / assemble parts. i'm VERY pleased with it though.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

The negistron is not 'easy', at least in the sense that some people have terrible trouble getting the oscillator to work. Especially at the low (for this kind of circuit) 9V supply.
Very dependent on how lucky you are with the transistor.

And I don't call the EA 'easy' to get perfect, because here the problem is variation between fets. Depending on the cutoff value of the particular fet, if might or not modulate deeply enough.

For a beginner I'd go for a LED/LDR system, because you can look at the LED (before it is finally wrapped up) and see that the LFO works.

[John Lyons]

The hearthob is simple. Just pop in the 2N5088s (or 89s) and you don't have to make up an LED/LDR combo or vactrol.
Two knobs...

In the Negistrem link there are clips if you scroll down. Slacker reposted them, it's a bass clip, the trem sounds killer for certain styles. The first clip is very pink floyd esq prog rock/spacey to my ears.

John

[John Lyons]

I breadboarded up the Negistrem schematic above.
I used a 2N5457 as I had one handy. The Build notes in the link call for a 2N5486 or 2sk30A but those are N channel jFETs as well.
I could not get anything to oscillate. I started with the trim pots centered.

Can anyone confirm that the base of the 2N2222 is left unconnected?

Thanks
John

[foxfire]

i did one of these about a week or so after it was posted. i don't remember much about it but, i did get it to work. i couldn't get rid the ticking but, it did work.

John, i remember that i built it just as the schematic shows it.

[John Lyons]

Hmmm
I swapped the 2n2222 for a 2N5088 and I got it to oscillate and the speed works, but no signal comes out other than thumping/ticking.
When I reverse the FET I get a faint signal that sounds good although it's kind of swamped but the thumping.
I'll keep working on it here...

John

[foxfire]

i wish i could offer more. i did it well before i knew anything about anything and super way before i knew to take any kind of notes at all. not that i do a good job of that now. as for the EA trem maybe i got lucky as i didn't have to mess with the fets at all. and for Darron's optical trem i just used a generic led and lrd from radio shack. for me the tremulus lune was a definite step up both in layout/parts and bang for the buck. that thing is awesome. just my 2...

[John Lyons]

Ok, I got something finally.
I tried about (5) 2N2222s and none of them would oscillate. I tried a few others and found a 2N5088 that oscillates.
With a J201 in I couldn't get anything, tried a few. Tried a few 2N5457s...nothing...
I finally tried a MPF102 and got tremolo out! It's full depth though, no clean unaffected signal...supper chopper only.
Small resistance to ground at the collector of the oscillator brings in some dry signal but of course changes the speed...
I think the FETs used here are the key to getting any moderate clean signal.
Time to read up on oscillators!!

Argh!

John

[nordine]

hey there, been doin some work ?

it was a neat surprise to see Dragonfly sponsoring my little beast, thanks man, i appreciate it

well, as John puts it in his last report, the negistrem/tron is a little picky about parts, name it, the transistors used ...people will have more or less, the same issues finding the right transistor, as when building the Garage Fuzz

IIRC, the sound was meant to be choppy, because of the nature of the oscillator.. which is, bassically, a negistor, a nasty LOUD pulse, that gets tamed down by 1uF and 103 caps

both trimers can be swapped by 470k resistors, i put these as trims to fit the contest theme (effect with 10 parts or less  )

here a sound sample:
http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/v/000/negistrem_demo_001.mp3.html


ps: i remember it worked pretty well, but, after some effects, it couldn't work, needed a source follower at the input

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I hope I haven't offended anyone - all the circuits mentioned in this thread are capable of good results & people on this list have proved it. What I was trying to say, was that some circuits are relative "foolproof", wire them up & they go. Others for one reason or another, can need a bit of tweaking or coaxing, making them perhaps more suitable for an old hand, rather than a raw beginner.

[John Lyons]

Nordine
I like the sound clips you made in the contest thread. The problem I'm getting now is that there is no unaffected signal, just maximum depth.
I suspect that the FETs and NPN specs have all to do with this. I'll have to try out a few more and see what I can get.
Still have a lot of ticking as well.

Thanks for the circuit, just need a little more time finding the magic!
John