hc4049n

[Gregory Kollins]

I accidentally bought a big set of these instead of cd4049ube ic's... luckily they weren't expensive...
But not realizing it, I wired one into a red llama circuit, and... I'm getting some really interesting sounds. Like, ultra-saturated, fine-grained distortion with a really odd, spatty, short decay pattern. Has anyone here ever heard of these being used in stompboxes? I'm going to start experimenting more with them, see what kind of sounds I can get.

[earthtonesaudio]

I think the HC4049 is the same as the CD4049 but from a different manufacturer.  It's possible they're made slightly differently and sound different, but they also vary a bit from chip to chip.

It would be interesting to know if all the chips from your batch sound the same, or if it's just a funky chip.

[R.G.]

The HC series is an update of the CD series. It's faster, cleaner, works better in most ways - as a logic chip.

"HC" stands for "High speed CMOS", or did, and it's specified for a 5V power supply, where the CD4xxx family goes to as much as 15 or 18V. CD can be used in effects powered by 9V, HC has some problems with it; the data sheets say that operation above 6 or 7 volts can cause permanent damage to the chip.

[gez]

IIR, the Lama uses a current-limiting resistor to reduce voltage to the chip to around 5V.  So, it shouldn't be toast.  Wrong chip for the job, though.

[earthtonesaudio]

Ah, the importance of getting more than one point of view... 

...Listen to R.G. and Gez.  They know their stuff.  Me, not quite so much.

[Gregory Kollins]

Thanks for the insight. I'm going to make another tomorrow or sat, so I'll see if they all sound the same. I also have a power starve-er pot-in-a-box kind of thing, and I want to see if the sound cleans up with less voltage. Since there's the resistor, I don't know if it'll change anything.... logically it doesn't seem like it would, but Ima give it a shot.

[Gregory Kollins]

WOAH! IT WORKS! As I turn the voltage down, something much more llama-esque emerges. Since the rest of the board isn't getting enough power, it sounds a little queasy, but much more like a blues/od pedal.... I guess it was the resistor then? I like the ridiculous sounds it can get at high voltages though, so maybe I'll wire in a new resistor that's switchable on-off (destroy the chip though maybe...?).

I did take the resistor off a board from an old radio. I don't really know that much, but are resistors temp sensitive? I didn't think they were, at least the kind I'm using... Maybe I got the wrong value. I'll check it out. Anyways, thanks for the help. I'm super happy right now... It's like a blessing in disguise or something.