bassballs questions

[Al Heeley]

I'm about to start on a Bassballs project, reading some good background info from Gabriel and Mark, the choice of IC's is critical. While Gabriel says he gets no joy from the RC4558 there is no recommendation about what is good for IC2 (working from the topopiccione site) but just recommedations for a good IC1 as a MC or LM1458 type.

Tl072/TL062: No balls.
RC4558/RC4559: No balls.
TLC2262/NE5532: You can get the effect but it sounds gatted and you have to play really strong. wont work with passive guitars for example.
MC1458/LM1458: Yeah, there you can see why the effectis loved my many bass players!

Mark Hammer suggests use of the MC4558CN chip as IC2, which I'm currently hunting for a UK source. But then he likes the LM358N as IC1.
Can anyone having made one suggest their choice of IC's that gave good results?

[Mark Hammer]

The op-amps that provide the envelope detection should be 1458.  The filter sections can use any dual op-amp you want.

[Al Heeley]

Thanks mark - I have both a LM358N as well as a LM1458 to try but I wasn't sure what each IC controlled. So choice of the IC2 filter section should be ok with any 4558 type.
You are the Bassballs guru!

[Mark Hammer]

I don't know if I'm "the guru", but I do have a couple of them that work real nice.

And yes, any 4558 type will work fine with the filters.  The Bass Balls is the love child of the Dr. Q, and the Dr. Q needed a 1458 to sweep properly.  Jack Orman's redesign fixed that requirement to enable other op-amps to be used, but no such fix was finalized for the Bass Balls that I know of, so you need to stick with the original parts.

The "fuzz" is a byproduct of using the 1458 and setting it for high gain.  Personally I wasn't too crazy about the sound so I switched to a pair of germanium clipping diodes.  Listen to a couple of soundclips of the stock unit.  You may find you prefer the stock fuzz instead.  It has a very idiosyncratic kind of gargley sound.