Neovibe built (with clips)!

[tjk3052]

After a month or so lurking on here reading up on the Neovibe I convinced myself to give it a shot. Much thanks to R.G. for making this incredible project public and supporting it like you do. I didn't run into any big issues and the thing worked the first time it was plugged in.

Clips - All clips are Strat -> Neovibe -> Super Champ XD

Clean
http://kiwi6.com/uploads/hotlink?id=0kn51c5m6e

Dirt
http://kiwi6.com/uploads/hotlink?id=dg4j8al28h

Ramp from off - slow to fast
http://kiwi6.com/uploads/hotlink?id=873fogi5vo

Starts in vibrato mode then switches to chorus
http://kiwi6.com/uploads/hotlink?id=sd71m0u2v4

BOARD - GGG
LAMP - The radio shack bulb only came with wire leads and I couldn't strip them cleanly, so I ordered some 12V/30mA bulbs from Newark which solder right to the board and work great. http://www.newark.com/cml-innovative-technologies/747bp/incandescent-lamp/dp/23M9382?Ntt=23M9382
ENCLOSURE - 1790NS
LDRs - Silonex NSL-7530 from Small Bear.
TRANSISTORS - 3904's throughout.
SPEED POT - Mouser 313-2420F-100K, although the taper is crammed at the fast side.
LIGHT SHIELD - I used a white film canister. I lined the inside sides with glossy photo paper and the top with alum foil. I used zip ties to keep it on the board.

MODIFICATIONS

• Volume drop mod (resistor R9 to 3.6K and resistor R8 to 910 ohms). Worked as advertised
• Wet/dry mix pot (replace R35 & R36 with a 200k trim pot). This is a must-do, it makes a big difference and there's even a spot for the trim pot on the board.
• R47. As suggested in one of SteveB's posts, I put a 100k pot there and adjusted to get what I thought was the best sweep, then replaced it with appropriate resistors. I liked 150k best but I might go back and play with this some more.
• I used a 3PDT stomp to include an LED (from pad 'O' to the unused pin 'I' on the voltage regulator), but then also used the extra pole to short pad 'X' to ground in order to stop the bulb. I did this so that I wouldn't have to remember to unplug it to save the bulb. It works good and doesn't 'pop' too bad when engaged.

This build has been a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who has posted about their Neovibe, I've probably read every post on here, lol.

[jkokura]

Very, very nice.

What's the plan to finish the enclosure though?

Jacob

[tjk3052]

Very, very nice.

What's the plan to finish the enclosure though?

Jacob

That's a very sore subject...I decided to try the polished aluminum look for the first time. Took forever, but turned out really nice. Then I decided to put a clear coat on before decals.  Not good...Now it just looks like it was painted grey...

So maybe I'll sand it off and try again or just paint it a color and be done. Very dissappointing after all the work tho.

[jkokura]

I was thinking that a nice clean etch job with a painted black sides and back would look cool. Perhaps you're interested in doing that, perhaps not, but that's what I'd try to do with a neovibe personally.

Jacob

[mth5044]

That sounded really good! Congrats on the build. Sounded really close to my Shin-ei uni-vibe, except without the extreme treble loss when bypassed and extreme bass loss when engaged 

[jetzster]

Love It!Super nice! clean inside and sweet sounds also! currently working on a Forum Vibe and a Neo at same time.Was planning on the jacks all on top and stomp on the right front,with smaller pots,so the board would fit upside down inside the 1790ns.Also adding the powerLed , speed Led and a dual color Vibrato/Chorus Led mods with LCO offsets, Mixmodpot, and maybe adding short shielded cable to and from in/out jacks.Found a small round mirror that fits into the shield just above the lamp right so will see what that does along the way.Vibe On!...........    

[tjk3052]

Love It!Super nice! clean inside and sweet sounds also! currently working on a Forum Vibe and a Neo at same time.Was planning on the jacks all on top and stomp on the right front,with smaller pots,so the board would fit upside down inside the 1790ns.Also adding the powerLed , speed Led and a dual color Vibrato/Chorus Led mods with LCO offsets, Mixmodpot, and maybe adding short shielded cable to and from in/out jacks.Found a small round mirror that fits into the shield just above the lamp right so will see what that does along the way.Vibe On!...........    

Thanks for the comments.

Sounds like you have your hands full. I was adjusting R47, the bias trim, and the wet/dry mix to get the best sound and started to drive myself nuts trying to get it just right. I like the idea of adding a speed led, I might have to read up on how to do that.

[richon]

sounds really cool



i did notice on mine that the VOLUME mod (R8 and R9) might get your guitar to distort if played hard...

does it the same with yours?

[tjk3052]

sounds really cool



i did notice on mine that the VOLUME mod (R8 and R9) might get your guitar to distort if played hard...

does it the same with yours?

Don't think so. I remember reading this thread about it though http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=69918.0.

[bigandtall]

Thanks for posting this. I have a populated Neovibe board on the way that I need to house. I'm going to go over the mods that you have listed here to make sure that it has them.

Can you think of any mods that you would need to do to play this with bass guitar?

I'm guessing that the caps don't matter as much since it's not an OD or Fuzz...

[John Lyons]

Sounds great! Nice job.

[DougH]

Sounds great! Congratulations!

[tjk3052]

Thanks for the comments, but I deflect them to RG and others with threads on this forum. This was only my 3rd build and the other 2 were kits, so I was just following directions.

Can you think of any mods that you would need to do to play this with bass guitar?

No idea, but I'd like to hear clips of a bass through a 'vibe!

[bigandtall]

I'm going for a hammond/leslie type bass sound. I know that it won't perfectly nail it, but it's part of the solution.

[jetzster]

The old "RotoVibe" might have that rotating sound ,good on a Bass, but it will be difficult to dig up ...
I tried some mirror ideas (I think Steve B had a thread somewhere on reflected light)and it definitely is a smoother
sweep (in the ForumVibe anyways)with the one round one on top.Subtle but its there,might get crazy and try a square one on sides,but not much room 
This looks like a keeper idea to me, the mirrors are glass ones at Michaels Craft Stores...

[gigimarga]

Very nice build and sound...congratulations!
I am very curious how much lights your bulb?
Or, much clearer, which are the resistances of your LDRs when the lightbulb is at "maximum"?
I've built a Neovibe sometime ago and I like it, but I have serious doubts that it is at his best...

Thx a lot!

[tjk3052]

I am very curious how much lights your bulb?
Or, much clearer, which are the resistances of your LDRs when the lightbulb is at "maximum"?

I never measured the LDRs, maybe you can find their specs online somewhere, they are Silonex 7530s. I adjusted R47 and the lamp driver bias trim followed by the wet/dry trim to get the best sounding sweep. Each seemed to effect the other so there was a lot of back and forth. Where I ended up, the bulb is quite dim at the low/slow settings and gives a surprisingly bright flash at the high/fast settings. It is pretty much off at the dim part of the cycle at any setting, which I think was key to getting a good sound.

Here's some pics of when I first got it flashing to give an idea. Take it with a grain of salt...

The brightest point of a low-depth/low-speed setting



Here's the brightest point of a "normal" setting



This would be a fast/deep setting, nearly like a camera's flash



Tim.

[gigimarga]

Thx a lot tjk3052! You're very kindly!

It seems to me that I was right: at low speed/low depth it looks similar to yours, but your brightest setting is brighter than mine

I will try to tweak it a little when I will have some time for it

Thx a lot again!

[bpier]

The links of your samples are bad.  
I can't hear your job. Pierre

[petemoore]

 
  I'm sure they sound very nice, just can't hear 'em either.