UGLYFACE again!

vendettav · June 29, 2011, 05:57:58 AM

http://www.jiggawoo.eclipse.co.uk/guitarhq/Circuitsnippets/uglyface.gif
so i breadboarded this, i get some oscillation on some settings when the volume knob on the guitar is down, i get a octave down effect most of the time, onyl that i cant get my LDR/LED function, the led lights up when i play but it's so ... not bright! it's a ultra bright blue led (the one that's transparent plastic) and LDR doesnt do much either, i know i didn't put them to each other as a DIY vactrol but when i put my flash light into it it doesnt really do much stuff at all... any ideas before i try and make them into a vactrol?

egasimus · June 29, 2011, 06:00:45 AM

Use a standard red LED, for one thing. Ultra-bright ones, especially blue, need a greater voltage and more current (as much as 70mA for some blues

). And if you're making your tests in daylight, no wonder shining a flashlight into the LDR doesn't do much.

vendettav · June 29, 2011, 06:07:54 AM

ok i aint got a red LED atm but i'll get one asap. I really got suspicious when the thing was just dimming. so it has to turn on really well?

yeah lol im doing it in daylight. I'll try it at night then

oh and one thing just for the future, judging by the video reviews the sweep with that thing is short-ish right? is there a way to make the sweep longer? (about 4 seconds)

deadastronaut · June 29, 2011, 07:10:41 AM

change to bigger cap values...for longer time..maybe..

thats what i do for usual lfo timing stuff...

vendettav · June 29, 2011, 07:17:00 AM

oh so a SPDT on-on with two different caps will work as a sweep time switch? or even a SPDT on-off-on with a 2.2uf in the middle lug (so it's always there) a say anotehr 2.2uf cap on one side and anotehr say 4.7uf on the other. this way you get 2.2uf, 4,4uf (paralled) and 6.9uf... or may be just a pot but i jsut thougth of it and didnt seem to find a way to wire it

deadastronaut · June 29, 2011, 07:34:20 AM

have you tried it yet?...on your breadboard isnt it?....

there is usually a bit of a trade off with longer lfo's....the longer it is....means the faster setting becomes less fast...

but i prefer a nice long lfo sweep too...

egasimus · June 29, 2011, 07:58:00 AM

Hm, just covering the LDR with your finger, or the entire area around it with your hands should make a difference.
I'm planning on building this myself - which is the cap that determines sweep?
A pot... there is a circuit using a dual opamp which simulates a variable capacitor, but I haven't tested it, and it doesn't work in all situations, either. If the cap in question is the one just before the sensitivity pot, maybe it could work.

vendettav · June 29, 2011, 08:06:55 AM

i guess it is the one before the pot

i guess switchable caps are better somewhat? like the long/short switches on delay pedals

i cant really try it cause i dont have a red LED atm, my blue one doesnt work well with this thing

and the resistor didnt seem to do much when i covered, it's a bit ofa different one from those regular galt cells.. but it does work (tried with DMM)

pinkjimiphoton · July 06, 2011, 01:16:13 PM

i built an uglyface with lfo, the vero layout is here on the forum somewhere, worked like a charm right out of the box!!

for the led/ldr, use a red led, and what i found worked well was to stuff them both in a chunk of opaque drinking straw, and wrap the whole mess up in black electrical tape.
if you're getting any light leakage, it won't work right.

you may want to experiment with how close the proximity is of the led/ldr, too...sometimes separating them slightly seems to make it work better. you'll have to experiment for optimal results.

good luck mate....once ya get this thing working right, prepare to be amazed!! one of the most versatile bizzarro effects on the planet!!

pinkjimiphoton · July 06, 2011, 11:21:10 PM

this is the layout i used, it worked great first shot...

make sure you note the bottom chip, it's upside down from the other two!!

pinkjimiphoton · July 06, 2011, 11:22:14 PM

oh yah...and here's a video demo of it:

deadastronaut · July 07, 2011, 02:40:28 AM

nice demo jimi...cheers..

sounds like it has a good distortion to it...(that'll be the 386 i guess) .quite a lot meaner than i would have thought, great sustain too....might give this a go.....one day!..

vendettav · July 07, 2011, 08:06:05 AM

yeah ive heard the clip and it's cool. well im still looking for some time to put this all up together but guys do you have any vero for only uglyface without the LFO? wouldnt want tot make it more complex

frequencycentral · July 07, 2011, 02:01:58 PM

Here's my recently verified layout for perf/PCB: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=92455.0

egasimus · July 08, 2011, 07:25:39 PM

Hey, looking at the LFO schematic which Rick used... Is it OK if I keep power connected to the LFO all the time, and just use a SPST to switch it on/off?

digi2t · July 08, 2011, 10:34:09 PM

Yup, made mine a 2 stomp switch box. Bypass, and LFO. I'm planning on changing C4 to 0.2 though, to deepen the sweep. That, and the MIX pot mod, as per Freq. Central. Love the tone as is. I used the above vero as well. Works great.

vendettav · July 09, 2011, 01:24:21 AM

Quote from: egasimus on July 08, 2011, 07:25:39 PM
Hey, looking at the LFO schematic which Rick used... Is it OK if I keep power connected to the LFO all the time, and just use a SPST to switch it on/off?

I think the DPD is tehre to turn the power off to not let the LFO modulate the power somehow...

egasimus · July 09, 2011, 02:23:22 AM

Yeah, so I thought. But I'm making myself a layout, too, and it's a bitch.

frequencycentral · July 09, 2011, 02:57:02 AM

Quote from: egasimus on July 08, 2011, 07:25:39 PM
Hey, looking at the LFO schematic which Rick used... Is it OK if I keep power connected to the LFO all the time, and just use a SPST to switch it on/off?

It's Mick Bailey's idea to switch off power to the LFO when not in use. He must have had a good reason for doing it that way - LFO ticking bleeding into the audio path. With my layout you can do it either way - keep the LFO on all the time, or route the +ve to the DPDT as Mick suggests. I'm gonna try the former, with maybe some additional decoupling caps on the Utility board. If it still ticks then I'll use Mick's method.

deadastronaut · July 09, 2011, 05:34:02 AM

Quote from: egasimus on July 09, 2011, 02:23:22 AM
Yeah, so I thought. But I'm making myself a layout, too, and it's a bitch.

funny, i started to make a pcb version of this last night...as i intend to build one soon-ish..... i'm a pcb convert now...cant get on with vero anymore!...

i imported the pic into diylc v3..and copy the layout of it to the side!....it says its verified on the link...

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=66861.msg642004#msg642004

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UGLYFACE again!