Building the Meat Sphere

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Thanks LaceSensor. Those I've bought are exactely like those in the picture here:

http://www.musikding.de/Switches/Rotary-Switches/Rotary-switch-3P4T-sealed-pcb::2852.html?XTCsid=5796d2def3358cfc22b4479931d047ed

It says 3P4T and it has 4 lugs in the middle.

Are those wrong?

It may not be wrong...

That may be a "generic" picture for the website however, even the 3-pole switches WILL have a 4th pole. The 4th pole is just not connected to anything AND it is actually cut flush with the switch bottom at the manufacturer.

Or.... I could be totally wrong! 

[njkmonty]

i just received my pcb from Taylor,, very nice
thank you,
what are the mods worth doing?
just the moog switch  .. and
colour pot resistor mod?

I prefer not to mod because you can, there is already enought switches on this thing, there are a few people who have done this build now, whats Realy worth doing???

also is there any benefit in "matching the pairs of capacitors in line below the " return" solder point on the board?, or would that be a bit "anal"!

[Taylor]

I can't comment on the mods like the Moog switch, as I have not done these on my unit. Hopefully somebody else will chime in on that.

Matching caps would probably allow for a more focused resonance peak since the gain stages would be set up for the same frequency, so if you were interested in making the filter oscillate, it might help, but I did not do any matching. The optocouplers likely will be much more mismatched than the caps will be, so that's the bottleneck.

[albru80]

Hi,

I've built the pedal twice and still doesn't work properly.
The sensitivity Pot and the Bandwidth Switch don't do anything at all.
The volume is there but the effect is very light.
I've hand-picked all the components to get the exact values and I've tried different LM1458's and TL074's.
I've even re-soldered the whole board.
The audio probe doesn't show any problem.
I've tried the boards connecting Send & Return without boxing them.
Could that be the problem?
I don't know what else to try.
What would you suggest?

Thanks

[Taylor]

Can you post a photo of your build? Maybe we'll see something. Have you built some pedals before, or is this your first?

[JohnL]

Well I need a favor from someone. Could someone post settings for a quack sound out of this box? I get some interesting sounds but 'll be damned if I can get a wah or quack out of it. So before I post pictures or waste anyone's time I would like to use a known setting to see if my problems are just operator error. As a side note I do not get the LED to light at all. I know to further trouble shoot I need pictures but I would like to just see what is going on.
Thanks,

John

[albru80]

Hi Taylor,

These are the pictures.
It's not my first pedal.
I've built more or less 50.
I've the same problems of JohnL from the previous post: no obvious wah sound, no Sens pot and Bandwidth switch working.
Please, let me know if you seen anything wrong.
Thanks

[WhenBoredomPeaks]

Well I need a favor from someone. Could someone post settings for a quack sound out of this box? I get some interesting sounds but 'll be damned if I can get a wah or quack out of it. So before I post pictures or waste anyone's time I would like to use a known setting to see if my problems are just operator error. As a side note I do not get the LED to light at all. I know to further trouble shoot I need pictures but I would like to just see what is going on.
Thanks,

John

crank the blend and sensitivity
attack at lowest
decay about 30% (or whatever really)
color at whatever (start with something like 75%)

BP or LP
trigger at full
bandwith full or whatever it is called
range whatevs (this sets the bottom of the frequency sweep, probably for not completely filter out your notes)

pick hard if your guitar's signal is weak (singles etc)

now you have a simple LP/BP quack

[albru80]

About the MOOG SWITCH,
I've read you should substitute the first 10K resistor(top one on the left of LT074 in the picture) but in this picture it looks like the second has been substituted.
Which one is the correct one?

Thanks

[WhenBoredomPeaks]

btw i think i will experiment with the resistor value of the moog-mod, the 100k seems to rob too much resonance for my taste

[albru80]

I've finally managed to make it work!
It had nothing to do with the board, the parts or the soldering.
I've received a fourth bunch of TL1458 and it finally works!
I think there are a lot of crappy versions of that IC that would work with simpler circuits but not this one.
I've notice some people had my same problem.
They could try to change that IC (not from the same bunch) and see if it makes any difference.
It actually was an MC1458 that made work at the end.
I hope it can be helpfull.
Thanks for your help!

[drezdn]

About the MOOG SWITCH,
I've read you should substitute the first 10K resistor(top one on the left of LT074 in the picture) but in this picture it looks like the second has been substituted.
Which one is the correct one?

Thanks

I'm wondering about this too. It looks like the 10k resistor that's been pulled out is the one connected to pin 1.

[LaceSensor]

I just bought a real meatball and at the same knob settings thy aren't the same sound
No offence but the real lovetone kiks it's ass. It could be bugs in my build, not sure.

I might knock up another pcb sometime...

In particular the sensitivity is way off on the sphere, and the clone is generally thinner sounding,,,

[drezdn]

I did the "Moog Mod" by taking out the top 10k resistor. With the meter I checked continuity and found one of the now clear pads connected to pin 2 and the other connected to pin 8 and everything worked itself out from there. It's a cool mod with the switch working in tandem with the up/down switch (one setting sounds bad in the down setting, but great in the up and vice versa).

[drezdn]

How many throws should the Range switch be set at?

[LaceSensor]

four

[drezdn]

Thanks!

[claytushaywood]

Does anyone have a layout of how to add the expression pedal jacks?
also wondering if its worth it to throw down on the VTL5C3's or will the NSL32's function equivallently?  I already have one vtl5c3 so if it sounds better using those or they are more accurate I'd be interested- sorry i dont know much about vactrols

I tried looking through the posts but I dont have time right now... so if anyone could help me that would be lovely!

[MarcMooga]

Hey everybody!!!

Knock knock on wood.... 



Working and sounding quite fine, but still have some problems with bandwidth and especially with direction
UP and DOWN. Only DOWN seems to work. If I switch to UP the LED is getting much darker .... almost switched off.
No filter at all with switch at UP position.

Can you again confirm the amount of positions for the for the switches please:
DIRECTION (UP / DOWN)-> 2
BANDWIDTH (HALF, FULL, OFF)-> 3
FILTERTYPE (LP,HP,BP) -> 3
RANGE (LOW HIGH)-> 2

Thank you Taylor!!! 


regards,
Marc

[MarcMooga]