Orange Squeezer Clone issues

[pb3000]

so i just built the tonepad.com circuit for the orange squeezer on a breadboard.

all seems well but it does not sound like i expected.  it's more of a volume boost than anything - i have to turn the volume pot almost all the way down to have the effect come out at a similar volume to when it is bypassed.  When the volume pot is all the way up the effect REALLY boosts the volume out the amp substantially - so much that it wouldn't make sense to be switching it on/off while playing under normal circumstances.

The only time i can really hear the compression effect is when i put a ton of gain into it, like from a distortion pedal, then I can hear the compression followed by swell but when clean i get almost nothing.

i have a vox modelling amp too, and interestingly i get a bunch of distortion out of the effect when using the AC30 setting, when using Twin Reverb/Bassman/other clean tones I get almost no distortion from it.

Is this what I should be expecting or have I maybe miswired something?

I am using various fender single coil pickuped guitars into it.

thanks

[.Mike]

If the taper of the volume pot is wrong, you could experience volume issues. Make sure your pot is audio taper.

I suggest that when "the volume pot is all the way up the effect REALLY boosts the volume out the amp substantially" could be a symptom of an improperly adjusted trimpot. Turn the trimpot down until the sound cuts off. Then, turn the trimpot up very, very slowly until you hear a crackle (very narrow range), and continue turning it up just until you hear clear audio coming through. Then, back it down a very, very small amount so it stops in the top end of the range of crackle.

And if that doesn't work, then this surely will.

Mike

[freeride]

Hey, sounds exactly like my thread when I built this pedal.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, you have the exact "problem" I did.  This is A) a subtle effect and B)very dependent on input volume and C) an effect that requires a "sweet spot" using the internal bias pot. 

A)This pedal will not get you the country spank compression, it will more get you the subtle Sultans of Swing smooth, harmonically rich compression.

C) I suggest getting a guitar with a strong-output set of pickups (like humbuckers) in order to bias the trim pot on the inside as a higher input will be more noticeable when you're actually at the sweet spot (it's JUST after the trim pot goes from zero-volume to full volume and NOT when turned to either extremes as many will think like myself originally).

B) I use single coils and was looking for more compression, so I'm currently using the second op amp in the JRC4558 dual op-amp IC (because only one is used in the OS circuit) to boost the input signal of single coils.  I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I imagine that will help.  There is a TON of threads on this site about how to get more compression out and fine-tune the type of compression.  I HIGHLY recommend the search button - the orange squeezer has been beaten to death, partially helped by me    

[freeride]

And just to clarify, I have a huge volume boost as well, which I actually dig because my single coils with the compression can be the same level  or higher as humbuckers w/o compression (I don't like extra comp on humbuckers) when I switch guitars back and forth AND/OR I can overdrive my amp with the orange squeezer to get some more natural tube compression out of the amp to get really sweet cleans or push into dirt.  Even though it's not the effect I was expecting, it's still a great pedal that I use all the time for subtle compression and tone enhancement.

[pb3000]

Thank you all!

Oddly enough (and perhaps shame on me for not waiting til i had all i needed) the electronics supplier sent me a 10k resistor instead of the 10k trimpot.  So i've been manually experimenting with resistance there and found that between 2-3k ohms, the sound does indeed go dead, but I found little difference between 3.33k ohms, 5 ohms, and 10ohms or simply leaving the resistor link to ground out altogether.

I do have a les paul i was intending to plug in at some point to test if the higher output would help.

the trimpot should be here any day and i'll do all of this.

thank you so much.

[thedefog]

Easiest way to set the bias on this is to turn the volume on your guitar and the squeezer to 100%, strum as hard as you can while going back and forth between bypassing/engaging the pedal, and set the internal trim pot so that there is unity or only a slight boost for engaged volume.

[Seven64]

i am having problems with mine as when i use it in combination with a distortion pedal to a mic'ed amp it just gives some awful feedback whenever it is not bypassed and i am not playing.

[thedefog]

i am having problems with mine as when i use it in combination with a distortion pedal to a mic'ed amp it just gives some awful feedback whenever it is not bypassed and i am not playing.

That would make sense, as it is a compressed signal going into another huge source of compression. Most compression pedals only play well with overdrives and not heavy distortions for this reason. Try turning the gain down on the distortion pedal and see if it still feeds back.

[freeride]

If you haven't already tried this, try the comp before the distortion in the pedal chain.   it can push your distortion pedal harder and get more breakup - I like the sound better.  The comp will also help smooth out your playing too to make it sound more even.  Give it a shot to tame some noise...but no guarantees.

[thedefog]

I always put my compressor first in the chain. I have yet to come into a situation where I would want to run one after another effect.