Friday 18 January 2013

Madbean LaVache

Request.  Madbean's take on the Lovepedal Les Luis with mods.






27 comments:

  1. Built this, this morning. Very nice quick build. Used2n5088, 1n914's and in the shape section bat 41's. Thanks

    YA(Mark)

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  2. boxed this up yesterday , used bc550c .fired up first time and sounds excellent. It's my third build after woodrow and punk panther. This pedal covers a lot of ground especially with the boost switch and destroys the punk panther as an overdrive

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  3. I'm getting some medium to low hum with my unregulated power supply... I know the supply is the cause, but it works just fine with all my other diy pedals.. Would putting a low value resistor just after +9V help? Thanks for any suggestions.

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    1. Well.. after looking at the original Madbeans schematic, I noticed this one doesn't have the 100nf cap or the 1n4001 diode shunt to ground after 9v for filtering! I'm going to put them in and see if it improves the hum with my crappy power supply.

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    2. the extra 100nf cap made no difference...

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    3. That doesn't surprise me. Lower value filter caps deal with noises at higher frequency better than higher value filter caps which is the theory behind people using them. I can safely say I've never heard any difference in noise whatsoever by including a low value filter cap in parallel to a higher value filter cap. IMO all that does is give you a 47.1u cap instead of 47u because their values are summed in parallel. Maybe they are a worthwhile inclusion in more sensitive or high frequency electronic equipment but not in these lofi effects, so I always omit it if it will mean adding columns to the layout.

      The diode is a parallel protection diode which I also always omit because under reverse polarity it will take a chunk out of your board. They are senseless to me unless you include a fuse inline with the supply. So I just leave it out and only include polarity protection if the original pedal used series protection which simply doesn't pass current under reverse polarity and so won't damage anything.

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    4. Thanks for the insight Ivlark. Maybe it is time for me to get a 1 amp regulated power supply and use it as a daisy chain.. does anyone else who has built the la vache find it hums a lot with an unregulated supply?

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    5. well waddayaknow, putting a 100 ohm resistor just after +9V got rid of the hum (except with the gain cranked which is understandable) and now I can use my crappy unregulated supply until the regulated supply comes in the mail.

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  4. I dig the sound of this circuit. Its a tad bright with my amp though. Is there anyway to tame the presence a little? Maybe a capacitor in the right part of the circuit? Thanks!

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    1. It's a bit difficult to do with simple circuits like this because there are no obvious filter networks where you could select components to get an exact frequency response. The obvious suggestion is to increase the input and output caps which are effectively acting as a high pass filter. Higher values should drop the frequency where the attenuation starts and so let more low end into and out of the circuit.

      The first thing I would try though would be a low value cap such as 47 or 100pf between base and collector. This cap acts as a low pass filter and will roll off high frequencies, and as you increase that cap value the cut off frequency where highs are attenuated gets lower. So you could fine tune it to your own tastes by socketing and selecting the cap value which gets thing the way you want them and tames it just enough before mud sets in. If you want to read up on it do a search for the Miller effect.

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    2. Thanks for the quick and informative reply! I'll def check out the miller effect as I need to learn more about pedal modding anyway.

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  5. If I wanted to wire this without the boost switch, but with the boost always on, would I run a wire between the board connections for boost 1 & 2, or just not connect the switch?

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  6. I just built this pedal. First build using vero and not a kit, and it went very smoothly. It sounds awesome! I used a 2N2222 instead of the 2N3565, would be curious to know if there'd be an audible difference between the two.
    I used to have a Les Lius that I loved, but this one is smaller, nicer sounding, and is much more usable generally.
    Thank you so much for your work, it's much much appreciated.
    Cheers!

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  8. http://i58.tinypic.com/2h4l4xw.jpg
    http://i60.tinypic.com/w7ij5z.jpg

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  9. So I'm actually facing a strange problem. My pedal needs a buffer before it, or it sounds very dull (treble loss). I just realized that when I took off my board a pedal with a buffer that was sitting in front of the Lavache.

    If I plug the guitar straight into the Lavache and into the amp, the problem is the same (treble loss). If I plug anything with a buffer before it, it's all good.

    Do you have any idea what the problem is here?

    Thanks so much!

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  10. Solved: http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=22307.0
    :)

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  11. Really easy build. Sounds great but a bit low in overall volume. Need to put up volume a lot (and gain) until it's louder than without pedal.
    Used an old germanium AC176 transistor; could it be that?
    Or can I swap the pots to other values tomake it louder?

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  12. Hello, I would like to build this pedal, but I'm a beginner with electronics so I need help to know where to connect each cable, for instance where to connect the volume pot, the shape switch. It would be very helpful If I could get a diagram with each component explained (for instance, the volume pot goes here, the dpdt switch goes there, etc), more or less like this: http://i.imgur.com/DzuiKMa.png Thank you so much for any kind of help!, and sorry for my crappy english.

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  13. I've built one for a local blues man and one for myself, and I can honestly say it's my favorite OD ever. I never would have guessed by looking at the schematic.
    With my tele it makes me Keith Richards. With my SG, Neil Young. Both with a boring old Peavey Bandit.

    Build this

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  14. I recently made this pedal, it sounds amazing! I can't stop using it!.

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  15. I had luck with a 2N2222A. Sounds great. Preferred it to stock. Thanks for the work.

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  16. Can anyone show how to add a clean blend pot to this circuit?

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  17. Trying to build this one but couldn't figure out the offboard wiring and the placement of the switches and pots: Is the gain on the left, or right side?

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