Friday 22 January 2016

MultiCab Simulator

Here is a very nice project by Dschwartz from the DIY Forum.
You can find the original thread here
13/01/2017 Layout updated! Change 4n7 cap connected to Flat 1 to 47n.

61 comments:

  1. Wow, cool stuff and super interesting thread. I think i'll give it a try next couple of days. Best thing is, that this will cost almost nothing, cause I got every part on stock.
    But I think I'll try a diffrent OP-amps and transistor.
    Thanks for posting!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. tudo bem nico lohse! Gostaria de saber como ficou seu projeto, pois entereceia na ideia de mudar o CI e Transistor, poderia nos expor como ficou o pedal?

      Delete
  2. Any chance you post the Bass version missing from the site? Thank you very much. Great work!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry but I don't have the bass version.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I built this last night. It is verified except the Top pot is reversed. I have been playing it all morning with my Pinnacle (high gain Marshall) pedal into my recording mixer and through my studio monitors. This is really a nice cabinet sim. Unlike most it has a ton of gain. The Flatness control really makes it come alive. I will label this control Focus on my build instead.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Is there anything stopping me putting this at the end of my effects chain and then into a clean valve amp?

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Is the tonecontrol (b.,m,t) working passiv? Or does it boost too?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes it is active and capable of boosting/cutting bandwidths, but don't think of it as a tone control. It is a set of interactive filters designed to duplicate the EQ curves imparted by various speaker cabinets. It also will give you the impression of a microphone being swept around on the speaker so you can find a "sweet spot" for each signal.

      If you want something for the end of your signal chain going into an amp, try the tonemender or the Anderton super tone control builds on this site. You will be very happy with either of those.

      Delete
  8. Thank for the recommendations Al. I'll have a look for them for sure

    ReplyDelete
  9. Can anyone explain what the different pots do in layman' terms? Are the just treble mid bass and volume? Or is there on that corresponds to mic placement, one to can type, etc. If the former, does anyone have suggested settings for a Marshall 4x12, for instance, or a fendery 1x12. My ears aren't the best trained to pick out those speaker freq curves but I know them when I hear them. Dialing in is always hard for me tho. I'll be playing straight off my pedal board into a mixing board then a headphone amp.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Well, I can take a stab at it.

    The gain control is your level. The main action comes from the Flat control. The Top and Bottom are narrow filters that are interactive to a degree with the flat knob. In use, I can not say "to get a certain cabinet you need this setting". I can say you will transform a brittle sterile distortion tone into something much more usable and recordable. As far as copping exact cabinet details like a 1992 mesa 4-12 or a vintage Marshall cab I do not approach this build in that manner. Though I have used many many cabs in my years I do not hear any identifiable nuance to say it sounds like this or that. I can say it sounds very good! This sim will bring an edge and definition and punch to your tone.

    Start off by setting your distortion's output level so that it does not distort the cab sim's input. Just crank it up and listen you will hear the spot where it happens. Stay well below that level. Now, set the Gain on the cab sim to 9 o'clock (unity) and the Top and Bottom at 12 noon Flat at 0. Have someone play your rig so you can twiddle and start by cracking open the Flat control until you hear the sound start to come alive or open up. Stop there and tweak the Top and Bottom controls to fine tune what you have. Take your time and use the Flat control to get in the ballpark where you want to be. That is the control that sounds much like sweeping a live mic around on the speaker to find a sweet spot.

    Best results come not from listening to the guitar tone all on it's own, but with the guitar sound in the mix where you can really define a position within the other instruments.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Al. Great info.

      I'd love if this thing had a stereo headphone amp. I found one out there but was kinda complicated to build so just going to run it through my mixing board fir now.

      Delete
  11. Hello Alex, is there any difference between this Multicab sim and the one posted here? http://www.aerhalev.net/alex/multicabsim_final.jpg - I was building the old one and now i dont know if is worth to finnish it. Any help please :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Niab.
    It's the same circuit.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Excellent! Thanks a lot Alex, i thought the different amount of caps would affect the result.
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I used jrc072. But it's not working. Just high pitched squeals that change when I turn knobs. Voltages as follows:

    C 5.3
    B 0.8
    E 0

    Pins
    1 7.5
    2 1.8
    3 3.9
    4 0
    5 1.8
    6 1.8
    7 1.8
    8 7.9

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  16. ANybody? If you could just post what the proper voltages are, that would be helpful too. Then maybe I could figure out where things are going wrong. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hy Bryan!
      I haven't built it but first thing I've notice Pin 8 should be 9V and pins 1&2 should have the same voltages cause they are linked together.

      Delete
    2. Thanks Alex. Figured it out. I missed a cap. D'oh!! The thing sounds great. Couldn't be happier. Making two in fact.

      Delete
    3. I'm glad it was an easy fix!

      Delete
  17. Question - there are small red caps marked as 220n and 100n - but they appear in the diagram like they should have been labeled 220p and 100p (based on how they look); so, are they "n" or "p"?

    I built this using P for these parts, and I have less than unity gain, so I am guess it is the other way around. I am just curious why they were made to look like pF caps if the are really nF?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Paul.
      All my layouts are the same.
      If the yellow caps span just 2 rows instead of 3 you can't read the values.
      That's why I use red caps in that case.
      Just for practical reasons.
      The values are the important part, not the color of the caps.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  18. I'm looking for a cab sim more prone to cleaner sounds- or cranked fender sounds (i'm gonna use a few amp in box pedals, but nothing high gain) along with my damage control tube preamp. I read that this distorts on its own... is that correct? do you guys think that I can dial in some good sounds for typical blackface style cabs? or is it all celestions and whatnot? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Ahoy, I am getting less than unity gain, actually I m getting quite a bit of attenuation..

    Found a mistake, the 4.7n horizontal cap in the first line should be 47n! Moreover, the 100n cap between 9V and ground is not in the original schematic, I assume you put it there for extra filtering?

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. γεια σου φίλε!
      yeap. you're right about both! it should be 47nf, and the other is for extra filtering. if you're reading the forum, i'm about to build a modded one. so i could use your oppinion on how it sounds when you'll make it work properly..chhers

      Delete
    2. Ahoy ξεναγέ! So I corrected mine and indeed it sounds more reasonable now.

      The volume drop, even with all the controls to 11 is still below unity though and I have triple-checked everything... Given the way that it interacts with other pedals, I am suspecting that the input impedance might be very low due to the BJT transistor. Maybe we should redesign the input so as to use a JFET.

      Anybody else experiencing less than unity or is it just me? I also tried a 2n2222 in the place of the 2N2394 but nothing changed.

      Alex? Anyone? Which schematic are you planning to use ξεναγέ and what are you bound to change? Thanks!

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  20. Oh, the coming of age and the carelessness of the youth combined... The infamous "one hole down" error struck again, good thing i slept over it and found it... I must not be working on circuits when I m tired :) So, gain fixed, I hope I was fast enough not to cause any trouble.

    Yet, the 4.7n upper horizontal cap error on the vero should be corrected to its proper value (47n) :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hi! Built This last Night, I have a really tiny sound, really not enough volume and no bass. The led don't work too, but I think it comes from it. Any help ? thx !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fixer the output volume ! I change the initial 100nf cap with à 47pf. But the bass problem still here. I have ni control on It. I connected the bottom 3 on lug of bottom 2, and This one on the board. Is the bass control is really narrow ?

      Delete
    2. Nobody? I use a ne5532 and the bass pot seems to be backward. thx

      Delete
  22. Built two of these thus far, with a third to follow this week. Such a fantastic tool to have on a pedal board! Mine was built pre changing the first horizontal cap and works as well as I need it to. Will be interested to hear the difference when the third is built which will include the most recent revision above. Brilliant brilliant pedal Alex!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hi guys ! After verifying the resistors, I have the 120k measured at 107.5k and the two 100k began at 37k ans increase to 67k. The effect was out of power. Someone have already saw that?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If I understood you well, you probably have bad components and should have them changed!

      Delete
  24. Such a great article about guitar amps and the information about bass cabs is too good.

    guitar cabinet

    ReplyDelete
  25. Did anyone try to record with this one? I ve been using it with a mixer with no problem. When we try to record directly on the sound cards' input, there is some bassy grit (even with the gain set very low)

    ReplyDelete
  26. awesome tone. i love it.. just finished and its verified! thank a lot sir for sharing..

    ReplyDelete
  27. verified!!!.....i like this sound..thanks for the amazing layout

    ReplyDelete
  28. Can I run this in between my overdrive and delay, then straight to a power amp?

    ReplyDelete
  29. My favourite sim so far .
    I've built most DIY cabsims available around, incl. Condor, Simple Cabsim, RedBox, Marshall but THIS thing rocks!

    ReplyDelete
  30. i built this and this cab sim really have a great response especially to any dirt pedal.. thank you for this layout

    ReplyDelete
  31. Can I place this effect on line out or send out from amp (means after preamp)and run it directly to mix instead using micking the speaker? Will it work? Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. After preamp - Yes you can
      Run directly to mix - No, since impedance isn't matched. You may get away with this using a DI box to convert it instrument level input to line input.

      Delete
  32. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Hello...built it , only the signal is quieter than bypass...and when I take out the transistor, the signal is loud,and the adjustments work...any help

    ReplyDelete
  34. should the signal pass from input to output without a transistor?

    ReplyDelete
  35. I've found it.....this prevented micro jumper from soldering....great project...

    ReplyDelete
  36. Hello,
    Just built it.
    But, the bottom pot cuts pretty much low end. On top of that there's a constant noise like the motor of a boat puffing along. When I remove the bottom potmeter, i get decent low-end and the noise is almost gone.

    Any idea where to look for solutions?

    ReplyDelete
  37. Update:
    Just soldered all the pots directly to the board. I had them on the breadboard for testing.
    Low-end loss is gone but the weird noise stays and is more pronounced when turning the bottom-potmeter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Update 2, not sure what happened,but, everything's fine.
      Great circuit

      Delete
  38. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  39. https://youtu.be/ev_3fgkYO18

    ReplyDelete
  40. Tq for this layout alex...

    ReplyDelete
  41. Hi, just want to say I built this for my bass rig and it works great. I added a switch to put a bigger cap (~10uF maybe? I forget now) in parallel with the rightmost 4n7 to simulate a closed cab. Sounds great on bass with this engaged, and didn't require any changes to the layout.

    ReplyDelete