Saturday 4 March 2017

Mantic Effects Vitriol

Here is a layout for the Mantic Effects Vitriol, a variable high-gain distortion with low and high pass filters.
Thanks to Bobbass4k for creating a schematic.
You can find his original FSB thread here (should read it before you build it).
I've drawn 2 versions: the original and one with an added Mids control.



17 comments:

  1. Should it be 54 cuts for the xtra mids version. Fantastic layout as always Alex. Might give this a go tomorrow.....Tayda order just arrived..Yeh!

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    1. Thanks Gavin! I've corrected it.

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    2. Verified the version with the xtra mids pot. Sounds pretty damn good to me. Get some nice metally tones out of this, not as harsh as the metal zone, thankfully. Thanks Alex as always and Bobbass4k over at FSB for schematic. Great job!

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    3. just build this one with the mids too...for me, it's just WAY TOO treble...!!and when i turn the high pot down, it acts like a vol control. And by turning vol all the way up, i can't reach unity level...low pot does almost nothing compared to the high one...anyway...for me it's like a total destruction of any low frequencies in my signal... not for me...but if you're an oldschool metalhead go for it! one more thing..it does sound like the demo...but i have to say that they made a really nice one...!!!i loved it when i first heard the demo, but hated it listening it live...cheers.
      Savvas

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    4. (i only used it with a guitar..maybe a bass can change my mind...)

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  2. Hey Savvas,

    Per the FSB thread on the Vitriol, it's pretty much a loose copy of the DOD FX86 Death Metal Distortion. There are some schematics on the internet for the FX86, for example:

    http://www.tremolo.pl/Efekty/Metal/Death%20Metal%20DOD%20FX86.gif

    There are some notes on this particular schematic for changing a cap to get more bass. You'd probably have to have this on a breadboard to figure out how to adjust the entire circuit (with its interesting filter stages) to get EQ to your liking.

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  3. As I said in the forum Alex, great work on the layout! I've been having so much fun with it on the breadboard I'm reluctant to tear it down and build it properly...

    Savvas - I can see how the circuit may not be to everyone's taste, but it might be worth taking a second look at your build - there's loads of output from the circuit, if you can't get to unity then I think there's definitely something wrong (I've never had mine above about 11'o'clock)

    Also the low control is active, so at fully anti-clockwise it will cut most of the lows and at fully clockwise it should be boosting them a quite a bit, if there isn't much difference between each end of the pot then again I think there's something amiss.

    Frank - I fiddled around with that cap when I first breadboarded it and to my ears it didn't do much, at 100nF there wasn't much difference, and at 220nF it was a bit boomier but not in a good way.

    I'm still quite amused that this pedal that's getting so much love in the "boutique" community (Juan Alderete is a big fan) is functionally no different than the Metal Zone/HM-2 that everybody seems to hate... show's you what a well-tuned hype-machine can do.



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    1. Metal Zone, yes. the HM-2 is quite different though.

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  4. Oh, it's bobbass4k here btw (I forgot that the comments use real names). Any questions on the schematic just ask.

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  5. I don't have a problem with output in my build. It is a bit trebly but no worse than the HM-2.

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  6. Can't wait to build this. I can attest to the bass output - the DOD Death Metal has more bass output than most pedals I've used.

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  7. Thanks Bob (and everyone else). I want to build this but have some other things in the queue. Glad it's verified.

    BTW - does the mids control work well??

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  8. Value changes aside, this looks like a Metal Zone without the parametric midrange, in other words, a DOD Grunge. With some value changes, you could have the DOD Grunge, Death Metal, Metal X, Corrosion and also update the Fabtone that was posted before. That could fill up a week of updates ;-p. I like my Fabtone and recently rediscovered my old Death Metal so I'm not knocking them!

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  9. There are two caps in the upper right corner with the same value, 220 nF, but in different packages. Are the values correct? If so, are the different packages simply due to lead spacing?

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    1. Yup. Due to lead spacing. The yellow cap looks idiotic when it's forced to 2,5mm pitch. Also, the packages depicted on layouts are nothing more but a suggestion. Use what you want :)
      +m

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    2. Cool. I had figured as much, but I thought I'd ask. I'd convinced myself that populating that space with a Y5V cap might really make the thing shred or something.

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