"And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."
Be afraid....be very afraid! This monstrosity has so much bottom end it will surely move the planets from their celestial homes!
Be afraid....be very afraid! This monstrosity has so much bottom end it will surely move the planets from their celestial homes!
Cool!
More appropriately spaced diodes and LEDs as requested :o)
Rotary wiring:
It's either gonna be my finances or my marriage, but somethings gotta give! I am loving the proliferating layouts dude, seriously cool & I think I may have even let out a little "sex wee" when I saw this one, I HAVE to build it, I HAVE to build it NOW!!!!!HOT DAMN!!!
ReplyDeleteAnways, does it matter whether the rotary is "make before break" or "break before make"? (I'm quoting a question I saw on the Rapid website)
Thanks Duder, absolutely legendary stuff!
Milkit.
Ha ha, yes my wife had started giving me funny looks too which is why I didn't do too much last year. And parts stashing may be a bitch but it's still a lot cheaper than buying the originals :o) Just buy cheap and in bulk off eBay when you can (I often pick up 200 caps for a couple of quid) and you soon build up enough to be able to make anything at anytime. Actually my hoard will probably instigate then next bout of dirty looks I get from the missus!
ReplyDeleteIt really doesn't matter whether you use "late make early break" switches or vice versa. The switch is just swapping out diodes and as the switching takes milliseconds (and will be done when you're not playing anyway) then it doesn't matter whether a couple of the pairs are connected simultaneously, or no pairs connected at all for that short space of time.
I suppose if I had to choose then I would use make before break so that there are always some diodes in circuit. "No diodes" would make for a stronger signal than "some diodes" and a momentary dip in signal would be preferable to a momentary boost.
Awesome, thanks buddy. Yeah I tend to stock the more generic parts, but every now & again your layouts throw out something new & different, which is awesome, keeps it fresh! And I must admit, I really enjoy the buzz of findind that slightly rare or esoteric component & usually for not much money as you say!
DeleteGet the same looks from my wife too and then some incongruous comment like "the only difference between a boy & a man is the cost of his toys"!
To be fair she's probably got a point, but balls to it I wanna rock!!
Thanks again mate, will take your advice & plump for the make/break.
Will report when I do it!!
Cool, I'll look forward to hearing how you get on. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteHi Mark, are the two LED's "piggy backed"?
ReplyDeleteVERIFIED!!
ReplyDeleteIndependently if you haven't already done it Mark. I decided to go ahead & build the board & test it too, whilst I'm waiting for my switch to arrive. It sounds effin killer man! Love it. Thanks dude.
This one will be going in a nice box!
The LEDs should just be in opposite directions. And that's excellent, thanks for verifying. I think I'm going to have to build this one too.
ReplyDeleteHey Milkit, someone on FSB was asking about the diodes. Are all 3 good choices and worth including or would you change anything? I don't know if you're a member or not but this is the thread if you want to respond:
ReplyDeletehttp://freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?p=181512#p181512
Hi Mark. I'm still waiting for my rotary to arrive, but once I install it I'll feedback (no pun intended) on how each diode set is. So far, I don't think I would change anything (I'm assuming that without the switch, all diodes are "in" the circuit?). They all sound sweet if that's the case, I'm really pleased with this one!
ReplyDeleteHopefully my switch will turn up today & I can get it involved tonight! I'll submit another report once that's done & then I'll check out the FSB thread! Thanks again duder! Milkit
Still haven't received my switch, bugger!! The only thing I will say (I apologise if this is a tad picky) regarding the diodes is, it may be easier if the trace cut at J15 was moved to J14 and then D7 & D4 were swapped around. With the two LED's together (I used 3mm) they don't sit together too neatly. Milkit
ReplyDeleteYes I know exactly what you mean. I made a Honeybee with two 5mm LEDs and it looked awful. 3mm would still be pushing it. Sometimes I just don't think about certain logistics of building it when I'm trying to get the layout and schematic to line up, but I agree it would be better. I'll alter the layout.
DeleteIt's "small fry" in the grand scheme of things, the layout, functioning wise is fu**in' mint & your work is uber excellent! You did a great job buddy!
ReplyDeleteHave you had a go at this one yet dude? I soldered up my switch as per the layout, but I think I may have done something wrong, but I'm not sure what! I realise that's about as much use to you as tits on a man but, I was just wondering what results you have had? Milkit
ReplyDeleteNot built it yet mate. Can you take a pic showing how you've soldered up the switch, preferably showing the board too?
DeleteI'll try mate, 'tis a bit messy though!
ReplyDeleteMy switch is as per your diagram, I've taken a video (bit easier than trying to display this in a photo) Be warned, it's only my test box & is some shit soldering!
ReplyDeleteAre you sure the contacts are making in the respective positions? Faulty rotary switches aren't exactly rare.
ReplyDeleteWhat is happening when you switch, does the drive just sound exactly the same?
I think the contacts are making ok. Everything works and there is a difference in drive as the switch brings in the different diodes. Gonna make a video for you to hear now!
ReplyDeleteWhat I am getting is 2&3 & 1&4 sound very similar. The volume & gain is increased on 2&3, 1&4 sound like the dry signal is blending in with the wet. Something has occurred to me in that, I have no idea of how this effect is supposed to work & it may be that this is what's supposed to happen!
ReplyDeleteThe Blend pot will mix between the distorted and buffered dry signal, so you'll get a better idea of the distortion with the Blend pot right over to the distortion side.
ReplyDeleteYeah I had that all the way maxed. I'll come back to this one I think, I'm currently going over your Lunar Module layout! :0)
ReplyDeleteJust built this. Worked first time! If you spend a bit of time adjusting all the knobs you can really make your bass BIG. I don't mean loud, (you can also do that) I mean like you have a bigger deeper amp that has a soul. The secret is how much of the effect you blend in; I think. Thanks very much for this one Mark, the foundation of our band will now be much stronger.
ReplyDeleteHey there! This is my third effect I'm building and I've got problems with the offboard wiring. I don't even have a clue which pot has to be grounded or not to be honest. Does anybody have a layout?
ReplyDeleteI just built this, and its not working for me. At all. Theres no difference tonally with it on or off. Everything appears to be wired correctly. I went over it about 8 times. Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteThe LEDs are opposite directions. Does it matter which goes which?
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter as long as you have one each way
DeleteThanks Mark! I'll post pictures when I get it all closed up this weekend.
DeleteIs there any alternative to the rotary switch? Those seem hard to come across
ReplyDeleteNot with 4 positions unfortunately. If it was only 3 position you could use a DPDT on/on/on switch but that fourth position makes it more complicated. Having said that you can pick them up cheap on eBay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190729715260
DeleteeBay! Why didn't I think to check eBay? Lol. Thanks! Just gonna be waitin on that switch
DeleteHi, please could you post the wiring schema about pots, dc and switch?
ReplyDeleteI'm a dummy sorry... i'm trying to build the ezekiel but i have some trouble wiring out of the pcb board... thanks
I built this and i'm not quite getting the slight overdrive tone that i've heard in demos. It's pretty clipped throughout.
ReplyDeletewhat are the switch positions on this compared to the original unit? and would green leds clip less?
ive built this and it sounds great! it seems like there are only 2 different sounds on the rotary switch positions though. like two selections sound the same and then the other two sound the same. someone else experienced this problem as well. the diode placement seems strange to me... could I get more of a difference out of one switch position by increasing the 470p capacitor?
ReplyDeleteSome diode combinations can sound similar to some people but if you look there is definitely nothing wrong with the switching. The rotary puts the selected diodes in the feedback loop of the right hand opamp channel, between the inverting input and output. The common connects to the inverting input (pin 6) and then whichever diode is selected by the rotary is placed between that and the output (pin 7). So in position 1 diodes 1, 2 and 3 are in circuit giving asymmetric Ge diode clipping. Position 2 brings the two symmetic silicon diodes in, position 3 the LEDs and position 4 the 470p cap for the "Fat" setting. You'll notice that in all cases the other side of the diodes (or cap) connect to pin 7 of the opamp, either directly or via links.
DeleteIf you want to prove it, take a pair that you think sound similar and snip one of the diode sets out and replace with a link. That will remove the diode clipping from that position in the feedback loop and should make the resulting sound louder and somewhat cleaner. If not then you may have issues elsewhere.
The 470p obviously isn't doing the same thing, that is acting as a filter between the non inverting input and output which reduces high end and so if you increase the value, you should just cut more highs.
Well that was a detailed response! Thanks, much appreciated, I'm still learning about this stuff. What diode pair does the 470p cap connect to? it looks like it could go to both the silicon (or LEDS even) and the germanium diodes... I guess I just would think there would be more cuts... like the silicon diodes and LEDs connect on the same row- but of course I dont really get the diode to ground thing and how that works with switching.
ReplyDeleteI actually figured out what my problem was a bit. I ordered 1n34a's from tayda- and they sent me some diodes that looked very similar (okay... exactly the same) as some 1n914's I had. I sent tayda an email and he was like oh those are just a different type of 1n34. I accepted that, but today I just measured the voltage drop across some different diodes the 1n914 look alike (tayda's 1n34's) measured about 600mv while my 1n34's from smallbear measured around 300mv. so that would make a pretty big difference i'd guess when using 3 of them.
I was asking if the switching was correct because it looks like so many of the pairs are connected. like the bottom row connects the silicons and LEDs.
My multimeter wont measure any of my LED's for some reason (it's a $30 one). I was wondering what color LED's clip less so maybe I could get a bigger difference between the silicon and LED settings. I've got em socketed and am gonna see if I can hear a difference between some different combos.
thanks for everything mark! you're the man!
I just noticed something wrong that I wrote, you wouldn't need to put in the link, just removing the diodes would be enough if you wanted to test.
DeleteWhen the 470p is in circuit, none of the diodes are. If you look, one side of all the diode sets and the fat cap are connected to pin 7, either directly in the case of the D1 to D3 set, or via links for all the others. The switch is then deciding which of them are placed in the feedback loop by connected to the other side of the diode sets and fat cap.
And yes if the forward voltage of the "1N34As" is 0.6V then they'll be clipping in a very similar way to the silicon diodes which would account for why they sound similar. The difference then is just asymmetric or symmetric clipping which can be subtle.
JRC4562D is simply impossible to find. Any equivalent?
ReplyDeleteTry any dual opamp - JRC4558, TL072, NE5532...
Delete+m
I built this pedal last night and it's DOA. It bypasses properly but when turned on, it makes a quiet throbbing/oscillating sound and the LED doesn't turn on. I triple checked my offboard wiring and it looks solid. Would a bad LED cause this? I packed this sucker into a 1590B so I'm trying to avoid digging down to that LED unless necessary. I did do something differently than I have in the past: I used a water clear 5mm high bright LED but I still used a 2k2 resistor. I used water clear high bright 3mm LEDs on the board as well. Should I switch to regular 3mm LEDs? What about the Ge diodes? Could they cause the throbbing sound?
ReplyDeleteAdjusting the rotary, volume, and gain has no effect on the throbbing sound, however increasing the filter and blend pots both increase the volume of the throbbing.
DeleteRebuilt the whole board from scratch, works great. Must have been a cold solder joint somewhere.
DeleteMade 2 of these they kickass!
ReplyDeleteHi, great project.
ReplyDeleteI just want to check that D2 and D3 are soldered together on the board and not just teepeed.
I'd like to know that too. Have tried anything, but won't work. Now the d2 and D3 are soldered together in the hole of the veroboard.
DeleteWhat should i do?
They both need soldering in the hole at the point of connection. I did it like this to save a column, because diode legs are so thin there's no problem getting both in the same hole. If you'd prefer to just solder one leg in the hole, just tack solder the other diode leg to the top of the leg that is being soldered in the hole.
DeleteMark, I don't have any 100K Lin, planning to use 100K log for Gain and Filter. Would that be Okay?
ReplyDeleteThat'll work, in fact, log may work better for gain.
DeleteThanks Ross. Will put it in right away :)
DeleteI recently built this and I'm only noticing change with Blend, Volume, and Filter. I am not noticing any change when turning the rotary switch or gain. Just clean bass sound which i can slightly adjust with the 3 noticeably working, no grit whatsoever. Everything looks to be intact per the layout. I've checked all the components and nothing seem to be faulty. Anyone willing to take a look and double check my wiring, please? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWelp, turns out I had a 470k in place of the 470r. Something so simple overlooked...sigh..
DeleteThe pedal sounds killer though!
This is the only D*A*M that did not raise the silghtest expectation on me, so never tried it. Being an overdrive and focused for bass players had no real interest. Besides, the few demos for guitar you can find on the net, are nothing to write home about so, I gave a miss to this circuit.
ReplyDeleteBut a bassist friend of mine asked me for this pedal, so i built it (Christmas spirit, I suppose :P)..... and well, this pedal rocks on bass and shines on guitar!
This is a real cool overdrive that can get really cool tones on guitar too. On bass is just incredible, my friend is really happy with this pedal.
So, no doubt that Davis is the Captain, all his effects are just great, no matter if fuzzes, overdrives or whatever he fancies.
P.S. Of course, had to build one for myself too :P
And published, hope you like it!
Deletehttps://scontent-a-mad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1470039_585802724824913_1242367230_n.jpg
https://scontent-b-mad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/1512723_585803011491551_374667782_n.jpg
Great job Javi, glad you're liking it!
DeleteBuilt the pedal, sounds amazing, BUT blend is post-volume, right?
ReplyDeleteI mean if i set my sound right and want to lower/raise the volume, well it's a PITA!
Am I missing something, here? I might try to reverse the order: Blend mixes buffered input and distorted signal, Volume sets overall volume. Seems much more intuitive to me.
And thanks a lot for this layout of course!
A little late to the party. I just built this pedal. Everything seems to work okay. Haven't boxed it yet. Quick question, is the germanium setting (1st position on rotary) supposed to have significantly less volume/gain then the other settings?
ReplyDeleteAlso I have seen a couple of different labellings with the DAM pedal. Is the fourth position on the rotary switch "bypass" meaning its a clean boost? Some of the images I see online label the fourth position as "super fat.'
Thanks, Rick
Hey Rick-
ReplyDelete1st and 2nd position for mine are also slightly less volume than 3 and 4.
My 4th position is definitely not a clean boost.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/westerton/1479457_697564000999_987611886_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 1479457_697564000999_987611886_n.jpg
Hello, could someone tell me what are those two components labeled 470? I'm thinking 47pf caps, but I might be wrong...
ReplyDeleteNo they're 470p caps. I didn't take too much notice of numbering convention in some of my older layouts
DeleteI've changed them for the right value but I'n not getting ANY sound... What could be wrong? Maybe a bad IC? I've tried Tayda's 4558 and TL072 and nothing... : (
ReplyDeleteWe really need voltages to have any sort of clue what the problem is. Have a read through this and see if anything there cures is, and if not post the voltages as mentioned in section 6
Deletehttp://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/fault-finding-build.html
Huh, I think I should have read that before I started doing anything...Thanks Ivlark, I'll post them tomorrow, I'm giving up for today...
ReplyDeletehi,
ReplyDeleteif i have the rotary on germanium or silicon position i still have clean sound underneath the distorted sound. even if blend is on 100% wet. if i switch to "led" or "fat" i do not have this clean sound underneath anymore. only if i turn back the blend control. sounds quite beefy.
Is this what it should sound like on germanium/silicon?
I finished this build today and it sounds great!
ReplyDeleteI modified the layout to have 2 additional diode options to not waste 2 throws on my 6 throw rotary. I had to add two columns and a row, which made it even more difficult to cram in the 1590B.. I haven't seen anyone build one of these in a 1590B and it's for a good reason..
Here are some pics
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz176/Dub-T-123/AB082E04-2EF0-4695-A9F7-9F424C155508_zpscwrjn1va.jpg
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz176/Dub-T-123/1EA0E009-845D-4BD7-A1A6-3E1946A1C7B2_zpsdgqkcjqm.jpg
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DeleteTravis, how does you did the wiring of new set of diodes into the rotary switch?
DeleteMake sense connect A nd B poles, and connect the new set o diodes 1 into rotary 5, and new set of diuodes 2 into rotary 6?
Great build. Very chic.
DeleteThanks Charles! Squeezing it in the 1590B was tedious but it sure does sound great! Big props to David Main for this great pedal
DeleteYeah I think I'm gonna stick to 125B for this one if I get it boxed up!
DeleteAwesome build. Any chance you would share your modified layout, Travis?
DeleteI just used a switch with 6 throws. The wiring is the same as the rest of the switch
ReplyDeleteThe gut shots of the official pedal seem to have transistors, but I don't see any on this layout. Am I missing something?
ReplyDeleteyou sorta are. those are old metal can single opamp's, which there's two of them. the layout uses a single dual opamp.
DeleteThat's why I was asking, figured it was something else. Cool. My friend has a real one and we are excited to both make a clone and compare. He'd love to have a smaller, less expensive pedal he isn't afraid to gig with.
Deleteas long as the diodes you use are the same, it should sound like the original. i made a modified one, with more clipping options and it's a monster. its a great pedal.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteDoes anyone have the correct voltages for the 4558?
ReplyDeleteShouldn't pin 4 be 0v?
ReplyDeletepin 5, sorry
Delete