Here's a collection of vero (stripboard) and tagboard guitar and bass effect layouts that we have put together covering many classic and popular effects in growing numbers. Many of these have been posted on freestompboxes.org, so check that site out for great discussions on building your own effect pedals. Enjoy the builds and please also visit us on Facebook and Twitter
I played on one of these a while back and liked it lot, but I really liked it best with the bright switch and bottom switch both on. If I wanted to remove the switches from the circuit and just have it wired as if both are always on, should I just connect the bottom sw1 and bottom sw2 and do the same for the bright switch?
A bit late for an answer but experiencing this one i found that bypassing the 100k resistor with the bottom switch gives less bass actually. So bright switch 1 and 2 should be linked but not bottom switch 1 and 2.
By the way I've tried to replace the 33k resistor of the bottom section with a 10k resistor (grounded) in series with a 50k pot (lugs 1 and 2) and found there a nice mod to adjust the bass amount
Tag this one, Miro. I've spent ages trying to debug this one only to find I might have really dodgy batch of j201s ( this might explain problems I've had with the umble too - I'll look at that again tomorrow evening).
But anyway,I went with 4 2n5458s tuned the trimmers by ear and it sounds really lovely, thanks again for another ace layout.
Only 2 wires are used for each switch so it has to be a SPST simple make or break contact and so 2 position. You could use a SPDT if you want (they seem easier to source than SPST) but you'd just use the centre lug and one of the outer lugs.
Hey Guys, I have built this great circuit and it is just awesome sounding. Much better than most Marshall-in-a-box I tried and a bit fuller than the almighty Wampler Plexi-Drive. But, there is one thing that is driving me insane. There is a great deal of hiss on this pedal. Whenever I stack it with a fuzz, a booster or just with another overdrive it stands out as the cause for major hiss. Anyone has any idea how to solve this thing? it doesn't matter if the BRIGHT switch is engaged or not, As soon as the VOLUME goes up, the noise becomes audible.
I'd definitely get rig of the trimpots (considering you are using them) and use shielded wire for a few spots like input and at the gain control. Trimpots are kinda evil, IMO. I have a little vero prep'd for a Thor build and I'm totally sure I won't be using trimpots for it. I'd rather use regular 16mm pots or wires connected to alligator clips until I find the right resistors.
I got this one technically working last finally (I had a few "tracing" errors) but it is finally audible. BUt it is VERY treble and hissing noise. The J201 seems to be the mot prone, any slight modification to its trim pot changes it from dentist drill to pneumatic hammer.
Not sure what to do - this circuit is very sensitive to it components - Qs and ICs.
FYI: I finally found a cap that was terminated in the wrong strip. I changed out some ceramic for silver mica caps, and put in one multilayer cap in pace of a 220p ceramic. Anyway - suddenly it all works, and that is good. Got all the transistor dialed in and it sounds not too bad. This was one of my more frustrating builds but its always good when you get it worked out.
Right, mine doesn't work, in part. I can tell vol, gain and the switches work, but the hum that comes along with the gain is so mother-effing loud that makes the pedal impossible to be used. There's also this high-pitched oscillation when dialing the gain back.
Q3 and some pins of the IC look weird, let me guess? I have checked for proper cuts, links and component placement and can't find anything wrong. I have also cleaned between the tracks to get rid of any stray bit of solder and tried different transistors and still the same monstrously loud hum. Any help is appreciated!
Update: After changing a couple caps, trimpots and experimenting with even more transistors and still getting the same super loud, never-ending dentists drill hum, I was about to give up on this, until I moved some of the transistors with my fingers a few times and I managed to make the noise disappear (for a while). The circuit started to behave like a regular OD pedal, without oscillations when dialing the gain back, and just a normal amount of OD hum. I'll try getting rid of some of the sockets and see what happens. I still feel the problem is Q3 or somewhere around it... more updates later.
Right so, probably my final update here: indeed the issue happened to be a bad contact at Q3 - I managed to get it working right just by gently tapping the transistor a few times - I think the socket is "rotten" or something...
Tone review: extremely similar sounding to the Wampler Plexi Drive (or vice-versa, I don't know which came first) but doesn't seem to have the slight mid-scoop and tighter bass the PD has. Other than that, very very close, what makes sense, since both are based on and borrow from the circuit(s) of the original amp(s). I haven't tried stacking and can't comment on noise levels since mine isn't boxed. The bass switch seems to make it even a little fatter than the PD's does, but I haven't compared them side-to-side.
I built this yesterday pretty much exactly to spec, and it had crazy squeal and oscillation, but it ended up being from Q2 bias. I plugged in a guitar with the box open and gradually adjusted the Q2 trim with gain and volume at around 80% and both switches on. Once the squeal was gone I found a nice sweet spot and this pedal is badass. I love this thing. I've already built a second board to give to my buddy for Christmas. Now it's time to build the Rebote 2.5 with mods, maybe an expression control for dive bombs.. Thanks so much for this legendary blog!
Just in case someone still has issues with this one... FuzzDog has a version of this. The basic circuit is the same (except Bright switch), but there are lots of resistor value changes. I haven't made the version from FuzzDog, but it can be done on this same stripboard layout. The Bright switch connections are the only thing that need a bit of tweaking.
Cool, was just about to etch a PCB for this, might just give the vero a shot first. Your on a roll so far this year.
ReplyDeleteI played on one of these a while back and liked it lot, but I really liked it best with the bright switch and bottom switch both on. If I wanted to remove the switches from the circuit and just have it wired as if both are always on, should I just connect the bottom sw1 and bottom sw2 and do the same for the bright switch?
ReplyDeleteBasically yes.
Delete+m
A bit late for an answer but experiencing this one i found that bypassing the 100k resistor with the bottom switch gives less bass actually. So bright switch 1 and 2 should be linked but not bottom switch 1 and 2.
DeleteBy the way I've tried to replace the 33k resistor of the bottom section with a 10k resistor (grounded) in series with a 50k pot (lugs 1 and 2) and found there a nice mod to adjust the bass amount
Tag this one, Miro. I've spent ages trying to debug this one only to find I might have really dodgy batch of j201s ( this might explain problems I've had with the umble too - I'll look at that again tomorrow evening).
ReplyDeleteBut anyway,I went with 4 2n5458s tuned the trimmers by ear and it sounds really lovely, thanks again for another ace layout.
(Azabache soon!?)
Thanks for verifying! Weird thing.. I could understand a few bad ones, but whole batch... Good thing you got it working!
Delete+m
I am assuming the switches are SPDT on/on Correct?
ReplyDeleteOr is it a SPDT On/off/on?
Only 2 wires are used for each switch so it has to be a SPST simple make or break contact and so 2 position. You could use a SPDT if you want (they seem easier to source than SPST) but you'd just use the centre lug and one of the outer lugs.
Deletegot it thanks
ReplyDeleteAnyone had any experience with this one? Getting some gating issues with the gain pot. Distortion works when the gain pot is all the way up. Hmmm...
ReplyDeletei built this with a tl061 and i just get a high pitched oscillation noise and no signal. Anybody know how to fix it.
ReplyDeleteWe can try to help but not with that description, it could quite literally be anything. Have a look at some of the fault finding suggestions here:
Deletehttp://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2012/05/fault-finding-build.html
If none of those help post the voltages between all IC and transistor pins and ground to see if those help narrow it down.
Hey Guys,
ReplyDeleteI have built this great circuit and it is just awesome sounding. Much better than most Marshall-in-a-box I tried and a bit fuller than the almighty Wampler Plexi-Drive.
But, there is one thing that is driving me insane. There is a great deal of hiss on this pedal. Whenever I stack it with a fuzz, a booster or just with another overdrive it stands out as the cause for major hiss.
Anyone has any idea how to solve this thing? it doesn't matter if the BRIGHT switch is engaged or not, As soon as the VOLUME goes up, the noise becomes audible.
Thanks,
http://fuzzquest.blogspot.com/2012/04/rocking-marshall-world.html
Is everything that should be grounded grounded ? Input jack ?
DeleteTry a buffer before and after the circuit, maybe that might help.
I'd definitely get rig of the trimpots (considering you are using them) and use shielded wire for a few spots like input and at the gain control. Trimpots are kinda evil, IMO. I have a little vero prep'd for a Thor build and I'm totally sure I won't be using trimpots for it. I'd rather use regular 16mm pots or wires connected to alligator clips until I find the right resistors.
DeleteI got this one technically working last finally (I had a few "tracing" errors) but it is finally audible. BUt it is VERY treble and hissing noise. The J201 seems to be the mot prone, any slight modification to its trim pot changes it from dentist drill to pneumatic hammer.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what to do - this circuit is very sensitive to it components - Qs and ICs.
FYI: I finally found a cap that was terminated in the wrong strip. I changed out some ceramic for silver mica caps, and put in one multilayer cap in pace of a 220p ceramic. Anyway - suddenly it all works, and that is good. Got all the transistor dialed in and it sounds not too bad. This was one of my more frustrating builds but its always good when you get it worked out.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRight, mine doesn't work, in part. I can tell vol, gain and the switches work, but the hum that comes along with the gain is so mother-effing loud that makes the pedal impossible to be used. There's also this high-pitched oscillation when dialing the gain back.
ReplyDeleteReadings in volts:
Q1: D: 6.44/S:0.45 /G:0
Q2: D: 4.56/S:0.33 /G:0
Q3: D: 9.38/S:4.81 /G:2.34
Q4: D: 4.35/S:0.38 /G:0
IC:
1: 0.15
2: 4.68
3: 4.26
4: 0
5: 0.15
6: 4.68
7: 9.39
8: 0
Q3 and some pins of the IC look weird, let me guess? I have checked for proper cuts, links and component placement and can't find anything wrong. I have also cleaned between the tracks to get rid of any stray bit of solder and tried different transistors and still the same monstrously loud hum. Any help is appreciated!
Update:
DeleteAfter changing a couple caps, trimpots and experimenting with even more transistors and still getting the same super loud, never-ending dentists drill hum, I was about to give up on this, until I moved some of the transistors with my fingers a few times and I managed to make the noise disappear (for a while). The circuit started to behave like a regular OD pedal, without oscillations when dialing the gain back, and just a normal amount of OD hum. I'll try getting rid of some of the sockets and see what happens. I still feel the problem is Q3 or somewhere around it... more updates later.
Right so, probably my final update here: indeed the issue happened to be a bad contact at Q3 - I managed to get it working right just by gently tapping the transistor a few times - I think the socket is "rotten" or something...
DeleteTone review: extremely similar sounding to the Wampler Plexi Drive (or vice-versa, I don't know which came first) but doesn't seem to have the slight mid-scoop and tighter bass the PD has. Other than that, very very close, what makes sense, since both are based on and borrow from the circuit(s) of the original amp(s). I haven't tried stacking and can't comment on noise levels since mine isn't boxed. The bass switch seems to make it even a little fatter than the PD's does, but I haven't compared them side-to-side.
I built this yesterday pretty much exactly to spec, and it had crazy squeal and oscillation, but it ended up being from Q2 bias. I plugged in a guitar with the box open and gradually adjusted the Q2 trim with gain and volume at around 80% and both switches on. Once the squeal was gone I found a nice sweet spot and this pedal is badass. I love this thing. I've already built a second board to give to my buddy for Christmas. Now it's time to build the Rebote 2.5 with mods, maybe an expression control for dive bombs.. Thanks so much for this legendary blog!
ReplyDeleteJust in case someone still has issues with this one... FuzzDog has a version of this. The basic circuit is the same (except Bright switch), but there are lots of resistor value changes. I haven't made the version from FuzzDog, but it can be done on this same stripboard layout. The Bright switch connections are the only thing that need a bit of tweaking.
ReplyDeleteNow I started searching the webs, TH Custom Effects has even more modded version! Actually, I think of that as a different pedal...
Delete