The Folk Driver is the result of a challenge issued to me by Björn Juhl to design an original DIY overdrive project that has much of the character of his popular Honey Bee Overdrive. After some time listening to an original Honey Bee, I came up with the Folk Driver.
Like the Honey Bee, this is best described as a “soft” or “jazz” overdrive, that breaks up more with hard chords than with single notes. The overall voice is warm and musical with a nice harmonic bite.
The Timbre control adjusts both the gain and the tonality simultaneously. At the 12 o’clock position, it is a neutral tone with minimum gain. When turned clockwise, gain increases with the high frequencies emphasized. When turned counterclockwise, gain increases with low frequencies emphasized. This makes it very easy to dial in the sound you want in an intuitive and novel way.
you can tag this one. its verified. you'll need to swap timbre 1 and 3. as it is now, clockwise increases the lows. this is a pretty cool little circuit. i've built the bearfoot honey bee and the mad professor sweet honey, and this one does have that honey feel to it. its pretty lo gain, and has a nice shimmer till you dig in and get some grit. it won't replace my honey bee, but its worth a build.
ReplyDeleteAwesome thanks matey. I'm sure the Finnish Mosh Monster will update the layout when he gets up! :o)
DeleteGreat! I swapped the pot around and updated it. Thanks!
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Which of the two: honey bee and the mad professor would you recommend more? I am contemplating between the two for a long time now.
DeleteI've built the Sweet Honey and it's really good. This seems like it sounds pretty much like the latter. Both are relatively small and simple boards, so why not build both?
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Can another diode then 1N5819 be used?
ReplyDeleteYou're safe to use 1N4001 if you've got one.
Deletebecause its coming from +9 I already thought I could use that one but thanks..
DeleteAm I crazy, or should D4 be reversed?
ReplyDeleteAlso my question. D3 and D4 are both connected anode end to vol 3. It works and sounds great but this can't be correct?
ReplyDeleteCouldn't get it to work at first so I reversed D4. Then it started working! It's very lo gain (and lo-fi) I think. I get a crackle at both ends of the Timbre settings, is that to be expected?
ReplyDeleteD4 is the wrong way round in this layout. This causes asymmetric clipping so the circuit will still work just with a slightly different flavour.
ReplyDeleteHi mirosol, thanks for the layout it seems interesting, but I'm having problem with the build: the volume pot has no effect at all and the gain on works as volume. I tested the components before soldering and everything seems ok, leater I'll post a pic.
ReplyDeleteEver had this issue?
N.B. there are two slight differences in my build: the negative voltage protection diode is a 1n5817 and Q1 is a 2n5088
DeleteFound the mistacke, a tiny "hair" from a cable end grounding and entire line.
DeleteThanks again for the layout, interesting project. I think I'll make it a bit brighter!
Regarding the 3.3uf non-polarize cap, Here's what Jack Orman answered
ReplyDelete[quote author=amz-fx link=topic=36276.msg256335#msg256335 date=1124488889]
Use a 1uF polarized electrolytic if you have it laying around... put the plus side to the drain of the lower transistor. It will have no effect on the sound.
regards, Jack
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