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
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Saturday, 27 April 2013
Boss DS1 Simplified
This one didn't quite turn out as intended but I thought I'd post it anyway as it may make a good experiment. Whether you like the idea of removing buffers or not, I think most people would agree that the Lovepedal Eternity is still a great sounding pedal in its own right, and a much more simple build than the TS808. So I wanted to give the DS1, which is hated by many, the Eternity treatment to see if it was more to people's liking. I did this without thinking too much about it though and it was only when I finished that I noticed the buffer I removed was actually a gain stage! :o)
So I was going to scrap it (I will still do one with the gain stage as intended) but I thought it would be good to see how it sounded with your own choice of boost stage before it, Super Hard On, LPB1 etc, and also see how it sounded without the first stage altogether.
The first opamp channel is just a buffer as well, so that could always be turned into a boost with just a couple of extra resistors even if the results mean this is further removed from a DS1. So all that considered I thought it may be something that the tweakers on here may have some fun with.
I reckon I'm going to have a crack at this today or tomorrow, it looks like it should be interesting. Am I right in thinking that whichever gain stage is used would just be connected to the input? Also is the IC a standard pinout dual opamp? I don't recognise the name. Cheers.
Thanks mate, I see you've just posted the DLS mk3 too :D Good job I've just finished work and have the next week booked as holiday, there's far too many decent looking layouts you two have posted that I've not had change to get to.
Mr Foulkes, you have outdone yourself this time. It is indeed a tweaker delight and it sounds excellent. Without a gain stage it sounds like a fairly decent overdrive, with one it goes into that high gain territory that you'd expect from as DS-1 and does it incredibly well. I used a slightly modified Lovepedal Woodrow without the clipping diodes as the gain stage and it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself, then I dropped some diodes into the sockets and it really beefs up the distortion. I'll build a couple of other boosters tomorrow to see what effect they have on the sound, this could be the base for a nice sounding distortion circuit. Excellent work Mark, even if it was by accident, thanks again.
I'm at a clay pigeon shoot at the moment but when I get back I'll whip up a couple of different boosters to try with it and then put a video together with the results. It seemed pretty promising when I tested it last night though.
Right, I've just tested this with the modded Woodrow, a JHS Minibomb and a NPN Rangemaster with input cap selector. The Rangemaster wins in my book, having the versatility of the different input caps really gives a lot of different tones. I've recorded a few riffs so I'll post the vid once I've finished hashing it together and uploading it.
Really looking forward to hearing the results! Been a bit busy lately and haven't done much pedal building, need to get back on it and this could be a great one to have in the pipeline!
I'm going to have to rerecord the demo, I used the crappy mic on my camera and it didn't really pick up the differences that well. I'll plug in my sm57 tomorrow and get a few proper samples.
Hi there.I have a question...when you say tone 2 to level 3 you mean that I should connect the middle pin of the tone pot to the third pin of the level pot?With no connection from the circuit regarding this two?
I just modded our bass player's DS-1 with the penny pedals bass mods and changed the input buffer trannie to a 2N5458 (I think)...I played with it last night on guitar and it's friggin' awesome! I've built and played around with way too many overdrives and distortions over the years and I'm thinking that I might have just found my favourite :-S
The mods (as per the original pedal schematic) are:
I couldn't find any non-polar caps at 1uF so just used polarized ones. The OD mod (removing the diodes) didn't sound so good on guitar but works great for bass.
Hi guys, first time poster. I'm about to get myself started in the world of building pedals, starting with a few complete kits. I've been looking though here for ideas, has any built a DS-1 with the original Toshiba TA7136AP IC?
I built this, and it wails with a booster in front,I used a cae booster/line line driver for boost. It was great for a few hrs and then stared to sputter and quit.maybe the boost was too high? I changed the ic and it happened again, with out the boost cranked. is there another component i should check?
I reckon I'm going to have a crack at this today or tomorrow, it looks like it should be interesting. Am I right in thinking that whichever gain stage is used would just be connected to the input? Also is the IC a standard pinout dual opamp? I don't recognise the name. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteYes and yes. You can omit the output cap of the boost, or at least bear in mind the series value of the pair.
DeleteThanks mate, I see you've just posted the DLS mk3 too :D Good job I've just finished work and have the next week booked as holiday, there's far too many decent looking layouts you two have posted that I've not had change to get to.
DeleteMr Foulkes, you have outdone yourself this time. It is indeed a tweaker delight and it sounds excellent. Without a gain stage it sounds like a fairly decent overdrive, with one it goes into that high gain territory that you'd expect from as DS-1 and does it incredibly well. I used a slightly modified Lovepedal Woodrow without the clipping diodes as the gain stage and it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself, then I dropped some diodes into the sockets and it really beefs up the distortion. I'll build a couple of other boosters tomorrow to see what effect they have on the sound, this could be the base for a nice sounding distortion circuit. Excellent work Mark, even if it was by accident, thanks again.
ReplyDeleteI should also mention that it's pretty quiet without a gain stage.
DeleteExcellent, nice one Rick. I'll be interested in hearing your results if you make any clips
DeleteI'm at a clay pigeon shoot at the moment but when I get back I'll whip up a couple of different boosters to try with it and then put a video together with the results. It seemed pretty promising when I tested it last night though.
DeleteRight, I've just tested this with the modded Woodrow, a JHS Minibomb and a NPN Rangemaster with input cap selector. The Rangemaster wins in my book, having the versatility of the different input caps really gives a lot of different tones. I've recorded a few riffs so I'll post the vid once I've finished hashing it together and uploading it.
DeleteReally looking forward to hearing the results!
DeleteBeen a bit busy lately and haven't done much pedal building, need to get back on it and this could be a great one to have in the pipeline!
I'm going to have to rerecord the demo, I used the crappy mic on my camera and it didn't really pick up the differences that well. I'll plug in my sm57 tomorrow and get a few proper samples.
DeleteNice one Rick
DeleteWhat IC did you end up using?
ReplyDeleteI used a RC4558 as it was the first one I had to hand, I've got a few others lined up to test too.
DeleteHi there.I have a question...when you say tone 2 to level 3 you mean that I should connect the middle pin of the tone pot to the third pin of the level pot?With no connection from the circuit regarding this two?
ReplyDeleteYes, the signal is passed from the board via Tone 1 and Tone 3
DeleteThanks!
DeleteHere's my demo of the pedal, check out the comments for which booster is being used. Please excuse the crappy playing.
ReplyDeleteSimplified DS-1 demo
I just modded our bass player's DS-1 with the penny pedals bass mods and changed the input buffer trannie to a 2N5458 (I think)...I played with it last night on guitar and it's friggin' awesome! I've built and played around with way too many overdrives and distortions over the years and I'm thinking that I might have just found my favourite :-S
ReplyDeleteThe mods (as per the original pedal schematic) are:
C1 - .1uF
C2 - 1.0 uF non-polar metal film (NP MF)
C3 - 1.0 uF NP MF
C4 - .022uF
C5 - .1 uF
C7 - .00022uF (22pF) ceramic disc
C8 - 1.0 uF NP MF
C9 - 1.0 uF NP MF
C11 - .1 uF
C12 - .1 uF (just a quality upgrade from stock)
C13 - .1 uF
C14 - 1.0 uF NP MF (just a quality upgrade from stock)
I couldn't find any non-polar caps at 1uF so just used polarized ones. The OD mod (removing the diodes) didn't sound so good on guitar but works great for bass.
Hi guys, first time poster. I'm about to get myself started in the world of building pedals, starting with a few complete kits. I've been looking though here for ideas, has any built a DS-1 with the original Toshiba TA7136AP IC?
ReplyDeleteI built this, and it wails with a booster in front,I used a cae booster/line line driver for boost. It was great for a few hrs and then stared to sputter and quit.maybe the boost was too high? I changed the ic and it happened again, with out the boost cranked. is there another component i should check?
ReplyDeleteThe line black is cut the circuit?
ReplyDelete