Tuesday 21 January 2014

Ibanez TS808 with Bass Control

Request.  This layout adds a Timmy type bass control to the TS808 (but with the lugs swapped round so bass increases as you turn clockwise) .  I could have just added this to the existing TS808 post but think it's worth separating them to show two distinct build options.  I managed to shift things around so that the board ended up exactly the same size as the 3 knob version so there is no board size compromise if you prefer the extra tone control.

It may be worth experimenting the the 220n and 220R filter at Tone 2 so the Bass and Tone pots compliment each other to your liking.




And for those who really like the Timmy, this version uses both the Timmy Bass and Treble controls.



Posted by at 11:57
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56 comments:

  1. Anonymous21 January 2014 at 12:18

    Excellent!... Do we have a value for the bass pot? ;o)

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    1. IvIark21 January 2014 at 12:41

      Doh! 50K mate

      Delete
    2. IvIark21 January 2014 at 12:58

      Incidentally the taper in the Timmy was log but that won't work here as we're wiring it the opposite way, but anti-log would obviously give you the same sort of sweep you'd get in the Timmy (but the opposite way still of course). Or just stick to linear if you can't be bothered getting something in specially.

      And it's the 220n directly under pin 4 that may be worth socketing. Then a bit of experimentation with the interaction between the Bass and Tone pot and use the cap that ticks the boxes for you.

      Delete
  2. Unknown21 January 2014 at 12:31

    Yep, just what I needed! Gonna do this with increased volume output and see if I like it better than the little green wonder.

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  3. mirosol21 January 2014 at 13:44

    Mark: You could hit the 12th for january by swapping the output buffer resistors :P
    +m

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    1. IvIark21 January 2014 at 14:40

      I could get it up to about 40 if I do all the mojo versions as well! :o)

      Delete
  4. Jack Roper22 January 2014 at 14:16

    How would one add a separate mids control to this layout too?

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    1. IvIark22 January 2014 at 14:30

      You could certainly add a mids control by having a low pass filter followed by a high pass filter which will allow you to set the upper and lower frequencies. It would be a bit more complicated though as I think you'd ideally want an active rather than passive filter. I'd want to test it out first to get the values fine tuned but I may add this when I get a chance to breadboard.

      Delete
    2. Jack Roper22 January 2014 at 15:13

      That would be awesome, is there anything on this site like a tubescreamer or OD that has an independent mids control that you would recommend?

      Delete
  5. Zach28 January 2014 at 04:46

    Any word if this one is finally verified? Its such a great idea to have the added bass control.

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    1. IvIark28 January 2014 at 08:13

      I don't know anyone who has built this layout yet but I'm very confident in it because I used the older TS808 layout as a template which has been built many times

      Delete
  6. Unknown31 January 2014 at 12:36

    You can call this verified. Sounds like a TS808. Most of the bass is in the end of the taper, might benefit from a different taper here. Rev log perhaps? Or just play with the cap for a more efficient bass taper as Mark suggested. I used 2N3904 for the transistors so they are a little bit lower gain than the suggested 2n5088, will that affect the tone?

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    1. IvIark31 January 2014 at 13:23

      Excellent thanks for verifying. The transistor type won't matter, it's just a unity gain buffer so I'd be very surprised if you could hear any difference at all.

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    2. Unknown31 January 2014 at 14:20

      Yeah, that's what I thought. Thanks for confiming!

      Delete
  7. Unknown13 February 2014 at 20:13

    Oh hells yeah. This is the best TS I've had. I'm done with straight up TS pedals, this is the one I'm keeping.

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    1. IvIark13 February 2014 at 21:03

      Nice one, I like it when little circuit snippets from one pedal work well with other effects.

      Delete
  8. Unknown11 April 2014 at 20:29

    Did another one-off based on this as it was ordered from me. Played around with stuff to get a little less compressed sound, more bottom end and volume boost. Swapped the 1K between IC pins 6 & 7 for a 2.7k, changed one of the clipping diodes to 1N4001 (swapping both for 1N4001's is better but the guy still wanted it to be tube screamerish and changed the chip for an LM833. Excellent sounding bluesdriver! Again, I'm not happy with the bass pot taper as the first half doesn't do anything. I'm gonna fix that in the next one if that comes.

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    1. Unknown11 April 2014 at 20:30

      Oh, and here's the shot. THE LIME DRIVER: https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/10156062_488824547913652_4496627978199617976_n.jpg

      Delete
    2. IvIark11 April 2014 at 20:33

      That looks great, thanks for the pic

      Delete
    3. levis13 April 2014 at 09:07

      The bass control works perfectly with C50K.

      Delete
    4. Unknown13 April 2014 at 09:22

      Rev Log was exactly what I was thinking of trying first. Thanks a lot for confirming! I actually thought of doing that the next time and mentioned it in my last post but I forgot to try it with this build :D
      I was asked to do another one in a few weeks so I'll give it a go.

      Delete
  9. Angelo Serravalle14 April 2014 at 17:09

    Hey, Dude. Take a look at this thread on the brazilian diy forum abou an idea of mine. http://www.handmades.com.br/forum/index.php?topic=6294.msg141653#msg141653

    The text is in portuguese (pt-br), but the idea is basically make a TS808 clone with 100Hz cut/boost (bass) and curve control (like the Way Huge Green Rhino) and a complete way to choose lots of clipping sets.

    The ideas are based in this two articles: 1) http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/richardo/distortion/ and 2) http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/tstech/tsxtech.htm

    It's unverified, but i hope chose between soft or hard clipping; 1, 2 or 3 diodes on the symmetrical key; and choose between six types of clipping diodes for each one, using a 2 pole 6 position rotary switch.

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  10. joelshep322 May 2014 at 22:05

    Mark, do you know a good value tone pot to use to get a treble control with the same sweep as the bass control?
    Thanks!

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    1. IvIark22 May 2014 at 22:59

      Experimenting with the 220R and 220n at Tone 2 will alter the frequency, or if you like the Timmy controls, you could build it with a Timmy treble pot instead of the conventional TS control, as in the new layout I just added.

      Delete
    2. joelshep322 May 2014 at 23:29

      Thanks, I didn't see the second layout option! ;-D

      Delete
  11. Ross Henning14 September 2014 at 05:26

    I built the version with the bass and treble control. Turns out that the treble control as listed is backwards. After reversing it and swapping out the linear pots for both bass and treble with reverse log versions for each, everything seems to be working well.

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  12. roccster20 October 2014 at 09:37

    Just built the first one with bass control. First time I built a pedal that worked perfectly on the first try :D Was verry thorough and checked everything 2 times before hooking it up. Great pedal!!

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  13. Squirrels19 July 2015 at 16:56

    If I wanted to add a diode selector switch to this, could I just put the diodes on a switch and wire it to where the diodes are on the board?

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  14. iep29 July 2015 at 08:29

    I know I am looking for the moon on a stick here but is it possible to get a copy of the actual schematic? I should probably sit down and trace it myself but thought I would ask.

    I'm curious where the bass/treble controls are implemented in the signal path (pre/post clipping). In particular, would the bass control have a similar effect to the 100Hz control on the Way Huge Green Rhino Mkii?

    Thanks for the great site.

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  15. Unknown16 February 2016 at 16:03

    If I use an polarised cap for the 1uf on the bass control. Does it matter which way around it goes?

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  16. Anonymous19 May 2016 at 12:38

    Built one of the 'Timmy' ones this week and modified it for bass - replaced the 0.47nf for a 1µf (non polarised) and reduced the gain significantly by replacing the 51kΩ fixed resistor with a 5k6Ω fixed, and used a 47kΩ Log pot for the drive.

    Lovely.

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  17. Unknown8 July 2016 at 05:51

    I just tried building this (it's my second pedal, and much more complex than the fuzz face I cloned for my first). The bypass is working properly, but I'm having problems with everything when I turn the effect on. About the only thing that works is the status led - other than that, I'm getting no sound from my guitar going through to the board. The only sounds I do get are occasional squeals and oscillations as I move the board around to check if anything is shorting out. I'm going to try making a new board with a scoring tool I just got from small bear and move the components over tomorrow. However, if that doesn't work, any suggestions for what the issue might be? I'm really hoping it's not just a simple short somewhere...

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  18. Unknown10 July 2016 at 04:59

    Never mind, I fixed the issue by moving the components onto a new board (cut a bit cleaner), and putting a fair bit of electrical tape over bare wires throughout the circuit (specifically the bottom of the footswitch). I didn't have a chance to test it out at a higher level tonight, as I finished pretty late. However, even at lower levels, it's definitely a tube screamer! With a thicker low-end if I so desire! Can't wait to fire this up after work tomorrow :D

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  19. Kitarist12 July 2016 at 05:11

    Does anyone have schematics for both layouts? Would be much easier to see how the tone control is implented.

    Thanks!!!

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  20. Zombie1119 October 2016 at 15:29

    I have a question! Why are both the ts808 filter (4,7K and 47nf) and the timmy filters (3,3k and 39nf+1uf) present in these circuits? Couldn't you just lose the TS filter?

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    1. Zombie1119 October 2016 at 20:30

      I just lifted the ts808 filter from it and it sounds better I think!

      Delete
  21. Unknown13 November 2016 at 21:36

    I'm getting a pretty low volume on this one. Unity at 9 and only a slight boost at 10. Seems like less volume than other screamers. Any recommendations? I checked all pot values.

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    1. Zombie1118 November 2016 at 22:00

      Same here. Volume seems low

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    2. Zombie1118 November 2016 at 22:07

      Might have something to do with the second half of the opamp being used differently and the diode combination (two diodes is less loud than the timmys 4 diodes)

      Delete
    3. Zombie1119 November 2016 at 10:53

      And I was thinking of our problem and came up with this: The TS808 has an active tone control that actually levels off the -6db volume drop caused by the filter before it (this filter is ajustable in the timmy, we know it as the treble control)

      The timmy does not have this, solely relying on the extra volume of the diode pairs to level this out. The opamp behind is just a buffer with a gain of 2 (3,3/3,3 + 1 = 2)

      So the solution would be to alter the 3,3K pair so it becomes a gain makeup stage

      Delete
  22. Teddeeh16 April 2017 at 20:09

    So i built the one with timmy tone and bass and barely get a signal through. I noticed the first one has an extra cap under the ic? I ther is sound, the controls are responsive but its insanely quiet.

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  23. Unknown9 November 2017 at 01:48

    Hi,

    Here is a newbie question. On the TS808 with bass layout image, is there a reason why the 51p capacitor is a different color than other other ceramic caps? Is it a regular ceramic cap?

    Thanks

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    1. mirosol9 November 2017 at 05:40

      Basically no reason. You can use what type of capacitor you want. For most of us drawing the layouts, we're using "ceramic cap" image for values under 1n as those values are more commonly available as ceramic or MLCC - and those are more common to have 2,54mm pitch.
      +m

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    2. Unknown9 November 2017 at 16:33

      Thanks much!

      Delete
  24. Unknown12 October 2018 at 16:15

    Hey Mark, Do you happen to know what the JHS strong mod is for an 808? I have an 808, and my friend has a Bonsai, and the strong mod is by far the best one on that Bonsai. I'd love to do the mod myself, since I have a drawer full of parts.

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  25. Mojo32112 October 2018 at 16:17

    Hey Mark, Do you happen to know what the JHS strong mod is for an 808? I have an 808, and my friend has a Bonsai, and the strong mod is by far the best one on that Bonsai. I'd love to do the mod myself, since I have a drawer full of parts.

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  26. Unknown26 January 2019 at 19:29

    sdfg

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  27. Unknown26 January 2019 at 19:30

    I made the one with the Timmy Bass and Treble controls and only at the end of the bass pot's travel does the bass come into effect.
    It's like 90% of the pot does nothing.
    Any ideas what I should do?

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  28. Mr.Baiser15 May 2019 at 23:47

    Use a pot with reverse logarithmic taper ( 50k C )

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  29. Unknown13 June 2020 at 22:29

    Timmy version:reverse link treble pot. Treble 1-2, drive2-3 & treble3

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  30. E-Chan6 January 2021 at 11:20

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. E-Chan6 January 2021 at 14:08

      This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. E-Chan6 January 2021 at 14:19

      This comment has been removed by the author.

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  31. Unknown20 January 2021 at 18:34

    Can't say this one worked out for me.
    Treble knob is inverted, treble 1 + 2 go tegether and 3 goes alone, wich is an easy fix.
    Aside from that the volume is so high the second stage op-amp starts oscilating if you crank it up past 12 o'clock.
    Any values I can swap out to tame this and make it less loud and prone to oscilation? About 50% volume would be very useable.

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  32. j-pee28 June 2021 at 14:51

    hi,

    what do you think?

    as to that 39nF,
    would a multilayer ceramic be good, or we should stick to film?

    also, as to the value,
    would 44nF (22+22) or 37 (22+15) be good?

    +1:
    as to the 20nF at the input, I guess 22nF will be okay, or should I use 2x 10nF ? :)

    PS:
    yes, I'll try all these out...
    but with some knowledge -- is the 39nF in the signal path or not? how does that filter work? -- one doesn't have to test blindly, hence my questions

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  33. j-pee14 November 2021 at 17:30

    hi,
    I've built it but haven't tried (cables are not in place yet)

    could anybody point me to some drawing if this "bass pot addition mod" schematic-wise?
    or just describe it with words in terms of connections? :) :)
    I'd really like to see the schematic of this...

    ReplyDelete

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