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Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Wattkins RF Drive

Yet another Dumble-in-a-Box slightly modified Zen Drive but always worth adding these to the library.  I think this is purely a DIY project though and not something that has ever been sold commercially.

Worth building for those who like Zen's and its derivatives I would say.



17 comments:

  1. HNY Mark and Miro and all fans of this site!

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  2. Lee Oswald here.

    The 1N5711 don't look like clippers, am I mistaken?
    What can I use in place of the 5711 that has a similar
    or the same threshold?

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    1. Yes they are clippers in a asymmetrical arrangement with two 1N4148. I bought some a couple of years ago from here and haven't used them for anything yet, so it was a bit of good luck for me.

      They are schottky's though, so if you want to try something similar then you could try BAT41, BAT43, BAT45, BAT46, BAT85, IN60 (schottky not germanium version), or even the 1N5817 which we often used in out layouts for polarity protection. Or if you're not so bothered just try normal silicon diodes, or LEDs and experiment.

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  3. Where can the schematic be found?

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    1. Thanks Mark.....yep, that's a Zen, alrighty.

      I just built a variation called the KOi Drive (KO amps) with a few different values. Very nice tone, indeed.

      http://www.flickr.com/photos/35422385@N07/8742216363/

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  4. Oh heck. I don't think I can get myself motivated to build another ZD type drive.
    I already have a Zenith Drive PCB I've never done anything with. How different might this bugger
    sound compared to the original?

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  5. No offense |V|ark, thanks for the great layout, and all your efforts.

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  6. I want this!

    However, I don't have the 50K pot for the Treble control in hand.
    Can it be replaced by 100K or 20K ? How will the replacement affect the tone?

    Mark, thank you for your work. Happy new year :)

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    1. Put a 100k resistor across the outside lugs of your 100k pot.....presto, a 50k Pot

      Or you can just use the 100k....that's what the KOi Drive variation that I built uses....it will give you a bit more range on the tone

      G

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    2. Geezer, thank you very much for your quick reply :) I will try both of your suggestions.

      Happy new year :)

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  7. Mark, I have built this and it can be verified if the Bass connections are changed to Bass 1 and Bass 2 + 3 rather than as shown because at the moment the bass reduces when the pot is turned clock-wise.
    I used BAT85 instead of IN5711 because thats what I had (!) and I used a 4580DD rather than a TL072 because I preferred the sound.

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    1. That's excellent thanks. I'll update the layout and tag it :o)

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  8. can anyone post a few pictures of their build (insides)? novice builder here and want to make sure I'm on the right track.

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  9. Funnily enough, a friend of mine did the original PDF file linked in this thread.

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