If you’re tired of the metal distortion pedals mass produced in Asia, designed by guys in their late 50′s that have no idea how metal sounds TODAY, then you NEED to hear the Body Rot II. In case you hadn’t noticed, metal is what we do… its what we are.
The Body Rot II started off with the heart of the original Body Rot distortion pedal with some added tone shaping EQ… but we knew that wasn’t enough.
With so many boutique companies jumping on the ultra heavy distortion pedal band wagon Pro Tone had started with the Body Rot distortion, we knew we had to create something massive. We knew that the Body Rot II had to be something that would send a jolt to the competition and silence the naysayers. The Body Rot II Continues to do just that.
I think that there is a missing cut under the 100ohm resistor
ReplyDeleteThanks for heads up. That was the case. Now fixed.
Delete+m
i was thinking to build the krank distortus maximus next week.
ReplyDeletei changed my mind. will wait til this gets verified because i'm a newbie.
thanks mirosol!
Good thing you didn't start just yet. There was an error on the schematic i did this from, but it was fixed recently. Ive updated the layout and it *should* be safe to build now.
Delete+m
Well, maybe you convince me to do it... hehe. i'll do it one of these days and if it works maybe you can tag it, ha.
Deletecheers from argentina mirosol, always enjoying your noisy layouts.
Go ahead. I'll be here if you run into issues :)
Deleteyou can use 20K lin pot for the highs and any LM386 for the chip. There are a number of different ones out there (LM386-1, LM386-3, LM386-whatever), but they all should work fine here.
Cheers from sunny finland :)
+m
Wellll. I've tried to get the components. i've found a mix of metalfilm and carbon resistor. maybe in a week the store will have all metalfilm... question 1: should i wait??
DeleteAlso some values are not the same nor closer: for the 430k and 43k resistors i've got 470k and 47k. What do you think?
And for the 2.2k resistor i have a 1/8w metalfilm or a 1/4w carbon, and don't know which use.
For the 2k pot i have a 5k. this is just a pot, i don't think THIS will be a real problem....
A sea of questions. Everybody starts as a newbie =P
Thanks Mirosol! (or anybody who wants to help me)
Resistor type doesn't matter that much. The build will just look nice with the same type for all. It doesn't make a difference to sound. 47K/470K will also be fine.
DeleteIf the 5K pot doesn't feel right you can always swap it later :)
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Hello miro! Today I've finished the board before go to work and tomorrow will do the offboard wiring. It has to work because at night i have a recording session and wanna try it!
DeleteI have another problem (and wish it's the last one): i couln'd get polyester 330nf caps, so i used a 100nf with a 220nf in parallel. It's that right??? If not i'll have to use some multilayer 330nf caps.
Thanks miro!
ps: I've built things like easyvibe or echo base and never had so many problems with the components as with this..... Damn Protone! =)
no problem with that too.
Deletegood luck tomorrow!
Thanks ¿greek? man! =)
DeleteMultilayer is also ok, but there's no reason why those two in parallel wouldn't work too.
Delete+m
Very tight mate. I knew you were going to do this :o)
ReplyDeleteHeehee. I wonder why :)
DeleteIt does sound good and it has a lot of gain for circuit this size. Original is just too big and it's built like it is. So on this one the cloning may be a better option than buying the original. Sad. But true.
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Plus i love the fact that ProTone Pedals is taking credit for offering the very first high gain metal distortion in thee bootweak market :P
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Anyone able to direct me to the schematic for this? Thanks for posting it. Keen as.
ReplyDeleteHow about checking FSB?
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Deal. (Insert hand shake)
DeleteMight want to look at where Bass1 and mid 3 hook up to the board........ it don't look right.
ReplyDeleteHeehee. Yeah. I know. I sometimes do pot connections like that when there are a lot of connections not actually connecting to the board. One could omit that and replace it with a note "Bass 1 to Mid 3". But since i like to have my wires soldered to the board instead of daisy chaining them... I may look fishy, but it's intentional.
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Give ya credit........ You had me thinking...... lol
DeleteThat's something i never get away without a comment :) Of course i usually use links to chain those connections, like the Treble 2 and Volume 3 connections. But when there's no room for a link..
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DeleteI forgot it at three in the morning .. Mom said NOISY ...!! This Distorsion is very metal man
ReplyDeletethank miro for this layout
ROCK MAN!!!! :)
Thanks agung! Great to hear this is verified!
Delete+m
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DeleteIs it verified? I just built it and it dosent work correct. The treble pot acts like an extra volume and the mid pot affects both mid and treble. BUT the distortion in this pedal is fucking awesome!
DeleteAgung said today that it is working. You must have some short in one of the treble connections. Or a bad 330n cap. There's no ground anywhere near that pot, so it won't act as a volume no matter what. You can compare the layout against the schematic and the schematic against the PCB on FSB if you want.
DeleteI have no doubt that Agung built it without an issue - which means it is verified. How come that's the first question everyone asks when their boards are in error... I hope folks would do some debugging and backtracing the problem before questioning the labels. If there is an error on my layout, that means that it won't work for anyone.
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ReplyDeleteMy intention was not to be mean. I tagged it in good faith after Agung's comment.
DeletePlease, check your board and compare it against the schematic - the tone stack after the pin 5 of the IC and before volume pot's lug 3 is the one that gives you trouble. I'm going to build one myself as soon as i'm back at my desk. Since it's summer, i'm taking a 1½ week vacation with my wife and i'm currently ~550km away from home. That's why i'm not building it myself right now. If you find anything wrong with the schematic or my layout, please let me know. If there is an error, i will fix it as soon as possible. Currently, i don't see any error in the layout against the schematic, or any error between the schematic and the PCB layout.
Granted. I don't know Agung in real life personally, like i do not know most of folks in the community. If i doubted the people building unverified layouts and confirming they work, this thing here wouldn't work at all. If someone has his board working and the second person doesn't, then there is a chance of something being wrong with the second person's build. It's way more likely that non-working board has an issue than the working board works by a mistake. In this case, doubting Agung shows slight disrespect towards him. If you, Bo, presented an case where one of the connections were wrong on the layout, then i'd doubt Agung too. If my board wouldn't work right after someone else had his already working, i wouldn't question the tag first. I'd debug my build for a while and maybe even compare the schematic against the layout before questioning the tag.
So. Agung - does your tone controls work as they should?
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I give it another try, cause I can't find anything wrong on this build. But that dosent mean there's nothing wrong with it :)
DeleteI printed it out then it still was unverified and build it today, I missed it was verified now. I definitely don't doubt your skills on the layouts, sorry man....I'm more than thankful for all the work you and the others do.
Cheers and have a nice vacation :)
No worries. If you printed it out earlier with the 100R resistor aligned horizontal under IC, then it's bound to be defect. There was an error on the scematic with that one :)
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Fuck :) Well, just finished my second build, same faults, so the first layout I can confirm was definitely wrong :)
DeleteWell, I missed the 100r was rearranged....my mistake. I get a new beer and hot the iron up again :)
100R and 47µ are coming from pins 1 & 8. That's the only difference. You should be able to change the position of the other leg of that 100R...
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...I just rebuild it and ofcourse now it works :)
DeleteBut, the basspot dosent do much after 12'....I don't know if Agung noticed it on his build. Otherwise it sounds and works great!
Great to hear!
DeleteCan you try a 50k log pot for the bass? That could give out a better sweep...
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It works better....so it's recommended.
DeleteIt really delivers a tight, massive distortion, this will replace my other distortions for sure. Sounds much tighter than the Krank D.M.
It may be a log in original too. Thanks Bo! I'll update the taper on layout and let the folks at FSB know it too.
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try 50k log instead linear for bass and tell us what happens
ReplyDeleteschematics??? best regards
ReplyDeleteHopefully this won't appear twiwce but I just wrote that I asked the same question earlier and if you do a search on FSB, all the info is there :)
DeleteI built this one before the 100R resistor was moved and it still sounded great. I've since moved it to where it's supposed to be and it has more gain now.
ReplyDeleteI use mine with a bass so I upped the 4n7 input coupling cap to 100n and it has a ton of low end now and the bass control works ALOT better thruout its entire range. the tapers are fine. this one is definitely verified.
oh, and BTW, I think it sounds way better than a Krank distortus maximus. I think it might be the best sounding LM386 based dirt pedal I've ever heard. this one doesn't have the fizzy decay that 99% of the 386 based ones always seem to have.
DeleteAll the pots work well, I always check all the solder,cut,jumper,all BOM
ReplyDeleteAnd cable lines. Thank you miro for this layout, and ibanes SD9 works well. Living Rock man !!!!
works well but is too noisy, i use 3m9 instead 3m3 and also I've used 4007 for polarity protection , can this be the problem? Thank you miro \m/.
ReplyDeletea 3m9 instead of a 3m3 shouldn't make any difference at all. nor the 1N4007. mine isn't noisy at all though.
DeleteJust noticed , the layout says eight links but I only see seven.
ReplyDeleteOh. I have forgotten to change the label once the layout was updated.. Fixed. Thanks Jeremy for noticing!
Delete+m
Mines quite noisy when connected to the testing rig, Im hoping its quieter when boxed up. How noisy did everyone find theirs on the testing rig?
ReplyDeleteAlso whats the point of bass1/mid3 connection to the vero as its connected just next to a cut?
mine's not really noisey at all.
DeleteMiro just makes a connection on the board to connect those two lugs together. I prefer to just daisy chain them from pot to pot.
"mirosol 9 July 2014 06:37
DeleteThat's something i never get away without a comment :) Of course i usually use links to chain those connections, like the Treble 2 and Volume 3 connections. But when there's no room for a link.."
So daisy chaining is the other option. I just personally have high hate for messy wiring, so that connection is equal to "Bass 1 to Mids 3".
I built one today and boxed it. No excess noise on my build...
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What version of LM386 are you using? I've built mine with LM386N-1 and i've had the original LM386N-3 in there too. Those two work...
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Thanks for your answers, I'm using the -3 but Ive got a -1 and will try that in there. Not sure why mine is so noisy though. I'll post some pics of it when I get back from work
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteThe treble control on my build is very harsh, and I cannot get past 9:00 without my ears starting to bleed...
Can I / should I increase or decrease the value of the 4n7 capacitor connected to Treble 3?
Thanks
Mmm... OK... Must have been a cold solder: I have reflowed everything, and now it definitely sounds terrific. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, and anybody using a combo that is on the bright side like me (an old Laney LC 15R) should consider John K's mod... ;)
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI've built this now twice. The distortion is superb! But i have few concerns or questions...
1: When distortion is dialed to 0, the pedal goes dead silent. No sound. Is it normal?
2: In my builds the Treble and Mid adjusting is unusable above 0. When dialing either above 0, the sound gets really fizzy and sparkly. Any ideas?
I'm using a H&K Tubemeister 5 Combo. Have been going through the wiring and solders a few times but haven't found anything to fix the fizzyness. Bass control however works good
Don't know about number 2, but the first one is a feature on the original too. You could solder something like 2k2-4k7 in series with gain lug 1 as a workaround.
DeleteI have the original, and i've built a clone too. No unusable settings that i've noticed - If we don't take that gain thing into account.
+m
Hmmm...Tried the pedal with a crappy Marshall MS-2... Sounds OK...No. Sounds pretty much perfect. EQ works as it should too. Perhaps the Tubemeister has some personal issues with this sort of pedal. Very good layout. Thanks!
DeleteHi,
DeleteIt's probably because of your amp and settings. I use a Laney LC15R (small tube combo on EL84s, just like you), and though I can dial in a bit of mids and treble, I won't go past 10 o'clock for the mids, and barely add any treble, about 8 o'clock, just to move out of muddiness, but I very quickly fall into harshness. And my ears start bleeding if I hit the 'Bright' button on the amp... :-S
I am convinced the pedal is much more flexible with darker amps, like Marshall MGs, for instance...
I experienced the same thing.. I have to keep the treble near 0 on my Mesa and evh otherwise my ears bleed.
DeleteAbout the pedal going silent when distortion is at 0, there is a really easy fix for this. If you look closely (or at the schematic) you will see that distortion 1 goes to ground. So at zero all the signal is being dumped to the ground, hence the sound cutting out.
ReplyDeleteTo solve this connect distortion 1 to ground with a 1k resistor. You could do it the guitar way, just solder a 1k between that lug and the body of the pot (that connects to ground via the chassis) or any other ground point. That way there will always be 1k resistance and the sound will not dissapear. The big muff distortion control works the same way. I'm not a metal guy but this is on my list to build!
I just saw mirosols post about any LM386whatever should work but just wanted to double check these before I pull the trigger:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.taydaelectronics.com/lm386-lm386l-audio-power-amplifier-ic.html
Thanks in advance :)
That'll work fine.
Delete+m
Thanks +m
DeleteHighly recommended build! I built this and boxed it up yesterday and my initial impressions are very good. This distortion is really focused and mean. Easily as good as the AMT S-1 Preamp. For those who have not experienced that one, it is a superbly capable metal machine.
ReplyDeleteThe body rot is so much easier to build I can tell you if you rip and shred, then build this. Not too noisy at all for the immense gain on tap. The Eq is very good, although I did not have the correct pot values. I used a 1K for mid and a 20K for Treble, also subbed in a 2N4001 diode. Gotta use what you got on the bench Sunday afternoon!
Anyway, Kudos for a great easy layout that delivers far more that I would expect from a low parts count "half hour build". Just awesome. May the gods of metal tone forever smile upon your layouts! Thanks again.
I made this twice now and neither of them work. I subbed the 220uf for 100uf, the 430k for 470k, all 4.7nf to 5.6nf, used lm386L ic chip. The distortion knob increase the hum in my amp but I get absolutely no input from guitar. I did not think any of my substitutions would make this not work at all. Can anyone help?
ReplyDeleteHow can I connect a 2PDT switch?
ReplyDeletei'm assuming that you want to use a 2PDT switch to engage the effect. if you want to have an LED with it use the millennium bypass board and wire according
Deletehttp://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2014/01/millennium-bypass-2.html
if you don't want an led and just want the switch to engage or turn off the effect follow the wiring bellow
http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/faq/dpdtwiring.gif
Hello people!
ReplyDeleteMine works fine. Every pot does what is supposed to.
Only one little big problem: when gain is on a metal high gain usable setting the beast starts to oscillate horribly on low frequencies. This is called "motor-boating", no?
Well, I've found on the net that a 470uF or 1000uF cap from 9v to - on board can help. I've tried with a 470uF with no luck. It's boxed and cables are as short as possible...
Some help please? I can't wait to rock it with my metal band 8-)
hola a todos
ReplyDeleteyo lo hice y no me funciono.... compare con el original body rot II y vi que no son parecidos internamente.... este se me parece mas al KRANK
hi to all
I did and I did not work .... compare with the original body rot II and saw that they are not similar internally .... I think this is more to KRANK
si me pueden ayudar a que este proyecto me funcione quedare agradecido ya que de esta pagina he hecho varios y me han funcionado de una y sin problemas
ReplyDeleteif I can help this project to work I will remain grateful because this product have made several and they worked me over and smoothly
hola nuevamente... agrego fotos del BODY ROT II original y si se fijan tiene 2 transistores y el de aca 1 por eso digo que se me parece mas al KRANK ahi las pego para que puedan replantear el veroboard de este BODY ROT II
ReplyDeleteHello again ... I add photos BODY ROT II original and if you look has 2 transistors and the one here so I say that I think there 's more to KRANK hit so they can rethink this veroboard BODY ROT II
http://mirosol.kapsi.fi/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ProTone-BodyRot2.jpg
http://mirosol.kapsi.fi/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ProTone-BodyRot2-guts.jpg
http://mirosol.kapsi.fi/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ProTone-BodyRot2-guts2.jpg
http://mirosol.kapsi.fi/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ProTone-BodyRot2-guts3.jpg
No he visto el esquema, pero como esto es usar un DPDT de bypass con un LED , voy a suponer que el transistor adicional está siendo utilizado para el bypass milenio.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteohhhh si veo al lado de ese transistor un diodo y si es posible que sea el millenium..... ahora el asunto es porque no me dio sonido??? si todos los componentes son nuevos y no es el primer proyecto que hago... ya que he hecho otros y me han salido de una y sin problemas.....
Deleteohhhh if I see next to that transistor and a diode if it may be the millenium ..... now the issue is because it gave me sound ??? if all components are new and is not the first project I do ... and I've done others and I have left over and no problems .....
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DeleteJust built today and this motherhubbard gots some serious sounds going on. It does squeal a bit inbetween playing when distortion turned to max but I am getting so many different sounds from one pedal goes from very thrashy at low treb mid and bass to doom with low treb mid and high bass and lots of heavy bits going on inbetween. Fallen in love with this pedal but i don't think my neighbours will. Recommend to get your walls a shakin'.
DeleteJust finished this build and it sounds great! Thanks so much for all you do!
ReplyDeleteI am having one minor issue though, when the distortion pot is turned down a bit, the signal seems to fizz out a little bit if you let it ring out for ~7 seconds or so.. Can't really figure out what is causing it. Hooked up to 9v power supply, no battery. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Nevermind, replaced the LM386 and it worked fine. Must've had a bad chip, or fried it?
DeleteI've got a problem. The circuit works properly but when I put treble to max it kicks out all the bass and mids (they don't work at all when treble is turned to max). It seems to start at 75% of treble, when it is at 50% mids and bass work fine so I have no idea. I checked the board 100 times but I discovered nothing
ReplyDeleteHi there! Long time lurker, fourth time builder.
ReplyDeletePedal works.. A treat for the ears for sure. But mine still has issues. I´ve wired it up to my test box. Don´t worry, this is not the final wiring.
As you can see i have daisy chained the tone controls, and all im getting is ear piercing treble, and little to none mids and treble. My pots from the top are: volume, treble, mids and bass, and the leftmost is gain.
Also i get this wierd decay when i sustain a note to the end, and it like "gates" my stuff, and dosen´t sound out small movements. But on the plus side, my usually hum-ridden rig is dead quiet, even when i take my hands of my guitar.
Every component i pretty much right on the money except the 2n5088, wich i replaced with 2n5089..
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Cmlry2tEz0c/VcsfO8adMRI/AAAAAAAAACE/IzDivDDEtNY/w958-h539-no/2015%2B-%2B1
Been building pedals for a while now (got 20+ builds under my belt). I built this Body Rot II using the strip board circuit you have posted. There's something wrong. It's super thin sounding. Something must be shorted somewhere, but I cannot find it. I've sat for a couple hours going over the layout and I cant find anything.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any suggestions? Do you have a schematic available? A schematic would be helpful so I can troubleshoot properly.
Been building pedals for a while now (got 20+ builds under my belt). I built this Body Rot II using the strip board circuit you have posted. There's something wrong. It's super thin sounding. Something must be shorted somewhere, but I cannot find it. I've sat for a couple hours going over the layout and I cant find anything.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any suggestions? Do you have a schematic available? A schematic would be helpful so I can troubleshoot properly.
http://freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=24703
Delete+m
yeap...there is a problem miro
Deletethe 100Ω resistor from pin8 should start from pin5. easy fix Mark.make a new small link from pin5 to the row down, and then place the 100Ω horizontal with a cut under it, so that it connects with the 47uf to ground.
my mistake...now that i've read all comments, i see that i was lookinmg at the wrong schem...ignore my comment
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ReplyDeletegood morning I saw something weird in here veroboard of the product and is different from the one in freestomboxes ; of freestomp it has an additional red box and added to that row one bass / mid 3 is this correct ???? since this version does not have it here and I never worked .....
ReplyDeletehttp://freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=24703&start=20
That connection was my dummy connection to substitute outboard wiring (check the comments above and compare notes below the layout image). It does not affect the circuit function in any way. Number of people have built this circuit successfully (myself included), so it's more than likely that the issue is with your build or components.
DeleteIf you are 100% sure everything is in its place and there are no build errors with cuts or links, double links included - then.. To debug yours, use a probe to see where the signal ends. I would go in this order. Transistor's Collector pin -> IC pin 3 -> IC pin 5. Then. What voltages you have on transistor and IC pins?
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mirosol.....
ReplyDeletethank you very much for answering , I took 3 years building pedals and this is the second does not work me , will watch again and again thank you very much for answering
Built and boxed this today.
ReplyDeleteIt 's really a great layout, but does not have many low.
Thanks Mirosol.
hi all ...... after a long time since I have it saved me did not work ..... check it again and it turns out that when you buy ask the resistance components of 430K and did not give me that , I got a 430 Ohmn ... which I did not realize and so I did not work .... it as not have at hand the resistance of 430K I got in the task resistors 1 / 8W place them in series; bone 100k + 100k + 100k + 100k + 33k = 433K , after this tremendous uffffff gave life and I finally worked ...... ...... ....... lol sounds great
ReplyDelete:)
Delete470K would have probably done it also.
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Is there anyway to get anymore bass out of this?All other controls work good this thing sure does have alot of treble.
ReplyDeleteCheck This out from an earlier comment:
Delete[John Kallas - 11 July 2014 at 09:53 I built this one before the 100R resistor was moved and it still sounded great. I've since moved it to where it's supposed to be and it has more gain now. I use mine with a bass so I upped the 4n7 input coupling cap to 100n and it has a ton of low end now and the bass control works ALOT better thruout its entire range. the tapers are fine. this one is definitely verified.]
You might socket the cap and try some values in the middle, like 56nf, or 68nf. I'm sure you can find a value to give you the bass response you are looking for.
Good Luck!
I've built It but it doesn't sound. You can turn on volume and gain and hear every difference on using eq controls, but it's like that the signal path is missed. Can you guess what's happening? Maybe i've missed some ground links.This is the 20th pedal i've made so i'm not a noob bit i'm not an expert. Hope to solve It soon cause i really like it, i Will use it in my PB.
ReplyDeleteRegards from Italy!!
Hi, I've Just build one, but when I engage the effect I have only an hum that I can modify with pots, no other sound. I've checked all solders, swapped ic and transistor, checked links and cut and everything is ok. I have no idea how to solve. Any suggestion? Thanks!
ReplyDeletehi.
ReplyDeleteUnable to find 2N5088.
Can i Use 2n3799, 2N3811, 2SC1815 this transistors has same hfe as 2N5088.
Thank you.
Made this today using everything in layout wasn’t working at first then realised gain pot was retarded and needed throwing out replaced it and f me what a bad ass distortion super gainy which is what every metal head wants! Mark this as verified \M/
ReplyDeleteCan anyone suggest cap change to let a bit more bass in? I want either more bass and mids or more treble cut
ReplyDeleteThe input cap is 4n7, so up that to 22n or 47n. Also the cap from pregain stage is "only" 10n (coming from Q1 collector). Up that too. Maybe 22n there could be alright.
Delete+m
I just built one with the suggested 22n input & 22n from Q1 - It's a pretty versatile pedal thanks to the EQ. I think I really have a soft spot for LM386-based pedals. They are always so 'over the top'.
DeleteI did a quick search of this pedal and could not find any for sale (or much info outside of the video demo). Thank you! Excellent work, Miro!
Hello everyone,
ReplyDeleteI built this pedal, it works great and sounds great, but I'm experiencing a strong motorboating low frequency noise, even when my guitar volume pot is set to 0.
Any idea of what it could be ? I'm using it with a test box and a Bss 9v power supply.
Thanks
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DeleteHi Guys!! This project is amazing! I did one and it works well as a preamp. How to get a little more bass?
ReplyDeleteSorry guys, I found the answer on comments!! Thanks!!!
ReplyDelete