Unfortunately, with 10 internal trimmers, I didn't manage to make this layout comfortably fit in a 1590B box like I did with the others.
Original description:
The TRIUMVIRATE is a unique take on a distortion pedal. The guitar signal is first separated into three pathways (lows, mids, and highs) where the range of each is set via internal trimpots. Next, each pathway goes through its own distortion engine, with full control over the amount of gain in each band. Finally, each band is independently mixed together at the end. In short, the Triumvirate is a multi-band distortion, which works great for guitar, bass, synths, even cellos!
You can find more info and schematic on their website here.
Would it possibly fit in a 90b if you redid the layout to use 3x1 multiturn trimmers?
ReplyDeleteI think, in this case, multi-turn trimmers would be a nightmare to regulate.
DeleteTheir pins would take 3x1 rows but the trimmer itself is larger.
It still would not fit in a regular 1590B box.
Maybe it could fit in a 1590BM or BT?
Holy shit, 10 trimmers?? Trimmervirate indeed, wow..
ReplyDelete...not to mention the six off-board pots, too. Cor!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDo you have to time the trimpot by ear? Or is there some voltage to tune to like when biasing a jet?
ReplyDeleteExtract from the VFE Website :
DeleteThere are a host of internal trimpots inside the Triumvirate. The PRE trimpot sets the gain of the clean boost before the gain stages. Crank it for insane levels of distortion, or back it off to make the Triumvirate more of a multiband overdrive. The CUT control affects a master treble cut filter that smooths out any distortion artifacts. Crank it for extra bit, or pull it back to really smooth out the top end.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteId build this just for that sexy line of trimmers! Lol
ReplyDeletewould a tl074 work in this?
ReplyDeleteHey this is similar in concept and execution to the zorg glorious basstar isnt it?i have made a couple of those for my two favorite local bass players they love them
ReplyDeleteHey this is similar in concept and execution to the zorg glorious basstar isnt it?i have made a couple of those for my two favorite local bass players they love them
ReplyDeletehow would I add an 'over all' volume to this? as if 6 knobs aint enuff.
ReplyDelete1) build complete. It passes a clean signal. Break time. Back in a few to see if (as Mr. Wilder would say) "It's aliiiiivve."
ReplyDeleteUGH! I 'm using TL084's..is that maybe why no effect signal at all. no debugging yet as I built the board with the pix downsized and attached. probly my 200th build too so joints look good. 7660s is good. again can I use 074's/084's theoretically speaking?
ReplyDeletevoltage settings on trimmers??
ReplyDeleteJeff, i think you need TLE2074 ICs for this not TL074s.
ReplyDeleteGotta order a few. Do you have it working?
ReplyDeleteI think TL074 may sound slightly different but should still work. Do you have voltages?
Deletealiexpress you can get 10 for 9 dollars.The tle2074 is a way better chip and sounds a lot better. It has much more range for gain and EQ
DeleteI agree.
DeleteCould use TL074 just to test it while waiting the original ICs.
if someone here has time and interest, I would love to get the multiband outs separately, and make a pedal of that (without the distortion part) = one input, three outputs so I could use the multiband outs to drive different fuzz/overdrive/distortion/chorus/compressor chains.
ReplyDeleteFrom the schematic:
DeleteBASS MOD - Double the value of LOW, LO MID, and HIGH
trimpots. HI MID trimpots are 5K & 50K. PRE trimpot is 5K.
BOOST MOD - Remove all clipping components. Change
GAIN trimpots to A100K.
has anyone built this and have it working??
ReplyDeleteSo built this up using TL074s and it worked but it was very glitchy and didn't sound correct. Had one spare TLE2074 so took the other one out my VFE Dark Horse and it sounded a lot better. Still has some glitchiness but those trimpots are a challenge in themselves.
DeleteCheers Alex & VFE
Ok, got something weird going on. The pedal seems to power off by itself and makes a thump sound and then powers back on again. Only does it in a millisecond but its really annoying. It also only seems to do it with bassier strings. Checked all the usual culprits, shorts, component placement, etc. but no luck. Any ideas?
DeleteDid you double check the schematic?
DeleteShould be ok but you never know.
What are your voltages?
Should the circuit from the IN not goo to 1k, 220n, 2.2M to ground and then to pin 3 of IC1? At the moment i see it going to pin 5. Is that correct or am i missing something? Also should the 220n, 22n and two Lo Mids not go to pin 5? Sorry if this is BS as my schematic reading skills are quite basic.
DeleteNot a stupid question.
DeleteI just swapped pins to draw a smaller layout.
Swapping pins 1-2-3 with 5-6-7 would give the same result.
I do it most of the time.
Schematics come from PCBs most of the time.
Sometime changing IC's pins helps drawing a smaller layout.
Haven't a clue what happened but all the problems just vanished when i plugged it in. Must of had a rogue bit of copper or something floating about. Still get an unusual random tick in the background when pedal engaged but not playing. Other than that it seems verified.
DeleteMust add after playing for a bit that its a very useable and tweakable distortion which IMO has a really nice sound. Found the tick is only present when Bass Gain is maxed.
DeleteThanks Alex.
Hi Gavin.
DeleteCan you try to sub the 10uF cap at the bottom of the board with a bipolar 10uF cap to see if it fixes your problem?
That's what Brian suggested but I thought it was a regular elctr. cap on the schematic.
I've been waiting for this!!!! Now to see if it sounds exactly like my 1st-Gen or my Final-Run Triumvirate.
ReplyDeleteCheers Alex. Will need to order some in.
ReplyDeleteHi, from France! First post here, great site, i took a lot from it, huge thanks, you're awesome! I just want to try to help back, as i noticed a cut missing, IMHO (i'm no master builder at all, but for me it worked!). I experienced problems with alimentation, sound cutting off, kinds of chopping tremolo, strange behavior in general, and i found something: to me, pins 7 and 8 of the down 2074 (outputs to the pre trimmer, and to the bass transistors) shouldn't be connected, there should be a cut in between, just above the 220n cap to the left of the low 1 trimmer. Anyway, it worked for me... Hope it helps!
DeleteThanks,mate!
DeleteYou are right. There's a cut missing there.
I'll correct it.
I believe the cathodes of D3 and D5 and the anodes of D4 and D6 should all be connected to one other.
DeleteThe simplest fix is to add a bridge across the D4 anode and the D5 cathode. Or, move the D3 cathode down 1 row and create a double link so to speak from the D3 cathode (now on row 4) up one to row 3 (where the D3 cathode used to be)