Saturday 16 November 2019

SoloDallas Storm

"This all-analog unit is a reproduction of the tone enhancing circuitry contained within the most widely used wireless system throughout the 1970's to mid 1980's, the Schaffer Vega Diversity System (SVDS). Emphatic users of the SVDS included Angus Young, David Gilmour, Eddie Van Halen, Carlos Santana, Peter Frampton, Peter Green, Joe Walsh, Don Felder, Elliot Randall, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir... and an endless list of legends who are responsible for some of the best guitar parts ever recorded."
Schematic available here.




36 comments:

  1. Nice layout. Is the FTSW label for the LED going to the Footswitch?

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    1. anyway we could possibly get a nady td-1/ guyatone TO-2/ Westbury w-20 someday? I thought the real tube works would sound very similar but it dosent nor either does the fuchs tube pedal.

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    2. Hi Alex, I think you can tag this verified. I used a diy LDR/LED for the Vactrol and BAT46 was the closest I had on hand. I get some breakup with the limiter pot past 1 o'clock, assuming it must be due to the LDR/LED combo. Or maybe it is supposed to do that? Thank you for the layout!
      Aloha! Mitch

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    4. I resolved my breakup issue, error in my build. I settled on a Yellow LED/LDR combo. Thanks again for the layout.

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  3. I assume output is at level 2 on the pot (I didn't see it in the notes).

    And where would sumthing like this be best placed is a signal chain? Where you would put an eq?

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  5. Also I know a sonic Maximiser divides and deleys part of a signal so its not like this unit, but would you still say its in the same family?

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  6. THANKS BROTHER!
    THis very similar to the preamp compandor in the shaffer wireless that every single rock star used in the mid seventies through the 80's. Its the only thing Angus used for his tone , I am waiting for the nsl 32. I ordered fron china today its gonna take a while i didnt realize it was 30 to 60 day shipping ha ha . i will verify asap

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  7. Hi everyone, could you explain to me how to connect the NSL 32 to the led? The NSL has 4 'legs', of which two go to the circuit, but what should I do with the other two? Can't make it up from the layout. Would be a great help thnx.

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    1. Hi, What is shown on the layout in the shaded area is basically what is inside of the NSL-32. The two "legs" that you mention that goes to the circuit is depicted as the LDR and the other two "legs" are the LED. There should be a colored mark or dot on the body of the NSL-32, that is the Cathode (-) leg of the internal LED. So these two legs go where the LED on the layout is depicted. Hope this helps.

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  8. Definitely verified. Very picky with the ldr led combo. I used a clear green led. With a smaller resistance ldr. Sounds Great. It's a keeper

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    1. Thanks Gregory
      What do you mean by "resistance" for the LDR please ?
      How can you choose the led color ?
      greetings and happy new year !

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  9. Hey sylvain. The larger resistance ldr's are physically larger in size. You need a smaller one. I just had a mix pack lying around. The smaller sized ones worked. The big ones didn't. I use these clear green leds. No clue what type they are. Got them at a local shop that sells nte stuff. There like the led in a computer mouse but green. They work great for every optical effect I've ever made

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    1. @Gregory : BIG thank you !!! If I made this one, I will buy a NSL-32 like the schematic ;-) Not a LDR and a resitor sepatatly ;-)
      Thank you very much !

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  10. Hi everybody !

    In the musikding german store, there is 2 different NSL-32 ref ... with different specs ...
    I suppose the good is the first (because 500 kOmhs is more likely than 25 MOhms for Roff I think ?!!!)

    But can you confirm me please ?

    1) https://www.musikding.de/Silonex-NSL-32_1
    Silonex NSL-32, photocoupler with 4 leads. If of the LED is 40mA, der at If=20mA Ron=500 Ohm, Roff=500kOhm.

    2) https://www.musikding.de/Silonex-NSL-32_2
    Silonex NSL-32R3 photocoupler with 4 leads. If of the LED is 40mA, at If=20mA is Ron=60 - 150 Ohm, Roff=25MOhm.

    Thanks a lot ! Greetings !

    Sylvain

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  11. I'd get them both, and with the one you don't use you can build a circuit to spy on your refrigerator and see if it's your roommate or your dog that's been drinking your last beer.

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  12. I’m not sure if others are having this problem but I used 1n60 diodes and an NSL-32 and getting no squish out of the limiter section. There is no voltage change on the LED, it’s just bright all the time. Are people sure their limiter section is working? I’ve been debugging this for over a month with no progress.

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  15. Hi ! it's not a distortion, but a kind of "booster"
    Mine doesn't create distortion, but give a colour to my tone ;-)
    If your amp is near crunch, the pedal give it a coloured boost to have a little bit more gain, but no disto, it gives this "particular back-in-black tone" ;-)
    (I've used a NSL-32 from musikding Germany, not separatly LED & LDR)
    I think you don't have a pb with yours ;-)

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  17. Built it. Love it. The limiter is very smooth and the boost into my simple valve amp achieves the "Instant Angus" tone....Pity that my playing doesn't.

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  18. Are the 120pf caps ceramics? Thanks

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  19. Great thank you! I still have to double check some stuff at the moment...

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  20. Hi!
    i'm building that pedal :)
    why is the JK-21 100n capacitor drawned differently than the others ? thanks !

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  21. Hi, i'm building this pedal, i have one question : why is the 100n cap at the far right drawned differently thatn the others ?Wich type is it ?

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    1. I think the brown caps are ceramics,the yellow are box type film. perhaps he used a ceramic there because of the smaller lead spacing. I think a film would work also.

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  22. I’ve done also the storm, sounds nice but I have a very loud background noise like white noise. It’s in a box and with shielding wire for in/out jacks. Does this happen to anyone too?

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    1. Yes. See my response below. LM386N chips are inherently hissy. Supposedly, Angus' is also hissy and he uses a Hush noise reduction unit after the Storm.

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  23. So I just built one for me and one for a friend. I substituted 1N5818 diodes for BAT-42 and it worked fine.

    I also reduced the indicator LED resistor to 2K2 as it was too dim and I sent the cathode directly to the switch.

    The LM386N has enough internal hiss that if I attempt this again, I will mod the design for a single op-amp such as a TL072. I tried a negative feeedback (10K + 0.01uF) between pin #1 & #5 which muted some hiss, but also muted the highs. So I removed it.

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  24. Very cool, a little noisy but as expected from an LM386(whatever variant, I tried many). Here is my build:

    https://hgecontraptions.blogspot.com/2023/05/solodallas-storm-booster-v1-clone-143rd.html

    Thanks!

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