Showing posts with label Tubescreamer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tubescreamer. Show all posts

Monday, 3 August 2020

Earthquaker Devices Plumes

Long story short, YATS. It's a nice sounding TS variant.

From the source:

Plumes is a unique, all-analog approach to a classic tube-like overdrive circuit offering 3 different clipping voices, loads of headroom and almost three-dimensional clarity that will push your amp over the edge. The reimagined tone control is finely tuned to sculpt low end, clear top end, and focus midrange with blooming sustain.

Plumes is an overdrive based around that classically overdone tube-like circuit you all know, and amps crave. While this particular circuit has been done to death, we here at EarthQuaker Devices brand of special effects pedals think the Plumes offers an original take on the old, tired dead horse everyone loves to beat on. You can’t get enough of it, so we are giving you some more. Doctor’s orders and what not….

For starters, we’ve done away with the sacred 4558 IC and the classic BJT transistor buffers and replaced them with JFET operational amplifiers and raised the input impedance to nearly 10 megaohms! This offers lower noise, better signal integrity and more chime in the high end. We power this OpAmp by taking the 9v input and internally converting it to +/- 9v to give it more headroom. The end result is a more three-dimensional tone with added clarity that really pushes a nice tube amp over the edge. You might notice how those badass leads you’re always ripping will blast over those awful, no good cymbals your drummer is constantly bashing around on. It sounds like diamonds…a million f**king diamonds!

We’ve also added three different clipping options for your consideration. Mode 1 is symmetrical clipping utilizing a pair of light emitting diodes. This is the crunchiest setting the Plumes has to offer. When played through a clean amp, it’ll deliver a reasonable facsimile of that classic black and gold British valve amp tone. If you already set your amp dirty, using this mode will make it filthy. Mode 2 is clean boost mode. This eliminates the soft clipping diodes altogether and leaves you with straight OpAmp drive. This is perfect for pushing your clean tone out in front or driving the preamp of an already overdriven amp into tasteful breakup territory. Mode 3 is an asymmetrical silicon diode arrangement similar to the stock screamer but with more output and clean clarity; the tone some people describe as “transparent”. It’s almost as if your clean tone is blended in with a slightly less clean tone, ya know? Using this mode gives a warmer low-end response and lower output. It’s less hard on your amp and your ears. It’s a classic pleasant tone the whole band can enjoy.

Not enough for you? We’ve also improved the way the classic tone control operates while still leaving it familiar enough to keep you warm and comfortable. It’s still a safe space, no worries in here. It’s now useful through the whole range. The low end is big and clear, and the high end is bright and cutting without killing the mids. Just the right amount of tonal tickling to excite those ear drums yet still give that familiar mid-heavy drive.





Saturday, 8 September 2018

EarthQuaker Devices Dunes

"The Dunes, like the Palisades, is a Tube Screamer variant. Yet it goes a step further from the original, adding a few extra features that go a long way to matching your guitar and pickups, to your amp. The knobs are familiar—Tone, Gain and Volume. In addition, there are three toggle switches that really make things interesting:
Voice: Gives you three tonal differences; MOSFET, Silicon and Normal. These options give you different levels of compression when adding gain, and really change the overall character a lot. The Normal setting has little to no compression if that is desired.
Normal/Bright: Works great when using either darker humbuckers—switch to Bright, or if using single coils, keep it normal. Using the master tone control in conjunction with this switch gives you a lot of useful variation.
Bandwidth: What a traditional Tube Screamer lacks—here, the Dunes gives you the option of adding a lot of deep low end—great for single coils, or switch it back to the more traditional screamer mode, accentuating the midrange, with less emphasis on the bottom end."
PCB and schematic available on PedalPCB website here.



Saturday, 28 October 2017

EarthQuaker Devices Palisades

Original info:
"The Palisades is something we said we would never do… an overdrive based on the legendary TS808! Gasp! The horror! Another tubes creamer?? In 2014?? Really?? After loads of requests we finally buckled. We ran tests with every popular clone on the market as well as several vintage originals, compared, contrasted and took loads of notes. It was exhausting but informative. In the end, we threw it all away, used our ears and came up with what we feel is the most versatile relative of the 808 available today.
With 6 different clipping voices, 5 bandwidth settings and 2 gain channels you will be hard-pressed to not find a setting that will wipe every mid-boosting overdrive off your board. The clipping voices determine how transparent and open or tight and crunchy the distortion is. They will vary drastically depending on where the gain is set, what channel is active and how much bandwidth is being used. The bandwidth sets the frequency response of the distortion and goes from thin, light and clean through fat heavy and crunchy. It may very well be the single most important control the palisades has and what really sets it apart.
Gain A is a lower gain channel with a wider range of grit that is great for strumming open chords. Gain B is a higher gain channel with a tighter range that is great for palm muting and/or shredding solos. The Palisades also has a foot switchable volume boost with adjustable level to take it over the top when you want to throw your foot up on the monitor and rip your sweet leads… or maybe just push the front end of you amp a little harder. Not enough? How about a normal/bright switch to mix and match the overall tone to different amps and guitars. Still not enough? OK then, how about a buffer on/off switch to tighten up the tone and make it sparkle when set to “ON” or warm it up and make it sag when set to “OFF”."
Original FSB thread and schematic (still unverified) available here.


Saturday, 24 September 2016

Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde

This is a verified layout of the Grey Version with an added Bass Boost switch borrowed from V.2
It's basically 2 modified well known circuits in series (TubeScreamer & Shredmaster).
There are 2 versions:
- a true bypass version were you wire two separate 3PDT footswitches in series.
- the original Visual Sound version which uses a Multiplexer Switching daughterboard.
The result should be a much smaller pedal compared to the original.
You can check Strassercaster verified version on the forum section.
Schematic and original thread from FSB are available here.