I haven't bought a pedal in years and the demos for the 'Urei 1176 in a stomp box' made this thing sound irresistible and now it's in my house.
I've played with it for about 4 hours and have to declare: Hype deserved. It's huge and expensive, but the tone and performance is amazing.
Early observations:
It's HUGE! I included a pic with a 1590b for scale. I mean, I knew it was big, but I didn't know it was going to be BIIIGG.
The input 'buffer' has quite a bit of gain and lots of color. It came in buffered bypass mode and it was immediately obvious this wasn't my normal bypass tone. I moved the jumpers to go to true bypass since I need to test other pedals.
It's not completely silent like my favorite optical compressor, but it's close - not anything like OTA comp noise.
Headroom isn't as high as I would like, even running it at 18V. Being able to adjust the input gain is nice. When I was taking the gut shot pic I moved the gain reduction jumper over one space, so I'll see what that does.
It's got a blue 3PDT in there, which I don't like at all. I won't be turning it off much, so what's the difference, right?
I think I counted 34 transistors - 4 SMD. Lots of BC547 and that top row of 2n7000 is all for the LED light show. Build quality is excellent - all metal film resistors and Kemet caps.
SO, you gonna trace that thing, buddy?
Duh, of course - when I can do without it long enough to take it apart ...
There are some test points around the board and you can see it's a monster, so I'm not promising any results.
(http://cl.ly/image/1s2V3J0c261P/IMG_20140813_131310.jpg)
(http://cl.ly/image/3c192j2e053a/IMG_20140813_131513.jpg)
Jason... your review seems kind of ironical.
You start by saying that you enjoy the pedal and the hype is deserved... then you follow that up with 5-6 complaints about it ???
Just an observation but... as long as you are happy... Money well spent brother!! ;)
That looks/sounds seriously impressive. Serial number on the front is cool. Looking forward to hearing more about this as you move past the honeymoon.
Looks great.
Pretty sure you don't need to do a bunch of work tracing it, though -- the Urei 1176 schematic is pretty easy to find. :)
Quote from: midwayfair on August 13, 2014, 06:07:44 PM
Looks great.
Pretty sure you don't need to do a bunch of work tracing it, though -- the Urei 1176 schematic is pretty easy to find. :)
Aha. Exactly. I'm curious where it deviates!
Quote from: Govmnt_Lacky on August 13, 2014, 06:02:26 PM
Jason... your review seems kind of ironical.
You start by saying that you enjoy the pedal and the hype is deserved... then you follow that up with 5-6 complaints about it ???
Just an observation but... as long as you are happy... Money well spent brother!! ;)
Gotta try to evaluate it from a builder's perspective and get my criticisms out there. World didn't need another fanboi post on this thing. It really is a whole different animal from anything I've bought, built or breadboarded.
Pretty sure that set at 20:1 you just need to think of what you want to play and the notes explode in your amp! :o
Always nice to have the review of a DIYer on products that are hyped. It confirms that i want one. hahaha.
Quote from: jubal81 on August 13, 2014, 06:17:31 PM
Quote from: midwayfair on August 13, 2014, 06:07:44 PM
Looks great.
Pretty sure you don't need to do a bunch of work tracing it, though -- the Urei 1176 schematic is pretty easy to find. :)
Aha. Exactly. I'm curious where it deviates!
Let us know what you learn - I'd be really curious to find out how it's different from an actual 1176 myself.
Sigh. The switch pop is really terrible. I really don't want to mod this thing, but it's bad enough that I think something has to be done.
When I see a really nice looking effect like that and see a 3PDT in there, it makes me sad.
Quote from: jubal81 on August 17, 2014, 04:16:54 PM
Sigh. The switch pop is really terrible. I really don't want to mod this thing, but it's bad enough that I think something has to be done.
Oh yeah! That's sad. :-\
Have you sent an email to OriginFX about it?
Quote from: jubal81 on August 17, 2014, 04:16:54 PM
Sigh. The switch pop is really terrible. I really don't want to mod this thing, but it's bad enough that I think something has to be done.
You could leave the switch wires intact and replace the whole 3PDT with an optotron. If you ever sell it, just solder the wires back in.
Quote from: jubal81 on August 17, 2014, 04:16:54 PM
Sigh. The switch pop is really terrible. I really don't want to mod this thing, but it's bad enough that I think something has to be done.
Is the POP heard in the audio? OR, is it just the mechanical pop that is driving you nuts?
Quote from: midwayfair on August 17, 2014, 07:04:56 PM
You could leave the switch wires intact and replace the whole 3PDT with an optotron. If you ever sell it, just solder the wires back in.
Good call, I think that might be in my future.
@G_Lackey: It's in the audio signal. Builds up over time and after playing for a while gets load as balls.
OK, I have to take back what I said about this pedal being a popper. There was an issue with the buffer/booster at the beginning of my chain. After some experimenting I got it worked out and the Cali76 is a silent switcher. :-[
I actually picked up one of these things a few months ago. I really didn't want to like it - particularly because of its size and the amount of board real estate required - but it really is that good. One of those pedals where you'd blissfully forget that it was even on until you turned it off and realized just how much it was improving things. I'm really bad at describing it other than that everything is simply more pleasing to the ear when it's on.
Try it on acoustic as well. It's killer.
It's earned a spot on at least one of the boards I'm putting together for an upcoming tour:
(http://www.danekinser.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/TouringRigs.jpeg)
NES and Famicon. Kudos sir! 8)
Yeah, I had that exact moment yesterday:
"Meh, what's the big deal? Maybe I should just flip this sucker." Then I turned it off for the first time in a long time and it was instant rededication.
Quote from: juansolo on September 10, 2014, 04:22:30 PM
NES and Famicon. Kudos sir! 8)
Not pictured: N64, Wii, PS3, and Atari 2600. I'm a gearhead in every sense of the word ;D
Hey Jason, did you ever get around to comparing the schematic of this guy to the real 1176? I'm especially curious about how they handle the power, since the 1176 runs on a 30V rail.
Quote from: lincolnic on September 11, 2014, 04:05:39 AM
Hey Jason, did you ever get around to comparing the schematic of this guy to the real 1176? I'm especially curious about how they handle the power, since the 1176 runs on a 30V rail.
I've been really busy with other projects and haven't looked inside again. I'm sure there's no charge pump, so it runs at 9V. I bought the 18V adapter they offer and I've been using that.
Sweet pedal, I've been wondering how it deviates too!
In case you guys haven't read it yet, the Ovni Labs review on this thing goes into the sonic (if not the technical) differences between the units rather thoroughly: http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/cali76.shtml
Recently discovered the Cali76 loves the high-impedance signal straight from the guitar. After all the work I put into the Ant Driver project, too ...
bah.
Not complaining too much, because I'm still in love with it.
Quote from: jubal81 on October 31, 2014, 02:39:21 AM
Recently discovered the Cali76 loves the high-impedance signal straight from the guitar. After all the work I put into the Ant Driver project, too ...
bah.
Not complaining too much, because I'm still in love with it.
I was hoping for the comment from you "I'm tired of this thing. Its coming off my board and I am going to trace this bitch!"
lol
Cody
Dane, I love your console collection ^^
The mighty Amiga 500 was better ;) best games machine of it's time. (Did anyone EVER use it solely for productive purposes? Gods was an amazing game...)
More on topic, that's one complex compressor
Quote from: eldanko on September 10, 2014, 04:24:07 PM
Quote from: juansolo on September 10, 2014, 04:22:30 PM
NES and Famicon. Kudos sir! 8)
Not pictured: N64, Wii, PS3, and Atari 2600. I'm a gearhead in every sense of the word ;D
I am a console whore also.. I have slowed down considerably over the last year with the collection but its still all there. I play my Candy Cabinet more then anything since its easy to just sit down and play.
(http://www.evolvingconsole.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Arcade_Consoles.jpg)
Cabinet
(http://www.evolvingconsole.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/20120113-105949.jpg)
I am always up for trading for gaming stuff if you are looking for something.
Cody