madbeanpedals::forum

Projects => General Questions => Topic started by: guile on June 17, 2018, 06:09:05 AM

Title: Mad professor Sweet Honey based on what circuit?
Post by: guile on June 17, 2018, 06:09:05 AM
I'm wondering what the Mad professor Sweet Honey circuit is based on. Is it based on a TS or more RAT like?
Thanks
Title: Re: Mad professor Sweet Honey based on what circuit?
Post by: somnif on June 17, 2018, 06:12:06 AM
Given the name I would assume its based on the Honey Bee overdrive (from Bearfoot FX) but I will dig a bit and see if I can find some specifics (IE, once I'm not on a phone!)
Title: Re: Mad professor Sweet Honey based on what circuit?
Post by: guile on June 17, 2018, 06:19:28 AM
Could this be of any help?
Title: Re: Mad professor Sweet Honey based on what circuit?
Post by: somnif on June 17, 2018, 06:39:45 AM
Hmm, well, its definitely got both Screamery (soft clipping in the opamp feedback) and Ratty (hard clip to ground)  features.

The tone section is a bit odd though, as its kinda tied into the gain stage feedback loop, and the second opamp stage is just confusing me (I guess its just to add a little asymetric flavor, but... why do it that way).

That said, its not as close to the Honey Bee as I thought it would be. The Bee wears its Rat heritage on its sleeve, whereas this thing is much more amalgamated.
Title: Re: Mad professor Sweet Honey based on what circuit?
Post by: guile on June 17, 2018, 07:48:57 AM
Thanks. So i'ts a Rat Screamer? 
Title: Re: Mad professor Sweet Honey based on what circuit?
Post by: somnif on June 17, 2018, 08:21:05 AM
Quote from: guile on June 17, 2018, 07:48:57 AM
Thanks. So i'ts a Rat Screamer?

Its... Odd. Its a bit closer to a Screamer than a Rat, but not super close to either. The Tone section in particular is just wacky, the way its set it will affect both frequency and gain, so you'd end up altering what frequencies are getting preferentially clipped in the soft clipper. The output stage is closer to the Rat than the screamer, but uses that second opamp stage with its fix gain and one-way clipping rather than a simple JFET to get the job done.

So, in short, its... different. Without the interesting "Focus" control it doesn't have much terribly "innovative" about it. Using both soft and hard clipping is a bit unusual, but not unheard of. The fixed gain and asymmetry of the second stage has to be a personal touch by the creator, so nothing too mojo-tastic there.

So yeah, its a bastard child of a half dozen designs with a bit of cleverness in the tone knob. Note I have no idea how that cleverness will actually sound, as I imagine having both tone and gain interacting with one another in one knob could get restrictive in some cases.
Title: Re: Mad professor Sweet Honey based on what circuit?
Post by: guile on June 17, 2018, 11:14:04 AM
Thanks for your explanation.

So it's a Tubed RAT!
Title: Re: Mad professor Sweet Honey based on what circuit?
Post by: ahiddentableau on June 18, 2018, 05:20:41 PM
Definitely a TS varient, but it owes a fair bit to the Klon.  Look at the way the focus control/circuit operates--it's absolutely riffing off of the use of negative feedback in the Klon.  Even the hard clipping is basically the same as the Klon as far as I can see.

I'm basing this off of the schematic on Fred Briggs's site.  By now the entire bee-related school of pedals is so varied that I can only hope that I'm looking at the right one.