Messages

Cool seems back here.

I noticed that the other day, but it's fine now. I think there was some DDoS issues with your host.

The Xotic BBMB, it's a BB+ with the mid knob from the TS (tone knob) put back in. I love this pedal.

For Screamer circuits my favorite is the BBMB or BB+

That's just lovely work.

Yes, one of my favorite Frank Zappa albums from the "commercial" years.

I need to get my zircon encrusted tweezers and my pigmy pony, wax the floss...

I could go for a Mad Bean SCH-1.

I wish companies would post schematics and things freely like Fender did. I was disappointed in the Maestro relaunch, I was hoping they would reissue the older stuff in more compact pedals but retain the high quality of the originals. Unfortunately that did not happen. I think they have the buying power now to get the parts manufactured again, they can afford to buy 100000 transistors and whatnot easily.

I've only ever owned three of the original Maestro pedals, the FZ-1, FZ-1S and the Envelop Modifier. Even back in the 80s they were rare and expensive. I bought a GGG board for the FSAH and all vintage parts, I'm going to build that soon as it's an awesome unique pedal.

Almost all of them were clones, in big clunky cases with ugly paint colors. They didn't do that well back then, and I don't think they will now. They made some circuit mods to them later on like the compressor, and the feedback control on the phaser which are the two that are pretty cool. I don't see them ever releasing the Flanger as Reticon chips are long gone and Panasonic ones just don't sound the same. The Chorus is meh, another CE-2 tweak.

I do find the fuzz interesting, and I may buy that... on sale. I don't want to pay $189 for it.

I'd test the chips, if they work they work. There's no "half working" or damage from ESD thats partial. Its all or nothing.

I buy from them all the time, they've never done something like that to me. The one time they sent me some wrong parts I respectfully talked to them about it and they replaced them no charge.

Neat. I built one of their Select-A-Fuzz boards. It sounded great and was really high quality, My only complaint is they don't leave room for jacks and switches and use up all the space in a case forcing you to do weird things. If they would spend a bit more time on the boards I would buy pretty much everything they put out.

All the class D stuff is those dumb modules that die and will cease production inside 4 years and then the amps will be landfill.

They were originally push/pull discreet designs. Those parts also are no longer available, but there are subs for them.

Correct that most of it is the pre-amp.

The Beta Bass is very popular with many doom bands too. It has legendary status in certain circles.

I'd rather have a Coliseum 880 for the transistor or the Model T or Solaris for the tube stuff. The 100S and 200S are not exactly classic sought after amps and basically just a single 12AX7 preamp and tone stack tacked onto a Dynaco phase inverter and power amp from their ST-70 hi fi amp. Even then they should have gone with the 2000S for the 60's stuff.

Im still skeptical until I see inside one. The 100S and 200S are going to have circuit changes due to the 6AN8 availability, also KT88 is an odd choice considering they had 6550s originally which are still available. The input jacks are visibly cheap pcb mount ones too, so I image the construction is the same as current production Fender amps. Definitely not paying $3200 for that level of construction.

The lettering and bee are crisp and clear, I'd say for a prototype you got excellent results. Just a little adjustment for the next one and it should be perfect.

Modern wahs use transistors that are too high gain and they tend to sound thin. 200-250 hfe is ideal, not the 500-850 they use now. Q1 should be lower hfe to prevent distortion and to bias correctly. They also use a 100K Q resistor which narrows the range and makes the filter sharper, 68K is compromise, I still prefer 33K. The Q1 emitter resistor controls the sound more than anything else, this controls the overall gain which changes the range of the sweep. If this resistor is too low you'll get distortion, I like it somewhere between 220 and 390 ohms. The original Clyde's had this resistor at 390 ohms, which lowers the range a bit and has a little more gain. The pot controls the feel of the sweep, I actually like the Thomas Organ sweep more than the old ICAR sweep. The inductor plays an important role too, the modern ones just don't sound very good, of them I like the yellow FASEL even though its not really a cup design as the marketing says it is. I have tried the new dunlop halo, imo its not worth the cost. I have not tried the Sabbadius one or any others. Of the old ones, the stack of dimes or original halo are my favorites. The trashcan is also interesting and has a narrower Q I think, at least of the ones that have been in wahs I've tried or repaired. The circuit is similar to a Fuzz Face and that every little tweak changes the sound.