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Messages - Strategy

#16
Gordo hang in there - lay low and keep track of your breathing and stay in touch with your doctor as frequently as practical.
I was sick in March but couldn't get tested. I probably caught it pre lockdown which came about a week before I got sick. Back in my 20s I had both pneumonia and influenza, and what I experienced this year was like neither, and not like a cold; more like chemical inhalation injury with feverish symptoms and severe exhaustion. There were no tests in my area at the time. I was in peak condition before I was sick, while I was sick I lost 20 lbs during it and now have lingering severe respiratory issues and have had to stop doing sports. (I'm 44) My life is changed. I have a comprehensive pulmonary function test in December. I have been cleared for heart damage supposedly which is great news so I consider myself lucky. My insurance through work is low quality and I have $1000's in medical bills
If anyone reading this was wondering if it's "real" or think it can't happen to you...guess again
Sorry if this is a downer it's just been a real year.
Strategy
#17
I've messed with translating modular synth circuits to a pedal format. There are a couple of very small (relatively) bipolar supplies. Synthcube sells the Music From Outer Space Wall Wart PSU, I've used it for this. An issue is that synth circuits expect higher than line level signals so you must amplify going in and attenuate coming out.
Note, the Wasp VCF (many versions) can be powered from +9v and sounds GREAT as a pedal. Very easy build, super musical, using all standard parts.
Strategy
#18
General Questions / Re: Pepper Spray debug
October 04, 2020, 04:17:47 AM
OK! Need to order some tantalum's in the correct values and swap parts out, will circle back after I get the build updated
- Strategy
#19
General Questions / Re: Pepper Spray debug
October 02, 2020, 09:44:57 PM
Update: swapping in my spare 2n404a and 2n3565 give slightly better results but low volume issue persists.
thanks!
Strategy
#20
General Questions / Pepper Spray debug
October 02, 2020, 07:00:58 PM
Sorry if this isn't the right subforum! And, I did some searching before posting.
Built a "stock" Pepper Spray, older single-sided etched board version, with a couple variations
- Electrolytics instead of tantalums
- .56u in place of the .50u capacitor (I think..don't have it all in front of me)

The 2n3565 is the gold legs type, Small Bear, 2n404a is the metal can type, Small Bear.

I get action here but it's super quiet. Harm, Bal, and switch work as they should but noise floor is high and I have to crank my amp to hear it. Sounds cool, like I'm in a Touch n' Go label band from the late 90s. But way too quiet.

- I do not have a way to measure hfe on my transistors; I've built some fuzzes but nothing requiring that level of science.
- I have spares of each transistor, I guess I should try swapping them out.
- I cannot figure out the pinout of the 2n3565. Flat side and pins do not correspond in an obvious way. I've tried putting it in two different ways with no differences in performance.

Percolator experts, what obvious issues should I look at / what noob type mistake have I made / etc.?
While folks answer this I guess I'll go back in my garage at some point today and swap out the transistors and see what happens.

So grateful for your all's help.
Kindly,
STRATEGY
#21
OK, I'll check it out. Also, I'm going to go back and see what potentiometer I used for Feedback. The sweep behavior strongly indicates Audio where a Linear curve really wants to be there. It's like...nothing nothing nothing FEEDBACK! Linear would make a ton more sense...I don't recall what I used; it could be this simple.
Strategy
#22
Hi, actually this is not Aquaboy Deluxe, it's from before that: plain Aquaboy, second version. Someone produced a 2x BBD kludge board that I added. I can't find the docs online anymore...I'll try and post a link here but will have to dig them off an old hard drive
Aquaboy Deluxe was the followup to this, I think its design evolved specifically from the double delay and LFO add-on's people had done with the vanilla v2 version.
Paging Mr Madbean?
Strategy
#23
A family member has been using the Aquaboy V2 I built (with double delay time add on) and sent it back recently for tune up and a couple of minor repairs.
As I'm wrapping it up I thought I should double check the feedback control. Short slapback delays are only available up to about 8 o'clock and then anywhere beyond that is pretty intense, runaway style delays. It's been a long time since I worked on this.
- Is one of the trimmers a feedback maximum? I don't recall it having a feedback internal trim like T1 in the Aquaboy Deluxe, but maybe I'm overlooking or just can't tell from the docs.
- Do I get a more commonsensical sweep by maybe switching to an Audio taper pot?
- Or is the stock feedback just designed to go from zero to "jam section of Live at Pompeii" wild in a very slight knob turn?
thanks,
Strategy
#24
OK here's some images; was wrestling with image posting. Note that I ran out of TL074's so used TLV274's, which seem to work fine - it does phase, and the LFOs work great, and the only control that doesn't seem to work is the Vib/Phase switch. I just have to crank up the volume on my mixing desk to hear it. But I have some TL074's on order in case that's an issue. The low output issue happens with the TL074s as well as with TLV274s.




#25
QuoteNo apology necessary, info everyone needs to hear.

Any idea or strong suspicion from whom or where you may have contracted the virus?

All the best in your recovery!
dave

Thanks all for the kind responses, it's appreciated.
No idea where I could have contracted it. I know people who have had confirmed or suspected Covid cases, but none of them are people I had seen in person for many weeks, or they don't live in the same city as I. I work in the downtown of a major metropolitan area, and through the winter weather I was taking public transportation a lot (I bike in spring/summer/fall), so I was in cramped light rail for almost two hours a day. It could have been anywhere: restaurant, at the office, in the train. Based on the science I'm guessing it was an enclosed space with inadequate air flow and tight / nonexistent personal space bubbles. If my wife, or the youth we look after were asymptomatic carriers I could have simply gotten it from one of them at home.
- Strategy
#26
Sorry for the long post, but thought this share might be interesting to some:

I had a "mild", "presumptive" case of COVID-19 in March, and have resulting chronic health effects that lasted beyond the initial illness. I was extremely lucky to not be hospitalized but the experience was still terrifying and very touch-and-go, with lots of missed work time and each day trying to decide whether the situation would elevate to an emergency. The state I live in, Oregon, had a coordinated rapid distancing response but the downside was that testing was not widely available around here really until mid-May, so I could not get tested during the initial 'virus load'. I met with my doctor on "telehealth".

When I got sick I was literally in the best shape of my life, running 3k three times a week and doing serious circus arts training/conditioning (acrobatics stuff). I'm 44 with no underlying health issues. Since I "got better" from the illness I have had chronic shortness of breath and asthma or COPD-like episodes of severe wheezing, and inexplicable bouts of extreme exhaustion. An Albuterol inhaler has been a lifesaver. I can almost pretend I'm normal but if I do any exertion, I get a "hangover" of chest pain, lung pain, shortness of breath and wheezing cough that can last several days. Walking my dog one mile leaves me sweating, like going for a run.

It has been hard to get people to believe that I still have long-term effects, giving me a new insight and empathy into the experiences of people who have "invisible illness" like chronic pain, chronic fatigue, psoriatic arthritis, crohn's disease, etc. I typically stay away from random online health information and channel all info through my doctor, but this Atlantic article from last week made me really feel "seen" and it was uncanny to read of similar experiences by others https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/06/covid-19-coronavirus-longterm-symptoms-months/612679/

I had an antibody test in early May that turned up negative for Covid-19, so since i could not be "ruled in" for that, my doctor has put me under a barrage of tests to rule out heart disease, severe new allergies, liver problems, etc. I have turned up negative for all of these, so we have gradually turned back towards considering this a Covid case, that it's possible that the negative antibody test result is simply a result of the tests' inconsistency and high error rate (which has been fairly widely reported: it's brand new science with no centralized coordination of methodologies etc.). I am going to get an echo-cardiogram to check for heart damage, which some people can get from Covid. I've previously had bronchitis, pneumonia, and influenza (back in my 20s) and FWIW the illness I experienced in March was like none of those things. Pneumonia that I had really felt like severe chest pressure, very "wet"; my March experience was more like a chemical inhalation injury accompanied by feverish symptoms.

IMHO I feel that the scientific community should focus on preventing infection and death first, but if there is an opportunity to be part of a study to understand long-term health effects for mild cases I think it is important to pursue this and would volunteer myself to be part of such a study.

Sorry this was so long and if it was TMI etc.
Strategy

#27
I'll take some and post later today!
#28
Well: still super quiet
- Checked all grounds for continuity
- Tested footswitch
- Tested phase/vibrato switch
When this switch is set to Vibrato, I get nothing. No signal. So that might be a clue. Additional advice appreciated!
If I find the fault is in my offboard wiring I'll let this be a reminder to myself that this is what I get when I veer off from the project as designed...
Strategy
#29
Thanks! I'll try these
Strategy
#30
I had passed my Doppelganger (AlanP's v1.4 pcb) off to a family member and got it back with a strange issue. It's EXTREMELY quiet. At first I thought it wasn't passing signal but if I plug it into my mixing desk and push the gain up I can hear it is phasing beautifully. Just the whole thing extremely quiet. I have so far:
- replaced op amps
- checked continuity on all wiring
- reflowed some dodgy looking solder joints
Any thoughts on where gain might get sucked away in this circuit/culprit parts? I'm not the world's best troubleshooter so any help is HUGELY appreciated
I'd forgotten how good this sounds and would be excited to get it ironed out.
Thanks,
Strategy