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And say if I want to boost all low frequencies which are <150Hz, then any circuit diagram I can adopt to fulfil the requirement?

Any active EQ circuit should work. It should be a textbook circuit ... you might consider a multipole filter, though, if you are really interested in really limiting it to 150Hz.

As far as CREATING harmonics, especially downward, that's much more difficult. The octave circuit idea I mentioned is one way to do that, but it's not the cleanest thing in the world. Even digital has a hard time creating clean octaves.

Yes on all accounts

Whoa there. Not necessarily. And in fact, if we're talking about this circuit ...



the answer is very likely to be that a reverse audio is the correct taper.

R4 sets the limit on the gain. R4 + the gain pot's value divided by the 1M in the feedback loop will give you the total gain, so it goes from just under 2x (1,000,000/504,700) up to 1,000,000/4,700 = 200x.

Smaller resistances increase the gain, and as the resistance to ground approaches 0, a smaller change in resistance is required to increase the gain. It's a logarithmic relationship. You can see this by setting the resistance at, say, half on a linear pot:
1,000,000/250,000 = 4x (we only have twice as much gain with half a turn!)

And then 3/4:
1,000,000/125,000 = 8X (see how we have TWICE as much gain with only 1/4 turn?

... 15/16:
1,000,000/31,250 = 32X

Anyway, I think you get the idea. The smaller the resistance becomes, the more quickly the gain scales up.

A linear would probably bunch up the gain a lot, and an audio taper will be a very poor choice.

The gain pot in the fuzz face is similar, and most people agree that a 1KC is the correct choice there.

Unless you actually disliked the taper in the pedal to begin with, use the reverse audio again.

I told the guy with the home studio who helped me with the recording that I'd build him a pedal at parts cost for helping me out, so now I'm probably on the hook to build the toughest thing I've built yet for FREE. DOH. I didn't think he'd go there, especially after I told him the parts are at least $250, but he flipped out after he heard it and got a chance to play with it.

Just be upfront with him. Tell him that this sort of project (or any sort of multipedal) was really not what you had in mind when you offered to build him something, and I really think he's imposing on you (and probably knows it). Explain the incredible amount of time it takes to build it and that while you value his time, the exchange simply isn't equitable. I'm sure there are many other things you could build him that sound good.

Hrm, sorta.

-You can generate an octave down (-8va) with analog circuitry pretty easily. Madbean's Lowrider is a good example, and you can dial out the actual fundamental or boost different octaves at different rates. Perhaps not exactly what you're asking about.

-Distortion will generally enhance harmomics already in the signal. Unfortunately, most of the harmonics generated are multiples UP, not down. I guess you could design a circuit that blends (in parallel with the dry) a big signal with a steep frequency cutoff of 150Hz.

-You can, of course, use an EQ pedal or band pass filter to boost certain frequencies. Certainly boosting the low mids would make the fundamental more noticeable than the harmonics ... to a point.

But the problem with any sort stomp box approach is that you're sticking the stompbox in front of a guitar amp, which is in front of the speaker. The cabinet is involved. The amp creates its own harmonics, and if you shove a bandpass into the amp, it's going to see that, amplify the signal accordingly, and generate upper harmonics when the signal clips, and then send it to a speaker and cabinet that are designed to have a frequency rolloff generally around 72Hz.

Heck, most fender blackface style amps ALREADY have a bump in the typical midrange frequencies of a guitar, so you can easily end up making the amp sound boxy rather than enhancing the bass.

Also, note that I'm being a little vague about some things. We don't know what speaker you're trying to compensate for, what "bad" is (sometimes "bad" bass response in guitar cabinets means too much, like in the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, and it can also be volume or gain specific), what instrument you're looking to run through the effect, what amp is involved, what kind of headroom you have, what your final desired overall sonic outcome is, or myriad other considerations. More clearly defining your goals and giving specifics of the equipment and maybe there's something else to consider.

How about "Bento Box"?

I like that. Draw little red squares on it. It would look cool, and you can put the three different foods in them.

If you don't use that name, I will.

pork, eggs, and sea urchin?

I think the Japanese would love to have this pedal for dinner.

Measure the 856s to be sure. They should be closer to .7-.8V.

The 1588s look right and they're not nearly as rare, so a fake is unlikely (and they're direct 4148 equivalents anyway, so even if they're fake they'll basically act the same).

~4:11: "holy @#$!#" moment.

you don't have a volume external ... isn't there a volume drop in vibe mode? There was on the Cosmo, but that was a slightly different setup. (Obviously I haven't gotten around to modding my Cardinal yet ...)

Some tunes were literally one or two note overdubs

Seriously, those are the best. I mean, sometimes that one note has to be there, but it's a challenge to remember that it's the only one that does ...

He's been known to use the Octafuzz and Astrotone. I also am pretty sure I've seen something where he used a fuzz face. I'd say in that vid it's almost definitely the octafuzz based on the envelope of the note.

Keep in mind a big part of it is going to be running that Casino through the fuzz. You aren't going to get the same thing happening if you're using a strat through any of those circuits, for instance.

No PCB for it yet, but if you really want something different, ICE-9 and Slacker over on DIYSB finished his FV-1 project recently:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=104291.0

Awesome, one of my favorite Bugs cartoons, too.

Is that yellow anodized?

So I must of made these posts like 3 times now and ive started this one as the others are dead lol.

I hope this doesn't sound rude, but among other things, we asked for voltages in the other thread, and you never provided them. The pictures are a good start, but pictures don't tell us much except for things like your polarized cap is backward or if you have a wrong component (at best we can guess about solder bridges, but we can't measure them).

We also linked to the tech help "rules" thread, which provides a large amount of information on how to provide us with necessary details -- including measuring voltages and using an audio probe -- so that we can help.

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=902.0

(Even if we forgot to link to this thread, it's a sticky at the top of this forum, and on any forum you visit it's a good idea to read things that are stickies.)

The debugging process is the same for everyone at all ability levels -- it doesn't change, and it's the same steps any of us would take if we had your circuit in hand. Since we don't have your circuit in hand, you have to take the measurements for us.

Awesome graphic, made me giggle.

Just some thoughts/rambling.

I play 95% clean or "edge of breakup."

The other 5% is almost entirely fuzz. I actually use a Fuzz Face as my main dirt, placed after a compressor, typically with the pregain and gain turned down 20%. It's not super dirty but it's still very touch sensitive and expansive sounding.

There are things fuzz does that simply isn't replicated by any sort of amp, overdrive, or distortion. Amp's can't hit square wave, and very few overdrives achieve the same kind of asymmetry and edge that comes from fuzzes because they're so busy trying to be or blend with amps.

Before I started playing around with fuzzes, I didn't even realize that many, many, many classic distortion sounds are created by fuzz, though not necessarily with the fuzz knob cranked and not necessarily in isolation. They pop up everywhere, even in types of music you wouldn't think would want them.

A lot of fuzz lovers will answer your question by saying that you simply haven't tried the right fuzz yet. Or maybe you're just not in a situation that requires it, or maybe you haven't paired it with the right gear. And sometimes fuzz simply doesn't fit the player.

I'd consider a muff more of a distortion circuit than a fuzz, but there's no real definition of any of this. The Muff is definitely attempting a level of sophistication and politeness that doesn't come to mind when I think "fuzz." It also doesn't have any of the textural dynamics that many vintage fuzzes have ... if you pick softer or turn down your volume into a muff you get ... just about the same thing. If you pick softer into a fuzz face, you get a clean bright note with some harmonic excitement.

I dunno. I think that fuzzes are easy enough to build that you owe it to yourself to see if the one you like is hiding in there. At the very least you should make a fuzz face. I don't recommend building or boxes any of the fuzzes on my "Things I Make" page, and if I were making a list of good fuzzes to build, it would probably include almost every one of them. Even two of the same circuit can sound different. That's sort of the appeal.