Current Lover RD5106A retrofit - WIP

[lars]

First off, I'm shocked I was able to get working RD5106's for a cheap price off Ebay (both of them I ordered worked, so that's a pretty good percentage!). Modifying a Current Lover pcb to accept an RD5106 is not the easiest thing...but it is worth it. All those sounds I recall from Gish and early Smashing Pumpkins recordings are here. There simply is no substitute for Reticon chips, IMHO. They have a special sound all their own, and the RD5106 has that same mojo as the SAD1024.
To be able to shoehorn this thing in, I used the schematic for the 1999 Deluxe Electric Mistress as a guide. The PCB looks a bit a mess (I've used it for lots of experimenting), but it works and sounds great. This is the Electric Mistress sound I always wanted:


I was surprised that EHX didn't add any kind of volume booster on the '99 Deluxe reissue. I tried sound directly off R15 and it had the usual volume drop. I think I could benefit from running this thing at 12v instead of 9v (as per the Deluxe Mistress reissue), so a charge pump may be in the future.

[cooder]

That is some wicked surgery, congrats on the score!

[lars]

Here's the top enclosure shot, I rattle-canned it with a metallic charcoal and put the LED in a "pinhole":

The TZF input and output jacks:

And the guts now in the enclosure:

Now that I've had the chance to noodle around with it more, I can't believe the difference the RD5106 makes in this circuit. It's a different pedal. The Range is actually usable now throughout it's entire sweep. With a Panasonic BBD in there I noticed the Range never seemed right.  It has more of that 70's phased, washed & smeared sound, rather than the 80's metallic chorus sound of the MN3x07. I'll try to get some sound clips up soon.

[cooder]

Awesome! Great to hear it makes such a difference!
Do you have the ebay link where you got the RD5106 chip from? Cheers!

[gordo]

there is something big about how a Reticon chip sounds. I wish you could duplicate it in circuitry or software but it's there. Even to my old ass ears I've never duplicated the Van Halen sound on any guitar or amp like you could on the old mxr with any guitar or amp.

[lars]

there is something big about how a Reticon chip sounds.

These guys agree:
https://www.buffalo-fx.com/flanger/
(not affiliated)