JAN-2003
EMAIL
WWW http://www.analogman.com
Condition grading explained | Custom one-off pedals | noise, and noise gates | Radio Noise | Dating pedals | Expression Pedals | Whammy pedal | Surf/Siren pedal | TS-9 switches | Using multiple TS-9s | Tubescreamer stuff | Modifying a vintage Tubescreamer | Ibanez SD-9 vs TS-9 | Ibanez TS-10 vs TS-9 | Electric Voltages in other countries | E-H Talking pedal | E-H slide switches | E-H deluxe (ac power) effects transformers | Reverse sound effects | Buffers vs True Bypass | True bypass switches | Bypassing a Small Clone | LED addition | Keyboard service | EH Memory Man info | Power supplies, Boss PSA vs ACA | Flangers | Univibe vs Chorus | Analog Delay Chips | New Analog Delays | Fuzz Faces | Boss pedals | Japan vs Taiwan Boss pedals | Foxx pedals | Jimi's pedals | Old MXR pedals | MXR reissue pedals | FAKE MXR pedals | Boss Tone pedals | Volume loss with pedals | Other related FAQ pages
Yes, my standards are much higher than that. All my items are cleaned, inspected, and tested by me personally, and will not be sold until that is done. I clean the effect with solvents to remove beer, sticker goop, and adhesive from old velcro etc. I clean the jacks, pots, and replace the battery clip if it's not in good shape.
This condition grading is purely based on cosmetics. All effects, regardless of cosmetic condition, are in perfect working order, all original, and sound great unless otherwise noted. Here is my rating system :
I rarely sell items in Good condition or less. You will often see items marked EXC++ or NM-. The + and - are used when an item falls between two grades, i.e. exc++ is 8.5 condition.
Building a single pedal is VERY expensive, like when a car manufacturer builds a prototype or show car. A show car usually costs over a million dollars to build, even though the production model costs $20,000.
To build ONE pedal, we have to find the parts (sometimes takes days of hard work to find one obsolete part) then order the parts. Then laying out and building one pedal takes a very long time, as does testing it to make sure it works. But it usually will not work, then debugging can take days.
So it will always be MUCH cheaper to buy an old pedal than to have one custom made, even if it's a REALLY expensive pedal.
That would be fine. But you may want to calibrate your ears to allowable noise limits in vintage time-based effects (Analog delays, choruses, flangers, etc that use a Bucket Brigade chip).
Turn your amp up so it's not too loud but you can hear it well. Adjust the effect for mid-range operation, at the same volume when on as off (if adjustable). Stand 5 feet from your amp and turn the pedal on and off without playing. If there is noticeable "white noise" or crackling, the effect is noisier than I would sell, or I would sell it at a discount and advertise it as "noisy". Ibanez, Boss, etc should have almost no noise. Electro-Harmonix effects tend to be noisiest, with MXR close behind.
I've got a long chain of all analog effects pedals, mostly Foxrox and your own analogman pedals, some others as well. I was thinking it would be a good idea to get a noise gate, since i get a lot of noise when i start turning them on. It seems like there's not too many options, Any recommendations or alternatives?
I don't recommend using a noise gate, it can only hurt your tone. Most even sound bad when OFF as they are not true bypass. A noise gate will have a bunch of circuity that your signal will go through, and can change your tone or not work well with other effects. It also kills your dynamics as it will often be too slow to turn on again when you play gently. You won't be able to hear noise while you are playing anyway, so it is best to turn off noisy effects when you stop playing. Or hit your TUNER to mute your signal, I made three tuner mute boxes for The White Stripes for that purpose, one at each of Jack's stage positions. If you avoid a noise gate you will have better tone. If you were lucky enough to catch Phish, you would have seen Trey dancing at the end of a song to turn off noisy effects. He can afford any noise gate ever made but chose not to use one.
Hope this helps and saves you money that you can use to improve rather ' than compromize your tone.
It is probably your guitar and/or amp, the pedals are just amplifying the ambient hum. You have to do some R & D and narrow it down to one component by using ALL different patch cords, effects, another guitar, and another amp and finding out exactly what the problem is by substituting your equipment in the setup a single piece at a time.
It could be a flourescent light in the room below you that causes the hum. Also test with a guitar with humbucking pickups like a Gibson, those pickups should cancel out hum from interference.
Radio Frequency Interference (RF IF) is a tough one, most gain pedals like Fuzzes and even some wahs have a lot of RF problems. Since we cannot duplicate the problem here (it has no noise here) it's not something we can fix at our shop.
Gain is amplifying the RF from the air like a radio, it is tuned to the local station. Sometimes shortening wires or adding ferrite beads will help but since we dont have the problem here we would only be guessing. If you have a good tech he can try shortening the internal wires one by one and test to see if that helps, or he can try adding more and more ferrite beads and see if that stops the noise.
Also you can try to add a small capacitor on the input of the board or the input jack to ground, that often kills the noise. Try something small like 100pF then go bigger up to .01uF if needed. We often put a small cap right on the switch from the TO BOARD wire connection (gets connected to input jack when ON) to the GROUND connection.
Also dirty jacks can cause RF interference, try cleaning them with a swab and some contact cleaner.
A customer wrote :
One thing I did was to uncoil all the power leads in the back
of the rack. I had them coiled up pretty tight and then cable tied.
This immediately helped, but I wasn't completely satisfied.
At this point, I noticed that to make the radio signal be it's worst,
touching the audio plugs on the back of the power amp (Metal sleeves)
would do it.
So next I soldered some 4.7pf capacitors across the DC connectors on
my pedals.
another customer with RF problems with a sunface wrote:
Thanks for the note, Mike. After applying an, ahem, no-too-low-tech
technique it seems that the RF IF problem is gone. Get this: after
reading your reply I got to fiddling with the guitar cables
in the chain, which includes a Framptone Amp Switcher in
front of two amps. Anyway, I just swung the guitar-out cable from
the Strat around from the front and behind my body and
presto/change-o, the RF IF disappeared. No contact cleaner,
no screwdriver, no solder. No BS.
Hope that helps, good luck!
The easiest way to date pedals is the same way you date some guitars and amps - by the POT CODES. EH, MXR, and most US made effects used pots with EIA date codes on them. They usually start with 137 which is the manufacturer (137 = CTS), then the next digits are the year and week. For example, 137 7903 would be a CTS pot, made in the 3rd week of 1979. Sometimes there are only 6 digits, for example 304731 would be 304 (stackpole) 7=1947 or 1957, 31st week. You can also date speakers this way! Other manufacturer codes are :
On many Japanese effects there are no date codes on the pots, but there are usually date codes on the chips and sometimes on the capacitors. So check them carefully! If you see 7932 on the bottom of a chip, you can be pretty sure it is a date code for 1979.
My old MXR analog delay is too hard to open up to get at the pot date codes, how can I date it?
You really cant tell by the serial#, sorry! But here are some rough dates for them:
1 output: 1977 - 1979, SAD1024 chips x 3
2 outputs : 1979? - 1982, R5101 chip x 1
An expression pedal is used to control some device that it hooks up to, for example a speed or depth function. A normal exp pedal will have a stereo plug on the end of it's cord, as it needs to control a voltage coming from that device. You can't normally use a mono cable with 2 contacts as it needs 3 contacts: ground, voltage, and controlled voltage.
However you can use MOST volume pedals an an expression pedal. To do that, you need to use an INSERT CABLE. This is a Y cable with a stereo plug on one end which plugs into the device, and two mono plugs on the other side which plug into the input and output of the volume pedal.
But the pots in volume pedals are high resistance (100K or more) so they don't always work well, as EXP pedals are usually low resistance (10K or so).
The Whammy II had redesigned "improvements" made when over the original whammy when it was released. The biggest mistake was putting the input gain control in there - if you don't get the adjustment "just right" then it will not track the input pitch properly and, even if you do get it right, as the input decays the pitch tracking will eventually lose its "lock" on the signal.
The original WH-1 Whammy had a special circuit that the Whammy II does not (thus no "input level" control), allowing almost any input signal level to be dynamically scaled so that the pitch tracking can "lock on" faultlessly. This also meant that as the signal level decayed, the pitch would remain locked due to the scaling action. The Whammy II loses lock on the signal as it decays, resulting in a highly unpleasant "warbling" sound which you may have noticed if you've used one.
Why was the whammy modified?
The old red Whammy was probably changed because it was quite expensive and not selling as well as it could be. On most newer mass-marketed pedals, the price/cost is the main feature. In reality, the Whammy-II ended up costing almost as much (and even more in some areas) and people didn't like it nearly as much. It had some cool features (you didn't have to bend down to change modes, and it had the "toggle" feature to switch between your two favorites) but it did not SOUND the same, and it was a little less robust than the original version.
How about the reissue whammy?
It seems that they did not use the exact same algorithms as the original so they still don't sound quite as good. The original manual has a note Copyright 1990 IVL Technologies Ltd, looks like they were the ones who designed this pedal for DOD. You can find the manual on www.digitech.com.
Can you modify the reissue whammy?
No, we don't do any work on those due to the construction making it very difficult. We do a lot of true bypass mods on the original WH-1 pedal, even though it is a difficult job, because they are valuable and sound great. The bypass mod on a WH-1 is $60 plus S & H.
This pedal, in addition to modifying your guitar's sound, generates it's own sounds. The wah and volume are normal things, but it also has a SIREN button on top. Press it once and in a few seconds a siren sound will go up to a high note. Then press it again any time on the way up and it will go down again. Sounds good with lotsa reverb and echo. The surf and hurricane are white noise sounds controlled with the pedal like a wah. They have different tones, great for "riders on the storm" I guess...
A unique pedal!
Yes, you may be able to fix it. First check for a soft click, when you push down the switch lever there should be a CLICK when the switch engages. If not, the spring may have come loose or need adjustment. Or the switch may need to be cleaned or replaced if it does click. Originals may not click even when working right but reissues usually do click nicely.
Carefully remove the foam pad under the battery. Then unscrew the 2 screws holding in the switch assembly. Pull it out. See if the spring is attached to the switch, it should be. Don't lose the spring.
Now test the switch while it is hanging loose by hooking up a battery or adaptor and your guitar and amp. Use your fingers to turn it on and off and see if the switch works this way. If so it may have come loose inside and putting everything back together right may solve your problem. If it does not work by your fingers when hanging loose then the switch will need to be cleaned or replaced. Good time to send it to me for an 808 mod too.
If you have an original TS-9 or 9 series pedal, you can pull out the center part of the switch which the spring attaches, with your fingers or pliers. The reissue does not come apart so it is not repairable. Now you can clean out the inside of the switch. Clean the brass parts with some electronic spray cleaner and a Q-tip (or denatured alcohol might work). You can also GENTLY bend up the switch contacts in the bottom of the switch to raise them a bit. A tiny screwdriver or razor blade edge can be used.
Now put the parts together, and the spring back on. You can try the test above again with your fingers and see if the cleaning worked. Now reinstall the switch assembly, be careful and get the spring over the shaft inside the hole or the foot pedal will not activate the switch (you should hear a click). Then screw it back together and you should be all set! I do have new TS-9 switches in stock for $5 each (sorry we don't sell parts seperately though as we are too busy) or $10 installed during a TS-808 mod.
The TS-10 switch is easy to clean, you may not even have to remove it. Just open the battery compartment and spray some cleaner/lubricant around the switch shaft then press it quickly several times. If that does not work you can pull it out from the top and disassemble it carefully. You can bend the contacts a bit for more pressure and clean the contacts with a Q-tip. That should fix it!
We do not recommend modifying a valuable vintage effect like a TS-808, ST-9, etc. They do their thing well and you lose too much money if they are not 100% original.
Luckily, for tone, there are new pedals you can buy and mod to sound however you want, and these mods will increase the value of the pedals so it's not a losing proposition. I recommend the new TS9 or Maxon OD9 with our mods, they use the same circuit board as the old TS-808 and will sound the same (or better - OD9 has true bypass!) than the old TS-808 with the same mods. We sell the TS9, OD9, and TS808 reissue new with our mods on our Ibanez page.
The reason I wrote was to ask you if you have ever heard of people using more than one tube screamer in a row of pedals. I saw a guy a few nights ago and it looked like he had 3 green boxes in a row, looked to me like tube screamers. If so then why ?
Yes, several of my customers do that. Trey from Phish is one of the more well known users of this combo. They usually run one at low DRIVE (distortion) and leave it on all the time to sweeten up the tone. Then they kick in the second one with higher LEVEL (volume) and DRIVE for leads or other loud passages. Kenny Wayne Shepard has 2 of my ts9/808 pedals (or one of my pedals and his old TS-808) on stage at all times. Two in a row will get more overdrive and gain than a single one can. Three would be over the top!
Thanks, I really appreciate any referrals especially from instructors.
I actually did the brown option on Will Owsley's original TS-808! I also modded some of his TS9s. He is quite the player, check him out if he ever comes to your area, or his CDs. The brown option (carbon composition 1960s style resistors) does make it a little smoother sounding, but I don't recommend it on an original TS-808 as it's a valuable pedal and should be kept original. I would keep the old 808 home and get another TS9 modded with 808/brown and it would sound the same but not be so valuable and a target for theft.
The SD-9 Sonic Distortion has more distortion than the TS-9, which is more an overdrive pedal than a distortion. The SD-9 is crunchier, grittier, and also has more bottom end (less mid-range boost). It is sort of like an MXR distortion+ with a Big Muff tone control. There are some settings on the SD-9 that can sound quite like a TS-9. To get a sound like a TS-9 with all controls at 12:00 (straight up) set the SD-9 DISTORTION and TONE controls all the way down, and LEVEL about 3:00 (to the right). To get a sound like the TS-9 as above but with its DRIVE control at 3:00 : turn the SD-9 DIST up to about 9:00. It's not exact but pretty close!
We have a cool mod for the SD9 to make the tone control more useful, our SUPER MOD. We can also change the chip if it's a mid 80s without the JRC4558D chip. Most early Ibanez 80s SD9 pedals, and the Maxon SD9, already have the good JRC4558 chip. See our Ibanez page for more info on the SD9 mods.
I'm using an SD-9 that I bought fairly recently, but I've been less happy with it than I remember being with my old one years ago. Did the SD-9 have a similar evolution to the TS models? And if so, is it possible to improve the SD-9? Or would this simply make it into a TS-808 unit? I'm considering sending you my TS-9 too for the mod, but I'd like to know about the SD-9 first.
There were 2 types of original Ibanez SD-9, the later has 2 circuit boards, unlike the ts-9 which has one. The later ones usually used the lousy Toshiba T75558 chip like the later TS-9s. But I think the circuit is about the same on the two SD-9s. The SD-9/super mod will make it smoother and less harsh, with a better tone control, but it will still be a sonic distortion and not a tube screamer. It will sound similar to a tube screamer with the SD9 drive and tone knobs down on the SD-9/808. The SD-9 with two circuit boards (one is down with the pots) has less oscillation problems when you turn it up high, so I prefer modifying those types. Also the Maxon has no problems and is a little better as it has true bypass.
There are some reviews on Harmony Central that you can check out for more info.
The TS-10 circuit will be the same when I'm done. But when I modify a TS-9 not only is the circuit the same, but the circuit board is identical and everything is 100% a TS-808 except the box. For some reason the TS-10s seem to sound different as you switch them on, instead of coming right on like a TS-9 or 808 they have a slight woof. Also if all 3 knobs are up all the way, a TS-10 modded to 808 specs will emit a short squealing sound. ** I have now solved the switching problem and chirping in my 808 mods, no extra charge. The TS-10 jacks are much cheaper and tend to fail much more often than the TS-9.
So the option is yours, a modified TS-10 will sound great and be much cheaper if you already have one but you might sleep better knowing you have the ultimate if you have a TS-9 modified.
Often people ask if certain effects will work in their countries. Most effects we sell work on batteries or AC adaptors so there is no problem. But some have attached AC cord for USA style 120VAC.
Here is a short chart of most of my customers countries:
120VAC US style :
100VAC :
Japan
110VAC (us effects should be OK):
Taiwan
220VAC :
China
Hong Kong
Korea
230VAC :
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Israel
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
240VAC :
Australia
For more, see http://kropla.com/electric2.htm.
They are completely different. The golden throat is a "talk box" like Frampton, Walsh, etc used. It is a speaker driver connected to a tube which goes in your mouth and needs to be miked through a PA to be used. Your mouth acts as a filter.
The Talking pedal is like a big wah wah pedal, but instead of saying "WAH" it says "eee aaaa iiii oooo uuuu" when it is moved, the vowel sounds. It goes in the path between the guitar and amp, much more useable than a talk box. But the talk box can make more different sounds.
Yes that is quite common on the olf EH effects. Radio shack (!) has a good replacement switch that has the same hole spacing. However I think it is not threaded for the same screws so you might have to use small nuts on the inside. Just bring in your old switch or measure it and you should be able to match it up.
Another possibility is to remove it from the pedal. Then uncrimp the case from the switch guts, (there are 2 prongs on each side). Clean it out, and put it back together. Spray cleaner like the Radio Shack tuner/color TV cleaner/lubricant will work well, brush it with a Q-tip. More work but will be all original.
The old AC powered effects (memory man, clone theory, polychorus, etc with the big wide boxes) usually had a 24V AC transformer mounted inside, and an AC cord. But there were also EXPORT versions with a small adaptor plug, a 1/8" jack like on the small 9V pedals. On these there was no internal transformer, the jack just went right to the circuit board. You have to use an external transformer (wall wart) for these that has an output of 24V AC no matter what input (line) voltage is.
So if you have one of these pedals, there are two ways to make them work:
NOTE : Working with AC voltages is dangerous! So I recommend option (1) as you don't deal with line voltages, just 24V AC which is not too dangerous.
I don't know what Fripp used other than the frippertronics tape stuff, but he may have used the Electro Harmonix 16 second delay (very expensive now, though there is a cool reissue available...). It actually played back up to 16 seconds of delayed music backwards (the reissue goes much longer). The old EH Attack-Decay pedal was excellent for reverse volume swells to imitate the sound of notes played backewards. But it works only on single notes and VERY expensive if you can find one. The new Pigtronix ASDR Attack Sustain is even cooler as it will work for chords too. There are other things you can use, like the old Boss SG-1 Slow gear and RPS-10 which do good reverse sounds. The SG-1 is a volume swell, it cuts off the attack at the beginning of the note. It's an old small pedal like the DS-1 etc, 9V powered. The RPS-10 is a half-rack thing, the micro studio series. It is a digital delay that can play back the delayed signal BACKWARDS in real time. But it's weird because what you play comes out backwards a second or two later, cut into discreet chunks. But a cool effect! The Boomerang looper device can also do reverse, it can record minutes of playing and reverse it.
Jeorge Tripps from Way Huge perfected a reverse sound (like the RPS-10) by modifying the reverse echo on the Boss DD5 digital delay pedal. Basically he killed the STRAIGHT sound so you only hear the reverse echo. The Line-6 delay modeler has both a true reverse delay (better for recording than live) and a volume swell with echo effect both of which do a pretty good job. I think it is better than the Boss but still probably not as good as the Attack Decay for live use. I now can do the DD-5 reverse mods, and I add a KILL switch on it to make it more user-friendly. You should be able to find more info on the DD-5 mod on my web site, The new Boss DD-6 in reverse mode can get 100% echo so it does not need the reverse mod. But we have a HIGH CUT mod for it to make it sound more analog, there is more information on our BOSS page. In 2008 the Boss DD-7 came out and also does not need the reverse mod, it's a really cool pedal for delays, reverse, and even simple looping.
True bypass means when a pedal is OFF, the signal goes in the INPUT jack and out the OUTPUT jack without touching any components (resistors, capacitors, op amps, etc). You can not check for this by pulling out the battery, as you will still get a signal out of, for example, an old wah even though it is not really true bypass (the circuit still is attached to some components when off). Let's call this type of effect a "stomp switch" pedal, it uses a round stomp switch to turn it on and off, and passes signal through even with no battery. Another type of effect is the Ibanez Tube screamer/Boss type with electronic switching, not a normal looking stomp switch. These do not have ANY sound without a battery. Call these an "electronic switch" pedal.
If you have a "stomp switch" type pedal without true bypass (all MXR pedals, most EH, most wahs, almost any pre 1980 pedal except a fuzzface) then when OFF you MAY lose some high end due to your signal bleeding into the components. If you have an "electronic switch" pedal, it is probably designed well enough that even though it is not true bypass, when OFF you will not lose any signal as the signal is properly buffered through active circuitry even when off.
Mike, are the switches in Ibanez, Boss, and MXR pedals true on/off bypass?The Ibanez and Boss signals do not go straight through a wire when they are off, they go through some components (op amps and/or transistors). You can tell effects of this type because you will get no signal through when the battery is out. Also they do not use a stomp on/off switch, but a momentary contact switch which switches the signal electronically rather than mechanically like the old stomp switches. Although they are not "true bypass", this type of effect, if properly designed, will not load or affect your signal much when the effect is OFF. They can actually HELP your signal when off, (for example if you use a long patch cord), by acting as a signal buffer.
Most MXR and many EH pedals are not true bypass either, but do use a direct wire to bypass the signal when they are off (they will pass the signal in the OFF position without a battery). But nearly all MXR and EH effects use a Single Pole, Double throw (SPDT) switch with only three terminals, as it is cheaper than the 6 terminal Double-pole, double throw (DPDT) switches. These are not true-bypass. This means that when the effect is OFF, the guitar signal will go directly to the output jack but is STILL CONNECTED to the input of the effect's circuitry. Some of the signal is lost this way, a bit like turning down your TONE control on your guitar.
A DPDT switch can be added to most effects (especially wahs) by switching both the input and output wires when the switch is stomped on. These switches are available for about $15 (I stock these normally).
Here's a post I modified from Scott H. Andrews, sha3u@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (see below for generic DPDT switch mod for other effects) :
> Has anyone heard of any mods for a Wah pedal to improve
> the bypass mode sound quality? The guitarist in my band and I can
> both hear a loss of presence/high end as compared to the guitar
> plugged directly into the amp. I know this is to be expected to
> a certain extent with anything in the signal chain but the Vox is
> VERY drastic!
The SPDT switch is much cheaper, so they use it
instead. the switch controls what is fed to the pedal OUTPUT:
the wah signal or the bypass signal. the input is always
connected to both the bypass wire AND the wah circuitry, even
when the pedal is bypassed. In this situation, the wah
circuitry acts as a capacitor, soaking up charge and bleeding
off your tone. i had this problem with my crybaby.
/-------wah circuitry------\
/ | Y |
input---- | X--|-------output jack
\ | Z |
\-------bypass wire--------/
SPDT switch
The output terminal "X" switches between "Y" (on) and "Z" (off)
when you stomp on it. But the input wire is always connected
to the wah circuitry.
The DPDT switch can be wired to switch BOTH the input and the
output from wah to bypass at the same time. in this scheme,
the wah circuity is disconnected at the input AND the output.
/------wah circuitry-------\
| Y1 | board | Y2 |
input----|--X1 | | X2--|----------output jack
jack | Z1 | | Z2 |
\---------bypass-----------/
one side jumper other side
of DPDT switch of DPDT switch
** Note the alternate wiring below to reduce popping on some pedals **
Craig Anderton's book "Electronic Projects for Musicians"
discusses these two switches and how they can switch effects.
You'll have to find a DPDT footswitch somewhere - they are not
common. Stewart MacDonald on Ohio sells them for about $15.
(Analog Man can supply them for $15 plus $2 S&H).
The improvement, by the way, was fantastic. super crisp high
gain even with the pedal bypassed.
Here's an exact procedure for modifying a VOX Reissue
wah from Pete Lyall
updated by Analog Man for other wahs
DUNLOP CRYBABY DIFFERENCES :
For a Dunlop Crybaby, with the input and output jacks hard-wired
to the circuit board, a few other things must be done.
The BROWN wire from the input jack to the wah circuit
does not exist. You need to break the connection from the input
jack tip to the circuitry to have a true bypass.
On some crybabies you can lift the leg of the small
yellow capacitor next to the INPUT JACK tip. You may be
able to do this without removing the board, it is just below
the tip connection of the input (left side) jack. On this cap's
left is a transistor and on it's right is a small upright
can shaped electrolytic capacitor (the only small one). Heat it up
and lift the leg which attaches to the jack side. Then solder a
NEW wire to this capacitor's lifted leg. This will be the same
as the VOX's GREEN WIRE that you attach to the new switch.
The existing green wire from the board to the switch is the
same as the VOX's brown wire now (goes from input jack
to switch). I have also modified a JIMI HENDRIX dunlop wah that
was exactly the same as this crybaby circuit.
On some Dunlop made crybabies GCB-95 (Serial # AA-02C340)
this capacitor near the input jack tip does not exist.
But there is an unused hole in the board near the input
jack tip which goes to the tip. You can add a wire to this
hole and run it to X1 (input jack) on the new switch.
Then you must cut the trace on the back of the board from
the tip of the input jack to the to the wire connector plug.
Scrape it away with a pointy screwdriver but do not damage
the adjacent traces!
This trace goes to the green wire which goes to Y1 (input
to wah circuitry) on the new switch.
On an old 1970s Thomas Organ crybaby a green wire goes from the
imput jack to a post on the board, and another goes from
this post to the switch. You must remove the wire that
goes from the input jack to the post (remove it from
the post - not real easy) and run it to the switch
input X1 instead. Then the remaining green wire which is on the
old switch can go to Y1 on the new switch (input to wah circuit board).
The White wire on the old switch should be the output jack
(X2) and the blue wire should be the board output (y2).
Confusing enough?
===============================================================
VOX Reissue Wah Wah Pedal Mods - by Pete Lyall
==============================================
I have a Vox reissue wah pedal, and while I love the tone
The pedal doesn't have a TRUE independent bypass (see
Guitar Player magazine discussion on loading circuits in
older effects in recent issue).
I'd love to just leave the pedal in-line in my rig knowing that I'm
not affecting my signal when in bypass. So I set out to fix this.
Modification : True Bypass
===========================
This mod replaces the existing SPDT footswitch with a DPST
footswitch,and reroutes a couple of the wires. You can buy one of
these for about $15 from Stewart Macdonalds (mail order guitar supplies
(800) 848-2273) or aNaLoG.MaN for the same price.
Pull off the bottom cover by removing the 4 feet. Place the pedal
upside down, and remove the battery (for good measure). You will
note that the input jack has several wires attached to it.
If you have a crybaby it is hardwired to the board and these wires
do not exist. The BROWN (can be orange or green on GCB-95 crybaby)
wire carries the signal to the board. At the board, it is shorted to the
green wire, which connects to one side of the SPDT switch. This is
the source of the signal when the pedal is in BYPASS. When the switch
is engaged, the signal is taken from the BLUE wire on the other side
of the switch (output of the wah circuit board) and passed through the
switch to the WHITE wire, which carries the signal to the output
jack.
This circuit looks basically like this:
[Dunlop crybaby differences in square parenthesis]
Brown [n/a] Green wire
o----- ------------------------o \ White [purple on crybaby]
input | | \o-------------------o OUTPUT
| | Blue [2 blue wires on crybaby]
-------o---WAH Circuit----------o
As you can see, even when in bypass mode, the circuit is tied to
to your signal line.
What we're going to end up with will look more like this:
added jumper wire
[green] / o- -----------------------------o \
Brown / \ White [purple]
o-------o o----------o
INPUT OUPUT
[new] Green Blue [2]
o----------WAH Circuit----------o
** Note the alternate wiring below to reduce popping on some pedals **
In order to effect this modification, do the following:
Cut the Brown wire near the circuit board (within 1/4" of it)
or remove it from the connector if so equipped. [For the Dunlop
crybaby you already added a new wire and do not cut anything at this
point].
Cut the Green, Blue [2 on crybaby - keep them together!], and White
[Purple crybaby] wires at the SPDT switch.
Remove the switch.
Install the new DPDT switch.
The bottom of the switch will look something like this:
White [purple]
OUTPUT
A B C
- o o o----Blue (Ouput from wah circuit)
Jumper |
_ o o o--- Green [NEW wire] (input to wah circuit)
D E F
INPUT
Brown [green]
E will be the input. Connect the Brown [green crybaby] wire here.
B is the output; connect the white [purple] wire here.
Connect a jumper between the A and D locations.
I used the insulated center wire of some Belden guitar cable. Any similar
wire should do. F connects to the Green [NEW] wire, which is the input to the
wah circuit.
Lastly, Blue connects to C, which supplies the output of the wah
circuit to the switch. [Connect both blue wires on the crybaby].
Voila! Your bypass mod is done. The only thing that remains is
you'll find that you need to adjust the height of the switch so that it
'kicks in' at the place you want it. You do this by adjusting the height
of the nut along the DPDT switch on the INSIDE of the unit, and then
tighten it down with the nut on the OUTSIDE of the unit. It may take
a little fiddling, but you'll get it.
Here's a generic writeup on how to modify most old pedals with 3 lug switches.
Old SPDT switch : 3 lugs, label them 1 2 and 3.
1 2 3 (2 is in the middle).
1 : To input jack. Also may have a second wire running to the board (board input). If not, the board input wire probably is attached to the input jack directly along with the wire to 1. If it is connected to the jack remove it from the jack, this is the BOARD INPUT wire. Now we have 2 wires called input jack and board input.
2. This goes to output jack. When you stomp on the switch it connects this wire to 1 or 3 alternately.
3. Board output : This is where the effected sound comes out of the board.
To convert to true bypass, use a DPDT switch with 6 lugs. It is basically two seperate 3 lug switches side by side.
1 4 2 5 3 6
1, 2, and 3 is one switch, and 4, 5, and 6 is the other. When you stomp on the switch, lug 2 is switched between 1 and 3, while lug 5 is switched between lugs 4 and 6 at the same time.
Put a Jumper from pin 3 to 6 (solder a piece of wire to these 2 lugs). This will be the bypass path when the effect is off. Pin 2 is the INPUT JACK wire. Pin 5 is the OUTPUT JACK wire. When you stomp the switch OFF, internally it connects pin 2 to 3, and pin 5 to 6. Your signal goes into pin 2, connects to 3 inside the switch, is jumpered to pin 6, then connects to pin 5 internally, then it goes out to the output jack. The signal did not touch pins 1 or 4 or any other part of the circuit so it is TRUE BYPASS.
Now connect pin 1 to the BOARD INPUT WIRE (wire that usually connects to the input jack on non-true bypass effects). Connect pin 4 to the BOARD OUTPUT wire (usually connects from the board to the switch on non true-bypass effects) and you are done.
Now when you stomp on the switch again, your signal goes into pin 2, connects to pin 1 inside the switch, goes to the board input, is processed by the board, then comes out of the board and to pin 4. Then it is connected in the switch to pin 5 and goes to the output jack and you have the effect's ON sound.
To board----1 4---From board
Input jack--2 5---Output Jack
3---6
bypass Jumper from 3 to 6
This is caused by a change in levels between the effect BYPASS and ON modes. According to Geoffrey Teese (Teese Real McCoy wahs- the best wahs available) You can fix this by adding a 1 MegaOhm tie-down resistor on the circuit board. You need to add it between the INPUT and ground. Do not add it at the jacks, but on the circuit board. On the VOX V-847 this can be done on the back of the circuit board on the multi-pin connector. On the newest crybaby wah you should not have this problem as they use a buffer which even does away with the need for the true bypass mod.
Note that most wahs are microphonic and some of the popping is unavoidable. The noise is the sound of the mechanical switch clicking, amplified by the inductor on the circuit board. Try tapping on the board with a pen to see how microphonic yours is (the wah should be ON).
Many pedals will make a POPPING sound when the effect is clicked on or off after installing a true bypass switch. This can be minimized by an alternate switching method which grounds the input of the circuit board when the effect is OFF. This type of wiring was used on many old fuzzfaces.
You need to add a GROUND WIRE to the switch, to lug 3. This can be attached to one of the ground lugs on a nearby jack. The INPUT JACK wire will run to lug 1 and also be jumpered to lug 6 in order to short it out to lug 3 when the switch is OFF. Lug 2 now goes "TO" the board. Lugs 4 and 5 are the same as the standard wiring : lug 4 is "FROM" the board and lug 5 is to the output jack :
input jack--1 4---From board
\
To board----2 \ 5---Output Jack
\
To ground---3 6 Jumper from 1 to 6
or if you are using the more common 3PDT switch, make the
lugs horizontal lines as below for correct switching:
_ _ _ 1 4 7 Use the same connections as above.
_ _ _ 2 5 8 you can use 7 8 and 9 for LED.
_ _ _ 3 6 9 7 will be connected to 8 when ON, run LED there.
Last night somebody told me that the battery is being drained even when the effect is off and in bypass mode. He said that the input jack can be modified to correct this. is this true? can you add this mod? if so and it is reasonable price, let me know and go ahead and do it and i'll send you the extra bucks.
The battery is being drained only when a cord is plugged into the input jack, even when it is "off". You don't want the battery off when the effect is off as when you step on it to turn it on you will have a dead effect until the capacitors charge up. The current draw is quite small, a good alkaline battery will last a long time in a wah. When the wah starts sounding weak, you will have plenty of time to change the battery before it goes dead.
So you are best off with the true bypass mod and the standard battery connection, just unplug the input cord when you are not using it to conserve batteries.
In the pedal full down position, the wah is extremely trebly and kinda harsh. I know this is due to the circuit itself. Is there anything i can do to get less of the trebly harsh sound. I'm a sweet tone guy. Can I rotate the teese pot a notch or two so when the pedal is pushed all the way it doesn't go all the way to the extreme treble zone?
Yes - that will do the trick. Easier though is to unscrew the plastic thing that pushes the straight gear thing against the gear on the pot (looks like a wire tie down) and then re-index to the next gear on the pot. Keep trying until you get the right gear (trial and error).
Will this work or will the bass direction bottom out? Know what I mean?
A few teeth on the gear should not bottom it out but it may. After tightening down the screw, turn the pedal by hand too the extremes of up and down and see of the pot tries to move at either end of the movement. If it does then it is bottoming out. If so, you should adjust it so as not to bottom out.
Alternatively, without having to open the pedal you could stick a bump stop under the existing bump stop at the toe of the pedal. You can get a little stick-on rubber pad at radio shack (they are also the same as Electro Harmonix feet!).
There are various positions in regards to a buffer's use in a signal chain. Some seemingly opposing convictions are given by authorities who certainly can't be wrong, as their clients have awesome tone. Using a true bypass remote switching system or a full pedalboard of boutique pedals is one extreme, while a board full of Boss and Ibanez pedals, or a switching system with buffers on each switch is the other extreme.
My belief is that buffers can be used, and should be used in some cases, but the number of buffers in your signal path should be minimized.
A buffer is basically an active device which takes your somewhat weak guitar signal and amplifies it. Usually a gain of one (unity gain) is used so the volume does not change and your sound stays the same. However your signal is changed to a lower impedance so it can go through long patch cords without losing it's strength.
A buffer or buffered pedal (for example a Boss or Ibanez pedal that is turned off) will allow a good tone to make it through a cheap or long patch cord. Several years ago I sold several true bypass pedals to a player with a large pedalboard. He said it sounded terrible and that one of the pedals must have a problem. He brought the board to my shop and all the pedals checked out fine. We determined that his cheap patch cord from guitar to board was killing his tone, but he never noticed it as he previously had a few buffered pedals. Replacing the cord solved his problem and the new pedals worked great.
A buffer is often used as the first device in a board, to get the signal from your guitar into good shape early on. But this is a problem if using a vintage pedal like a fuzzface. A germanium fuzzface needs to interact directly with your pickups for the magic clean-up effect to occur when you roll your volume knob down. The pickup and volume knob become part of the fuzz circuit. Other pedals like a germanium treble booster/rangemaster style pedal will sound bad if any buffers are before them- they get bright and nasty sounding. So if you have one of these pedals, put it early in your effects chain before any buffers or buffered pedals.
One contrary pedal is a wah, which is normally used before a fuzz. A vintage wah will not behave well with a fuzz, losing it's tone and sweep. Adding a buffer inside the wah will allow it to function better with the fuzz when the wah is ON. Turning off the wah (with true bypass) kills the buffer so it will also work well when OFF. Foxrox electronics makes a wah retrofit kit which can be added to most vintage style or boutique wahs, and RMC wahs by Teese now include this "fuzz friendly" buffer circuitry.
The reason I do not like too many buffers in your signal path is that the tone changes are additive. Each one will change your tone slightly and can reduce the interaction with and liveliness of your guitar strings. Even though the tone coming out of a good buffer may be very nice, passing it through multiple copies can make it a bit sour. For example if a buffer's frequency response has a nice little peak at 700Hz, after five of these buffers the peak will be five times higher and may get annoying. Also each active component generates noise which also adds up.
I have one buffer (a delay pedal with a nice buffer when off) at the end of my pedalboard to send the signal to my amp on the rare occasion that I have no other pedals turned on. When something like an overdrive or distortion pedal is on, your signal is beefed up strong enough that no buffers are needed afterwards and a direct connection to the amp cannot be beat. As always, there are many variables so it is best to do some trial and error testing with your personal rig to find the best sequence of pedals and buffers for your specific setup. If it sounds good, you should.
I know that you are very familiar with the eh 4600 small clones. I have a problem with my 1981 4600 mini chorus and was wondering if you could help me out. I am trying to put a dpdt switch in the pedal but am having a hard time finding out the input and output of the effect coming off the pcb. I know how to wire up a dpdt switch but I can't figure out which wires are which. I am not concerned about the led right now, more concerned about true-bypass. If you could tell me where I need to attach the wires for the input and the output I would greatly appreciate it.
That pedal is not easy to true bypass, there is no standard input and output wire and the switch is not like a normal effect. The effect is always ON and the switch just adds the CHORUSED signal to the standard signal. When you switch on the effect, the LED current turns on a FET which switches the chorused sound into the signal. Sorry it's not something I can tell you how to do easily, but we can do it for you and add an anti-pop mod as otherwise it will pop a bit when you switch it on and off.
Mike, is there a painless way to install an LED on/off light in an old Phase 100? The folks at Dunlop implied that it'd be easy but they're not supposed to advise on mods... (btw, it's a pretty beat up one, so I don't think I'm committing blasphemy :>)
Well I'm glad you are not modifying a collectable pedal as that would lower it's value a lot. You can add the LED by putting in a DPDT switch. This will not add true bypass however. You can have both LED and true bypass by adding a 3PDT switch. I now carry 3PDT switches for $15.
With the DPDT switch, one half (3 prongs on one side) would be the same wiring as you have now. On most old effects this switches the output jack between the input jack (off) and the board output (on). On the other half, connect the middle switch prong to the LED's (-) side. Connect the outer switch prong that is on the ON side of the switch (when pedal is ON and output jack is connected to board output) to a ground point on the board or input or output jack. Tie the (+) side of the LED to the power jack or power on the board. You will need a resistor somewhere in the LED wire path, 1.5K is a decent value for brightness VS current drain.
With the 3PDT switch, do the TRUE BYPASS MOD as above using two rows of the three prongs on the switch. Then use the 3rd row as above to turn on the LED.
You can try Sam Masuko in the NYC area at hammondsam@optonline.net
He works on most Vintage keyboards such as
Fender Rhodes pianos, Wurlitzer Pianos, Hohner Clavinet,
Moog, Sequential, Oberheim, ARP, Yamaha, Roland, Korg etc analog
synthesizers, combo organs, and recent digital keyboards.
A question : What 9 volt AC adaptors should I use for my vintage effects? For example, I have an old Small Stone that sounds bad when I use a 300mA 9 volt adapter. Should I be using something else?
That adaptor should be OK, but there is more than just max current (300mA) and voltage (9V) spec that matter. You also need one with good noise filtering and voltage regulation. A cheap generic radio shack type will not have good enough filtering for musical accessories so you will hear 60hz AC hum. So I recommend a Boss PSA (PSA120 in the USA) for most vintage effects, or the 9V dunlop ones. The Dunlop comes with a Boss style (barrel) plug, or the 1/8" pin type like an old MXR or EH effect. We also sell a generic adaptor for $15 that has even less hum than the Boss which we sell for $20 or so.
My Boss DM-2 does not work well with my power supply, what's up with that?
Most older Boss pedals were designed for an unregulated ACA power supply. The ACA adaptor actually puts out about 12V DC, and the old pedals have a diode and resistor inside to reduce this to 9V. When you use a battery in these old pedals, the battery 9V bypasses the diode and resistor so the pedal gets the full 9V. The PSA will not have enough voltage to work right with these pedals. So check your pedal, they originally had a sticker on them telling you which power supply type to use. They also say on the bottom plate if it needs the PSA or ACA. If it says PSA then any regulated power supply (Dunlop, Ibanez, etc) will work. But if it says ACA, then you need to get a boss ACA (ACA120 in the USA) power supply. We sell the ACA supplies also for about $20. The Voodoo labs Pedal Power 2 also has switchable ACA 12V outputs.
Note : An ACA type pedal will often work ok on a normal 9V PSA type adaptor IF it is used on a power daisy chain with some normal 9V pedals. This seems really weird, but it's due to the way the ACA pedals route the power. The shared ground of the other pedals is bypassing the ACA type pedal's power circuit, sending the full 9V direct to the pedal and allowing it to work fine.
An ACA power supply should not be used on any pedals other than old ACA designed boss effects, as it is not regulated and may also hum.
Mike thanks for getting back to me. I gave a look at your BC RICH unit. I already have a custom pedal board that has a velcro surface, so all I need is a power supply that has multiple styles of output jacks. If you know of anything I would love to hear about it.
tc electronics made a nice power supply with four small 1/8" or so phone jacks on it, you can make your own power cables with any type plug on the other end (parts available at radio shack). Boss and Ibanez use 2.1mm internal 5.5mm external coaxial plugs.
MXR made a power supply with four 1/4" guitar style jacks on it. I had some of the original MXR bottom plates for use with this type of power supply. They replace your original bottom plate. They have 1/4" plugs to plug into this power supply, and battery clips which attach inside your effect to your battery clip.
You will need to use a good quality regulated power supply with good A/C filtering, or you will get hum. If you use a generic "radio shack" unregulated, unfiltered wall-wart power supply you will not be happy (nor will your pedals!). There is a schematic for building a good regulated 9V power supply on the web. cln9powr.gif can be found on the Leper's schematics page I think.
The best power supply available is from Digital Music (Voodoo labs). It has eight isolated power outputs so your effects will not have any problems no matter what the polarities are. You could probably even run 2 together for 18Volts! We now sell the Voodoo Labs pedal power units. T Rex also makes some awesome power supplies, see our website for info on these.
There are several good flangers, made since the late 70s. The MXR A/C powered grey flanger is a favorite of many (including EVH). I also like the old red Ross flanger a lot, does smooth leslie tones (used by smokin' Joe for his leslie sound) as well as deep Barracuda sounds. The Ibanez FL-9 may be the best for battery use but I don't think it sounds quite as good as the AC powered ones. The old AC powered DOD 670/640 were also quite good. My favorite is probably the A/DA flanger, reissued in the late 90s.
Most of these flangers are quite similar, have 4 knobs :
Manual: center control for flanging. If WIDTH of sweep is down all the way it can be used for manual flanging. If there is an optional control pedal (A/DA) then the manual knob will be controlled by the external pedal usually so you can sweep manually.
WIDTH: The width of the flanging sweep.
SPEED: The speed of the sweep.
REGENERATION: The amount of flanged sound fed back into the delay stage. More makes it thicker and morer metallic sounding, if you can crank it enough you can even get feedback type sounds.
The A/DA also has an even/odd harmonics switch, for slightly different timbre. And a threshold knob so the flange only turns on when you play above a certain level (no flanging noise when you stop playing, or turn it up for only flanging on HARD playing).
A/DA power adaptor The early A/DA pedals used a 12V DC power transformer, positive tip, about 200mA should be more than enough. Some mid year versions need more than 12V or they will hum, as they use a 15V regulator. Those will work with the EH 18V DC adaptor sold for the EH Holier Grail or POG.
But if you want the ultimate flanger, it does not exist yet. Check back with me in late 2002 for an announcement! FOXROX Paradox TZF is here!!!
Many people are confused about the Uni-Vibe, as it has a CHORUS setting on it, and some people think it can be used for Leslie (spinning speaker) sounds.
A Uni-vibe is actually a PHASE SHIFTER circuit, with no time delay chips. They use a light bulb inside with 4 light sensors, and the heating and cooling of the filament in the bulb help to give it the special heartbeat pulse. They were invented for keyboards in the 60s, probably to simulate a leslie, but missed it's target by a mile. But when Jimi Hendrix plugged into it, he created amazing sounds and made it into a guitar effect. The univibe phaser circuit is blended with your DRY sound when in CHORUS mode, to make the thick, famous UNI-VIBE sound you know and love from Jimi, Trower, Phish, etc. It sounds best at slower speeds but cool fast too, though not much like a leslie. In VIBRATO mode you hear just the phaser sound, without the dry sound, which is not as useful but some people like it. We sell some awesome Uni-Vibe clones, the Captain Coconut2 has one, the Mojo Vibe, and the Black Cat Vibe.
The first CHORUS pedal was available in the mid 70s when the analog delay BUCKET BRIGADE chips were invented. Boss made one of the first ones, the CE-1 chorus ensemble. It delays your signal by a bit, and modulates the delay time (shorter and longer, to the selected speed) to get a natural vibrato. Then, like the UNI-VIBE, it blends in the DRY signal to make the CHORUS sound. Or with no dry signal, you get a pitch shifting vibrato, in Vibrato mode. A chorus pedal with time delay can sound thicker and more sparkly, more like a 12-string sort of sound at some settings. At low speeds you may not be able to tell it's on, just makes everything thick. And at high speeds, a much better Leslie sound can be obtained than a Uni-Vibe. See our Chorus page for our different models that we make.
That is true, Panasonic was making them until about 1999, now the Panasonic chips are all discontinued. Panasonic told me that the BBD (Bucket brigade) chips were originally made for use in their own products - for reverb and echo in TV sets and other audio products like karaoke. Matsushita owns/makes Panasonic and hundreds of other brands. Now that they are using digital in all their products they no longer need the analog chips, and the other companies who were buying them do not buy enough to make it feasable to keep production going. These chips use about a thousand capacitors (i.e. 1024 in an SAD1024 or MN3007) and electronic switches in each one to pass the analog signal value through the "bucket brigade". Not high tech but a very specialized part. There are some Chinese low voltage BBD chips being made now and used in some of the cheap Chinese pedals and most boutique analog delays. They work but not sure yet how reliable they are. They don't have the very long delay time chips yet, so you have to use a lot of these chips to get a good delay time. The best tones are obtained using the lowest number of chips. EH is still using the old chips as they found the new Chinese chips not quite as good.
We are having some high delay time chips made for our Analog Man AR20DL Analog Delay, see our analog delay page for more info.
The AD9 and most Japanese analog delays are tuned for less noise, they chop off a lot of high end to reduce noise. So they are very warm and deep sounding but repeats of very high notes may be a little weak. The AD9 is similar to the old Boss DM-2 and even more similar to the DM-3 pedals. The AR20DL is similar but a little stronger and less dark. The EH has more high end and a little more white noise. But they all have filters (like a noise gate) that stop the noise when you stop playing.
The EH has a slightly longer delay time, about 400mS-450mS instead of the 300mS that the others have. That's about 2 to 3 repeats per second. For some reason the delay time is not usually 500mS, as it should be. We can tweek the DMM for a little more delay time before it starts getting noisy, we can get over 500mS with our delay time "slight tweek". The Deluxe Memory Man can get 100% wet (all delay) while the other Analog Delays will not. If you listened to the 100% wet sound you would hear how dull most of the Japanese pedals' delays are. The DMM also has a modulation knob, a little of that blended in makes it sound very cool and natural. The Chorus setting is a slow modulation, vibrato is a faster modulation. What modulation is, is slowing down and speeding up the delay time slightly. You can imitate that on any delay by gently turning the delay time knob up and down a bit. The EH also has an input level control and an indicator LED to show if you are overloading it. So it will work with a pretty wide range of input levels.
The AD9 and AR20DL use a small box and can run off batteries or a standard Boss type 9V adaptor. The EH is larger and uses a special 24V adaptor.
So you should be able to choose one based on the features and sound you need. See my Ibanez/Maxon page and EH page for more info on these.
The Japanese Panasonic MN30XX chips are the best ever made, a little better than the more recent (but also discontinued) Japanese MN32XX chips in the DM3, AD9 etc. and better than the BL32XX Chinese chips. These MN chips are all discontinued, only the BL Chinese chips are still made. Don't know how much longer EH will be able to make the memory man with the good old Japanese chips but they are still using them now.
3X05 = about 4000 delay stages, 3X08 = 2000 stages, 3X07 = 1000 stages.
In about early 2006 the DMM changed to relay true bypass switching, and four MN3008 chips instead of two MN3005 chips. The new DMM has (4 * 2000 = 8000 stages), The older one had (2 * 4000 = same 8000 stages) for the same delay time.
4000 stages is good for about 300mS at reasonable quality (AD9, AR20DL, etc) or 200mS at high quality (DMM).
1000 stages is more than enough for a chorus (we use new old stock MN3007 chips in our chorus). There were also 512 stage chips used fo chorus and flangers (best for a flanger).
To check if it the new DMM version with the relay, turn it on and play, so you are hearing the delays (effect on). Then unplug the power from the back of the DMM. If it turns off and you hear your normal guitar sound, then it has a relay. If you hear nothing then you don't have the relay. You can also tell as the stomp switch only has two wires on it if you have the relay.
I guess EH is running very low on the MN3005 chips. Theoretically, the less delay chips you have, each with higher number of memory positions to add up to the same amount of memory, the better the sound. But in reality there is little sound difference between two 3005 chips and four 3008 chips. But there are twice as many calibration points to dial in if you have 4 chips. Some delays have EIGHT CHIPS (ad999?) that must be a nightmare to calibrate... I don't like the AD999 as it has lousy enclosed pots that can't be cleaned or replaced, and a very weird circuit, it sounds almost digital at low delay times. The Maxon AD900 was much better, a normal analog delay circuit and we can mod those for true bypass and expression pedal control jacks.
The DMM, when on, has a slightly dull tone even on the dry sound due to a low input impedance (like putting a volume pot on your guitar that is too low of a value). We also can tweek the input impedance for a clearer tone. This mod helps both the WET and DRY tone when the pedal is ON. Makes no difference when off (true bypass). It is a trimpot so you can adjust it if needed. If you run your guitar directly into the DMM you can really hear the dullness, set the mix knob to full dry (no delay) and turn the pedal on and off to hear the change in dry tone. If you have buffers or other pedals turned on before the DMM, the low impedance of the DMM may not be hurting your tone much.
It is $40 for any combination of these three tweeks on a new or used DMM.
One more mod we can do is add an expression pedal jack for FEEDBACK on the left side. This takes over the FEEDBACK KNOB control if you plug an expression pedal like a Boss EV5 into the jack. We can also do the expression jack mo for the BLEND control, or both of those. We can't do delay time as the cable to the EXP pedal will not work on that part of the circuit. The EXP jacks are $50 each.
We can also install four MN3005 chips on the newer model Deluxe Memory Man to double the delay time to about 800-900mS. But that is a VERY expensive mod as the chips are about $100 and our labor charge is about the same for calibration.
There are a few web sites and posts about improving the sound of an EH deluxe memory man, by replacing the normal 4558 op amps with some high tech chips. The noise and tone in a memory man comes from the BBD chips, not the op amps. The BBD chips have about 10,000 times more noise, and very low fidelity. That is normal in an analog delay and nothing can be done about that, it's why people love their sounds. So replacing the op amps will have little benefit, or so I thought.
After writing the above I got some new DMM pedals, they are now using ST electronics MC4558CN dual op amp chips. I replaced all five of these chips while I was in there (those knobs are a pain to remove) with new Texas Instruments TL072 chips.
Dry sound when playing clean - it is improved. Put the mix to pure DRY (no echo) and the tone when playing clean is a little purer. I was surprised.
ECHO SOUND: also clearer when you listen to 100% delayed sound, much clearer and closer to a digital delay sort of tone. Seems to be more difference at lower delay times.
When I turn up the MIX for about 50% delay I tested for noise by playing a low string gently. The modified pedal is a bit noisier, may be a unit to unit discrepancy or could be the TL072 chips allow more high end through which contains the noise.
OVERDRIVEN sound : running a good OD pedal into the DMMs, with the gain knob set for unity gain (LED just glowing) the sound of the stock one seems a little warmer to me, both dry and echo sounds. But the modified one is clearer again.
DISTORTION : Running a good distortion pedal into the units, the modified one is clearer, the repeats are almost too clear. The stock one has repeats which are darker and more in the background. At this point in the test I brought out a '59 reissue Les Paul with burstbuckers 1 and 2 and played through the Maxon SD9/808/silver, into the DMM into a '66 blackface Deluxe Reverb plugged into a '73 Marshall 4x12 cabinet and just played for 45 minutes as it was a MAGIC combination! Gilmour, Hackett, Page sounds were flowing... best tones I ever got for leads.
Anyway, the difference with changing the op amps is more than I thought it would be. But not sure whether I like it enough to go through the hassle of pulling the board out... depends on what you want, clarity or a warm background echo. Most people will prefer the upgraded op amps I think. Also the new 2006 pedals do not use sockets so the chips need to be desoldered, a lot more work. These are the EC2002_REV_E boards which use four MN3008 chips and a relay to switch the pedal on and off. You can test for this one by turning it on, playing, then unplug the power jack. If it turns off (you get normal OFF sound) then it has a relay and is the new version.
The Input Impedance and Gain Reduction mods I mentioned above make more difference to the DMM than these op-amp chips.
The first Fuzz Face was labeled "ARBITER" and used germanium transistors. This came out in the mid 60s (1966?). Most were grey. By '68 they were labeled "Dallas-Arbiter". They used NKT-275 transistors made by New Market electronics in England. These were germanium PNP transistors. They were smooth sounding and will clean up nicely when the volume on the guitar is turned down. This was the type of fuzzface used by Clapton in Cream and early Hendrix, also SRV up until he used the Diaz versions. All these were built in England with British parts. Date codes can be seem on the mini-pots above the lugs (i.e. 8 68 for August 1968).
About '69 they started to use the "new" silicon NPN transistors, which are more stable at different temperatures. The germaniums change their sound when they get hot. The BC-183 was used on many of the early silicon 'faces. This silicon version is brighter and fuzzier, not quite as smooth. Hendrix probably used these in his later years. This version lasted until at least the mid-70s. The BC-108C is also a good sounding silicon transistor, used from the early 70s. The "C" is the HFE or gain rating, meaning a VERY high gain transistor.
It seems the Fuzz Face was produced in the US in the mid-70s for a few years. Crest Audio in NJ made them for a while, and used the BC-109C silicon transistors normally. Some were labeled "Dallas-Music" instead of "Dallas-Arbiter". These had taller housings than the other fuzzfaces.
Around 1990 or so Dave Fox from Crest Audio made some more Fuzz Faces with silicon BC-109C transistors which sound pretty good. They were mostly red. The "Dallas-Arbiter England" seen in the "smile" of the face was printed on a sticker rather than painted on the pedal.
The Dunlop reissue Fuzz Face was started in 1993 with leftover parts possibly after sueing the previous fuzz face maker over trade name use. Dunlop uses germanium NKT-275 labeled transistors made in the USA that sound nothing like the original transistors, with low gain and lousy sound.
Thanks to Terry Forth (laughing Sam)!!
There is more fuzzface history from Dave Fox on my FUZZFACE page.
I recieved the modified reissue fuzz face yesterday but it doesn't seem to working properly. In the off mode I get the normal straight signal. In the on mode I get no signal at all (I put in a brand new battery). What should I do?
Sometimes this happens after shipping, they used a bad grounding method. The input and output jacks are grounded by the physical connection to the metal case, but it's painted. So if you can, please attach a ground wire to the two ground (center) lugs on these jacks. That usually fixes it. I now add this wire to all the fuzzfaces that I modify, from the input jack ground lug to the circuit board extra ground hole. You may be able to get it working just by tightening the jacks with a socket wrench, but if you tighten it TOO much you could break the jack.
The thumbscrew is metal on the oldest ones, from the late 1970s. Also, the LED does not stay on when the effect is on, it just blinks when you press the on/off switch. The knobs on the oldest Boss effects have a set screw. Some effects like the OD-1 have a completely different circuit, 1970s vs 1980s, some like the SG-1 only have the switch circuit modified.
Newer Boss effects are made in Taiwan, and some are quite similar while others have pretty substantial changes in the circuits.
SOME Taiwan pedals are the same as SOME Japanese pedals.
But it is obvious if you look at, for example an old 1979 Japanese DS-1, and a new one from Taiwan, the chips are totally different. They don't even have the same number of pins. So obviously they will sound different because they are different. But not all Boss effects are like that, people who say they are the same may have tested a later Japanese DS-1 that has the same circuit as the new Taiwan models.
You can't even say that all Japanese boss pedals are the same, there are always running changes. For example, the DM-2 delay used two different types of BBD chips so two DM-2 pedals (all made in Japan) will sound different because they are different circuits.
The stick-on plates which describe the functions are usually gone by now. here's what they should say.
The toe has a 5 position knob. From full clockwise :
Wa Brite, Mellow, Funky, Mellow plus
(only 4 out of 5 have different sounds - 2 are the same)
On the side from left to right :
Fuzz Volume, Sustain (dist), Fuzz mellow/brite (tone), octive sustain (switch)
Note the exelent speling!
I think the stomp switch on the toe is dist on/off and the one under the wah shoud be wah/volume (or wah on/off as some versions did not have the volume feature). I don't like the volume feature, and have come up with the mod to disable it as the factory did on some of these pedals. Phil Caivano from Monster Magnet has a Foxx and bugged me for a while about disabling the volume feature. When I finally got one in without the volume feature he sent me his and I disabled it by copying the other pedal. Now he LOVES it!!! I also modified one of these pedals the same way for Beck in 2005. This is a $40 mod plus S & H on the original Foxx fuzz/wah/volume pedals.
We can also defeat the VOLUME feature on the reissue Foxx fuzz/wah/volume pedals, which also makes them true bypass. THis also makes them more reliable as the wah switch is a very fragile 4pdt switch like the one we used to use on our stereo chorus pedals. We can also optionall add a WAH LED when we do this mod. This mod is pretty complicated so it's $60 plus S & H plus the optional LED.
SHO-SOUND was (is?) sho-bud, the pedal steel maker in Nashville. The two pedals are exactly the same, the JORDAN or SHO-SOUND names are on stickers on the metal part. Maybe yours was pulled off. They are popular with steel guitar players.
As seen in the picture in the Stompbox book, he ran his strat into a Vox wah wah (Clyde McCoy or V-846 depending on the year), then into his custom-made Roger Mayer Octavia, Then his Fuzz Face, then the Uni-Vibe, and lastly into his Marshall Amps. At least he did this on the day the picture was taken!
The very early MXR effects (Dist+, P-90, Blue Box) came in a light aluminum
box made by the BUD company. It says BUD on the inside of the box,
not MXR. These were mostly in 1974. These are the most collectable and
often best sounding MXR effects. They often
used the cool looking silk screened circuit boards and carbon comp
resistors too.
The MXR company went out of business in the early to mid 1980s due to competition from Japan (Boss) and products that were getting worse and worse (black plastic series of MXR pedals). In the 90s Dunlop bought the rights to the MXR name and started making some again, the Distortion+, Phase-90, Dynacomp, etc.
The biggest difference between the original and reissue is in the CONSTRUCTION of the reissue - it is made to be built cheaply. This is done by attaching the jacks to the circuit board, also the switch, pots, power jack and LED are attached to the board. Basically everything you need is on the circuit board and it can be pulled from the shell and used bare.
The problem is that the jacks used do not have good action or contact, they often jam. And the nuts can strip and get misaligned which makes it even worse. Since the switch is hard soldered to the circuit board it is VERY difficult to do a true bypass mod, there is not really enough room to use a different switch.
The components used on the reissues are OK but some may have been chosen by size rather than tone so the circuits may not sound as good as a vintage MXR. But the main difference is in construction- repairs and modifications are tough. So I recommend getting original MXR pedals for easier maintenance and future value.
I hear about these problems all the time, but when I get the pedals here to fix there is no problem 90% of the time.
An SD-1 or TS9 etc with all 3 knobs at 12:00 should be louder when ON than when OFF. If not, the problem is usually with your other equipment, this info can help:
An amp that is cranked up to it's max volume will not be able to get any louder when you put a pedal in front of it. For example, on a small old Fender Tweed amp, higher than 5 or so on it's volume knob does not add volume, only distortion. That is because the amp is out of HEADROOM. An amp can only put so much voltage out of it's output transformer and make the speaker go back and forth so much. Limits are power transformer, tubes, and output transformer. If your amp is already at it's limit of headroom, a pedal cannot make it get any louder, just more didtorted. That's why a clean boost like the Bad Bob is cool for adding distortion to an amp that's already cranked up.
My phaser/chorus/etc pedal loses volume when turned ON
Some pedals actually do boost or reduce your volume on vs off, depending on your rig and other pedals that are used. With hot pickups, many pedals don't have enough headroom to process your signal and put it back out with the same signal strength. Sometimes using a higher voltage adaptor will help, like the 12V DC adaptor we sell along with our Chorus and Silver mod pedals optionally. But many pedals are not safe to run on more than 9V so make sure the capacitors are rated higher than the voltage you use before trying this.
It also makes a difference whether you have buffered pedals before the problem pedal, sometimes that will help or hurt the volume matching. Try sticking a Boss or Ibanez type pedal in front and see if the buffer helps.
If your pedal has a stomp switch and boosts your volume when on, we can do a true bypass mod (if needed) and mount a volume trim pot on the switch inside the pedal. It will allow setting the ON volume (off will be bypassed so no signal loss when OFF).
If your pedal has a volume drop when on, like the EH small stone, Bad Stone, etc, we may be able to mod it. We have mods for those EH pedals, see my EH page for more info. But we would need the schematic to mod a new pedal efficiently.
Here are some related WWW links you may want to try :
R.G. Keen's Guitar Effects F.A.Q. for lots of information about different type of effects, some history (by aNaLoG.MaN), and tons of information on building your own effects!
Return to the
aNaLoG.MaN main page