War Scythe : settings suggestions and circuit explanations.

[eh là bas ma]

Hello !

My last build is PPCB War Scythe. It sounds promising but i'm not sure i understand what is happening in there.

There are 3 circuits: Ungula, Squidward and Scythe. I know nothing about the original circuits, except they're from EQD, there's a muff variant (hybrid ?) a tonebender variant and an octave up.

I've built a few muffs and one germanium tonebender v.3 in the past. But these are probably different, although i m not sure how.

What does the Ungula's Shift control do exactly ?

How does the signal go in the War Scythe ? Is it first the Tonebender, to Octave, to Muff, as shown by the footswitches order ? The octave up is generated between the two other circuits ?

Are there some recommended settings to get the most of this combination ? i mean, is it ok to turn the Tonebender's Fuzz control down without impairing the octave consistency, for example ?

Are there "bad" settings ?

What is the main idea behind this 3-in-1 project ? I guess a tonebender into a muff is an interesting combo, and the octave up allows to get more highs, in order to adjust in the mix with other instruments, for solo for exemple ?

The octave up is meant to act like some high boost and/or change the distortion's texture ?

Maybe we are not supposed to turn on every effects together, maybe it's more about using the octave up either with the tonebender or the muff, on their own ?

Every observations and answers are welcome !

 

[rwl]

I really like this pedal. It's literally 3 pedals stuck together. You can start with the documentation for the Hoof (the muff pedal), and Tentacle (the octave fuzz). The last pedal is the Tone Reaper, but the documentation for that seems to be down on the EQD website. There's also the overall documentation. You could also watch some demo videos of each pedal and the whole Hoof Reaper as well. I think the signal sequence is right->left - so it starts with the tone bender, then the octave, then the muff.

It's very playable with everything on, but especially with muff and tone bender on together there's a lot of background noise.

I suppose there's bad settings, but I'd just start with everything at noon and play around. The dials are all conventional (effect level, gain, and tone). The only unique one is the 'shift' on the Hoof, which is a mid-specific EQ that boosts or scoops.

I just like the sound of each component. It's a very warm pedal with a lot of nice fuzz tones.

As for the octave up effect, it's just like other octave fuzzes. It's a subtle texture on lower frets and fairly pronounced extra octave layered on top when you're at the 12th fret. To me it's a 'Jack White' kind of sound that's more out of control for solos. I also find that when the octive is on, it cleans up a lot of the background noise for some reason (the Tentacle/Squidward does the same).

Why 3 pedals in one? Why not? I think this combination gives a lot of control over tone, among the previous generation of popular EQD pedals, without throwing in some kind of mediocre modulation. This thing retailed for $300, but it's good marketing since people do some math and say "3 pedals for $300 - $100/pedal - that's not a bad deal!" (I saw this a lot reading around on Reddit). It's very similar to the Parentheses/Sunn Life pedal, whcih has boost + octave + rat. It also takes up a little less space on the pedalboard, and you need to buy fewer jacks and enclosures.

 

[eh là bas ma]

I really like this pedal. It's literally 3 pedals stuck together. You can start with the documentation for the Hoof (the muff pedal), and Tentacle (the octave fuzz). The last pedal is the Tone Reaper, but the documentation for that seems to be down on the EQD website. There's also the overall documentation. You could also watch some demo videos of each pedal and the whole Hoof Reaper as well. I think the signal sequence is right->left - so it starts with the tone bender, then the octave, then the muff.

It's very playable with everything on, but especially with muff and tone bender on together there's a lot of background noise.

I suppose there's bad settings, but I'd just start with everything at noon and play around. The dials are all conventional (effect level, gain, and tone). The only unique one is the 'shift' on the Hoof, which is a mid-specific EQ that boosts or scoops.

I just like the sound of each component. It's a very warm pedal with a lot of nice fuzz tones.

As for the octave up effect, it's just like other octave fuzzes. It's a subtle texture on lower frets and fairly pronounced extra octave layered on top when you're at the 12th fret. To me it's a 'Jack White' kind of sound that's more out of control for solos. I also find that when the octive is on, it cleans up a lot of the background noise for some reason (the Tentacle/Squidward does the same).

Why 3 pedals in one? Why not? I think this combination gives a lot of control over tone, among the previous generation of popular EQD pedals, without throwing in some kind of mediocre modulation. This thing retailed for $300, but it's good marketing since people do some math and say "3 pedals for $300 - $100/pedal - that's not a bad deal!" (I saw this a lot reading around on Reddit). It's very similar to the Parentheses/Sunn Life pedal, whcih has boost + octave + rat. It also takes up a little less space on the pedalboard, and you need to buy fewer jacks and enclosures.

thanks for your reply !

I saw a thread about a Cleft mod. I guess it's different from the Ungula Cloven version, supposed to be interesting on bass too ?

Thread 'Ungula "Cleft" Modification'

May 4, 2019

A few folks have asked, so here is the "Cleft" mod for the Ungula.

Q1 2N5089
Q2 MPSA13
Q3 MPSA13
Q4 2N5089

D1 1N4148
D2 1N4148

C6 OMIT

• Robert
• Replies: 13
• Forum: Modifications

• 

What is this Cleft mode ?

 

[Nostradoomus]

It's the Cloven Hoof version of the EQD Hoof, more gain and bass etc.

 

[Sturdag Lagernathy]

The schematic suggests the order is:
Ringer > Bender > Muff.
A cursory glance at the circuit traces seems to agree.

 

[eh là bas ma]

I have a noticeable volume loss when the tonebender is activated and i switch the octave on.

It's not the case with the muff, the volume is the same if i activate the octave.

I looked online and in the demo it's not behaving like that.

I built the musikding kit, Instead of 2N1308 for Q4 & Q5, i have a pair of BC107A. But that's in the muff section.

The transistors in the tonebender are an MPSA18 and an unknown transistor, marked MП38A 9005. I guess it's an MP38A. The build doc calls for an AC176.

In my stash i have AC122, 90-99 hFe and AC125, 110-120. Or EFT83, 60-70 hFe.

https://docs.pedalpcb.com/project/WarScythe.pdf

Should i start troubleshooting, or is it to be expected ?

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

The Ge transistor (Q2) in the Tone Bender section is critical. If the leakage is wrong (too high or too low) then it sounds shitty or very quiet. Personally, I don't like what EQD did to the Tone Bender circuit. They fooled with the biasing on Q2, and not in a good way IMHO.

If you compare the Tone Bender schematic to a real Tone Bender MK3, like the Buzzaround (Gnat), you'll notice that there are some "extra" parts in the War Scythe. C6 & C7, R6-R8, all affect Q2's biasing and tone. This Tone Bender variant will never sound like a Buzzaround.

MP38A is a good transistor, but not every MP38A will work in this circuit. Ge transistors are NOT plug-n-play. You need to socket Q2 and audition various Ge NPN transistors until you find one that sounds ok. Don't concern yourself with part numbers or HFE. Try whatever you can get your hands on. Good luck!

The schematic suggests the order is:
Ringer > Bender > Muff.
A cursory glance at the circuit traces seems to agree.

My read is it goes Tone Bender -> Octave -> Hoof. I don't have a board, so I'm not 100% sure.

What does the Ungula's Shift control do exactly ?

The SHIFT knob on the Hoof should be more appropriately called the SHIT knob. SHIFT affects the depth and center freq of the mid scoop. As you turn SHIFT up, the notch gets deeper and the freq moves up. SHIFT has the strongest effect when TONE is above noon. I recommend starting with SHIFT at zero. I retuned the tone stack in my Hoof.