Roland AP-7 Jet Phaser - let's get it working! (Aion FX Octatron)

The 2SK30A-GR seem to have the pinout Source, Drain, Gate, versus the J201, 2n5457 pinout which is Drain, Source, Gate.

Are the source and drain interchangeable here or will I need to use a differnet so-23 to to-92 adaptor for this?
 
The 2SK30A-GR seem to have the pinout Source, Drain, Gate, versus the J201, 2n5457 pinout which is Drain, Source, Gate.

Are the source and drain interchangeable here or will I need to use a differnet so-23 to to-92 adaptor for this?
All JFETs exhibit interchangeable source & gate pins. It the nature of their design.
 
All JFETs exhibit interchangeable source & gate pins. It the nature of their design.

Correct - in this case Toshiba just arbitrarily labeled them differently than the standard, but in construction they're identical to the J201, 2N5457, etc.

...At this point someone will usually chime in and point out that this is only true most of the time, that there are technically some JFETs where the source & drain are not interchangeable. I've never encountered one in our corner of the electronics ecosystem. It probably goes back to the early days of JFETs, a conventional wisdom that was passed down from the elders because it was true at one time, but it's no longer relevant to what we do.

In any case, I've tested the Toshibas and verified that source & drain are interchangeable even though the datasheet doesn't say it.
 
I spent a lot more time than I'd like to admit troubleshooting a SMD footprint where my component tester was showing the source & drain as being swapped..
 
For those of you who are interested here is the tayda template for this project. Per my norm I used 3mm leds with no bezel and the smaller lumberg style power jack so adjust to taste. This is based on the most recent template so this should be correct but of course its not verified yet.

 
I recently got a package in the mail from Kevin. I'm going through the build doc and looking at my parts on hand and will likely be making an order to SBP for this. Having built the antipode and not seeing a need for that part of the circuit I'm thinking of hardwiring the switch for the distortion off and only focusing on the phaser side of this. @aion do you see any reason that would be an issue?
 
I recently got a package in the mail from Kevin. I'm going through the build doc and looking at my parts on hand and will likely be making an order to SBP for this. Having built the antipode and not seeing a need for that part of the circuit I'm thinking of hardwiring the switch for the distortion off and only focusing on the phaser side of this. @aion do you see any reason that would be an issue?
Should be fine - the distortion section is true-bypassed when off and the phaser issue does happen either way.

That said, the distortion section is all very cheap parts and it seems like it would be more work to bypass it and figure out what to do with that half of the enclosure, and how to mount the footswitch board with only one switch... so if it was me I would do the whole thing just to avoid the hassle.
 
Should be fine - the distortion section is true-bypassed when off and the phaser issue does happen either way.

That said, the distortion section is all very cheap parts and it seems like it would be more work to bypass it and figure out what to do with that half of the enclosure, and how to mount the footswitch board with only one switch... so if it was me I would do the whole thing just to avoid the hassle.
Technically I'd still have 2 switches on the footswitch board 😂 I'm not planning on boxing it up unless I can get it working properly. Im just trying to help see what going on. I have time to figure out if I'm gonna box it up and go from there.

On a side note, I see that half the lm358 is used in the phaser as well. Have you tried any other opamps? That's not part of the LFO is it? If not I doubt that's the issue. Just an observation
 
Just got mine too: I’ll be building it stock to start to try to capture the “ghost in the machine” that Kevin is trying to bust, but I’m a fan of symmetrical knob layouts, so I’ll be adding an AMZ presence control to the tone stack after the fact.
 
I definitely want to build this once it gets resolved so I can play the part from Who's That Lady, then never use the pedal again

"...that song was recorded two years before the Jet Phaser came out. Isley himself later recalled in a 1981 GP interview that he tracked his part with an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff fuzz into a Maestro PS-1 phaser, possibly the only phaser available at that time." — GP Article

SO... you can build an AP-7 clone and no need to even play through it, just put it on the shelf immediately before the solder's cooled.







Anybody come across a schematic for the Vermona PH-16? It's a stereo 8-stage phaser — no idea how close (or not) it's related to the AP-7, but for the sake of research it might be worth comparing its LFO and other aspects to the Jet Phaser.

ZEEMNO:
"Exploring the world of multistage phasing has inevitably led me into rack and synth modules area. Holy Cow, 14, 16, 24 even 32 stages of phasing-nirvana! :eek: If anyone wants to recreate Jet-Phasing in stereo, check out the Vermona PH-16. It lets you its 16 stages in 8 stage true stereo mode. Or mono serial with inverted LFO. It even has an envelope follower build in. If only they packed it in a nice small pedal... :smug:"
 
"...that song was recorded two years before the Jet Phaser came out. Isley himself later recalled in a 1981 GP interview that he tracked his part with an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff fuzz into a Maestro PS-1 phaser, possibly the only phaser available at that time." — GP Article

SO... you can build an AP-7 clone and no need to even play through it, just put it on the shelf immediately before the solder's cooled.







Anybody come across a schematic for the Vermona PH-16? It's a stereo 8-stage phaser — no idea how close (or not) it's related to the AP-7, but for the sake of research it might be worth comparing its LFO and other aspects to the Jet Phaser.

ZEEMNO:
"Exploring the world of multistage phasing has inevitably led me into rack and synth modules area. Holy Cow, 14, 16, 24 even 32 stages of phasing-nirvana! :eek: If anyone wants to recreate Jet-Phasing in stereo, check out the Vermona PH-16. It lets you its 16 stages in 8 stage true stereo mode. Or mono serial with inverted LFO. It even has an envelope follower build in. If only they packed it in a nice small pedal... :smug:"
8665.jpg
 
@aion sorry to bug ya with an off-topic question, but this thread jogged my memory of someone mentioning last year the possibility of a stereo input Blueshift being in the works (quote below). Thought I'd ask the source if that's something we might still expect to see in the future. Hope ya don't mind me asking!
If you mean true stereo output (not phase inverted stereo) then the Aion Blueshift (Boss Dimension C clone) is your best bet. If you need stereo input too, I believe Aion hinted that the Blueshift would be upgraded to a full stereo version later this year
 
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