A Blast from the Past - Custom Flanger

[Chuck D. Bones]

I was pretty much one my own. Hadn't met anyone with an interest in electronics for music. The school had an electronic music lab, got a tour of that during a music class. In hindsight, I should have asked it they needed an engineer or tech to maintain the equipment.

I don't recall much about how the Fender SS amp sounded. It eventually blew up and I tossed it. I ended up getting an Earth Sound Research 100W amp, an American copy of a Marshall 1959, in trade. Once I had that, I lost all interest in solid state amps. Still have it. Needs a new power transformer. I abused it years ago by playing a synth thru it. A story for another time.

 

[music6000]

With a little Reviver? :

 

[gtt]

I was pretty much one my own. Hadn't met anyone with an interest in electronics for music. The school had an electronic music lab, got a tour of that during a music class. In hindsight, I should have asked it they needed an engineer or tech to maintain the equipment.

I don't recall much about how the Fender SS amp sounded. It eventually blew up and I tossed it. I ended up getting an Earth Sound Research 100W amp, an American copy of a Marshall 1959, in trade. Once I had that, I lost all interest in solid state amps. Still have it. Needs a new power transformer. I abused it years ago by playing a synth thru it. A story for another time.

Oh man Earth amps. My buddy had one in high school. That was a beast.

When did you eventually meet up with fellow effects engineers? What's your story? You've got such deep knowledge of all this? I *love* reading your posts!

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

My meeting fellow effects engineers happens over the internet. I read Brian Wampler's books. I read Craig Anderton's book. I read posts here and on the DIY forums like FSB. I read the stuff on Runoff Groove and Aion. I was an electronics hobbyist for years before I went to college. I download and study schematics. I run simulations and build breadboards. It's a labor of love. I get a lot of great ideas from the folks here on the PPCB forums. I've collaborated with several people here on pedal designs. In my job, I honed my skills designing precision analog circuits, power systems, digital signal processors and embedded microcontrollers. It's been a fun ride so far.

 

[gtt]

Wow that's really cool! Labor of love indeed. I find it all very inspiring, and I really appreciate your knowledge, patience, and the positive encouragement you give everyone. Honestly I check this forum all the time.

At a certain point in my career I was doing some embedded DSP software for medical devices so I have some familiarity by osmosis with the space you were in professionally, perhaps? If you're able to say, what sort of products were you designing?

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

I worked in aerospace, on everything from high power experiments on the ground to sensitive instruments in orbit. I was very fortunate to be able to work with, and learn from the best. One of my last projects was an electronics unit on the James Webb Space Telescope.

 

[cooder]

Celestial engineering indeed! What an asset to have you wrangling circuits around here!

 

[gtt]

Ok that is awesome. I love scientific discovery and the JWST is amazing. Literally you helped make history happen. Bravo!

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

I have it all traced out. It's pretty close to the Electric Mistress V2 shown in post #1. As I was drawing up the schematic, I noticed that I had screwed up the pre-emphasis / de-emphasis networks. Easily fixed by changing a few component values. I'm also going to swap out the SPEED pot for C-taper and shorten the pot shafts so that the knobs sit closer to the front panel. While I'm at it, I'll change out the stomp switch and wire it for true bypass. I managed to clean off the enclosure with some soap & warm water. There are scratches in the paint, but I'm ok with that. Proof of authenticity. None of this fake "relicked" bullshit we see coming out of Fender & Gibson.

 

[Gordo]

Thanks Chuck.