Biggus Dickus PTP think-along

[owlexifry]

heck yeah! this is sick.

I broke pin 3 off the IC. Yup, IC legs REALLY REALLY don't like to be bent. Resoldered it ugly, but the pedal "works".

i was gonna say, metal cans might be the way to go here...

Was just looking for metal-can variants of the LM386 or metal-can alternatives — there aren't any.

...but @Feral Feline is already onto it.

in fact - @Feral Feline - i was also looking for metal can LM386 the other day and yeah it doesnt look like they exist

 

[Feral Feline]

Long long time ago I thought it would be cool to come up with an after-market empty Metal-Can that can hold any 8-pin IC.
Un-screw the "cap" or flip it open whatever, chuck in the IC and close it up. Kind of like socketing it, but better.

Would be a limited market, maybe even of just one, ie me.

 

[comradehoser]

This just looks so satisfying. Impressed. As soon as you started orienting pots both ways was lost and it came out looking great inside and out. I will be back to study as I do more. This has some cool stuff and it sounds like it was a good challenge.

Hahaha, I was just following your suggestions!

Anyway, I'm always open to any discussions and provision of dubious advice on PTP builds, anytime, anyone. They are a super good time.

 

[comradehoser]

Fixed version

Moved the 4n7 cap from the bottom to the top pin for the bright switch.

For the bass pot, I had wired pin 1 to pin 2 instead pin 3 to pin 2 for some reason. Snipped and reinstalled a jumper. All is good. Luckily the mid pot was correct; treble as well.

The corrected tone stack is definitely more subtle than the Revv pedals or a sunn beta, for example, but makes a difference.

The low to mid gain, high gain, and ultra high gain settings are all good and all sorts of distortion crazy, but I actually prefer it on the high gain with volume backed off as more of an overdrive. Seems like it needs room to breathe, when it does it gives you some nice ampy harmonic decay.

 

[comradehoser]

After about a week, I can't stop reaching for this shiny little rectangular prism of joy.

I effing LOVE this pedal.

So versatile. Rawk to hair metal to doom to high gain high on fire type metal with the toggles. Throw the guitar volume attenuation in there, and you have some low-mid gain crunchy good times. And it all sounds great. I've yet to find a bad setting other than off.

Also plays VERY well with others. Tried the Acrobat, sunn beta, fuzz, and some compressors in front, all to decent effect.

Next up in PTP:

Minotaur Sonic Terrors Fuzz & Burn (redux),

and the Animals Diamond Peak Chuck Dem Bones Edition.

 

[jwin615]

@comradehoser
Are you stateside? Need to get you some TO-5s.

 

[comradehoser]

@comradehoser
Are you stateside? Need to get you some TO-5s.

Yup, I am in DC. We talking commissions, here? Hahaha...

Anyway, can PM you with deets.

 

[comradehoser]

Just to update for the low-end lords and ladies:

Can confirm this circuit works pretty dang well as bass dirt.

 

[comradehoser]

Just for posterity's sake and because sometimes it's hard to find stuff on the site:

Originally I was getting a tad of fizziness on the break up. Still an awesome pedal, but I thought--"I bet this would sound better if I would've asked questions and breadboarded. It's too simple, too straightforward for a Charles David Bones build--no measurements, no staging--there has to be more to it, Captain!"

Here is reply from the Osseous Circuit Sorcerer Chuck D himself:

"Good question!
Looks like I failed to mention the need to dial-in the bias. We want Q2-E around 4.75V. 4.5V to 5.0V is fine. Select Q1 and/or adjust R4 as required. Best to start with R4 = 1K, get it as close as you can by selecting Q1, then fine-tune with R4. R4 should be between 680Ω and 1.5K.

The 1st stage definitely has enough gain to saturate, so yes, it does contribute to the overall distortion and dynamics."


Sure enough, Q2 E with 1K at R4 was under spec at 3.66v.

I wasn't about to resolder a PTP transistor in the array, so I swapped a 1.2K at R4 for the highest reading I could get without going over of 4.539v. 1.5v was too high--resulted in 5.6v I think. At 4.539v, there's a nice even decay and more amp-like harmonics now.

Still a great pedal, now more awesome. Will update on the difference if I can get closer to 4.75v with a 1.3K or 1.4K resistor.

 

[mckillacuddy]

All this biggus dickus energy has me thinking it's time to revisit it. The mod that reeled me all the way into the forum a few years back. I always wanted build another one with all the switches crammed into a tighter than necessary spot like Chuckus did with his.

Answer me this: is there any consensus on the 386 wattage? I've heard different opinions from different places in different pedals. I'm inclined to follow Fran's preference for lm386-1, but some others' more aggressive designs use lm386-3. Anybody compared?

 

[comradehoser]

I have not, and wouldn't be able to speak to the difference, but maybe post this in Chuck's build report below, because he definitely would be able to do so.

More than me, anyway.