Couple of broadcasts... Duocast and simulcast builds.

jcrews

Member
I've been deep into the "always on preamp" style pedal hunt. Benson, Rangemaster, Chickenhead, Various Optical Comps etc... Finally got around to trying the hudson.

Both are built with NOS oc71's from tube depot. Triad transformers etc. I had the cool neve knobs everyone loves on the big one, but my label design was too close and rather than do that over I downgraded it to match it's little brother. Shame.

As far as the sounds go..... I think I like the little guy better. it's always running at 24 volts but has three levels of gain on the tap and no internal trimmer. I like this because of the LESS than usual setting. instead of having to turn the gain all the way down to get good preamp sounds you can use it throughout it's range without it getting to noticeably hairy.

At high gain, when used as a fuzz both of them are great as well. I had figured I'd take to the big one since i would love to be able to do BOTH things, but the little guy does better for an always on. You have to have the trim down SO low on the double sided version that the higher gain sound is neutered. I'd love more control over both. As absolutely bonkers as it sounds I think I'd be best suited with 2 of the simulcasts in one enclosure. Just an issue of getting it to fit I'd say...

I'll probably flip the big one and keep the single one for now.
hudsonclones.jpeg hudsonguts.jpeg IMG_5823 2.jpeg
 
Nice work!

The original Broadcast Dual has the low gain trimmer set to minimum and the high gain set to 3/4 from factory, I suppose to match the single version. Have you tried that?
 
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Definitely. I have the low at minimum and the high cranked currently. The tinkerer in me wants to be able to set trim and lo cut for both sides. I can get both sounds I want out of it on either side, but not without turning some knobs in-between (like how the higher gain stuff sounds better at 9v when it's choking a little and the cleaner stuff sounds better at 24) I'm happy with the simulcast for now, and I can always build a second and move it over into a bigger box. That would be silly but function as i want it to :cool: . I knew i wouldn't need both. Cool circuit all the way around though....
Edit: I think it's cool they chose the limited issue to copy into the simulcast. The og single switch has 2 gain settings. then they released them with a switch for voltage 9 and 24. They did a limited run of ones that were set with three gains on the switch. So you get one lower than the original and one higher, and the box always runs at 24v. If you hate the higher headroom the IC chip can be removed and the unit will run at like 7 volts and you can get that really fall apart fuzz tone if that's what blows your dress up. I haven't attempted that because i dig it at 24. But it def gets cleaner AND dirtier than the original one footswitcher broadcast.

This guy here.
 
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Those look great! Also thinking about building the simulcast for an always on low to medium gain thing. What power supply are you using for the 24v? I think my truetone cs6 only goes to 18v haha.
Or is the 24v an internal thing?
 
Great builds. I have the duocast but have another transformer and OC71 spare. I bought the transformer then only after I paid they said the shipping would be delayed by a few months so I got one else where.
Sounds like it’s worth building the simulcast rather than using the OC71 from something else?
 
Cool builds; Great INFO!

I got the smaller one after a quick look at the schematics and thinking I could mod it to be like the bigger (wanted the smaller footprint); upon closer inspection of the schematics I found that getting the lower voltage of the bigger one would be... problematic. No matter, my intended use matches yours somewhat. Almost always on, and I like the headroom the 24v has for bass. However, the link you gave says along with the higher headroom, it's got "tighter low end". I hope it doesn't cut bass too much, or I'll have to monkey with the caps.
 
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