Griffin Ricochet -SurfyBear clone

[Dan0h]

Where do I get one of these Surfy Bear Clone PCB's? Thanks

Ricochet PCB reverb compare to the Surfy Surfybear guitar effects pedal

Ricochet PCB reverb DIY project to build your own clone of the Surfy Surfybear guitar effects pedal

griffineffects.com

 

[Feral Feline]

Anybody tried the Moody Sounds stuff?

 

[mybud]

Hi all: I'm really struggling to get this one to work. Managed to bias to 6V as per build document, using a dedicated 12V 2A supply, but no reverb sound when engaged.



I kludged one of the caps (C7) where I mistakenly put a 2n instead of a 22n by soldering an 18n in parallel. It may be a below spec 5457 that's causing the problem (or I've managed to blow one despite careful soldering), but TBH I just don't know why it's failing to make any sound at all.



If anyone spots something I've missed or can provide working voltages, I'll appreciate this help no end. TIA and all best.

 

[Dan0h]

Hi all: I'm really struggling to get this one to work. Managed to bias to 6V as per build document, using a dedicated 12V 2A supply, but no reverb sound when engaged.

View attachment 65951

I kludged one of the caps (C7) where I mistakenly put a 2n instead of a 22n by soldering an 18n in parallel. It may be a below spec 5457 that's causing the problem (or I've managed to blow one despite careful soldering), but TBH I just don't know why it's failing to make any sound at all.

View attachment 65952

If anyone spots something I've missed or can provide working voltages, I'll appreciate this help no end. TIA and all best.

What tank are you going into? I see several reflow candidates. It’s silly but are your ins and outs to the tank and back correct? You left out the correct components for this version? In their instructions the leave out parts are towards the end of the instructions not very intuitive. Are your rca connectors solid? I noticed on mine it was a challenge to get them to tin up properly.

 

[mybud]

Hi @Dan0h, and thanks for the ultra-swift reply.

Yeah, it's one of the prescribed tanks (Belton BL2AB3C1B to be exact), which has worked before.

I had another cheap reverb board kit which I managed to bork while trying to replace the funky old black plastic horizontal pots but it had worked (beautifully) up to that point. Maybe resuscitating that would eliminate the tank as the problem child.

I also tried flipping the inputs/outputs to the tank, but no joy.

I did a brief audio probe since last posting. There's plenty of signal going to the tank but none coming back.

This suggests that the problem is somewhere on the board as you observed. I'll keep plugging away meantime.

 

[xefned]

I have this non-approved tank kicking around.

What do you guys think would happen if I tried it with the Griffin Ricochet?


This tank:

• Type: Short (3 Spring) tank
• Decay: medium decay
• Input: 800 Ω
• Output: 2,575 Ω

Approved tank:

• Type: Long (2 Spring) tank
• Decay: long decay
• Input: 8 Ω
• Output: 2,250 Ω

Looks like that input impedance is way off.

 

[mybud]

I have this non-approved tank kicking around.

What do you guys think would happen if I tried it with the Griffin Ricochet?
View attachment 65957

The circuit shows the impedances of the approved versions. If these match or are ‘close enough for jazz,’ you should be ok. YMMV.

 

[xefned]

The circuit shows the impedances of the approved versions. If these match or are ‘close enough for jazz,’ you should be ok. YMMV.

8Ω input impedance vs. 800Ω input impedance.

I should probably get the approved tank.

 

[mybud]

8Ω input impedance vs. 800Ω input impedance.

I should probably get the approved tank.

Worth it, even if only for eliminating another variable that might prevent it from working.

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

close enough for jazz

I way over use this phrase.

 

[Bugeyed Earl]

I started building a pair of these units over the weekend, and nearly got it finished when I realized I was shipped all IRF510s instead of a pair each of 510's and 9510's (Q5 isn't soldered in in the pic yet,) so I'm waiting for the replacement parts and considering my enclosure options. Planning to bend up a metal enclosure with wood end caps and wrap it in tolex similar to the Surfybear classic, but it might get the toolbox treatment in the interim.

I see that several people have been building these pedals, and this is the only place online with any end user feedback. How are these units working out for you folks?

 

[Dan0h]

I started building a pair of these units over the weekend, and nearly got it finished when I realized I was shipped all IRF510s instead of a pair each of 510's and 9510's (Q5 isn't soldered in in the pic yet,) so I'm waiting for the replacement parts and considering my enclosure options. Planning to bend up a metal enclosure with wood end caps and wrap it in tolex similar to the Surfybear classic, but it might get the toolbox treatment in the interim.

I see that several people have been building these pedals, and this is the only place online with any end user feedback. How are these units working out for you folks?

View attachment 68464

My first build works great. I sent my other board to a friend.

 

[Bugeyed Earl]

My first build works great. I sent my other board to a friend.

Excellent, I'm looking forward to hearing mine in action!

 

[Giorfida]

I may need to get one of those!
Of course I could just build the tube version and be done with it

 

[Bugeyed Earl]

I'm running into some trouble with this build, I'm not getting much output from the wet side of the mixer (I built the circuit with the improved mix controls.) When I dial back the dry side to almost nothing with the wet maxed out, I can hear the wet signal faintly, and can tell that the tone and dwell controls are affecting it, and there's reverb there, but no volume without turning up the dry signal.

Bumping the tank gets a faint crash, not nearly what you'd expect from a working reverb. Here are some pics of my test setup, if anyone sees something obviously wrong, any advice would be greatly appreciated!



temporarily housed in an enclosure I had on hand...





I tried a bench power supply to rule out the wall wart, no improvement.


Getting +6 vdc at TP1 after dialing R13 all the way down to 10k, which seems odd... Gates of Q4 & Q5 are reading +8 and +3 vdc respectively.

 

[mybud]

I'm running into some trouble with this build, I'm not getting much output from the wet side of the mixer (I built the circuit with the improved mix controls.) When I dial back the dry side to almost nothing with the wet maxed out, I can hear the wet signal faintly, and can tell that the tone and dwell controls are affecting it, and there's reverb there, but no volume without turning up the dry signal.

Your symptoms sound similar to mine (see above posts). I painstakingly reflowed mine recently and managed to get a very distorted signal with no reverb. Removing the distortion by adjusting the trimmers made little to no difference. I wonder if these MOSFETs are extra static-sensitive and I somehow borked them in the assembly phase, on the 'nobody's fault but mine' principle.

Frustrating, since other posters have managed to get this to work. TBH I've more or less given up on this one and will try again with a fresh board and MOSFETs in due course.

 

[iamjackslackof]

@Bugeyed Earl I tried to build this twice, and ran into exactly this same issue both times, and eventually just gave up.

 

[Dan0h]

I'm running into some trouble with this build, I'm not getting much output from the wet side of the mixer (I built the circuit with the improved mix controls.) When I dial back the dry side to almost nothing with the wet maxed out, I can hear the wet signal faintly, and can tell that the tone and dwell controls are affecting it, and there's reverb there, but no volume without turning up the dry signal.

Bumping the tank gets a faint crash, not nearly what you'd expect from a working reverb. Here are some pics of my test setup, if anyone sees something obviously wrong, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

View attachment 69135

temporarily housed in an enclosure I had on hand...

View attachment 69137

View attachment 69136

I tried a bench power supply to rule out the wall wart, no improvement.
View attachment 69138

Getting +6 vdc at TP1 after dialing R13 all the way down to 10k, which seems odd... Gates of Q4 & Q5 are reading +8 and +3 vdc respectively.

View attachment 69139

Your symptoms sound similar to mine (see above posts). I painstakingly reflowed mine recently and managed to get a very distorted signal with no reverb. Removing the distortion by adjusting the trimmers made little to no difference. I wonder if these MOSFETs are extra static-sensitive and I somehow borked them in the assembly phase, on the 'nobody's fault but mine' principle.

Frustrating, since other posters have managed to get this to work. TBH I've more or less given up on this one and will try again with a fresh board and MOSFETs in due course.

@Bugeyed Earl I tried to build this twice, and ran into exactly this same issue both times, and eventually just gave up.

I wish I could be of more help. I built mine without the extra mix control and mine sounds pretty close to the surfy bear just a little more quite with slight distortion but none of the issues you guys have had. I don’t know enough about the board or the maker to know what to suggest. I know Dan was going to build the board I sent him but I think it’s in his que still as I’ve seen no mention of it. Bummer.

 

[Bugeyed Earl]

Hmm, at least I'm not alone! I don't think we've damaged the MOSFETs, they're pretty simple devices, it would take more than a little static to damage them. I might pull the extra components for the improved mixer and see if it works that way. I did build a second unit at the same time for a bandmate, but I haven't tested that one yet. Since I essentially built them simultaneously, I'd expect the other one to exhibit the same issue.

I'll poke around with this one and see if I can figure it out. First step is to trace the PCB and confirm that it actually matches the schematic.

 

[iamjackslackof]

Hmm, at least I'm not alone! I don't think we've damaged the MOSFETs, they're pretty simple devices, it would take more than a little static to damage them. I might pull the extra components for the improved mixer and see if it works that way. I did build a second unit at the same time for a bandmate, but I haven't tested that one yet. Since I essentially built them simultaneously, I'd expect the other one to exhibit the same issue.

I'll poke around with this one and see if I can figure it out. First step is to trace the PCB and confirm that it actually matches the schematic.

I built them both with the improved mixer, and I think at least one other person built it without, and same issue, so it seems to me it's not the mixer circuit. What it could be I have no idea, especially since it has been successful built before...