Is it just me or is the Simulcast kinda bright?

[HamishR]

Yeah the demos I've heard have made it sound awful. It is a weird one, but can make some great sounds. I'm just not sure of it's worth the effort! Some pedals sound great to me one day, terrible the next.

And Vox amps are one of those things that all of my player friends love but don't work for me. Badcats do and they're often the same circuit just filtered differently. In fact Badcat amps influenced the way I build my Fender tweed amps. The huge power transformers compared to a Vox are one of the reasons they sound so different. I applied that logic to my tweed amps and found that it has the same result - a tighter, bigger low end.

 

[daeg]

And Vox amps are one of those things that all of my player friends love but don't work for me. Badcats do and they're often the same circuit just filtered differently. In fact Badcat amps influenced the way I build my Fender tweed amps. The huge power transformers compared to a Vox are one of the reasons they sound so different. I applied that logic to my tweed amps and found that it has the same result - a tighter, bigger low end.

Somewhere along the way I found that I liked playing spongy cathode biased amps at cleanish settings, so the Vox ACs and the Tweed Deluxe do the trick for me. They tend to like overdrives that are just as messy as they are, so the Broadcast might be a good pairing.

Does anyone know when the Simulcast PCB's will be back in stock? If it's going to be months and months I'll just build the thing on vero.

 

[caiofilipini]

Does anyone know when the Simulcast PCB's will be back in stock? If it's going to be months and months I'll just build the thing on vero.

Are you in the US? I think I have one I'm probably never going to build, happy to send it your way.

 

[daeg]

Built it. Caiofilipini was kind enough to mail me a PCB.

Playing a low volume late last night, it sounded perfect. Playing at medium volumes today, oh my god, my ears bled. There is an easy fix though.

Silicon Fuzz Faces are notorious for being too bright, and one of the common solutions is to put a tiny cap across Q1. Try this:

• Pick a small ceramic capacitor somewhere in the 47pf - 220pf range
• Remove Q1 from its socket
• Stick the capacitor in the Collector and Base socket holes (left and middle on the Simulcast PCB)
• Jam the Transistor back into the socket

Viola, you have a Simulcast without the ear bleed, and no permanent modifications.

 

[daeg]

Here's what it looks like in my build. I'm using a 2n5088 so ignore the transistor orientation. I like bright so a 68pf cap was right for me.

 

[daeg]

I just realized, when I was testing the pedal out last night, I had my guitar plugged directly into it and the treble sounded just right. Today, when I found it was way too bright, it was on my pedalboard, after a buffer.

As you all already know, low input impedance loads your pickups and shaves off some treble. Fuzz Face devotees have been dealing with this for like 5 decades. It sounds right when AC coupled with your Guitar, it sounds wrong when after a buffer. This is all the more reason to add that tiny Miller capacitor between the Collector and Base of Q1.

Like I mentioned a couple posts up, you'll want to experiment with values between 47pf and 220pf. At 10pf, I don't think you'll notice any change, at 47pf, you'll notice it hurts your ears a little bit less, above 220pf you'll start thinking something is missing.

 

[HamishR]

That is such a clever idea. You are (well, verging on) a genius! I will try that.

I've had issues with a Klon buffer before just as you describe. I my case it was a Red Rooster it wrought havoc on. I use so few pedals on my board I really don't need a buffer. Especially as I almost always have at least one pedal going. A tuner, and OD and a delay is it for me for most gigs. Now it's a delay/reverb though - I got a Source Audio Collider.

 

[HamishR]

I finally got around to trying this. I ended up with a 200pF - for now. It has made all the difference. Thanks Mr Daeg - semi-genius for now.

*Edit* With more time messing with this I have found that 300pF pretty much evens up the treble with bypass. By itself the pedal is a decent overdrive - great tone but still that transistory breakup which sounds a little harsh and crackly at times. Now as a cleanish boost - wow. Best boost tone ever! It has an authority to the sound which is fantastic. Beautiful mids. There's a slight hint of treble booster in there which suits me just fine. It's the sort of thing I could just leave on as the first pedal in the line for the whole gig.

 

[daeg]

Awesome. So glad it worked out.

The Simulcast has found a home on my board as the light overdrive. It's taken the place of the Crowther Hotcake (Aion Anomoly), which was doing the typical light, full-range OD into a Vox Top Boost channel. My impression is that it doesn't compress when you dig into strings like a typical OD, but adds kind of a nice gritty spikeyness instead. Kind of like a Colorsound OD / Power Boost, but without the crackle.

Using this makes me realize that the Hotcake always should have had a low-cut instead of the questionable presence control. At low - medium gain, the Broadcast sounds great to my ears, but I didn't bond with the scuzzy cranked 'mixing console distortion' sounds that the pedal demoers seem to love.

One final tip for anyone who is looking to build this; swap the 'Level' pot for a logarithmic taper, the linear taper just sucks. In mine I used an A50k pot with a 47k resistor across lugs 1 and 3, just in-case the output transformer needs that ~25k load to work some magic. With a Log pot, you'll get unity volume with all knobs at noon (in the Low Gain mode) which I find really nice.

 

[jhaneyzz]

I know this thread is quite old but just built a simulcast and hoping to tone down the treble.

Tested a few caps between pins 1 and 2 of Volume pot (22nf 10nf 2.2nf) they all seemed to "put a blanket" on the tone.

I'm still not safe with making EE decisions.

Playing around with my Wampler Equator (Parametric EQ) I can tune it properly by taking the 7k point down by about 20% and the 4.8k point down by around 10%. So sounds like 6k ish is the problem freq.

Ideas?

 

[harmaes]

I know this thread is quite old but just built a simulcast and hoping to tone down the treble.

Tested a few caps between pins 1 and 2 of Volume pot (22nf 10nf 2.2nf) they all seemed to "put a blanket" on the tone.

I'm still not safe with making EE decisions.

Playing around with my Wampler Equator (Parametric EQ) I can tune it properly by taking the 7k point down by about 20% and the 4.8k point down by around 10%. So sounds like 6k ish is the problem freq.

Ideas?

Try a lower value cap between say 500 and 1000pf.
I’ve also replaced the germanium transistor with a 2n4033 which makes the response somewhat smoother and more in the direction of the Ariel Posen version.

 

[jhaneyzz]

and... of course, the one time I DON'T socket the transistor.....

DOH!!!

 

[jhaneyzz]

You get the 2n4033 from Mouser?

 

[jhaneyzz]

Try a lower value cap between say 500 and 1000pf.
I’ve also replaced the germanium transistor with a 2n4033 which makes the response somewhat smoother and more in the direction of the Ariel Posen version.

Oooo... a 560pf sounds about right but no good decisions get made after midnight so I'll hold off heating up the soldering iron until tomorrow..

BTW,, is there a calculator or something somewhere that will help me visualize what I'm doing here?

 

[jhaneyzz]

I am really liking the Broadcast circuit, However I absolutely, positively think there is no reason to pump this thing up to 27 V. My volume is at maybe 2 for unity.

 

[harmaes]

You get the 2n4033 from Mouser?

I’m in the Netherlands so sourced it here.

 

[harmaes]

I am really liking the Broadcast circuit, However I absolutely, positively think there is no reason to pump this thing up to 27 V. My volume is at maybe 2 for unity.

I personally like it at 27v and also above unity to drive the input of pedals afterward or the amp. I use the simulcast as a preamp to play pedals through it.

 

[szukalski]

I know this thread is quite old but just built a simulcast and hoping to tone down the treble.

Tested a few caps between pins 1 and 2 of Volume pot (22nf 10nf 2.2nf) they all seemed to "put a blanket" on the tone.

I'm still not safe with making EE decisions.

Playing around with my Wampler Equator (Parametric EQ) I can tune it properly by taking the 7k point down by about 20% and the 4.8k point down by around 10%. So sounds like 6k ish is the problem freq.

Ideas?

Did you try the Miller capacitor as mentioned in the thread? That was the ultimate solution for OP.

I do that with treble boosters all the time to tame the treble or high frequency hiss.

You can use alligator clips across the cap if your transistor has enough legroom.

 

[harmaes]

Did you try the Miller capacitor as mentioned in the thread? That was the ultimate solution for OP.

I do that with treble boosters all the time to tame the treble or high frequency hiss.

You can use alligator clips across the cap if your transistor has enough legroom.

I now see that @jhaneyzz mentions putting a cap over the volume pot which indeed should be a Miller cap between collector and base of Q1.
I’ve used a value of 820pf or 1nf and I still keep the tone of the pedal between 0 tot 3 oc depending on the gain switch.

 

[jhaneyzz]

Did you try the Miller capacitor as mentioned in the thread? That was the ultimate solution for OP.

I do that with treble boosters all the time to tame the treble or high frequency hiss.

You can use alligator clips across the cap if your transistor has enough legroom.

Read back an put the pieces together. I’ll try that tomorrow, thanks for the nudge.