DEMO Low Tide Modulator (Fairfield Circuitry Shallow Water)

[MichaelW]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

So this one was a bit out of my wheelhouse but a fun build and a fun pedal!

I'm not completely sure how to use it, so there's that heh. I'm still kinda figuring that part out.
But I AM having a lot of fun making noise with it!

When I initially built it, I had super low output. Everything was working, I had modulation, mix, level, etc. but just super low output.

Turns out it was one of the substitutions I made. For the 2SK208 I subbed a 2SK30A-GR, which spec wise is a good alternative. EXCEPT that it has a different pinout. duh......total rookie move not checking for compatibility. Once I realized that I popped in an MMBFJ201 and it fixed the problem.

Since that particular transistor is just a buffer from what I understand, the specific part isn't super important. (But compatible pinouts IS ).

I also subbed an NE5532 for the MCP602 Opamp.

Biasing was a breeze due to @bowanderror's most excellent instructions!

Also big shout out to @steviejr92 for the trouble shooting assist!

I used the faceplate on a Red Sand enclosure, but dropped the enclosure when I was drilling, sigh, so there's a couple of dings on the corners.
Also, there was a blank space on the faceplate that looked like it needed something, so, a little double sided tape and voila!

So this thing can sound like a fairly normal chorus pedal with all the knobs at noon. But it gets into wacky-land pretty fast once you do a little knob turning.

This is a must build for chorus fans and for people that like off the beaten path modulation pedals.

 

[Harry Klippton]

I love the demo. Guess I'm back to wanting to build this one

 

[steviejr92]

Im thinking of rebuilding this one as well! I didnt realize there was a faceplate for this! Build looks fantastic dude!

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

While I agree that it's a must build for chorus heads, I have no use for chorus and my low tide is in constant use over here. It's a must build for all but the haters.

 

[szukalski]

It's a build for haters as well. I am surprised it took you so long to build it!

As much as I love the full warble, the mild warble stuff is where it's at for me. Just a little width to your sound in a lovely way.

 

[mkstewartesq]

My eyes watered a little bit at the number of components on that board.

M

 

[Fishbonetabby]

I initially had trouble setting the internal pots but it did not take long for me to absolutely love this pedal. I say it sort of sounds like a warped record. I crank up the mix and adjust the effect accordingly then turn down the mix so the effect is more subtle.

 

[Guilherme Collateral]

Looks great as always! And what a coincidence, I just took mine out of the pedal closet here to give it a go and saw your build report!

 

[Harry Klippton]

Just watched this again with headphones now that my kid is asleep and first of all I gotta say how much I appreciate the demos you do, and second, the tones at the end, especially with the snozzberry,

 

[Dan0h]

Dude that sounds amazeballs.

 

[GizzWizzKing]

Awesome demo! Makes me want this even more! I am excited for the eventual day when I feel confident enough to tackle this one.

But...couldn't you have scraped off all markings from the faceplate? Would've been much more in line with your standard graphics.

 

[Funnel]

Sounds great! Maybe this should be added to the build list. Also, did I miss the Charlie Christian tele build report?

 

[MichaelW]

My eyes watered a little bit at the number of components on that board.

M

It's really not that bad. @Robert does such great layouts, building it was the easy part!

 

[MichaelW]

Sounds great! Maybe this should be added to the build list. Also, did I miss the Charlie Christian tele build report?

Here it is.....don't blink, there'll be another

Edit: Actually probably not, I think 6 Tele's is enough heh.

 

[andare]

Hard to hear what it does with the amount of reverb you have going (on my phone) but it seems like it has a ton of different sounds.

I just soldered a J201 in place of the 2Sk208 yesterday. I have the adapter board so I hope I used the correct orientation. I checked it a million times.

Waiting for 22u caps and the enclosure to finish it.

 

[MichaelW]

Hard to hear what it does with the amount of reverb you have going (on my phone) but it seems like it has a ton of different sounds.

I just soldered a J201 in place of the 2Sk208 yesterday. I have the adapter board so I hope I used the correct orientation. I checked it a million times.

Waiting for 22u caps and the enclosure to finish it.

Hmmm, should I use less reverb/delay on my demo's?

 

[andare]

Hmmm, should I use less reverb/delay on my demo's?

No, you should do whatever you want. It's your demos, who cares what I say

 

[MichaelW]

No, you should do whatever you want. It's your demos, who cares what I say

Well I care , the whole point of the demo is to showcase the pedal sound. If it's obfuscated by the verb and delay I can dial it back a bit.

 

[andare]

Well I care , the whole point of the demo is to showcase the pedal sound. If it's obfuscated by the verb and delay I can dial it back a bit.

If it were up to me, pedal demos would be shot with a phone with no post processing, guitar straight into the single pedal and into a real amp, bone dry and super simple playing: cowboy chords, arpeggios, single note riffs, clean, dirty and so on. The more restrained the playing the better. And lots of knob twirling to showcase the range of the controls as well as the sweet spots.

For example the channel Tri Pedal Reviews is like that.

 

[mkstewartesq]

@MichaelW :

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I love the sound you get from your set-up. (The terrific playing is the icing on the cake).

That being said - I do tend to agree that the the sound for demo purposes is a bit too "wet", although I have been hesitant (afraid?) to say so because, as @andare says, these are your demos so it seems ungracious to reward the time and effort you put in to create a demo by nitpicking it.

Your demo of the Current Lover convinced me to build that pedal - a friend of mine who is a "vintage Electric Mistress snob" also heard your demo and liked it so much that he asked me to build an extra for him. So thank you. But when I went to calibrate my builds, since I had never used a Mistress before, I went back to your video as reference for the "sound" I should be aiming for when calibrating. And, in that respect, I was surprised that it wasn't of much help because of the reverb and delay on the video sound that obscured the sound of the "naked" pedal.

Again - this is all your hard work, effort, and generosity in sharing with the community. Please continue doing things exactly the way that make you happy. I'll keep watching and enjoying them (and learning from them) no matter what. So please just take this as a friendly observation, not a criticism.

Mike