NRG Verdant: ODR-1 with bass knob

[Grubb]

I love my Nobleman a lot, but the bass can sometimes be overpowering in my setup and I wanted to try and make my own version with control over the bass. What I've ended up with is something between the Nobleman and an Aion Andromeda, with a couple of differing component choices.

The PCB and LED footswitch board I made layouts for in DipTrace and then had them fabricated at JLCPCB.

I've only done a brief soundcheck as it's night here and my kids are in bed, but the bit I heard put a smile on my face. The smoothness is there, and the bass control tidies up the low end just as I'd hoped.

One of the in/out arrows didn't print because I'm an idiot and I apparently clicked on the wrong Roland swatch just for that one tiny triangle

Pics:

 

[fig]

Looks great! Hey, you installed the transistors!

 

[Grubb]

Looks great! Hey, you installed the transistors!

And the ICs! And only 30 seconds after the moment of panic when no sound was forthcoming

 

[JamieJ]

This looks awesome @Grubb
What did you do to add the bass control that’s different to the andromeda?
I’ve got the nobleman in my queue and was planning to add the Aion mod to my PPCB board.

 

[jeffwhitfield]

This looks awesome @Grubb
What did you do to add the bass control that’s different to the andromeda?
I’ve got the nobleman in my queue and was planning to add the Aion mod to my PPCB board.

Adding bass to a Nobleman is actually pretty easy. Lemme look it up right quick.

 

[jeffwhitfield]

Ok, so, on the Nobleman you’ll be modding R7 (1K5) and C5 (2n2). Lift leg 1 of R7 (the side connected to C5) and the positive side of C5. Using a C50K pot, connect leg 1 and 2 to C5 and leg 3 to R7. Thats it. Simple mod.

 

[music6000]

Ok, so, on the Nobleman you’ll be modding R7 (1K5) and C5 (2n2). Lift leg 1 of R7 (the side connected to C5) and the positive side of C5. Using a C50K pot, connect leg 1 and 2 to C5 and leg 3 to R7. Thats it. Simple mod.

Better to Cut the Trace from R7 to C5 from underside of board.
You can solder Hookup Wire directly to the +C5 & R7 Pads on solder side, No one will see from the component side!

 

[jeffwhitfield]

No one will see from the component side!

Except that one guy. And he be like,”Whatcha do to my board, bra!”

 

[jeffwhitfield]

BTW, @Grubb…nice design! Very clean and classy.

 

[Grubb]

This looks awesome @Grubb
What did you do to add the bass control that’s different to the andromeda?

Apologies Jamie, the bass control is exactly the same as the Andromeda, the component differences throughout the PCB are mostly capacitor changes as the Andromeda specs some stuff that's really hard to get right now and I preferred some things about the Nobleman's design in that regard.

Good luck with your mod!

 

[Grubb]

I have ended up re-designing the circuit for this. The overdrive sounds really nice, bass control works perfectly, but the pedal lacks output volume compared to the Nobleman. It has to be cranked to give even a slight volume boost, whereas the Nobleman is giving me a volume boost past 1 or 2 o'clock. Is there a known output difference between the Andromeda and the Nobleman? Either that or I goosed something in the design.

 

[music6000]

My Andromeda has plenty of Volume, sounds like a wrong resistor value or a trace may be amiss / jumper!

 

[MichaelW]

I have the Aion Nordland ODR-C PCB in my wishlist. (Andromeda Deluxe). I've been really intrigued with Kai's boutique version of this circuit for a while but haven't been willing to drop the $$'s for one. Does the Andromeda Deluxe have sufficient bass cut to balance the bass forward nature of the original ODR-1? I actually still own an ODR-1, one of the few Non-DIY pedals I haven't sold off. Largely because it was so cheap and really not worth selling hahah.

 

[Grubb]

The bass control on the Andromeda works perfectly (I haven't tried an Andromeda Deluxe). It's a brilliant overdrive circuit once the bass is tamed. Fully CW on the Bass knob is ODR-1 stock bass, every setting CCW is a bass reduction of some kind.

@music6000 helped me diagnose the issue, I have some lazily copied/pasted resistors in my schematic in one small corner that somehow evaded detection both when placing them and when doing a value sweep before being converting the schem into a PCB. I will sub them out this week and see if that returns the output to normal levels.