MichaelW
Well-known member
- Build Rating
I recently got a sweet care package from my Kiwi friend @szukalski .
Lot's of goodies in there including this one.
The "California Red" is a @Chuck D. Bones circuit from his bread board thread called "The Celestial Boost".
The name is misleading as it's so much more than a boost. There is SO MUCH going on with this circuit it's a bit hard for me to wrap my brain around or follow.
A COTS based boost/low gain drive? It's in there!
An Si overdrive? It's in there!
a Ge NPN+Ge Diode based fuzz? IT'S IN THERE!
This one drive covers a whole lot of territory. I highly recommend reading through Chuck's thread and see how cool this pedal is designed.
Of course the layout is superbly done by @szukalski for a fairly busy and complex circuit.
For the Ge NPN I used an MP38A Hfe ~95-96. It was just the first random one I pulled out.
For the Ge Diodes I used a pair of vintage Mullard OA10's......just because. vF was around .280mv. (If I did it over again I'd go for some higher vF diodes.)
For the SI clipping I used 1N4148's
There's a pair of red led's in the clipping circuit as well.
From Chuck's thread:
"I added anothe gain stage (Q2). The toggle switch has three positions Boost, Fuzz and Distortion. It's kind of a BFD
One half of the MODE switch selects the clipping diodes. I stacked Germanium, Silicon & LEDs in series. In Boost mode, all three pairs are in circuit and the clipping threshold is high. In Distortion mode, the LEDs are shorted out and the clipping comes from the Ge & Si diodes. In Fuzz mode, the LEDs & Si diodes are shorted out and the Ge diodes do all of the clipping. The other half of the MODE switch controls the gain and bass response of the 1st stage. Low gain for Boost, medium gain for Distortion, and high gain with some bass cut for Fuzz."
(In my demo, I called the "Distortion" mode "overdrive mode". That was my bad. It's really more a distortion sound.
Oh and I meant to post this in the "Mailbox" thread but forgot
I got a new soldering station. I went with the "Fisher Price" model Hakko.....
Shares the same tips as my Yihua 939. The Yihua was giving me issues, turned out to be a bad ceramic heating element. I bought a replacement wand it's working again. But in the meantime I got the Hakko and decided to keep it. This was the first pedal I built with it.
Here's the demo of the pedal.
Also a first demo of my freshly put together "JazzCaster".
It's only its second day as a guitar, strung up under tension. With cheap "set up" strings. (I buy bulk strings I from juststrings.com for set ups)
And the pickup heights aren't adjusted yet as I'm waiting for some more pickup foam.
But damn, it sounds and play nice!
Lot's of goodies in there including this one.
The "California Red" is a @Chuck D. Bones circuit from his bread board thread called "The Celestial Boost".
The name is misleading as it's so much more than a boost. There is SO MUCH going on with this circuit it's a bit hard for me to wrap my brain around or follow.
A COTS based boost/low gain drive? It's in there!
An Si overdrive? It's in there!
a Ge NPN+Ge Diode based fuzz? IT'S IN THERE!
This one drive covers a whole lot of territory. I highly recommend reading through Chuck's thread and see how cool this pedal is designed.
Of course the layout is superbly done by @szukalski for a fairly busy and complex circuit.
For the Ge NPN I used an MP38A Hfe ~95-96. It was just the first random one I pulled out.
For the Ge Diodes I used a pair of vintage Mullard OA10's......just because. vF was around .280mv. (If I did it over again I'd go for some higher vF diodes.)
For the SI clipping I used 1N4148's
There's a pair of red led's in the clipping circuit as well.
From Chuck's thread:
"I added anothe gain stage (Q2). The toggle switch has three positions Boost, Fuzz and Distortion. It's kind of a BFD
One half of the MODE switch selects the clipping diodes. I stacked Germanium, Silicon & LEDs in series. In Boost mode, all three pairs are in circuit and the clipping threshold is high. In Distortion mode, the LEDs are shorted out and the clipping comes from the Ge & Si diodes. In Fuzz mode, the LEDs & Si diodes are shorted out and the Ge diodes do all of the clipping. The other half of the MODE switch controls the gain and bass response of the 1st stage. Low gain for Boost, medium gain for Distortion, and high gain with some bass cut for Fuzz."(In my demo, I called the "Distortion" mode "overdrive mode". That was my bad. It's really more a distortion sound.
Oh and I meant to post this in the "Mailbox" thread but forgot
I got a new soldering station. I went with the "Fisher Price" model Hakko.....
Shares the same tips as my Yihua 939. The Yihua was giving me issues, turned out to be a bad ceramic heating element. I bought a replacement wand it's working again. But in the meantime I got the Hakko and decided to keep it. This was the first pedal I built with it.
Here's the demo of the pedal.
Also a first demo of my freshly put together "JazzCaster".
It's only its second day as a guitar, strung up under tension. With cheap "set up" strings. (I buy bulk strings I from juststrings.com for set ups)
And the pickup heights aren't adjusted yet as I'm waiting for some more pickup foam.
But damn, it sounds and play nice!
