cylnplnt
Member
I always wondered why time based effects were so expensive. Now I know. Lots of parts. Lots of labor. Counterintuitive to my metal head brain that an effect that seemed subtle compared to distortion would be so complicated to achieve. Then again we are talking about manipulating time. High wizard shit for sure. In the end it’s the finest details that tend to be the hardest to achieve. That sums up this project very well. My most complicated build to date.
-Most parts in a build
-Most drills on an enclosure
-First build to require biasing
-First build to require I understand the relationship between the schematic and the PCB layout.
I continued my overarching approach of trying to recreate the vintage as closely as possible in component types. My reference being electrosmash.com. Utilizing the photo of the vintage example, and using the schematic as a triangulation. A couple reoccurring element in my explorations with the RAT, 250, D+, and now the CE-2: No box caps. Carbon Film Resistors. The box caps are the only element I’ve experimented with comparison by using sockets in my builds. I have found I prefer the alternatives of greenies, ceramics, and tantalum. I’m no engineer though. I have the objectivity to account for the biases of a mojo hunting cork sniffer. The results of my exploration have been very satisfying to me. The substitutions in my prior builds had been simple. The 1uf box cap in C20 of this build presented a new challenge. All substitutions required I know which way to place the component for polarity. The original CE-2 also had a buffer, so the schematic was different than the Cepheid. With the help of @mjh36 I learned how to use my multimeter to find the connections of components on the PCB and determine which direction the cap should face(link to thread below). Even though there was no switching section in the Cephied after the comparable spot in both schematics, I went with the electrolytic as was used in the CE-2.
I went with the currently available V3207 and V3102, as well as the op amp options available on Tayda. For this project I could not justify the expense, hunt, and risk of vintage chips. My distortion pedal obsession already has me in pretty deep on that front. My thought was “if the signal path was vintage style, and that’s what was being repeated by the chips, maybe that would get me where I wanted to go”. Hope to someday be able to compare it to a vintage CE-2. For now it sounds good to me. I’m happy.
The biasing did not turn out to be too tricky. It was pretty apparent went you swept across the span where the sound cleared and seemed to function as it should. Not dissimilar to finding a sweet spot on a tone knob. I’d love to know technically what that bias was doing.
In aesthetic, I had to pay tribute to the inspiration for including chorus in my rig:Type O Negative. It’s pretty awesome having the pulsing green glow constantly emanating from my pedal board. Even the greenies inside look like a stone henge tribute to the Lords of Flatbush.
The pedal sounds absolutely incredible. Very warm and rich. Retaining the character of the tones I send through it. Definitely giving access to those Type O tones, and other gothic touchstones like Cocteau Twins and The Cure. Exactly what I’d hoped for.
I did learn during this project that Tayda offers custom enclosure drilling. Unfortunately I learned this after ordering my enclosures for this and my next few builds. I will definitely be looking into that for future builds, as I have my sights set on a few with more knobs and switches.
Link to thread referenced above:
forum.pedalpcb.com
-Most parts in a build
-Most drills on an enclosure
-First build to require biasing
-First build to require I understand the relationship between the schematic and the PCB layout.
I continued my overarching approach of trying to recreate the vintage as closely as possible in component types. My reference being electrosmash.com. Utilizing the photo of the vintage example, and using the schematic as a triangulation. A couple reoccurring element in my explorations with the RAT, 250, D+, and now the CE-2: No box caps. Carbon Film Resistors. The box caps are the only element I’ve experimented with comparison by using sockets in my builds. I have found I prefer the alternatives of greenies, ceramics, and tantalum. I’m no engineer though. I have the objectivity to account for the biases of a mojo hunting cork sniffer. The results of my exploration have been very satisfying to me. The substitutions in my prior builds had been simple. The 1uf box cap in C20 of this build presented a new challenge. All substitutions required I know which way to place the component for polarity. The original CE-2 also had a buffer, so the schematic was different than the Cepheid. With the help of @mjh36 I learned how to use my multimeter to find the connections of components on the PCB and determine which direction the cap should face(link to thread below). Even though there was no switching section in the Cephied after the comparable spot in both schematics, I went with the electrolytic as was used in the CE-2.
I went with the currently available V3207 and V3102, as well as the op amp options available on Tayda. For this project I could not justify the expense, hunt, and risk of vintage chips. My distortion pedal obsession already has me in pretty deep on that front. My thought was “if the signal path was vintage style, and that’s what was being repeated by the chips, maybe that would get me where I wanted to go”. Hope to someday be able to compare it to a vintage CE-2. For now it sounds good to me. I’m happy.
The biasing did not turn out to be too tricky. It was pretty apparent went you swept across the span where the sound cleared and seemed to function as it should. Not dissimilar to finding a sweet spot on a tone knob. I’d love to know technically what that bias was doing.
In aesthetic, I had to pay tribute to the inspiration for including chorus in my rig:Type O Negative. It’s pretty awesome having the pulsing green glow constantly emanating from my pedal board. Even the greenies inside look like a stone henge tribute to the Lords of Flatbush.
The pedal sounds absolutely incredible. Very warm and rich. Retaining the character of the tones I send through it. Definitely giving access to those Type O tones, and other gothic touchstones like Cocteau Twins and The Cure. Exactly what I’d hoped for.
I did learn during this project that Tayda offers custom enclosure drilling. Unfortunately I learned this after ordering my enclosures for this and my next few builds. I will definitely be looking into that for future builds, as I have my sights set on a few with more knobs and switches.
Link to thread referenced above:
Cepheid parts selection/general PCB question
I’m preparing to build the Cepheid Chorus attempting to use parts as close to the original as possible. I’m mainly using the article on electrosmash.com as reference. One part has me stumped. What I’m finding in examining old pedals is there absence of box caps. The Cepheid calls for a 1uf box...
forum.pedalpcb.com
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You want to be able to support local businesses, then they treat you like shit. Oh well. I tried. I too have fond childhood memories of tagging along with my dad to Radio Shack. Mostly impressed by the remote controlled car selections at that age.
