While it's not exactly a tube delay, a friend once lent me a Fulltone tape delay which had a tube preamp. I am very much not a Fulltone fan, but I had to admit that this delay sounded pretty good. I would never use a tape deal because I'm perfectly happy with a digital delay, but man did the tube preamp sound good. I would love to trace just the preamp because cranked it sounded really good. It would be an excellent tube preamp project. Forget the delay!
Tube Delay Pedal?
- Thread starter Dan0h
- Start date
Isnt the Fulltone a clone of the Echoplex EP2?
vigilante398
Authorized Vendor
I like the sound of tape delay, I have a TRex Replicator Jr. as my main delay on my board. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the size, so if I like the way the tube delay works out I'll probably boot the Replicator to "studio only" duties.
Fuzzonaut
Well-known member
It seems that Deadend FX has a SiB Echodrive on the bench and might eventually sell a PCB ...
vigilante398
Authorized Vendor
That would save me a lot of trouble
Dan0h
Well-known member
This is exactly what I was imagining. I knew it had to exist
Fuzzonaut
Well-known member
That would save me a lot of trouble
Right - ha-ha, but just in case you you get bored waiting for the schematic, check out this thread on the fuzzy side.
Apparently it's pretty simple
"The audio is first routed through one side of the 12AX7, then through the mix pot, followed by a JFET booster before hitting the front end of the delay IC. Delay time is variable via pot, or with expression pedal via a vactrol for isolation. Signal returns from the delay IC to the other half of the 12AX7, then back to the mix pot, and out."
vigilante398
Authorized Vendor
My initial tube delay prototype got wired up over the weekend, and initial test sound pretty good. I used a PT2399, and it's basically a Mad Professor Deep Blue with the op-amp stages replaced with tube stages. I need to tweak the feedback values though, it self-oscillates with the control at 9 o'clock, I'd like to get a more useful sweep out of it.
At the request of a good friend I also threw together a PCB layout for a tube-driven FV-1 prototype, if that works well I'd love to try a tube FV-1 delay.
EDIT: I thought I had a picture of the board all put together, but all I could find was one of the assembled board from JLC. I'll get more pics tonight if I remember.
At the request of a good friend I also threw together a PCB layout for a tube-driven FV-1 prototype, if that works well I'd love to try a tube FV-1 delay.
EDIT: I thought I had a picture of the board all put together, but all I could find was one of the assembled board from JLC. I'll get more pics tonight if I remember.
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A pseudo tape echo that I love is the old Ibanez EM5 that uses the M65831 chip.
I’ve been thinking about building one but with a PT2396 (that can replace the M65831, omitting a couple resistors, according to the datasheet) and a modulation section.
Im sure it’d be an excellent candidate for a tube preamp! The delay tone is outstanding, with a soft clipping/limiting section similar to the Ibanez DE7, and it’d be very easy to add a tone control to get slightly brighter or warmer repeats.
I’ve been thinking about building one but with a PT2396 (that can replace the M65831, omitting a couple resistors, according to the datasheet) and a modulation section.
Im sure it’d be an excellent candidate for a tube preamp! The delay tone is outstanding, with a soft clipping/limiting section similar to the Ibanez DE7, and it’d be very easy to add a tone control to get slightly brighter or warmer repeats.
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Chuck D. Bones
Circuit Wizard
My brother has my Echoplex because I got tired of replacing the tape loop.
jjjimi84
Well-known member
Isnt that why everyone got rid of the tape echoes? Dealing with the constant maintenance?
vigilante398
Authorized Vendor
That's why I like the Trex, I can swap the tape as a cartridge. I also have an older Japanese tape delay that runs on 8-track tapes, that one is neat.
When you put an Audio 8 Track in there, doesn't it play the Songs with added effects???
vigilante398
Authorized Vendor
Tape delays have an erase head to clear the audio, so pretty sure it would just erase it. Never tried it with an 8 track with music on it though.
vigilante398
Authorized Vendor
I completely forgot to circle back to this thread when I wired up my prototype. So I mentioned the "PTube2399" which sounds pretty good, and I got some decent pictures of it last night. I was really happy with it, but I ended up feeling the same way I do about solid-state delays: PT2399 is a great delay solution... until you get into FV-1, and FV-1 blows PT2399 away. So this is as far as I'm going with the PTube2399 because the tube FV-1 pedal sounds amazing, and I have two on my board now
Alan W
Well-known member
My entire body clenches up when I think about running any real voltage (or current) through these modern breadboards. I’ve had them come apart when trying to get the vinyl skin off the backing PSA, and while the construction is very clever, the conductors and the insulation clearances are both scary thin. Oh—with care, you can fit everything back inYou might want one of these then... although I'm not 100% sure about high voltage on a breadboard.
(But @fig did it, so it has to be OK, right?)
View attachment 30642View attachment 30643
.vigilante398
Authorized Vendor
I don't breadboard much anymore, but I used to breadboard with 200V all the time. Never had any issues, but obviously don't touch anything when the circuit is powered up.My entire body clenches up when I think about running any real voltage (or current) through these modern breadboards. I’ve had them come apart when trying to get the vinyl skin off the backing PSA, and while the construction is very clever, the conductors and the insulation clearances are both scary thin. Oh—with care, you can fit everything back in