DEMO [Vero] Ibanez STL Super Tube

[owlexifry]

this is almost exactly the same as the ibanez ST-9 / maxon ST-01

only difference is that the mid-boost freq control stage is moved to after the clipping stage, instead of before, as with the ST-9.

‘STL’ was apparently made for about a year before it was discontinued.

so i built one to see if there’s much difference or benefit with this change in the circuit.





had an A/B session with the ST-9 build, and here are my impressions:

- STL sounds very similar to ST9, but there are certain differences that feel obvious when having a tweak, kinda hard to articulate in words...
- the mid boost frequency control appears to be less effective (vs ST9) and it honks sorta differently as you turn it up..
- STL seems to have a punchier / more aggressive feel to it, while also sounding less noisy/hairy, perhaps a touch 'cleaner'/'more open'/?less compressed? - having said that these descriptions are of very subtle differences.

my initial gut feeling is that i like the ST9 better. it just seems to do what its supposed to, in a better way.
but it's hard to tell if it really does 'objectively' sound better, due to biases of being familiar with that sound, and knowing that the ST9 is the cherished circuit that was reissued, where the STL was discontinued relatively quickly..

[Edit: demos removed because they had problems and aren’t relevant anymore]

 

[owlexifry]

Update/Edit:

ok, so it turns out there were a few errors in the vero layout that i was following..

i didn’t really bother mentioning them in the report above because it’s not really that interesting to talk about, but then i got done by another one that i found only after posting the thread.

the first errors i caught were x2 15K resistors that are supposed to be 1.5K (R4 + R5 below)
then there’s an implied JFET where a BJT is supposed to be (2N5088 or equivalent).

but then last night after studying a schematic i’d just realized/found there’s a whole damn 100nF cap missing (C7) that's supposed to go ground from where a 10K + 1K meet at a (+) opamp input..



so i piggybacked that missing 100nF cap onto a couple resistors, and that’s how it’s staying cos it sounds way better now.


Result:
sounds much closer to the ST9 now.

pretty much everything i said about it and the differences i described still apply, but less dramatic, and the mid control works properly/‘more appropriately’ now, the weird mid honk is gone and so it's more fun to play.
very pleased (haven't really liked the last x3 drives ive built).

hard to tell which i like better. ST9 seems to have more of a grainier crunch to it. STL has a cleaner punchier feel. gonna have to take both to band practice to see for sure..

 

[jimilee]

Wait, so is this supposed to be an ST-9 or an ST-L? The layout is for an L. You said it sounds closer to an ST-9 now. I have an ST-9 schematic and PCB, so I wanted to compare it.

 

[owlexifry]

Wait, so is this supposed to be an ST-9 or an ST-L? The layout is for an L. You said it sounds closer to an ST-9 now. I have an ST-9 schematic and PCB, so I wanted to compare it.jj

this is an STL

 

[HamishR]

This is why these days I prefer to make up my own Vero layouts. I have found those on Tagboard Effects can be a bit dodgy. I think you have done well to get it right.

And I think those knobs look great on the green enclosure.

 

[mzy12]

Something about how that pedal looks really appeals to me for some reason. The guts look really tidy too, good job!

 

[owlexifry]

This is why these days I prefer to make up my own Vero layouts. I have found those on Tagboard Effects can be a bit dodgy. I think you have done well to get it right.

it’s fun doing your own layouts, especially if you can invest the time and do a better job of it.
(idk if i could do a better CE-2 layout than the one i grabbed from there)
to be fair, 99% of the time the layouts are pretty accurate. out of the 20-30 builds i’ve done from there, only a couple have had real issues like this, and this one was probably the biggest doozy.

And I think those knobs look great on the green enclosure.

thanks! i originally bought them for this amp build.

then they got replaced and were sitting spare, and i had nothing for this pedal build so i tried em out.
they’re a bit large but they do look pretty nifty on the green

 

[owlexifry]

Something about how that pedal looks really appeals to me for some reason. The guts look really tidy too, good job!

it’s the matte army green.
my favourite colour from tayda so far

 

[mzy12]

it’s the matte army green.
my favourite colour from tayda so far

It either looks like I could crack it open and get a packed lunch out of it or find a bomb.

Okay now I want a lunchbox that's in the aesthetic of an old 5 knob ehx pedal.

 

[owlexifry]

It either looks like I could crack it open and get a packed lunch out of it or find a bomb.

Okay now I want a lunchbox that's in the aesthetic of an old 5 knob ehx pedal.

haha true! and there's many other things that hide well inside of a 125B for trips to the jam space

 

[owlexifry]

marking this thread with the 'demo' banner - i used this pedal for the entire demo (recorded with SM57+2i2), so that counts i guess

i love this overdrive.
the SLO is alright too i suppose