Son of Kong- Parametric EQ/Gain pedal- the Zappa sound

[Big mike 1100]

Its basically "zappa in a box"  Can anyone recommend a good DIY clone for this pedal?  I'm copying this next bit of info from Guitar player magazine as well as a post on this forum from 2007...Zappa had this as "onboard effects" in his guitars, but the Son of Kong is "those effects" in a pedal

This is taken from a thread here regarding Zappa's dual parametric EQs on his guitars:

Explanation from Guitar Player magazine:

"They were identical parametric filter circuits," explains Midget. "One of the filters was set for the bass frequencies from about 50Hz to 2kHz, and the other one was set for the top end, from about 500Hz up to 20kHz."

"The filters had a variable resonant frequency ("q") independent from the EQ gain. You could find a tone and get right on top of it, tweak it. and nail it," says Sloatman.

"The Q ranged from .7 to 10, or a very wide dynamic range to a very narrow one, and was adjustable via a 1/4" screwdriver notch on the face of the guitar. This allowed Frank to control his feedback characteristics in any hall. He could basically tune his guitar to the room, find out how the room responded to the amplifier, and dial it up so he could have maximum control of the feedback. That was the whole point behind the equalizers."

The Q of a filter refers to how sharply it filters around a given frequency (f-center).

A high Q filter (like 10), gives a VERY narrow signal response through it at
the f-center frequency.  That means it will pass only those frequencies that are
very close to the f-center of the filter.  It will knock down anything outside of this narrow band.

A low Q filter (like .7) yields a very wide signal response, allowing lots of frequencies around f-center to pass through.  The adjustment would allow this band to be widened or narrowed.

These are essentially bandpass filters, which can be built with a few low noise opamps and some resistors and caps.  One bandpass is set to pass frequencies from 50-2000 Hz.  It would probably peak in the middle at around 1000 Hz. When you adjust it, you'd be adjusting how much signal to pass for frequencies around 1000Hz (above and below).

The other filter would do the same for 500-20,000 Hz, centered around 10kHz. The Q adjustment would come from a variable resistor or cap (probably a cap in this case).

[idy]

Ii think they are the Systech Harmonic Energizer. I bought clone boards from maybe madbean...

[Big mike 1100]

Thanks!  I'll check it out.

[Mark Hammer]

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/KarateShop/docs/KarateShop_2015.pdf

The Gain pot can be increased to 100k if you want more drive.  If you do that, you can also throw a pair of clipping diodes or LEDs in parallel with that pot for more grind.  Frank was legendary for running his amps LOUD.  I don't know that you absolutely can get the same sounds at a lower volume by injecting a bit of clipping, but it's worth a try.

[Fender3D]

Isn't easier copy the TC DPE?
with the same op amp will yield 2 parametric filters, simply toss 4 resistors, 2 caps and 2 pots if you don't need the addictional bass and treble controls

[garcho]

He could basically tune his guitar to the room

When was the last time you had a gig with no sound reinforcement? The reason amps are loud and people talk about "tuning to the room" is because once upon a time halls didn't have delux FOH consoles and racks and such. They didn't even have snakes (no low z mics). You needed your amp to be loud or no one could here you. FZ played many a show with a 4-track FOH console. Think one of those lonely 4 tracks was dedicated to his guitar?
Keep that in mind when you see some suburban weekend warrior with an amp the size of a NYC apartment. What's he (it's always a guy, isn't it?) gonna do, turn it all the way up to... 2? Gonna talk mighty mighty about tone before playing a mediocre set with a 57 in front of his cab? Buy a Blues Jr. and crank it halfway, still way too loud for your neighbors (and maybe some of your bandmates) but gets that "loud" sound without ruining everyone else's experience.
I saw a touring band play who will remain nameless, the guitarist had to drop his amp off at the shop and borrow mine. He cranked it so loud the engineer could barely mix the drummer. That's not rock and roll, that's not tone, that's not mojo, that's just dumbass guitar player nonsense. No one in the audience enjoyed having 1kHz digging a hole in their ear. Ever see a crowd full of people wearing earplugs? That's stupid. He asked what I thought of the show, I told him "I don't know, I left. Now, where's my amp?"

[Digital Larry]

In Frank's case I think he was mostly going for the ability to control feedback with the EQs.  I've seen Jim Thomas of The Mermen a number of times and they generally are playing bars or small clubs or even open-air gigs at the beach and he manages to keep his feedback under control at a volume that is not killing the crowd (though earplugs are still recommended).  I'm not entirely sure what Jim's feedback recipe is.

[Derringer]

In the recordings, I don't hear that effect being used for feedback control, but rather to get a tone that cuts through. Lots of Franks solos have that half-%^&*ed wah sound. I always figured that was from his systec/parametric EQ.

[Mark Hammer]

I concur.

While Garcho is right about "tuning to the room", we know Zappa used the Systech unit, and we know that it only has resonant boost, with no cut, only degrees of boost.  So he used it for honking piercing resonant tones, rather than any of the more traditional uses for EQ.

[Derringer]

and after mulling it over a little more while snow-blowing the driveway, perhaps he did tune the parametrics in live situations in ways that would allow him max volume without unwanted feedback? Sort of like ringing out a PA system.

In summation, Frank was a genius, is a hell of a lot of fun to listen to, and I miss him.

[mikeC]

I F'n love Frank : )

got to talk w/ him for good while at the Orpheum in Boston 88' .. he was very cool and patient w/ lots of questions from a young music school student. ("you go to Berklee right? waddya care about that stuff? you just wanna make a lot of money")

i read a steve vai interview once where vai said whole stage would shake when frank stepped into a solo.

[bean]

I F'n love Frank : )

got to talk w/ him for good while at the Orpheum in Boston 88' .. he was very cool and patient w/ lots of questions from a young music school student. ("you go to Berklee right? waddya care about that stuff? you just wanna make a lot of money")

i read a steve vai interview once where vai said whole stage would shake when frank stepped into a solo.

Wow, am I ever jealous! Frank is my hero, through and through, but I never even saw him in concert. What years were you at Berklee? I was 90-91.

Actually, kind of a funny story (and sorry for the derail on this thread): I had never heard of Zappa until I went to Berklee. I arrived in 1990 as a snot nosed 17 y.o. that didn't know a lot about guitar and less about music. But, there was this drummer that lived a few doors down from me in the dorms who put on a Zappa show in the Berklee cafeteria and it was completely transformative. I honestly didn't know that music like that existed and I got to hear it played by some brilliant Berklee students. Later on in '91 he had another Zappa performance as part of his graduation requirement that I went to and was, again, completely blown away. That drummer was Joe Travers who went on to be the Zappa Vault guru, then transcriber and performer in the Zappa Plays Zappa tours. Those performances had a life-long effect on me - I was forever a Zappa fan! I still have the xerox booklet from that 90 show and an audio recording of the 91 Travers performance somewhere. (again forgive the total derail).

[Digital Larry]

There's some discussion here of using the equalizers to tune the room to get the feedback -

http://www.tdpri.com/threads/zappas-strat-tone.21633/

[Mark Hammer]

I F'n love Frank : )

got to talk w/ him for good while at the Orpheum in Boston 88' .. he was very cool and patient w/ lots of questions from a young music school student. ("you go to Berklee right? waddya care about that stuff? you just wanna make a lot of money")

i read a steve vai interview once where vai said whole stage would shake when frank stepped into a solo.

I got to interview him in '69.  The Mothers gave 5 free concerts the same weekend as Woodtock, which I missed because I had to write a supplemental exam.  I weaseled my way backstage, amidst a bunch of actual journalists, and got my 10 minutes.  He was, by turns, sarcastic and engaged, depending on the question.  One thing came through loud and clear, though: his work ethic.  The guys in the band were nice.  He broke up the band 2 days later, and released Hot Rats about 2-3 month after that.

I got scooped by my mom, though, who saw him at work in '66 or so.  She was working at the National Film Board in Montreal, and Frank and the Mothers came by to use their recording studio.

I miss him too.  It will be 25 years that he's gone, this coming December.  There better damn well be tributes in all the major magazines or there'll be hell to pay!

[Peacheater81]

Probably old news:

https://www.deadendfx.com/product/diddy

Son of Kong pcb