BSIAB2 build report. Mixed review... sorry.

[csj]

Here's the board





Well, firstly this is a mixed review and my apology in the title is because Ed G. has been such a very nice person to email back and forth. I'm not looking for us to hug each other... it's just good to get acquainted with decent people like Ed.

The pedal definitely does at least 4 of the things Ed set out to do.
It surely is a high gain pedal.
It has great sustain.
It really is quiet for what it does.
The oscillation is tamed except for the extreme end of the drive pot but dialing just slightly back a hair will control it.

It's a big sounding, balls to the wall effect which ran well through a Champ to 50 watt Marshall clone.

I have 2 problems with it. One less of a problem than the other.

The lesser -
The LPF at the tail seems to smother the tone. You can bypass it easily enough for a clarity which I much prefer but you do it at the expense of what sounds almost like an ever so slight misbiasing. I re-read a few BSIAB posts after I experienced this and came upon a post by Eric H. where he mentioned "fizziness" and I thought "bingo, that's exactly what it sounds like...fizz". It's not a major thing but it's there.

The greater problem... and one that "almost" kills the effect for me (I'm willing to tweek as long as it takes though Ed... I haven't given up yet!) is the almost total lack of "touch responsiveness". It reminds me alot of some of the rack gear back in the mid 80's. The effect is either on or off. I can't get it to respond subtly at all. It's a great huge overdriven sound that is there regardless of pick attack or finger tweeks or knob adjustments etc. It's as if the effect has an overcompressed nature which levels and evens everything. In this regard it has it's uses e.g. the band I'm in right now is doing a cover of The Black Crowes "Shake Your Money Maker" where the slide playing is just a wide open, all out romp where precision counts less than just filling in gaps between the shuffle notes. It handles this fine. Quite well actually. It's just that when you need to back off of the effect while playing something that's heavier but needs a certain amount of nuance it isn't doing it. A realtime example of this for me would be GnR's "Sweet Child o' Mine" where you need the good push that the BSIAB is able to get for the intro and heavy parts but when it comes to where you need to back off a bit with your right hand on the D, C, G progression through the quieter verses it won't respond. It's still balls out no matter how lightly I pick or how heavily I palm mute. It won't clean up with the volume knob. It's the same big effect only at a lower volume.

Thanks for reading. I've gone on too long again.

Clay Jones

[MartyMart]

Hi csj,
First off thats a very solid looking amount of solder you've got on there ! when i built mine two weeks ago, my lead runs were so tightly packed that i had to use very small amounts of solder or the tracks would have been touching.
My BSIAB II sounds fantastic, i find it to be nice and bright, with tons of mid punch and the guitar ( humbuckers or single coils) comes through the overdriven sound, never losing its personality at all.
As far as "dynamic response" i have that as well and the pedal cleans up when i back off the guitar volume pot......... so
it sounds like your little 100k "bias pot" needs some fine tuning or there is something wrong with your perf build ?.
Mine is set at about 10 o'clock to 10.30, and seems to have sorted the "blatty" "fizzy" thing out, give it a try as this really can change the overall sound a lot.
Otherwise check all your work/values and make sure you dont have two large solder joints "bridging" together.
Regards,
Martin.

[RDV]

I used one of GGG's RTS PCBs for this one on purpose. That purpose being that with super high-gain pedals I've perfed I've run into the oscillation thing a bunch. My BSIAB 2 doesn't oscillate at all. I have noticed the other issue Clay mentioned, but high-gain pedals are usually not terribly dynamic by nature. However, if you run the gain a bit lower, this does improve IMO. I've been using mine for the high-gain lead sound kind of thing along with an English Channel set up to sound like a slightly overdriven AC-30 and finding that it's covering just about all the tones I need.

RDV

[Marcos - Munky]

Hey Clay, your board looks very cool. I liked the solder side. When I used perfboard, I used the legs of the parts to make the connections, not a solder path.

[Jason Stout]

Your circuit could be oscillating in the ultrasonic range, try seperating the offboard wiring a little. You wouldn't be able to hear oscillations that high, but when this happens it can totaly wreck the desired sound. Without a scope i fear that all things will appear normal.

EDIT: Clay, do you have an oscillscope?

[Ed G.]

I have 2 problems with it. One less of a problem than the other.

The lesser -
The LPF at the tail seems to smother the tone. You can bypass it easily enough for a clarity which I much prefer but you do it at the expense of what sounds almost like an ever so slight misbiasing. I re-read a few BSIAB posts after I experienced this and came upon a post by Eric H. where he mentioned "fizziness" and I thought "bingo, that's exactly what it sounds like...fizz". It's not a major thing but it's there.

I know Bill Bergman seems to prefer it without the LPF, but I find that it shaves off the nasty high end hash without losing the clarity. I don't find it smothers the tone at all, but it could be due to a difference in amps used. My fenders are pretty clear and bright sounding so I needed a darker sounding pedal.

The greater problem... and one that "almost" kills the effect for me (I'm willing to tweek as long as it takes though Ed... I haven't given up yet!) is the almost total lack of "touch responsiveness". It reminds me alot of some of the rack gear back in the mid 80's. The effect is either on or off. I can't get it to respond subtly at all. It's a great huge overdriven sound that is there regardless of pick attack or finger tweeks or knob adjustments etc. It's as if the effect has an overcompressed nature which levels and evens everything. In this regard it has it's uses e.g. the band I'm in right now is doing a cover of The Black Crowes "Shake Your Money Maker" where the slide playing is just a wide open, all out romp where precision counts less than just filling in gaps between the shuffle notes. It handles this fine. Quite well actually. It's just that when you need to back off of the effect while playing something that's heavier but needs a certain amount of nuance it isn't doing it. A realtime example of this for me would be GnR's "Sweet Child o' Mine" where you need the good push that the BSIAB is able to get for the intro and heavy parts but when it comes to where you need to back off a bit with your right hand on the D, C, G progression through the quieter verses it won't respond. It's still balls out no matter how lightly I pick or how heavily I palm mute. It won't clean up with the volume knob. It's the same big effect only at a lower volume.

Thanks for reading. I've gone on too long again.

Clay Jones

Okay, something's might not be right here because the pedal can go down to almost tube-screamerish drive levels, that is, more rhythm-oriented at the lower drive ranges.

If you listen to the audio clip I recorded and posted http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/sounds/bsiab2.mp3, you can hear it gets pretty good low drive sounds. I found using an audio taper pot for the drive pot was key here. is that what you're using?
I generally set the drive pot at 1 to 2 o'clock. It gets enough sustain for leads but can do rhythm well too.

The circuit IS high gain, though, and you can reduce the gain by just yanking the caps across the first gain stage's source resistor. It sounds good like that too, I just tuned the caps to punch it up in the mids and make the sustain 'sing' a bit better but it can get over the top.

I'd double check the source resistors on the drive stages, or maybe you came across some fets that are hotter than usual. Try subbing in a 2N5457 for the second stage's J201, that should tame it down a bit.

I don't know what to say, the problem you speak of was a problem in the first BSIAB, but I worked hard to 'fix' that in this one. Hope you get it worked out.

[Transmogrifox]

Check out the input stage of ScorchedEarth:

www.geocities.com/transmogrifox/ScorchedEarthPage

This input stage allows you to radically reduce the gain with your volume pot (assuming you're not driving it buffered or with an active system).

Just an idea.  I know it's hard to change things and add things after you have it soldered like that.  If you use the SE input stage as a booster and put a 500k pot on the output and buffer the out put, you can use it as an inline effect.

[csj]

Hi guys...(glad to see you're still safe Rick),
The pedal isn't self oscillating. It's very stable and quiet. I can induce and control oscillation at certain settings if I want to... which is a good thing and one of the pedal's strong points. That and it does sound huge. My son, who's 18 and into trance/synth/techno styles really likes it alot. Jason, I use a Techtronix 2445A but I don't think it would help since I believe I'm getting the intended effect but only... how do I say it? Maybe too much of it. Too much of a good thing. I can't get it (yet, I haven't given up) to respond in that bluesy way that Ed's demo displays.
I sensed when I was putting it together that I should have socketed more so as to ease parts swapping. I did socket the Q1 1uf electrolytic. When I get home tonight i'll play around with it more.

Ryan, where would your tie in points be as they relate to Ed's circuit?

Clay

[Paul Marossy]

I don't really have anything to add to this thread, but I thought that I would mention that I built the original BSIAB, and I think it kicks A$$.  

[Jason Stout]

csj, don't count out ultrasonic oscillation - until you look and confirm it isn't there. I had a problem with an effect of mine once and would describe it the same way you did (had more balls, couldn't get the "low gain sounds" etc.) I could not tell it was oscillating until i had a look in with my scope (it was quiet when not playing).

[RDV]

Thanks Clay, it's just rained and blown all day and popped the TV cable off the house. Other than that all is well.

I gotta say that I never take mine above 50% on the gain pot. It's got a BUNCH of gain, but I love that!

RDV

[Ed G.]

Clay,
Check your PM.