vox valvetone - quality!

[dubs]

Got a mint vox valvetone as a  trade. Having known it's almost a tubescreamer circuit, I opened up to have a look.
Played it thru my spitfire and was quite impressed with the tone - had a certain transparency reminiscent a analogman silver modded ts9.
I was impressed- they used really good quality components - all the electros were Nichicon Muse caps - similar type Analogman uses in his silver mod ( Nichicon FG and sanyo os-con). These are all caps audiophiles use to upgrade their hifi components  for improved sound.
Having played thru all types of ts - new / old/ modded etc, I have to say quality components do make a difference IMHO.

[petemoore]

Component Quality still counts in my book.
 

[jimbob]

is this the big / long multi effects pedal with the lit tube haging out at an angle?

[AL]

Nope. It's a really looking little box - sliver. There is a picture of one here http://www.sonicflux.com/ (scroll down Vox V810 Valve Tone)

I've heard good things about the V810 - the V830 Distortion Booster, on the hand, is practically useless for anything I need to do. I've tried and tried but I think the V830 one may be a one trick pony. It may be time to pull that circuit and use the enclosure. Hmmmm?

AL

[dubs]

I'll do some gain and midrange mods and change some poly caps to the panasonic caps.
Here are some pics. of stock pedal:

[jimbob]

it couldnt be that hard to rev that. I really like the shiney green electros too.

[soggybag]

Where do you get these fancy caps? when I started I always bought what was cheapest at mouser. Lately I have been getting a little more discriminating.

With resisters and semi conductors the quality seems very obvious. But caps are funny they come many varieties. I've seen ranges of sizes for the same part, some very small and others very large for the same value? Caps are made from many different materials for the same part value?

Has this been discussed here? Seems like it should!

[R.G.]

Component quality is a tough subject to discuss in a reasonable way.

It's obviously true on the face of it that component quality matters. But you can't just say "quality" and then walk away grinning. **WHICH** component quality matters? Accuracy of value? voltage tolerance? nonlinear effects? lead length? outside paint color?

What matters to sound is what the insides of the component actually do. Being able to measure this is so far over the heads of even most engineers that it gets lost in speculation, and worse yet taken over by the snake oil hucksters.

There are, for instance, audible differences in capacitors. Slight differences, but *measurable*.  From that tiny grain of truth the snake oil merchants have been able to convince people that only capacitors made of pure silver foil interleaved with aged paper and impregnated with special (snake??) oils sound any good. According to some fairly snooty audiophiles, you can't be serious about your music unless you use (insert your favorite snake oil cap here) capacitors.

The only cure for being led off into the tall grass by a grinning salesdroid is to actually learn what matters and what doesn't. For instance: different sizes of caps of the same value. Different materials, different voltage ratings, and different tolerances make up most of this. It's not a mystery - you just have to go learn it. There are some no-nonsense capacitor picking guides on the net. I've written some rough and ready ones.

I'm really touchy about this because I cross between the hifi and effects world. Any time you can't say **what** causes some effect and be able to measure it, you're about to cross over into the no-man's-land where you'll fall for the whole tweako line of nonsense.

[rumblefish]

If anyone needs a schematic of the Valvetone plz send me a mail.

[jimbob]

anyone going to make a layout with this schematic? that would rock! im horrible at building from schematics or I would. HOw many components are invilved? It doesnt look too difficult.

[aron]

Notice the RC4558.

[dubs]

Like I previously mentioned, the circuit is actually a tubescreamer circuit with a few component changes.
You can see the schematic here:
http://www.sugardas.lt/~igoramps/voxvalve.htm
You could  use GGG or tonepad TS layout.

I agree with you RG. I think alot of audiophiles are conned by marketing hype justifying $1000 per inch speaker cable etc.  They use technical terms that most people don't understand (I don't !) but sounds good.
I always lean on the side of skepticism until I hear it with my own ears.
Vox using these audiophile caps is interesting as these components are more pricey than your std caps and would alot more costly when mass producing these pedals. These pedals were made in china so I guess cheaper labour costs balanced out the overall cost.
Having said that  the build quality is pretty decent.

Be interesting to try other caps like paper in oil  etc see any differences.
I think the cap upgrade and changing cap type  is a subtle difference but noticeable enough for the discerning ear.

[Transmogrifox]

anyone going to make a layout with this schematic? that would rock! im horrible at building from schematics or I would. HOw many components are invilved? It doesnt look too difficult.

You could do this pedal with a tubescreamer layout.  It's essentially a TS with true bypass (and a little supply voltage regulation--which probably doesn't change the sound unless you have a noisey supply).

I have one.  I have modded it to my own preference, which includes an OP275 op amp, some diode experiments and lowering the time constant on the clipping amplifier feedback pole.

I agree--it's a very nice sounding pedal.  I very much enjoy using and have used it for years now. In fact, it's the only distortion pedal that I was motivated to quickly finish the mods and reassemble so I could use it.  My Turbo Rat, Fabtone, BMP, DOD American Metal and Death Metal pedals are all still dismantled for mods

[Dai H.]

Where do you get these fancy caps? when I started I always bought what was cheapest at mouser. Lately I have been getting a little more discriminating.

With resisters and semi conductors the quality seems very obvious. But caps are funny they come many varieties. I've seen ranges of sizes for the same part, some very small and others very large for the same value? Caps are made from many different materials for the same part value?

Has this been discussed here? Seems like it should!

it's easy to get audiophile electrolytics (or such marketed to the audiophile DIY types) here in Tokyo, and the green Nichicon MUSE are some of the less expensive types. I bet Vox got them cheap also (I don't KNOW that, but I would guess they did). I would be careful to assume that the more expensive stuff will necessarily sound better. They may sound *different*--like you might hear more high and lows or whatever--but imo that doesn't make them automatically better. And say, just because you don't see those types or more expensive resistors, wire, more vintage parts, whatever, doesn't make the effect worse or necessarily mean the manf. was "cheaping out".