hot harmonics

[9 volts]

Does anyone have a link to a pcb layout for the hot harmonics. The earlier links to the Martyb gallery don't seem to go anywhere. Thanks again

[choklitlove]

well, no.  i searched a lot, though, and have found that not only is Marty's gallery and site gone, but the creator of hot harmonics, Frank Clarke, has disappeared from the web.  or just doesn't keep his pages for too long.

here are the links to the hot harmonics, including the creator's pages, that are broken.  go, ahead, try them:
http://fclarke.softwareballistics.com/Distortion/
http://hottubes.webjump.com/distort/index.html
http://www.ee.ualberta.ca/~charro/cookbook/audio/guitar/
http://aronnelson.com/gallery/MartyBs/HHtrnsf?full=1
http://members.home.net/fclarke/fx/
http://www.freewebs.com/martyb/hotharmonics.htm
http://www.guitarkit.com/distortion/hotharm3.gif
http://web.archive.org/web/20021014103029/www.guitarkit.com/distortion/HotHarmonics.html
www.guitarkit.com/distortion/HotHarmonics.html
http://members.home.net/fclarke/fx/distortion-14.htm

and here's the only page that works:
http://web.archive.org/web/20010615041932/members.home.net/fclarke/fx/Distortion-14.htm

sorry.  anyway, i found this clip from home-wrecker.  sorry if you've already heard it:
http://www.home-wrecker.com/hotharmonics.mp3

evidently, the double d from runoffgroove is similar.  maybe build that?
http://www.runoffgroove.com/doubled.html

sorry if this wasn't much help.  this is a scarce circuit now.  it seems it was really popular, but there are a ton of people looking for it all the time now.  good luck!

[stm]

This is a link to Frank Clark's site as of Feb 06th 2002:

http://web.archive.org/web/20020206124650/http://members.home.net/fclarke/fx/

If you go to the Hot Harmonics page fortunately you can still find three versions of the circuit:

Original: http://web.archive.org/web/20010618203646/members.home.net/fclarke/fx/hotharm.gif
Modified: http://web.archive.org/web/20010618211121/members.home.net/fclarke/fx/hotharm3.gif
Simplified: http://web.archive.org/web/20010618204855/members.home.net/fclarke/fx/hotharm2.gif

And on the Clean Face page, a parody on Star Trek, original series which I couldn't resist posting here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20020206160820/members.home.net/fclarke/fx/Distortion-119.htm

Live long and prosper.

[9 volts]

Thanks for the info. It's kind of weird, it seems to have vanished. I see Mark hammer has designed one called the forty niner which seems like pretty cool. I think I'll work from the above schematic and maybe try this the forty niner as well. Thank again

[Jaicen_solo]

I thought I heard Frank Clarke was dead? Or am I just going mental at last!!

[RLBJR65]

Anyone know which version this is?
http://www.home-wrecker.com/hotharmonics.mp3

[stumper1]

I have MartyB's layout - PM me if interested.  I "think" I read a post somewhere around here by the guy who did the MP3 on the Homewrecker site - I "believe" the gain/octave pot was replaced w/a fixed resistor - not sure of the value.

FWIW - I've been playing with the 4049 a bit lately.  So far I like the 3 Legged Dog from RunOffGroove the best.  I did a layout using a couple of things from the Hot Harmonics and Mark Hammer's Stupidly Wonderful Tone Control.  It is posted on Bancika's site - It is verified and works as posted.  I am currently working on a new layout - just a refinement of the original - that has better spacing.  It's posted as "Stupidly Wonderful Tripod".

[gaussmarkov]

here's a layout that i did this morning.  it's not verified, but i did it in eagle so if i got the schem right then everything is fine.  the schematic, layout and pcb image are in this pdf file: hotharmonics-proj.pdf



i made this from the hotharm3.gif link given by stm above.

enjoy, gm

july 8 edit:  this is no longer the original layout posted.  C11 was added.  to get the original as made successfully by 9 volts, replace C11 with a jumper.

[gaussmarkov]

I have MartyB's layout - PM me if interested.

yes please.  pm sent.    

martyb turned me onto the 4049.  i'm sorry he hasn't been around.

[9 volts]

Wow!!!!!! This is fantastic. I've started building the above pcb layout  and will keep you up to date with the results. (it looks fine so far). I've also downloaded the eagle software. The pcb  layout is great.Thanks again

[gaussmarkov]

Wow!!!!!! This is fantastic. I've started building the above pcb layout  and will keep you up to date with the results. (it looks fine so far). I've also downloaded the eagle software. The pcb  layout is great.Thanks again

hey, cool!  you are welcome.

because you are interested in eagle, i took the time to add a zip file containing the schematic and layout files for the hot harmonics project that i posted on gaussmarkov.net.  you can make your own adjustments, or try a whole new approach if you like. 

if you have any questions or difficulties, please let me know.

have fun, gm

[Mark Hammer]

Thanks for the info. It's kind of weird, it seems to have vanished. I see Mark hammer has designed one called the forty niner which seems like pretty cool. I think I'll work from the above schematic and maybe try this the forty niner as well. Thank again

This ( http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/mhammer/Forty-Niner.gif ) thing has turned out to be a very pleasing circuit.  You can actually skip the frequency booster portion although some may find it useful.  If you omit the frequency booster, then stick a 1-10uf electrolytic cap after point "A" and tie that to point "B".
The drive from the input stage is pretty hot (x48), which makes it harder to get subtler sounds.  If what you're after is not singing sustain but rather simple amp grind, then do the following:
a) Increase the 1k resistor going to ground (via the 1ouf cap) in the first stage to 2k2 or even 2k7.  That will reduce gain to x22 or x18 (with 2k7).  If need be, bump it up to 3k3 for a gain of 15.
b) Stick a 220R-470R fixed resistor between the ground side of the drive pot and ground.  That should have been there in the first place.  Like the same resistor on the Sustain pot of a Big Muff, this will allow you to use the 7:00 position of the pot without cutting off the signal completely.
c) Stick a .01uf cap across the input (point B) and wiper of the Drive pot.  This has the interesting effect of keeping treble drive up as you turn the overall Drive down.  If you like John Lennon and John Fogerty distorted Rickenbackers, or if you like Mike Campbell's rhythm tone, this is for you.

Mine currently has 150k feedback resistors instead of the 100k shown.  Not sure it makes a huge difference, but I suspect the 100k are better suited for adding bite as opposed to longer-sustaining distortion.  the overall output level is quite generous, which means it can easily support any of a variety of passive tone controls (the same will be true of the Hot Harmonics as well).  I have an SWTC as shown and it provides a nice taming of the edge.  With some compression in front, it gets a VERY "round" sound at full tilt with the treble fully cut.

If that's not your taste, though, you could try out the variable midscoop, or any of the assorted 3-band or 2-band tonestacks modelled on Fender/Marshall amps.  For the variable midscoop, do the following:
1) Replace everything between the 10uf output cap and the Volume pot with two fixed resistors in series.  Let's say a 10k and 15k, in that order going from cap to pot.
2) Place a medium-small value cap in parallel with those two resistors.  A value of 2200pf is a good place to start.  Higher values will allow more mids to pass.
3) From the junction of the two resistors, run a cap to a pot (wired as variable resistor) and then to ground, in the manner shown here: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/mhammer/moddedfy-2.gif  The cap should probably be something between .039uf and .1uf according to taste.  Larger values will suppress more of the lower midrange/upper-bass.
4) The pot will let you reduce the amount of scoop introduced.  Probably best to use a 50k log taper, and wire it up so that resistance increases as you rotate clockwise.

You could add an SWTC after it for maximum tonal flexibility, but my guess is that this would introduce too much passive loss in some settings.  So, to vary high end, a smarter move is to stick a 25k-50k variable resistor in series with the bypass cap (the one suggested as 2200pf, and shown as .001uf in the linked FY-2 schem).  This will shift the balance of lows to highs.

All of this, incidentally, could likely be applied equally to the Hot Harmonics, with similarly pleasing results.

[stumper1]

Mark,
Thanks for the great run-down.
I have been experimenting w/the Hot Harmonics / 3 Legged Dog for a while now.  I finally have a circuit that I am very happy with, but I have acouple of questions considering last minute refinements.
1 - On the Hot Harmonics schem there is a 200R resistor in series with a 22uf cap to ground coming from the +9v supply.  The IC gets its supply voltage from the junction of this resistor/cap.  The input pre-amp connects directly to the +9v supply.  I "think I read" that the 200R/22uf was to help "regulate" (is that the right word?) the power supply to the power hungry 4049 - making a battery last longer.  Is this correct?  If not, why is it there?  If so, say I wanted to add basic power supply filtering (this is a pretty high gain circuit that so far works fine w/a battery but I WILL use a power supply sooner or later) and basic polarity protection.  Will this create any other issues?
2 - My gain control is a simple variable feedback resistor.  With the pot at 0 there is no output.  I raised the pot to where I would like the lowest point - unsoldered it - and measured the resistance.  Is it as simple as adding a fixed resistor in series with pot?  Since there is no capacitor in the feedback path does it matter which side I put the resistor on?  If it does - why?

[gaussmarkov]

i was surprised not to find a layout for mark's forty-niner circuit.  maybe i just overlooked it.  here's a draft of it.
in the schem, i made a couple of changes.  i put the power supply to the opamp after the power supply filter.  i was
tempted to put in a smallish cap in the supply filter as well, but left that alone for now.

i also referenced the unused inverters to ground, rather than +9V.  IIRC it doesn't matter which reference you use.
in this case, it makes the GND routing a little easier.

mark left the decoupling cap for the Vbias unspecified, so i threw in a 10uF.  anyone think this should be a different
value?

i also chose to use box film caps in some places.  i am not sure that you could use this layout with larger caps,
particularly for the frequency booster section.

as usual, i did this in eagle so as long as the schem is right the layout will not have any routing mistakes.  so please
check the schematic if you are interested.  once this post has had a look over, i will make any necessary changes
and post a project file.  nice circuit, mark!

--gm

[gaussmarkov]

you directed these questions to mark, but since i am online and mark is probably sleeping, i will give them a shot.

1 - On the Hot Harmonics schem there is a 200R resistor in series with a 22uf cap to ground coming from the +9v supply.  The IC gets its supply voltage from the junction of this resistor/cap.  The input pre-amp connects directly to the +9v supply.  I "think I read" that the 200R/22uf was to help "regulate" (is that the right word?) the power supply to the power hungry 4049 - making a battery last longer.  Is this correct?  If not, why is it there?  If so, say I wanted to add basic power supply filtering (this is a pretty high gain circuit that so far works fine w/a battery but I WILL use a power supply sooner or later) and basic polarity protection.  Will this create any other issues?

i think this is an RC filter for the power supply.  i do not think it affects affect battery life appreciably.  it cuts high frequency PS noise and (IIRC) helps remove RF.  take a look at other circuits and you will see the same thing, often using a 100uF cap.  the resistor is frequently 100R.  look at mark's forty-niner and that's what you will see there.

2 - My gain control is a simple variable feedback resistor.  With the pot at 0 there is no output.  I raised the pot to where I would like the lowest point - unsoldered it - and measured the resistance.  Is it as simple as adding a fixed resistor in series with pot?  Since there is no capacitor in the feedback path does it matter which side I put the resistor on?  If it does - why?

sounds right to me.  and order doesn't matter.  the order of components in series never matters, at least in theory,  even if you have a sequence of resistors and capacitors.  the key thing is that the components are in series.  if something connects to ground in the sequence, then that is not a series and order matters.  i think i am quoting R.G. correctly on this one.  ... yes, here is an R.G. post that covers both of these topics, the LPF (low pass filter) for the PS and the order of passive components in a series: Re: understanding the cutoff frequency(Pwr supply LPF)&resistor position

hope this helps, gm

[gaussmarkov]

on a closely related topic, i see in the hot harmonics schem that MartyB had posted on his site (thanks stumper1  ) that there is a 22uF cap between the unused inverters of the 4049 and ground.  frank clarke's schem doesn't show this and there isn't one on the red llama or mark's forty-niner.

does anyone know how much this cap matters?

thanks in advance, gm

[Aharon]

I have a copy of the last version of the schem AFAIK,none of the links above take you to that version.

There is a correction where the power to the chip is fed off the junction of the 200 ohm/22uF cap and not from 9V.
So the chain would be 9V-200R-22uF-Gnd

There's a noticeable improvement in the quality of the distortion if you do it this way.
Aharon

[gaussmarkov]

I have a copy of the last version of the schem AFAIK,none of the links above take you to that version.

There is a correction where the power to the chip is fed off the junction of the 200 ohm/22uF cap and not from 9V.
So the chain would be 9V-200R-22uF-Gnd

There's a noticeable improvement in the quality of the distortion if you do it this way.
Aharon

hmm, you're right!  i noticed that and then went on to something else.  thanks for noticing and posting. 

i will incorporate this, gm

edit:  files changed.

[Mark Hammer]

Thanks, gm.  You get this week's "citizenship award"!

[markm]

Just a side note to gm,
Your PDF files on your site are EXCELLENT!
Thank you,
  MarkM