Ruby questions

[m-theory]

At some point in the not-too-distant future, I'm going to be building a Ruby.  I have a few questions for those who've built one before.  I have no idea what this really sounds like, so pardon my noobness.   

I think I might want to add some additional circuitry to this, just for extra giggles.  I was thinking that a decent eq might be a nice added feature, so I thought perhaps a tonemender? 

Also, I'd like to add something for additional distortion.  I suspect that the amp circuit itself overdrives well, based upon what I've read and from what I could tell on the ROG clip, but I thought it might be fun to add something like a fuzz as well. 

FWIW, I'll probably do the bassman mod to the amp.  I'm curious to hear from those who've built the Ruby, and in particular the Bassman mod version, and also would like to hear from those who may have done something along the lines of what I'm considering, in terms of additional eq and/or distortion circuitry. 

[B Tremblay]

One word: breadboard.

[m-theory]

Five words:  Don't have one right now that's suitable...I guess that's seven words, isn't it!     I do intend to get one, but for the time being, I'm flying by the seat of my pants, so I have to rely upon the input of others who may have tread before me. 

[momo]

I have built 4 of them, the bassman mods are my favorite, I would say that you would need a compatible speaker though. What I mean by that is the fact that you can't get alot of bass out of a 3-4 inch speaker. If you have a decent cab with say 8 inch speakers minimum, the bassman mods will shine thru....
I did mine with a vintage 10 inch ceramic magnet spkr which is very efficient, the tone on there are really great....the low end is nice and fat,and rich. Im using a 62 strat with great pickups. I also have a vintage Ibanez Destoyer with Super 70 Humbuckers and that is almost too fat on the low end, using the stock caps for the bassman mods.

[m-theory]

What I mean by that is the fact that you can't get alot of bass out of a 3-4 inch speaker.

I'll likely house this in a cheapo/freebie-esque crapola SS amp that I find at a garage sale, so it'll likely have at least an 8, and possibly even a 12" spkr.  Puny spks aren't suitable for anything, imo.

So, in your opinion, is something like a tonemender or other tone control circuit completely unnecessary? 

And, what about additional distortion?  Would it be pointless to throw a simple fuzz circuit or something like that in front of this? 

[Hanglow]

I  made the standard ruby, it sounds great through a 12" speaker. I did have it in an old SS park amp, was pretty good in that (generic 8") until that got used for a firefly tube amp. Now it resides in an old PC speaker bookshelf speaker, (a 4" speaker, rated for about 30w) so I can have a bit of portability for it - can still plug it intoa a bigger cab if needed of course, and also take it on the boat/camping etc.

I also have a tonemender, which is a pretty good tonestack/boost. I don't think it really shines in front of the ruby, which I just like paying straight into, or with a bit of delay. I'd recommend building the tonemender for sure, but I'd put it in it's own box so you can use it with your other amps.

I also played with the idea of sticking a fuzz into it. It's easy enough to do and sucks barely any current if you plan on using batteries.

[Nick C.]

I recently made a Ruby and I love it. Speaker selection is a huge factor on the tone. I breadboarded a lot of mods and ended up with a pretty stock set up except for a 100uF cap on the output which cut some lows. Tried a bmp tone and the Cricket tone control and didn't like them.

For more distortion I do like Dano's grit switch on the Cricket.

Why not try the stock Ruby, it's easy and you'll like And get your breadboarding going!

[jefe]

I played around with some tone controls on the ruby as well... the noisy cricket, and the tonemender, but I ended up leaving it stock for now. I plan on revisiting it, and playing around with the various other amps you can build with the 386. I'm also thinking about sticking some 386-based distortion in front of it, maybe aron's smash drive, & be able to switch it on & off to have "clean" and "dirty" channels... sort of...

I also recommend the breadboard route... these circuits don't take up much room, so you don't need to buy a huge (and expensive) breadboard.

[momo]

So, in your opinion, is something like a tonemender or other tone control circuit completely unnecessary? 

And, what about additional distortion?  Would it be pointless to throw a simple fuzz circuit or something like that in front of this? 
[/quote]

I have not added any tone citcuits to the Ruby's...though, speakers can be thought of as tone units. Its all related, I think happy accidents make great tone!. You start with the guitar, on to the circuit, on to the speaker, on to the enclosure. If you want to get anal, you could add the guitar tone cap, and cable, but the rest are the basics influencing tone....
So I guess experimenting the variables is what will get you closer to what you like.

I did build one Ruby with a AMZ mosfet booster and a Heartthrob tremolo......The order was, Heartthrob---Booster---Ruby. Now that was pretty funky.......all on a 12v design. The booster was set at full boost with the trimpot, that rendered the Ruby with almost no clean signal. The 12v did give it more headroom and output, if I had done the same with 9v, I doubt that the ruby would of had some clean gain...it would of distorted right away with the booster in front of it. That being said, the ruby was driving 2 10 inch vintage CTS speakers with I think ceramic magnets. These speakers are less efficient than my 10 inch Ceramic magnet and gave out a somewhat darker less refined tone. That was perfect for that ruby, when I use that one(with the 2 CTS speakes), I use it for heavy crunch and good sustain. It does have less bass though, it tends to peak in the mid-range, that is partially due to the enclosure which is not heavy, but rather some cheap particle-board like stuff.A bit like a heavy duty cardboard.
Oh well, I might as well post some pics...here you go

This is the Ruby with the 2 CTS spkrs

This is my favorite one that I use with the bassman mods

The 2 CTS spkrs

[armstrom]

Just build the ruby on a radio shack 276-159 PCB. You can easily experiment with tone controls by wiring them point-to-point on the back of the volume and tone pots. I have a layout for the ruby on the radio shack PCB that I think works quite well. I can draw it up and post it if you're interested. beavis audio has a layout for his noisy cricket (similar to ruby but with tone control) that could probably be modified to build a standard ruby circuit.

Oh, I thought I would share that if you leave wires on your ruby long and run it outside of an enclosure it will pick up AM radio stations with the volume pot all the way down I was surprised how well the interference came in Needless to say once I finalize the build it will be going into a metal enclosure and using shorter leads for all external components.
-Matt

[ambulancevoice]

At some point in the not-too-distant future, I'm going to be building a Ruby.  I have a few questions for those who've built one before.  I have no idea what this really sounds like, so pardon my noobness.   

I think I might want to add some additional circuitry to this, just for extra giggles.  I was thinking that a decent eq might be a nice added feature, so I thought perhaps a tonemender? 

Also, I'd like to add something for additional distortion.  I suspect that the amp circuit itself overdrives well, based upon what I've read and from what I could tell on the ROG clip, but I thought it might be fun to add something like a fuzz as well. 

FWIW, I'll probably do the bassman mod to the amp.  I'm curious to hear from those who've built the Ruby, and in particular the Bassman mod version, and also would like to hear from those who may have done something along the lines of what I'm considering, in terms of additional eq and/or distortion circuitry. 

youve basically just listed the mods/ideas ive been working on my for ruby
so far
send return (when not used, inbuilt fuzz in place)
built in fuzz (whisker biscuit) with clipping selection including diodes off (for a boost effect), bypassable
switchable bass man mods and input cap mods
switchable fet preamp (stock ruby preamp and big daddy preamp)
preamp bypass
built in power supply with switchable voltages (9 and 12)
i also wanna see how the bypass cap effects the sound

im working on a schematic at the moment

i might add the grit switch from the noisy cricket too

[m-theory]

Nice looking amp, momo!  Is that a suitcase? 

After thinking this over and reading these posts, I've come to realize that I really do have to just build the damn thing and see what it sounds like first, and go from there.  I'm way overthinking this, methinks.  I just get hung up on this obsession of wanting everything housed in one box, so I don't have to use outboard gear, and it creates a lot of overthinking. 

I'd completely forgotten about that cricket layout, and that's a really nice, simple layout.  I was going to build this on vero, but in looking again at the cricket layout, I think I'll go that route instead. 

Thanks for the input!

[momo]

Build it!...for me Rubys are my favorite build, Ive got 2 other enclosures that I will be doing at some point when I start building again. I have not tinkered for months now!...d'ont have the mental will and energy
Ya I like that amp, it comes from a Magnavox "Portable" kit from the 70's......what you see are the two fold out doors that were on there. I just joined them together, built the amp inside and used the actual faceplate and knobs for the Tremolo controls and Ruby. It took a while, the hardest part was to try and stop it from ossilating real bad.
R.G is the one who solved the problem and explained to me the woes of "sewer ground". It is a high gain amp with the mosfet booster full on and there was some voltages that was leaking in the ground. The solution was quite funky, I had to pysically position the negative wire from the speaker  to the first battery in the chain....just one battery passed that and it would still ossilate!
I guess its hard to imagine so here is a pic of that:
You see the plate positioned on the first negative  side of the first battery

The actual contact plate to fit snug in the coil.


Oh and there you can see the cheap particle cardboard the enclosure is made of.....not good for bass!

[arawn]

Ruby with bassman mod does not need a tone control and it's darn close too the sound of a real bassman, I built mine as a stompbox and wow!!!!

[mat]

You can find couple outside photos and soundsample of my bassman mod Ruby buil here http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=66655.0

Matti T.