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DIY Stompboxes => Building your own stompbox => Topic started by: thomas2 on August 14, 2004, 06:52:12 PM

Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: thomas2 on August 14, 2004, 06:52:12 PM
well i decided to try building it again.. this time there's sound! well sorta.. there's only this low rumble going on.. no highs at all.. how are the two led's supposed to work? mine has the other led on all the time (the one connected to pins 3 and 4) and the other one doesn't do anything at all..  :P  any kind of information about this would be appreciated.
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: Sic on August 14, 2004, 07:02:30 PM
what layout are you using? the home-wrecker one?
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: thomas2 on August 14, 2004, 07:03:53 PM
yep
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: thomas2 on August 14, 2004, 07:22:03 PM
i mean.. yes, the home wrecker one  :lol:
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: B Tremblay on August 14, 2004, 07:24:38 PM
The LED between pins 3 and 4 should be always lit when the circuit is powered on.  The other LED should light in relation to the input signal envelope.

Double-check the wiring of all three pots as well as the orientation of the LED connected to the 3M3 resistor.
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: thomas2 on August 14, 2004, 07:28:17 PM
thanks! i'll check that tomorrow.. well i didn't have the 3M3 resistor.. i substituted it with two smaller ones..
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: B Tremblay on August 14, 2004, 08:56:48 PM
Quote from: thomaswell i didn't have the 3M3 resistor.. i substituted it with two smaller ones..

Double-check that those values do in fact add up to 3M3.  If that resistor is too small, the LED will not light in the same manner.
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: thomas2 on August 15, 2004, 05:16:19 AM
alrighty then! i noticed that it works when i hit the strings very hard. i tried it with a booster pedal and it worked! i dunno where the problem is..
well anyway.. does anyone know how i would get more attack?
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: thomas2 on August 15, 2004, 06:27:05 AM
actually what i'd like to know is.. how can i get a faster decay.. i'd like it to make the wah sound quickly with every note.
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: B Tremblay on August 15, 2004, 08:40:39 AM
Change the 22uF cap (to ground after the 51 ohm resistor) to a 10uF for faster decay.
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: thomas2 on August 15, 2004, 09:27:21 AM
thank you sir! i'll do that  :lol:
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: smoguzbenjamin on August 15, 2004, 11:09:09 AM
If it works with you booster and when you hit the strings hard, I think you don't have enough gain in the envelope detector. Try increasing the resistance in the opamp's feedback loop as to increase the gain.
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: idlefaction on August 15, 2004, 10:32:51 PM
also, the half wave diode sucks the first 0.7V out of the envelope detector signal - i take out the 'pin 3 & 4 LED' and replace it with the same LED in series with a regular diode, that gets rid of that problem and makes the envelope detector 0.7V more sensitive without even having to change the 3M3 resitor.  :-)

PS. building a treble booster into the effect will also work!  these filters work best like that anyway since your high strings put out less voltage than your low strings. HTH...
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: idlefaction on August 15, 2004, 10:38:29 PM
oh yeah!  if you replace the 10k resistor that's in series with the LED/diode i was just talking about with a 10k pot, wire the ends of the pot to 9V and the LED, and connect the input pin of the envelope opamp to the wiper, you have an instant manual filter control - great for set wah effects if you turn the sensitivity right off, or just adjusting the envelope start point to taste.

:)
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: thomas2 on August 16, 2004, 05:17:26 AM
thanks! any mods how to make the effect more extreme?  :twisted:
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: Torchy on August 16, 2004, 07:35:59 AM
Before I dig out ExpressPCB, anyone got a pcb layout for the Quack ??
Ta  :wink:
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: Gringo on August 16, 2004, 08:55:33 AM
I drew one just for fun the other day, let me take a look cos i don't remember if it's finished.
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: thomas2 on August 16, 2004, 08:58:19 AM
i've done it too, but i believe there was some small error.. gotta check that
:lol:  it was way easier and faster to build on perfboard than pcb
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: thomas2 on August 16, 2004, 09:10:22 AM
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v389/samoht/funkofficer.jpg)
this is what mine looks like.. compare it to the home wrecker layout and see where everything goes  :lol:
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: thomas2 on August 16, 2004, 09:11:14 AM
fixed the error btw  :wink:
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: Torchy on August 16, 2004, 09:37:55 AM
Thanks - that was quick :o
I actually want a pcb as this build is for a good friend. PCBs look a bit more 'pro' than perf (or stripboard which I use).
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: thomas2 on August 16, 2004, 10:15:29 AM
i've drawn that abouth month ago.. just fixed the small mistake i had there :)
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: strungout on August 16, 2004, 12:52:33 PM
Oy.

I wrote up about the quackers and what does what in the circuit, if you want to take a look at it: http://www.freewebs.com/fkstilt/

Ciao.
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: thomas2 on August 18, 2004, 03:13:17 AM
btw.. that pcb layout fits the hammond 1590B box.. i like to use these small boxes because they're cheap and so am i  :lol:
Title: Nurse Quacky almost there :D
Post by: thomas2 on August 18, 2004, 03:33:54 AM
i got the perfboard build working at the first try btw.. the problem was my guitar.. it's got so weak pickups  :wink: