This is my first post here but ive been reding for about a month (the result of some time off due to a bandsaw accident). but to the point.
I work at a Guitar Center a we recently got the mini Danelectro Fab pedals in.I was aplynig around with the Fab Echo and liek the sound of it but was annoyed at the lack of a speed control, so i set otu to fix that. After opening the pedal up i noticed it resembled the Rebote 2 schematic. so i replaced the fixed resistor with a 100 k linear pot and tah-dah my Fab Echo now has a speed control! I picked upthis pedal for 8 bucks with my discount and i had just done a large order from Mouser so i had the pot lying around so i now have a great sounding echo for under 10 bux! these are really great little pedals and can normally be had for about 10-15 bux. with the 100k pot as a speed control you can get anywhere from a quick doubling effect to about a 1 sec . im hoping ill have some sound clips up tomorrow.
Now that's what I call citizenship!! :icon_biggrin: I certainly hope your bandsaw accident didn't harm your ability to play or build or whatever else it is you do with your hands.
Thanks for tip. I've seen Fab pedals in town for under $30 Canadian, which still is an excellent price.
Now comes the $64,000 question: Where the hell do you PUT that extra pot? :icon_question: The "gabled windows" structure of the Fab cases really seem to preclude modding them in any manner off the board itself.
The Fab Echo uses the PT2399 too or it uses a PT2395?
Miguel
it uses a PT2399, and as far as the extra pot well i simpoly superglued it to the side of the pedal until i transfer it into a new box. the bandsaw accident was the result of my cat getting in between my legs wen cutting out the neck for a guitar im building. my left pointer is pretty much healed upnow but it was rather unplesant a couple weeks ago. If anyone here is in the Nashua, New Hampshire area stop into the Guitar Center and ask for Olan (thats me) and Ill give anyone here a discount on the Fab pedals
Welcome to the forum! 8)
Mark is right... what a great entry! :icon_biggrin: Very cool.
Sorry to hear about your saw accident. I hope all heals well.
Miguel, I know the Dan-Echo is PT2395 based.
Hey Nalo1022!
Thanks for the tip on this! I went and got one from this post.
Since it's all SMD could you give me a general area of where to find the resistor ?
Thanks!
JFTL
ther are two boards in the fab echothe top boardhas all the switching and power on it, the second lower board has the pots and the IC. if you follow the tracce from pin 6 thers the resistor you need to replace. lug 1 to pin 6 and lugs 2 and 3 to ground.
Would that mod work on the danelectro slap echo DJ-3 BLT pedal?
Anyone opened one to see the delay chip?
The controls are same in both units: mix and repeats.
It would be handy delay unit if could be modded same way.
Actually I just went a musicstore this afternoon to test one
and found the sound very pleasant. The price wasn't...
They asked 75€ for it! What a rip off!
And when I asked about the FAB- series pedals
they had never even heard about them... (this is very typical in Finland...
high prices and neither service nor knowledge...)
But when I did little more investigation the used ones go here for 30€
That would be a solution for my problem if the mod is usable on that pedal also.
Think I would add expression pedal to control the speed.
Thanks Nalo1022 I got it all figured out :D
I also looked over the schematic for the Rebote at Tonepad: http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=27
I found in the schematic that you can replace a resistor to get infinite echo when the repeat knob is turned on all the way so I tried it. Works pretty cool!
It actually worked the same with a direct connection, but I've always heard that's it's good to have some kind of resistance so I put in a 1 ohm resistor.
Now I pretty much have a full fledged lofi delay pedal for 16.00.
Thanks again Nalo1022!!!!
JFTL
i uploaded a sound clip of varying degrees of the fab echo to an old myspace account so dontmind the other crappy sound clips...it says its proccessing and should be on the page in the next 24 hours
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=7762872
When you take your Fab pedals apart, be careful how the funky foil patch on the top goes back in, and that it doesn't short something out. I got a Fab metal on tour and immediately took it apart in the van to see how it worked (nerd :icon_rolleyes:) and when I stuck it back together and powered it up later on the blue LED got bright white and then the Fab was fried.
I think all the Fab pedals have 2 circuit boards, and I'd bet the board attached to the jacks and power supply is universal in all of them (maybe its the same board from the mini Danos) and just handles the electronic switching and power supply filtering, and the board attached to the pots is the actual effect.
I'm curious about whats in the chorus too, maybe someone could lash together a DC-2 workalike with two of them. I was seeing all those pedals for like $15 at guitar centers we stopped by. Its creepy how cheap they are. Made by nimble fingered elves in China...
from what ive seen of the other pedals the switching board does appear to be universal. i plan at some point to transfer the pdal into a better all metal housing. i could try to get some pics of the boards online if someone was interested in them.
Quote from: Mark Hammer on January 31, 2006, 09:37:06 AM
Now comes the $64,000 question: Where the hell do you PUT that extra pot? :icon_question: The "gabled windows" structure of the Fab cases really seem to preclude modding them in any manner off the board itself.
The middle gable on the Fab echo is left conspiciously empty, you might be able to drill it out and squeeze a panel mount 9mm pot in there like Boss uses (the pots Danelectro use are the little Alpha PCB mount ones just like on the Zvex Seek Wahs)
the soundclip is now availible just to get an idea of the mod sounds. the quality isnt that great but it was recorded through the mic on my webcam cuz it was all i had access to at the time. The guitar was my first guitar ever(double-cut Slammer by Hamer with a dimarzio supoer distortion in it) into the fab echo then into my Bassman head through a old peavey 412, but you get the idea.
Processaurus (or anyone who knows), is there a trick to removing the effect board? I unscrewed everything, but I'm a little reluctant to start prying. Here's a pic of the echo board. I tried to compress it for the dial-up folks.
(http://www.davebales.com/me/stompboxStuff/FAB_Echo_5263.jpg)
(http://www.davebales.com/me/stompboxStuff/FAB_Echo_closeup5263.jpg)
Good pictures, to get it out, its a little bit of a pry, you pull the knobs off (I had to use pliers, if I remember), and then you have to simultaneously pull up and back (away from the pot shaft "gabled windows"), so the pot shafts don't lever the pot off the board.. The LED seems to have no choice but get bent on its way out.
I think a 16mm pot may be able fit around the "B" in FAB on the top of the pedal, if one measured carefully, because there is an empty spot on top of the PCB there. You'd have to plan ahead on how you'd get the board back in, though (long wires to the new pot, probably). Alternately, if it helps, the film caps in front of the middle window (C6 and C2) could get stuck on the SMD side of the PCB, and not hit anything.
After looking at the trouble it would be to do all this, I'd say someone interested in the economics of the situation should spend the extra $10 bucks on the PB&J delay... with mine, I'm probably gonna rob the tiny delay PCB (2 1/4" x 1 3/8") and stick it in another effect, (maybe the EH Polychorus, or a theremin...), maybe keep the FAB enclosure and switching board, and put a small Tim Escobedo-esque circuit in there, or a no knobber...
I find surface mount intimidating........
Yet, it's so small ;)
I don't know how you guys could work with it?!
Quote from: Processaurus on June 08, 2006, 07:25:49 PM
Good pictures
Thanks!
Quote
After looking at the trouble it would be to do all this, I'd say someone interested in the economics of the situation should spend the extra $10 bucks on the PB&J delay...
Where have you seen them for that price? I've only seen them in the $50-60US range.
Quote from: markm on June 08, 2006, 07:38:33 PM
I find surface mount intimidating........
Yet, it's so small ;)
I don't know how you guys could work with it?!
I'm fortunate to have a wife who used to do assembly work. She's not at
all intimidated by SMD's. I'm pretty sure I'd mess it up.
I'd like to give this mod a try, and after reading this thread and the great project at www.beavisaudio.com, I opened up my FAB Chorus and I have one question. How the heck do you get that tiny resistor out of there? I've desoldered stuff before, but never anything that tiny.
I finaly have a Fab chorus/echo/OD on the way :D
Let's see what fun there is when they arrive !!
i'm thinking of getting a FAB echo and doing that mod with a switchable LDR to sort of be like a pseudo expression pedal. does turning the pot while in the midst of playing stop the echoes or anything?
Just about to mod the Fab Echo and mine has a full size PT2399 in it !!
The pin 6 delay time resistor is on the reverse of the board and the layout is a little changed
should be easy enough to get to though .
MM
I have a question. If the noise associated with the PT2399 is inherent to the chip, does the FAB suffer from this noise also like the Rebote? If it's strictly an echo and not delay then the delay is too short for the noise to be heard I assume.
I'm not familiar with the Rebote's problem, I assume that it's "aliasing" noise from pushing the chips
delay time a bit too far ?
Data sheet recommends a 50k delay pot and max delay of around 300msec - perhaps at this setting
it's going to operate fine !
MM.
Yes Marty that's pretty much what I was thinking too.
Just modded my fab echo, sounds great : :icon_biggrin:
I have the Fab Echo modded to.
And I have given it 100% feedback so it selfoscillates now.
I have the SMD version.
The middle leg of the repeat pot goes to a brown capacitor. The capacitor is then connected to a 4k7 smd resistor, witch makes up the feedback path. I just bypassed the 4k7 resistor with a solder blob and that did the trick.
Now I only need a 100% wet setting, so only the delay is heard.
It anyone knows how to do that and is willing to share: Let us know.
@Oldrocker: The fab Echo has noise issues, but only at very long delay times (+-300ms or more).
thanks for the tip on getting it to osscilate. It still sounds fine and doesnt osscilate on lower settings, right?
Wow this mod seems cool. I need to try it. Like the lofi repeat sound.
Okay, did the feedback mod and it works. You can get some crazy sounds, and of course dial back the feedback and get normal delay sounds.
Clips:
(normal delay, going through modes)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5QQKFRWS
(osscilation)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YT6EFKFJ
Cool clips.
That MegaUpload site had opened a popup without me noticing and started playing some "data a celebrity" video with dialog and music. At first I thought it was part of your clip. With the delayed guitar parts over top, it sounded kinda arty / dubby cool.
-- T. G. --
dude I am totally gonna take you up on that. and While I'm at it I'll show you my toaster amp I built
Quote from: unknowndude on May 23, 2007, 07:26:11 PM
Okay, did the feedback mod and it works. You can get some crazy sounds, and of course dial back the feedback and get normal delay sounds.
Clips:
(normal delay, going through modes)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5QQKFRWS
(osscilation)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YT6EFKFJ
That sounds amazing! I have to try this.
I want to rehouse the whole thing. Anyone know what the values on the two stock pots are (the mix and repeat controls)?
Quote from: unknowndude on May 23, 2007, 07:26:11 PM
Okay, did the feedback mod and it works. You can get some crazy sounds, and of course dial back the feedback and get normal delay sounds.
Clips:
(normal delay, going through modes)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5QQKFRWS
(osscilation)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YT6EFKFJ
I like the way the Fab Echo sounds!
I did a similar mod to its bigger brother, the Dan Echo that has been a lot of fun to play with. In the Dan Echo the resistor that needs jumpering is R10.
I did some quicky clips of it a while back that are here: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=695366
Just click the "hi-fi" button on the last two Dan Echo files to stream them, or download the mp3s. The first clip is some oscillation, the second is some circuit bending with the pedal. That thing has some pretty wild noises in it. :D
-chris
I've got a demo of the modded Fab Echo as well as a Fab Flange here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Lv76ubxeM
Quote from: theblueark on July 16, 2007, 12:20:01 PM
I've got a demo of the modded Fab Echo as well as a Fab Flange here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Lv76ubxeM
That's really great. What I would be interested in doing would be separating the delay from the dry signal in the Fab Echo, running the delay through a Fab Chorus in the same enclosure, and then mixing the chorused delay back in with the dry signal. Anyone have a clue how to separate the delay from the dry in the Echo?
Quote from: Uma Floresta on July 17, 2007, 02:11:44 PMAnyone have a clue how to separate the delay from the dry in the Echo?
Let me start by saying i don't have any electronics knowledge to speak of, just some hack experience.
Though they have different chips, the Dan Echo and Fab Echo seem somewhat similar in implementation?
In the Dan Echo the mix of clean and affected signals is controlled by a pot. Perhaps in the Fab Echo this pot is replaced by a simple resistor to provide a set balance of clean and delay? Maybe that is not how this kind of circuit works though! Like i said, i don't know much.
Is there a schematic available for either pedal?
-chris
Quote from: chris_d on July 17, 2007, 02:22:27 PM
Quote from: Uma Floresta on July 17, 2007, 02:11:44 PMAnyone have a clue how to separate the delay from the dry in the Echo?
Let me start by saying i don't have any electronics knowledge to speak of, just some hack experience.
Though they have different chips, the Dan Echo and Fab Echo seem somewhat similar in implementation?
In the Dan Echo the mix of clean and affected signals is controlled by a pot. Perhaps in the Fab Echo this pot is replaced by a simple resistor to provide a set balance of clean and delay? Maybe that is not how this kind of circuit works though! Like i said, i don't know much.
Is there a schematic available for either pedal?
-chris
Well, there is a mix knob in the Fab echo, but it doesn't get 100% wet - that would be another nice thing to have. I haven't seen any schematics, though.
Quote from: Uma Floresta on July 17, 2007, 02:28:41 PMWell, there is a mix knob in the Fab echo, but it doesn't get 100% wet - that would be another nice thing to have. I haven't seen any schematics, though.
Maybe sort of the same situation with the Dan Echo and its "repeats" knob. There is a pot that contols the repeats, but also a resistor that seems to ensure that the resistance does not go below a set point and allow oscillation.
Being a brute, i just swapped pots and resistors and jumpers until i got the result i was looking for. Sometimes that works. :) Surely, possession of a schematic would make the process much quicker and more effective, for a "non-hack" approach though! :D
-chris
I traced and "hacked" my way through the various mods on the effects, like turning them always on. So unfortunately I don't have a schematic of them.
QuoteThat's really great. What I would be interested in doing would be separating the delay from the dry signal in the Fab Echo, running the delay through a Fab Chorus in the same enclosure, and then mixing the chorused delay back in with the dry signal. Anyone have a clue how to separate the delay from the dry in the Echo?
I actually have something very similar, my "secret weapon" on my pedalboard. It's a Korg digital delay unit where I run the delayed signals through a Fab Flange before they get mixed with the dry. With the Fab Flange board housed together inside the delay enclosure. Man I love modulated delays.
Hi, I just finished modding my echo, but I was wondering where is the 15k resistor thats to be relaced with a 10k resistor located? I looked at the schematic forthe rebote, but I cant locate it. Ill post pictures of the housing I just built. I designed it to be more of box thats designed to me played with rather than a stomp box. Thanks!
Quote from: theblueark on July 18, 2007, 12:03:34 PM
I traced and "hacked" my way through the various mods on the effects, like turning them always on. So unfortunately I don't have a schematic of them.
QuoteThat's really great. What I would be interested in doing would be separating the delay from the dry signal in the Fab Echo, running the delay through a Fab Chorus in the same enclosure, and then mixing the chorused delay back in with the dry signal. Anyone have a clue how to separate the delay from the dry in the Echo?
I actually have something very similar, my "secret weapon" on my pedalboard. It's a Korg digital delay unit where I run the delayed signals through a Fab Flange before they get mixed with the dry. With the Fab Flange board housed together inside the delay enclosure. Man I love modulated delays.
I am on the last step of my rehouse, and I am stumped. How do you get this darn thing to be always on? (inside the true bypass of course) I have tried jumpering the switch like dano suggested, but then it decides to be "always off"
This is what I do:
Step 1: Look for the flip flop IC on the effect.
Step 2: Search for the datasheet on the IC
Step 3: See which pins Q and Q' are, as well as Vcc and Gnd.
Step 4: Get a solid core jumper wire, touch Q to Vcc/Gnd, see if and which one turns the circuit on. Else try for Q'.
Step 5: Once the circuit is on, hold the wire at those points, turn off the power supply and turn it on again (you'll wish you have another hand). See if the circuit comes up ON when powered up. Else go back to Step 5 and try again.
This is the easy way to do it without having to trace anything on the circuit board.
Will do. If I remember, there's two or three ICs on the main power/switching board. I will be back if I can't figure out which is which.
I am glad that with all the FABs besides the echo I can just get rid of the big board entirely, I don't think the overdrive or distortion need the buffer. Then again, if I do rehouse the other ones I'm not even going to bother with TB, just new pots and jacks.
Quote from: chris_d on July 15, 2007, 10:52:45 PM
I did a similar mod to its bigger brother, the Dan Echo that has been a lot of fun to play with. In the Dan Echo the resistor that needs jumpering is R10.
I did some quicky clips of it a while back that are here: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=695366
Just click the "hi-fi" button on the last two Dan Echo files to stream them, or download the mp3s. The first clip is some oscillation, the second is some circuit bending with the pedal. That thing has some pretty wild noises in it. :D
-chris
Chris - Thanks for the Dan Echo suggestion. I just did the R10 jumper mod and this pedal (http://www.kyletompkins.com/wp/?p=347) is sooo much more fun now.
Quote from: kismet78 on November 09, 2007, 02:12:41 AMChris - Thanks for the Dan Echo suggestion. I just did the R10 jumper mod and this pedal (http://www.kyletompkins.com/wp/?p=347) is sooo much more fun now.
Cool! I agree, it makes it more of a fun toy to have, and the regular delay ability doesn't appear to be affected at all, so there really is no reason i can see not to do it!
And i see you had a couple of resistors there. They may have done a couple of different things with that resistor location, i think. The pedal i had(new) actually had two resistors in series in that spot.
(http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1139/4287danechooscillatemodwg1.th.jpg) (http://img80.imageshack.us/my.php?image=4287danechooscillatemodwg1.jpg)
As you can see i uglied-up the board a little, pulling out other components to experiment! Those silly pots do not like being removed! Even worse, i ended up deciding to put them back in, after all. :icon_rolleyes:
Have fun!
-chris
Hi, it's an old topic but... When you do the 'delay time pot' mod, could you tell me what are the 'time' and 'repeats' setings for getting some sort of a reverb?
Time: very short
Repeats: fairly long
This is a nice little a low cost delay pedal with the mods.
What I would like to add, would be a momentary switch (still keeping the regular switch) so that the dealya would only be active when its held down.
I started by tracing the regular switch, but then got sidetracked to other projects.
Has anyone tried adding a momentary switch to this effect yet?
Or any tips on adding one?
Quote from: Dave_B on June 08, 2006, 06:13:09 PM
Processaurus (or anyone who knows), is there a trick to removing the effect board? I unscrewed everything, but I'm a little reluctant to start prying. Here's a pic of the echo board. I tried to compress it for the dial-up folks.
(http://www.davebales.com/me/stompboxStuff/FAB_Echo_5263.jpg)
(http://www.davebales.com/me/stompboxStuff/FAB_Echo_closeup5263.jpg)
I see in your pictures where the pot needs to go but I am confused as to where the wires go. On Beavis's website, it looks like one lead goes to the leg of the IC and the other lead goes to another part of the board. Thank you for your help.
One lead goes to pin 6, the other goes to ground, and remove the 6.8k resistor while you're at it.
The ground connection for the pot can be any of the available ground areas on the board, it doesn't have to go where the surface mount resistor was.
Resurrecting an old topic cause I just received a Fab Echo and modded it in a hurry. It took longer to unscrew it! It now has the delay pot (50kB) and it works so good, similar to a regular rebote (the chip is the same as we all know)
I read a lot about the mods here and on the net, but still can't understand if/how can it be turned to be completely TRUE BYPASS - Is it possible to get rid of the switching board or it serves as in/out buffer as the tl072 in the rebote? Can I just use the wires coming from the FX board and use the regular DPDT TB wiring!?
I just tried to hook it up on the fly on a DPDT typical TB wiring. As mentioned in another post, wires are
white: Input
coax shield: Ground
Yellow: Out
Red: +9v
It works but only the wet signal is coming out! if you turn the mix pot at zero you have no signal.
iirc there is an input buffer on the jack/board where the input signal goes into an ic buffer then is split, one side routed to the white input wire and the other side sent directly to the output tip on the jack board... if you left out the buffer, you could probably get away with just tapping the input via a cap directly to the output... white-cap-yellow.
I guess I have to perform the mods illustrated HERE (http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=64519.msg631317#msg631317)