For those who aren't familiar with the pedal it's a high-gain scooped out (no midrange) overdrive.  It sounds kind of weird on guitar, but I really like it on bass.   They folow in the fine Dan-o tradition of having a lot of flimsy PCB mounted knobs and such, which have begun to fail.  I am having to kick the $#%^ thing too many times during a set for me to find amusing any more.  

I suppose I could mount it in a new enclosure and replace the pots and jacks with more robust parts, but I think I'd wind up having to use a box almost as big as a Hammond 1590DD, which seems a little wasteful.

So: Can anyone recommend a sound-a-like of this pedal.  I't looks to me like a 4558/diode pair to ground clipper thing.  with a tone stack providing what sounds to me like high shelf and low shelf controls. Maybe a Dist+ with higher input and output cap values for more low end?  Some of the Joe Davisson 2N5089 ckt's I've heard about sound like they might be spot on.

Munky has the schematic for the Fab-tone up on his site. (Thanks Munky, it's helped me out a lot!):

http://www.geocities.com/munkydiy/fabtone.gif

Ideas anyone?  I alway hate it when people say things like "I really rely on this piece of gear for 'my sound,'" but..... I really rely on this piece of gear for "my sound!"  '

Thanks,
Greg

Over the Top 'ness' like FT gets...uh well Fab Tone does that the best of anything I heard or tried.
 The fourth one I had was used.
 1 broke
 2 broke partially
 3 worked the whole time I owned it. I paid soemwhere around 80+ for it.
 Akron Music in Cuyahoga Falls has excellent service [actually like just beyond excellent]. I felt a little funny [on my own] hitting 'em up for the third one.
 For certain stuff the FT is way cool...IMO...even if it does take some tweeking to find 'it'. Just a bit much to be used as an 'all around' Fuzz IMO...does the way over the top chord crunches and Searing Lead tones the way it does 'em...real HOTT, and ...well...Fab Toney.
  I would say there is probably a way to get close to FT without having FT...lol
 Putting one in a big box might not be a bad idea for those who just love that FT crunch...it's about the best way I can think of to have it 'reliably...
 I never was a fan of long plastic shafts that stick out [marketers dream and machanical engineers...actually I've met some mechanical engineers that know like diddly about machining or engineering intelligently]...long plastic shafts are about the stupidest thing since plastic brake calipers...outboard pots 'in' Circuit boards is predestined to fail, same with jacks...other than turning into a piece of junk with limited normal to light usage and falllling into pieces on the road...they are very nice...if you like to use that sound...
 I'm surprized there aren't more 'intelligently engineered' versions of circuits that are currently available only in 'designed to fail' pedals ...where the dreaded marketting guys got hold of enough power to control the usage of bad designs.
 I see long plastic knobs broken here and there...too bad they didn't have me to ream some engineer butt when they were designing these failures...I see 'em all over the place in mixers etc.
 I could have decreased cost and removed stress induced failure completely from the equation, as well as making the 'thing' more compact.
 Once again...there ARE great engineers...just hit or miss though...somehow college training often falls way short in this area...I think it takes a certain brain type to begin with..one with superior abstract space relations senses etc.s ...hard to screen for that...I'm sure some E schools are better than others...just takes a certain type in my experience.

Pete, does Mouser sell replacement pots, or especially jacks for the Fab-Tone? I grabbed one cheap to see what the fuss was. It does have potential. Seriously nasty! Massive gain. Besides the cheap hardware, the treble control is too spastic, and the sustain control needs some work. I was going to try modding with quality components, different IC's, diodes, etc. But first I'd like to fix the hardware first. Even the switch took the "dirt nap".  

Are their components propriatary or can replacements be had?


Thanks,
Pete

Quote from: petemoore
 I'm surprized there aren't more 'intelligently engineered' versions of circuits that are currently available only in 'designed to fail' pedals ...where the dreaded marketting guys got hold of enough power to control the usage of bad designs.

A few minutes with Pete Snowberg's calculator program gives the answer to this. You will have to sell A LOT more pedals to make your money back, or increase the ticket price beyond the *mass market* point and into *boutiqueville*. $0.50 worth of parts per pedal adds up to $50,000 over 100,000 units. Make that 50 cents negative and you make a lot more money.  
A *boutique* version of the whatever the Fab-Tone is would probably go for standard *boutique* prices ( upwards of $200).  That the beauty of DIY. The extra few bucks for a 3PDT is not multiplied by thousands.

Kerry M

Quote from: bwanasonic

Quote from: petemooreI'm surprized there aren't more 'intelligently engineered' versions of circuits that are currently available only in 'designed to fail' pedals ...where the dreaded marketting guys got hold of enough power to control the usage of bad designs.

A few minutes with Pete Snowberg's calculator program gives the answer to this. You will have to sell A LOT more pedals to make your money back, or increase the ticket price beyond the *mass market* point and into *boutiqueville*. $0.50 worth of parts per pedal adds up to $50,000 over 100,000 units. Make that 50 cents negative and you make a lot more money.  
A *boutique* version of the whatever the Fab-Tone is would probably go for standard *boutique* prices ( upwards of $200).  That the beauty of DIY. The extra few bucks for a 3PDT is not multiplied by thousands.

Kerry M

I think that's what I'm going to wind up doing with the FT ( Not sell them for $200) but I'm presently editing the schematic]to eliminate the electronic switching, and anything else that looks redundant.  The Dan-0 pedals look to me like they usually have two PCB's in their peadls. One generic board iwhich  provides the split supply and the 1/4" jacks and such, and then a second which has the circuits specific to that effect.  I imagine some of the caps on the generic board are redundant.

I will repost the orginal scheme, and the simplified one when I finish it.  Hopefully some folks will help  me get it all sorted out.

I belive ithe FT is  simular to a proposal somebody made on another thread - An MXR dist. +, with an op-amp stage to recover gain.  It is bassed around a bunch of 4558's and a pair of 1N4148's to ground.  

I see a lot of possibilities for diode mods - becasue for the extra gairn boost, Ge diode's might be  provide a good fuzz, and the gain loss associated with using them as clipper may not be as much of an issue.....

OK, one question I have right off the bat, is in the FT's first op-amp stage there is a transistor in the feedback loop.  I'm not familiar with the function that it might perform....  Any ideas?

Here's the link again...

http://www.geocities.com/munkydiy/fabtone.gif

Greg

greg, i hear ya...i'm crazy about the dan-echo, but after going through three of them, i gave up and started using something else. the latest one just stopped making sound....the led still comes on to let me know it's engaged, but nothing! i'm told it's the switch, but i haven't gone into the pedal yet. it's a shame, 'cause they sound great. no ideas for subs on that fabtone.  jon

Quotegreg, i hear ya...i'm crazy about the dan-echo, but after going through three of them, i gave up and started using something else. the latest one just stopped making sound....the led still comes on to let me know it's engaged, but nothing! i'm told it's the switch, but i haven't gone into the pedal yet. it's a shame, 'cause they sound great. no ideas for subs on that fabtone. jon

I've done some fixes on the Fab tone.  On that pedal  at least there are two PCB's connected by ridged metal pins.  As you can  guess, any stress or strain on that plastic part of the Dan-o pedals (where the jacks are mounted) can shift those pins around. I replaed the pins with a piece of 5-conductor ribbon cable, and that helped with some problems.  I also had to replace one of the PCB-mounted 1/4" jacks.  Luckily I had another broken mini Dan-o pedal, and I was able to swap out the jack.  I've also had to simply clean and re-solder a bunch of connections - again primarily the jacks and pots.  Now I think my problem is that one of the pots has had it, and I'm sick of all these band-aids.  Ugh, I do like that pedal.......

I feel your pain,

Greg

Commercial builders might do well to offer sturdy units with the same circuitry as their 'cheep' [failure designed] boxes.
 Endorsements might be more likely...smart ppl might be more inclined to use a 'trusty' pedal compared to something designed to soon become a piece of junk.

Quote from: petemooreCommercial builders might do well to offer sturdy units with the same circuitry as their 'cheep' [failure designed] boxes.
 Endorsements might be more likely...smart ppl might be more inclined to use a 'trusty' pedal compared to something designed to soon become a piece of junk.

Yeah, I remember when the dan-echo, the daddy-o, and co. came out, I saw tons of musician s using them, from local types to national/international touring types.  Over time, though,  it seemed like the dan-o effects were falling off pedalboards at the same rate that my own pedal was falling to pieces.
I think they put out 3 new effects last year, but still the same crappy construction.  Sigh.