Diaz Tremodillo MKII clone issue. Tying up a loose end on vero layout?

Started by Bandwagonesque, May 08, 2020, 09:03:50 AM

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Bandwagonesque

Hi folks. A couple years ago before there were any layouts up for this pedal, I tried cloning my diaz tremodillo MKII to lackluster results to problems and shelved it till last night. My vero layout is original and seems to be on point to the originals pcb, but unfortunately I don't have a schematic as i still can't write one unless its riddled with errors. i'm enclosing a photo of the originals pcb topology along with its wiring layout. I decided on mine to true bypass it and stick it on vero so mine differs only in that instance and is otherwise exactly the same. In saying that, i'm leftover with a spare lead that i'm not sure what to do with or where it should go. Its the lead that comes from the 2nd terminal of the dwell control that originally goes to the SPDT bypass foot switch. on mine it has nowhere to end up with the true bypass switch already taken up and i don't know much about how the circuit works to know what to do with it.
        before i go further i should explain my other issue first. The pedal passes signal with the loose end. it has 2 controls: dwell (depth) and speed and a bypass and spst footswitch for double the rate. with the loose end, both controls are effective through their complete throw of the pot (will make sense later). now with the footswitch set in 'slow trem' mode and on any control setting, both the clone and the original diaz sound identical to eachother. When I hit the double rate speed on both pedals, there is a detrimental difference in my clone. First, the speed control still works fine with no issue, but now the depth control acts more like an 'on/off', in that its dry and then once its turned its immediately full depth. Second and the more significant problem is when both controls are dimed, theres a real loss in the signal being chopped up in comparison to the original.The original is transparent and the signal being effected stays at level volume with the bypassed level.
           I figured this was due to the loose end and went prodding about as I have no idea what i'm doing, far enough in the circuit that I cooked something and wound up here before I did any more damage (it works again after replacing the transistor I fried). I'm enclosing a diagram of my vero layout with wiring and note the loose lead coming from terminal two of the dwell pot. So before I fried it, I managed to probe the very bottom row first and got it get back up in signal and sound comparable to the original. Only problem that remaind though is that the dwell control still was locked up and not doing anything but turning on and off. Also, the carrier signal (hope i'm using that term right, the heartbeat of the trem i guess for lack of a better term) was more audible on mine than on the original but it wasn't a big thing i suppose. But I figured I was on to a good start in finding a place on the circuit where it would be up to snuff signal wise and allow the use of the depth control again but then boom...fried it.
           Insanity is doing the same silly thing twice so I decided to come here as the folks have helped me out of a streak of bad builds lately. Can anyone tell me where I should take that loose end? I'm hoping that will solve my problem and make it exact to the original on all fronts sonically but if anyone happens to notice that the signal and dwell control issues are an isolated issue, id love to know too. hope everyone is well and in good health!

Original Diaz Trem MKII


my vero layout




Bandwagonesque

sorry for the bump buts its only now that i've realized i must be more specific regarding the stomp switch terminals on one of my layouts. heres a revised layout of how my old mkII tremodillo was wired up. unfortunately its not with me at all anymore so i cant be exact, all i have is an older LED-Less model that used an spst switch for both the bypass and speed switches. here is someone elses gutshot of their MKII to fill in, it looks like their carling brand switches, with the spdt having one terminal on an end and 2 on the other (spst has 2 on one end with nothing opposite). unfortunately their datesheets offer nothing in specifics regarding the spdt's pinouts. but the new wiring layout attached below has the carling switches used in my old one and where i can remember their destinations going.


any help would be graciously appreciated as im just about ready to wire it up like the original and live without it being true bypass. its funny as in the diaz ad copy they market the mkII as being true bypass. could this really be true even the way it's wired up? i thought you had to use a 3pdt?

and is this pedal even possible to true bypass the way I am approaching it? I'm getting dejavu in when i tried TB'ing my old 1 knob ibanez phase tone phaser and ended up being told I couldn't true bypass it due to the circuit restricting it, only being able to millenium bypass it.






r080

It looks like in the original, the SPDT switched between grounding the LED (to turn the LED on) and grounding the wiper of the dwell control (to turn the tremolo off). I think you need to leave that loose end unconnected.
Rob

giudis

Man, you did a great work!

Have you solved those problems?
Do you have a schematic of Diaz Tremodillo?
is the schematic the same to Schaller Tremolo?

giudis

however, assuming the tremodillo and the swamp thang or the schaller tremolo have the same schematics, I think the first 4.7uf electrolytic should go to the base of Q2 and not to the collector. could this already be a problem in your layout?