XOR Ultra SiCk Anythig become of this? Musser?

[John Lyons]

FOlks!

Is it just me or does this circuit always gate in every setting? I've tried to bias the transistor but this isn't the problem.
Curious what others who have built this circuit think.

Cool circuit if I can get the gating to go away.

John

[ethrbunny]

I pulled this board out again tonight. It was sitting on my bench bugging me. I tried it with a tele this time to see if the single coil PUs would make a big diff. I really want this to do all the cool things its supposed to do. Im planning to build an octave up / down but will use this instead if I can get it happy.

I (re)checked my boarding and didn't find anything wrong with 'sick' and 'spew'. How responsive should these knobs be? Ill try again with the volume turned down on the guitar to search for this mysterious octave down.

[John Lyons]

I've been sitting on mine until I make another parts order. I must have fried the 4070 because it gates very hard now and it was only slightly before....

The sick and spew controls are the more subltle ones as far as my unit goes. They control the fizz / high end artifacts...since all the controls are interactive they harve slightly "shifting" affects on the sound. I would say that the various delays and octave up and down are very subtle and mostly on the decay of notes with volume and tone turned down a bit. Still, the circuit is a good one for a massive square wave and variable toned distortion box with a lot of variability.  The other Effects that it will produce are byproducts but not key features. Hopefully the new chip will prove this wrong for me!

John

[jmusser]

I've totally forgotten about this circuit up until now. I had told somone that I was going to look into this quite awhile ago. I'm going to put building new stuff on hold, and try my best to get to the bottom of why this circuit is not acting the way it did the very first time I built it. I'm getting what you are describing Basicaudio, and that's definitely NOT what I had originally. The way it's sounding now, isn't light years away from the way Tim's original DOF sounded. There is a wire off, or a ground not connected or whatever that's causing this, because the new chip didn't cure it. I want it to sound the way I described it when the schematic first came out. What I'm guessing is, that there is something that was slightly connected, bridged or whatever that gave this it's unique effects, because it's wired to the schematic. This is going to make it a real bitch to get to the bottom of. The effects I described, were not the least bit subtle. You didn't have to guess if maybe this sounds like down octave echo etc., because it was in your face. I went back to this circuit a couple months ago, to document the way the pots had to be adjusted to get the different effects, and they weren't there. Since the 4070 is so sensitive, I ordered in new ones, because I figured the one I had in there was toast from static or something. I tried new ones in there, and the weirdness is not there anymore. Grrrrr!

[ethrbunny]

Ill leave mine intact then. It sounds like it could be a great party. Please please post if you figure out how to (un)correct it.

[jmusser]

OK, I just thought I'd give an update. I have been playing around with this circuit this evening, and I am glad to report that the circuit as built, seems to be doing a lot of the things that it did originally. It is going to take me a good while to get it all documented. Right now,it seems to really help to have single coils, and be on the neck pick up, where weirdness usually happens anyway on most effects. I'd guess, because this is where you get the maximum string vibration. This circuit is super finicky on where things are adjusted, and your pick attack. What it seems to be doing, is going into oscillations after the original not has started to decay. To get some of these effects, a couple of the pots have to be turned completely off, and the guitars tone controls have to be just right. It's going to be a cool effect, if it's something you want to deal with. I know there are adjustment sets, that once you're in them, will give you several different effects, just by adjusting the guitar volume, or your pick attack. The main thing is, that I've found at least some of the down octave echos and other weirdness I thought were gone forever. This thing has such a wicked square wave and mosquito fuzz, that it wouldn't break my heart, if this was all it did. It does have great sustain, but that has to be adjusted for too, or it gates out. I'm back to having joy again with this thing. I'll keep you updated as I make headway.

[John Lyons]

J musser etc.

I got some new XOR chips a while back and gave it a try tonight. The sound still gates...I'll have to take it apart and try a layout with more area so I can see what's going on here. Any revelations on this one?
Something has to come out of it. If nothing more than a super variable buzz saw distortion box...There 's a lot more inside if we can figure out the magic code tha musser stumbled on then off...

John

[ethrbunny]

It def gates. I had figured that was part of its 'charm'. Are you getting a wide response from all the pots?

[John Lyons]

The gating is ok if you want it...it can be cool, but I'd rather has it sustain as long as possible as well.
Jeff Musser said his didn't gate when it was working correctly. But then he can't find the "magic circuit" anymore, said he had it wired wrong but the sound was right!
So hopefully between the three of us if not someone sharper than I...we can get this thing to the next level.

John

[jmusser]

I've screwed around with it a few times since the last post, but it's still not giving what it did initially. However, mine does not gate, unless I cut off biggest part of the guitar volume that's probably helping to bias the transistor. To get some of the tones, a couple of the pots have to be turned to the "almost off" position to make the down octave echos. I need to revisit it, but it frustrates me when I can't find the magic potion that makes it operate like it did initially. It still has some very wicked distortion to it to be sure, but a lot of the subtleties are gone.

[toneman]

so what happenened to--- 

www.moosapotamus.com   

i get an archived link to "wavy gravy"  but nothing else...

just wondering.......wondering.....

T

[John Lyons]

Jeff

Do you have the schematic for ths XORSB anymore? I have a printed out version but it's not the greatest. The Pin numbers are a bit hard to read. Possibly I swapped 8 and 9, when they are pixilated the look similar...I don't don't know...The main sound of this thing is fun but the gating is killing me! If it didn't gat I'd be much happier with the thing. I can get some of the sounds you origianlly mentioned. Octave, decayed fizzes and various shades of think and very thin fuzz. Some degrees of overdrive but mostly full on square wave.

Ethrbunny Check your pot wiring, All the wipers are interconnected and there is at least one easy connection to miss. When I found one wiper I forgot to connect to another the Sick and Spew knobs didn't do anything. They can be subtle in some settings anyway.

Have any of the other folks had any success with this. Was marcos munky doing this circuit as well? There has got to be someone else who knows what they are doing who can make this thing a bigger monster of a circuit!

John

[John Lyons]

Jeff

Do you have the schematic for ths XORSB anymore?  can you email it to me ar basicaudiowv AT earthlink DOT net  .I have a printed out version but it's not the greatest. The Pin numbers are a bit hard to read. Possibly I swapped 8 and 9, when they are pixilated the look similar...I don't don't know...The main sound of this thing is fun but the gating is killing me! If it didn't gat I'd be much happier with the thing. I can get some of the sounds you origianlly mentioned. Octave, decayed fizzes and various shades of think and very thin fuzz. Some degrees of overdrive but mostly full on square wave.

Ethrbunny Check your pot wiring, All the wipers are interconnected and there is at least one easy connection to miss. When I found one wiper I forgot to connect the Sick and Spew knobs didn't do anything. They can be subtle in some settings anyway.

Have any of the other folks had any success with this. Was marcos munky doing this circuit as well? There has got to be someone else who knows what they are doing who can make this thing a bigger monster of a circuit!

John