Vibracaster - or "How to turn your Valvecaster into a Tremolo"

[frequencycentral]

For the time being everything is wired a bit loose and no regulator. That's why I get the 14V.

Very frustrating indeed... My ideas....cold joint, solder bridge, bad pot. I am sure it is on of the three.

I'm assuming the oscillator will work on 14 volts, but I have no way the check. Maybe it's enough to knock everything out.

Good luck!

[kurtlives]

Found my problem! DC current getting into the oscillator. The problem was obvious and the fix was simple

This weekend was a tube weekend. Finished my 18W (waiting on tubes to test it) and I finished this...





It sits beside it's twin the Valve Caster and looks awesome!

For comparison...


Great pedal! Thanks Rick.

[Renegadrian]

Here I am, after a lot of "I'll do it soon" the time has finally come!!!
I dubbed it the WIRING NIGHTMARE - maybe because wiring isn't the thing I like the best...but 4 knobs, the tube socket among them, dc jack+7812 and switch...A good number of wires to solder!!! 

Anyway, it fired just right as soon as I plugged it in...Used a couple of bc548c (haven't got the 547 as the schematic).
What can I say...I think I like it!!! played with it for 30 mins, it's good as a standard Valvy (with depth at the min.) and as a tremolo, a little volume loss but not that much, and a little ticking at the min speed - but that's ok...
I like the standard sound and the tremolo with the gain at the min - not so fond with tremolo on at full gain - and yeah it has a good gain!!! I'm quite pleased about it...I think I will upload a sample soon...

Here it is with its brother...

[frequencycentral]

WIRING NIGHTMARE

Hahaha - they look so cool together! I wanna see WIRING NIGHTMARE gutshots!

Did you use that 3.3uf cap mod to stop ticking?

Well done Adriano anyway! Makes me proud........

[Renegadrian]

Why not Rick, I'll post the guts too...
I followed the layout made by Chris (kurtlives) and modified by me, but there was no 3.3 cap in that layout - I'll put one in a minute, thx for the hint!!!
Happy you liked my work...

[kurtlives]

Ya I didn't include it, I just wired it right to the pot.

You can see it in my pics, pot on the far left.

[Renegadrian]

I still got a minor ticking but I believe it is part of the circuit....I'll post some more s..t of it anyway.
Nice circuit!!!


EDIT
Here's the tweaked layout, just some minor changes of what you see at page 5, and the 3.3µF cap Rick suggests to add.
q1 and q2 are oriented correctly, I tried 2n5088 with no big differences, but they go the opposite way.



I made some samples with it...Some of the songs I think the Vibracaster suits well...
You can find them in my gallery, in this subfolder --->link
I will also add the intro of Gn'R "Don't cry" - I have a sound that's very close...

[solderman]

Here I am, after a lot of "I'll do it soon" the time has finally come!!!
I dubbed it the WIRING NIGHTMARE - maybe because wiring isn't the thing I like the best...but 4 knobs, the tube socket among them, dc jack+7812 and switch...A good number of wires to solder!!! 

Hi Adriano
Seriously nice boxes. I kind a like the green metallic finish. It looks as vintage as the sound one can squeeze out of this box.
I felt a shiver up my spine when I thought of all the wiring on this one when I planned my build. . That's why I made mine with PCB mounted pots and tube socket (See page 8 on this thread).

Happy holidays every one 

//Solderman

 

[runmikeyrun]

If i were to implement this trem into a twincaster, would i put the wire for the trem circuit off the 2nd or 4th gain stage?  My gut tells me 2nd.

[Renegadrian]

Mike, I'd try to put the trem part even after the first stage...I love this Vibracaster, but the best sounds are with the gain knob at its min. - don't like the distorted sound with the tremolo on...So it could be interesting to try to put it after the first stage, or just ditch the gain pot in favour of a fixed resistance, to give a small amount of gain or none, as Rick did if I remember correctly...
So I'd say you could have a 2 or 3 switches pedal, with
-1 or 2 stages at low gain and the trem
-2 stages (standard valvecaster)
-4 stages (twincaster)

Anders, glad you liked it, yeah there's a lot of wire to solder, I spent quite a lot of time just to find the best components' positions inside the enclosure, I ended up with the tube socket in the middle and the four knobs around - sure the wiring needed some more attention, but I just don't wanna think of my wiring skills let's say 6 months ago, it would have been a spaghetticaster!!! 
I'll post a couple of guts pics...

I think I am gonna build another one someday, but you know the BB size could help...

all the best and take care...

[frequencycentral]

If i were to implement this trem into a twincaster, would i put the wire for the trem circuit off the 2nd or 4th gain stage?  My gut tells me 2nd.

I built my Vibracaster as a clean tremolo only device, just two knobs, speed and depth. I think it sounds great with a clean guitar signal. I also think it sounds great with my Valvecaster (or Pepper Shredder, or Pentadriver, or Red Star Drive) before it - I like that distorted tremolo sound a lot.

So, if it were me, I would wire up the 4th stage as the trem in a Twincaster. It occurs to me that using the 2nd stage would 'trem the gain', but using the 4th would 'trem the volume' - if you get what I mean. It would be a slighly different effect depending on where you put it, so maybe the best option would be to make it switchable between the 2nd and 4th.

[danielzink]

Just because I've got 3 5672's sitting around............

Did we ever get anywhere with the tube trem on 5672's ?

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=71083.20


Thanks.....sorry to hijack....

Dan

[frequencycentral]

Just because I've got 3 5672's sitting around............

Did we ever get anywhere with the tube trem on 5672's ?

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=71083.20


Thanks.....sorry to hijack....

Dan

Believe it or not, I'm working on it right now! 

[Renegadrian]

Rick's the man...

[frequencycentral]

I recently did a bunch of soundclips, so here's another chance to hear my 6111 Vibracaster: http://www.aronnelson.com/DIYFiles/up/Vibracaster.mp3

Signal path:

Squier Telecaster Custom (HB)  >  Vibracaster  >  Roland Bolt 60 watt tube combo  >  Shure SM58  >  Event Echo Gina 24 soundcard  >  Wavelab

No other processing. It's a montage of a few different settings.

[biggy boy]

Hi
So I made the vibracaster, but it didn't work LOL
Checked everything over checked the voltages........ So I started thinking what different about my vibracaster?
Oh I know it's the transistors The shop did not have any of the BC547C, they only had the Bs, so I got a pair of NTE199.
NTE states they are equivalent to the BC547C. The only problem is the pin out of the NTE199 is different then the 547C Just found that out now after looking at the two data sheets.
I'll have to pull the trannies out and twist the leads put them back in and see if they still are good?

Heads up when subing out electronic components, not all manufactures use the same pinout configuration!

Glen

[frequencycentral]

I remember doing the same with BF245's, assuming the pinout would be the same as BF244's. And they're so numerically close too! Good luck with your debug, my voltages are posted earlier in the thread if you need them.

Rick

[Renegadrian]

mmm would the 547B work?! I used Cs with mine, but Bs are so much different? Is it just a matter of hfe, right?

[biggy boy]

mmm would the 547B work?! I used Cs with mine, but Bs are so much different? Is it just a matter of hfe, right?

Good question Adriano
I'm not sure if it would be a big difference.
I do have a pair of the 547b I'll put them on the board and try it out, but I have nothing to compare them too.

Glen

[frequencycentral]

mmm would the 547B work?! I used Cs with mine, but Bs are so much different? Is it just a matter of hfe, right?

I breadboarded a very similar LFO for my Vintage Vibe, BC547B will work for the second transistor, but the first (the one with the 3M3 resistor) must be a BC547C or equivalent. The B wouldn't have enough gain for oscillation to start.