tiny tremoloOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[deadastronaut]

yep same as....

depth controlled by dimming the led...my depth control is working great...choppy to really subtlle...i think the 220 helped with that..

[Gurner]

The way I see it is that while the LDR has low resistance , more current flows to ground causing the signal to be cut. While the LDR has high resistance less current flows to ground allowing the signal to pass through to OUT.

Thanks...when we speak of signal - certainly wrt guitars, IMHO we normally mean voltage. But this is acting on the signal current...I guess the circuit works becuase the pickup can't deliver much in the way of current, so as the LDR drops, the pickup baulks and it's output level drops. If the signal source was capable of delivering high amounts of current, then the LDR resistance wouldn't have much effect of the signal voltage level.

[Manny]

The way I see it is that while the LDR has low resistance , more current flows to ground causing the signal to be cut. While the LDR has high resistance less current flows to ground allowing the signal to pass through to OUT.

Thanks...when we speak of signal - certainly wrt guitars, IMHO we normally mean voltage. But this is acting on the signal current...I guess the circuit works becuase the pickup can't deliver much in the way of current, so as the LDR drops, the pickup baulks and it's output level drops. If the signal source was capable of delivering high amounts of current, then the LDR resistance wouldn't have much effect of the signal voltage level.

That sounds reasonable to me. After having looked at the schematic again today I see what you mean about the confusing potential divider issue but I think you sum it up pretty well above. I'm guessing that different guitar pickups will alter the way that this sounds, it's hard to measure the exact effect it's having though. Wish I had an oscilloscope. 

[deadastronaut]

@manny. gurner put me onto this...cheers gurner!..

http://www.zeitnitz.de/Christian/scope_en

[Manny]

@manny. gurner put me onto this...cheers gurner!..

http://www.zeitnitz.de/Christian/scope_en

Cheers Rob,
That looks great! What are you using as a probe for this?

[deadastronaut]

@manny. gurner put me onto this...cheers gurner!..

http://www.zeitnitz.de/Christian/scope_en

Cheers Rob,
That looks great! What are you using as a probe for this?

to be honest i havent used it much!..but it looks cool.....maybe gurner could tell you!..

[Gurner]

to be honest i havent used it much!..but it looks cool.....maybe gurner could tell you!..

As it goes, I don't use that s/w scope at all - I have a USB Scope, I linked Rob to it because I thought he might have a use for it.

In general, I see a lot of folks on the internet saying "I wish I had a scope".....but most have a PC & a soundcard - just add free software!

There are some limitations (for example, just about all soundcards have a DC blocking cap at their input, so software scopes don't do DC levels (but hey most have that base covered with DVMs anyway!), they've also limited bandwidth  (but hey most on here are dealing with guitars - the top fundamental on that is just 1.4Khz....ok, throw in a few harmonics & it'll be higher - but still, most decent soundcard should still be ok. Certainly for debugging, troubleshooting etc)

[deadastronaut]

to be honest i havent used it much!..but it looks cool.....maybe gurner could tell you!..

 I linked Rob to it because I thought he might have a use for it.

i will use it when i learn how to....
looks good with guitar going through it though..... cheers gurner.,

[Gurner]

Just a thought....this most important part of the tiny tremelo, can be fairly easily replicated with a bog standard linear POT.....to help establish if any of the the clicking comes from shunting the pickup's current signal to ground quickly, or if it's 555 related.

Take a 1M pot, short one of the outer lugs to the centre lug & the the other free lug to ground (you've now got a pseudo LDR...a rheostat) - connect your guitar output to the pot (ie hot to to the two lugs shorted together, guitar ground to your gound lug)...feed onwards to your amp.

Have a play, moving the pot wiper around, fast, slow, pulsey-ish (hehe, I've made a word up) etc. It'd be interesting to hear how the tone changes as the pot gets towards the ground end of its travel (bad I'd imagine!)....and this method allows slo-mo.

i noticed the other day that the ticking goes when i turned the guitar volume down,(try it) so i figured something on the input might help!!!!..and it did!.

That kinda ties in with my line of thought that I touched upon a couple of weeks ago…..

If you roll the volume pot off a little on the guitar then that provides the necessary in series resistance for the LDR/rheostat to work as a potential divider.

Edit: When you back off the volume knob on your guitar, you're also putting extra resistance in series into your circuit  (guitar pickup->Vol pot top lug-> pot's resistance track->Vol pot wiper lug-> Tiny tremolo circuit input)....whereas with your latest mod, you've just placed resistance in parallel with your circuit's input. There will be parallel resistance ...the ratio of series resistance to paralell resistance will depend on the wiper position of your guitar's volume pot. For example a 250k volume pot, half way backed off would be 125k in series with the LDR &  125k in parallel with your circuit's LDR. (assuming a linear pot, which I realise most guitar volume pots are log!)

[deadastronaut]

@gurner...ah yes..you did mention this!..(i'll slap myself now)...

i'll give it a go with the 1M pot (rheostat) experiment ....and listen out for any clicking etc.....

i see what you mean with my latest input mods now!...hmmmm...

i must stress the click is really faint on mine...even at very hi levels...but a click is a click...and annoying as f ... at any level...

[Manny]

Gurner that's a great idea, I'll give this a try too.
I'm also starting to think that the ticking isn't 555 related at all since the two circuits are so separate.

[Perrow]

I have (almost) finished a new pcb with quite a few nice features, have to go to bed now. Will post it as soon as the almost part is gone.

[askwho69]

ZZzzzzzzZ sleep tight


How can we add volume on this?

[deadastronaut]

ZZzzzzzzZ sleep tight


How can we add volume on this?

turn ya guitar up n down....

[askwho69]

lol rob! i just think tremolo dont need a volume heheheheh stupid me

[Perrow]

OK everybody, take a deep breath (you're gonna need it )

I've included the latest pop-reducing components and thought I'd better show the off-board components as well.






You can of course exclude some components if you're cheap


ps. The first one to show (video and images needed) this circuit with all components (R4, R5 and C2 may be excluded if not needed) working and housed (everything inside) in a 1590A sized enclosure will get a signed copy of the above layout 

[Manny]

Nice one Perrow, the layout looks correct to me. I've not got any chems it at the moment to etch one myself though. Any kind volunteers?

I bet that signed layout will be worth a fortune in 50 years 

[deadastronaut]

the tiny trem just became massive!...

nice one perrow....

[Perrow]

Thanks

I've found one error.

The new components does not prevent you from playing pop, they reduce ticking. I'll see if I can edit that one  

Kind of sleep deprived last week, couldn't quite find the word when writing that and went for the first one to pop into my mind (pun intended).

[Manny]

The new components does not prevent you from playing pop, they reduce ticking. I'll see if I can edit that one  

Well that's ruined to for me Perrow, I was gonna use this in my Girls Aloud covers band