Harmonic Percolator - make one!

[rutabaga bob]

Not to be too much of a stickler, but the vero has a mistake: Perc 1 and 2 are backwards/labeled wrong, as are the corresponding pot lugs.

[pinkjimiphoton]

Not to be too much of a stickler, but the vero has a mistake: Perc 1 and 2 are backwards/labeled wrong, as are the corresponding pot lugs.

nope. you just expect it to be fully turned clockwise. its not. its exactly how i wanted it to be, with more effect on the signal's attenuation as you turn it clockwise. further, its like that because of the TAPER of that half of the pot, which reacts and sounds differently from the usual way of doing it. i could gaf about convention, i only gaf about the sound. roughly midway in pot rotation is "stock" -ish value. remember what they do. both have more effect on the "feel" of how it reacts than the sound. yes, if you turn the perc control all the way down, it may be a bit louder or have a different distortion timbre that you may prefer the other way, all the power to ya, but it was literally a conscious design choice and i stand by it.

[rutabaga bob]

I am referring to lug 2, that's supposed to go to ground via the 47R.  Vero shows the 47R from lug 1.  Doesn't make a difference, but will match the schematic.

[duck_arse]

Q2 as a BC54x I think shows backwards on that layout. I can't say for the germ.

[zbt]

looking this you tube, is this circuit is cascade, common base, or what
https://youtu.be/4TdM-kuJ-sg

dont know how to start at dc, to find VE, so I just plug and measure



I think R3 and R4 make a limit
assume IC = IE
IC max would be VCC / (R3 + R4)
VCC - (VBE Si 0.7V + VEB Ge 0.3V )
9V - 1V / (91K + 20K) = 72uA
VC = 9 - (R3 * 72uA) = 9 - 6.5 = 2.44V

if R4 replace with 91K

8V / (91K+91K) = 44uA
VC = 9 - (R3 * 44uA) = 9 - 4 = 5V

curios about Q2
ib = (VC - VB) / 750K = (2.455 - 2.078) / 765000 = 0.493 uA so small
ic = ib * hfe = 0.493 uA * 215 = 105.99 uA ??
with hfe > 150, ic always limit to R3 and R4

maybe because so less current, any germanium with leakage should be ok
what if no leakage? tried with BC179 (Si) is also work with VE around 2V

try some tweak to make tone pot from consensus to Albini version
if R2 fix to 220K cause Q1 germanium,
100K pot series with 20K or 10K, would be simple

if Albini version is smoother,
I'm guessing is it half VCC (4.5V) again,
just like fuzz face, which make it sound good?

[pinkjimiphoton]

I am referring to lug 2, that's supposed to go to ground via the 47R.  Vero shows the 47R from lug 1.  Doesn't make a difference, but will match the schematic.

ahh, shoot, larry, now i gotta look at it, yer probably right hang on let me grab one and take some pixes

[pinkjimiphoton]

Q2 as a BC54x I think shows backwards on that layout. I can't say for the germ.

could be, i guess i shoulda labeled the pins. the e's are jumped together if that helps

revisiting history

[pinkjimiphoton]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0syJo8DcrY

here's the juerg  i'd kept out of the last batch from last year. i show it with forward and reverse beta ge. to my ear, the reverse beta wins. much more harmonically complex and perky.
normal is more of a sweet yet fuzzy overdrive.
i did add a small cap from the output cap/clipper junction to ground to nuke rfi and fizzy high frequency bullshit.

up to you which way ya think sounds better, but to me, its pretty clear.
even broke the mother@#$%er so ya could see how the pots are wired lol
its a tite fit tho, so once the back is on, its good.

rock on

[rutabaga bob]

Nice!  And nice-looking axe!

[eh la bas ma]

 Juergulator sounds really good, great 7777th post.

There is some balance in this number. Did you notice you have more luck these days ?

In this position, I would be reluctant to post the 7778th.

What do you think Pinkjimi ? Wait... don't answer this.

[zbt]

Juergulator has more range 

when dizzy with math, do Uncle Jimi trick, just plug and play 

#sptwpjp approve

[Phend]

You don't fool me Jimi, it's the cheese spread (brand unknown ).
Great video.

[pinkjimiphoton]

Juergulator sounds really good, great 7777th post.

There is some balance in this number. Did you notice you have more luck these days ?

In this position, I would be reluctant to post the 7778th.

What do you think Pinkjimi ? Wait... don't answer this.

hahahahha if it weren't for bad luck, i wouldn't have no luck at all


7777 huh? wow. that's a LOT of folk's time i've wasted!! lol

<3 to all who share this blessed hellride

[pinkjimiphoton]

had a bit of a play with it last nite, thru my marshall little hotone freeze b bench amp... for all intents, a 5 watt "marshall" emu thing ya can get on ebay for like, 60 bux shipped that literally crushes most competition in that power range... 5 watts, fx loop, full tone stack, headphone out di in, blah blah blah... sounds like all my marshalls, and takes up minimal space so i use it all the time, and MORE than loud enough to annoy the wife, maybe even the neighbors... anyways, i used that to drive a pair of old kustom 4x8 pa columns, at a fairly reasonable volume... live, i'm not quiet AT ALL, but not live or without drums anyways, i like to hear the air in the room and be able to talk over it... basically i tend to play at a level just a little above what's required to achieve FAS <feedback assisted sustain> if i have my druthers.
funny anecdote, i spent a brief time hosting an open jam for this local guy that kinda looks like spongebob that runs a local watering hole owned by a board of racist twatwaffles who profile people based on their differences from these twatwaffles...
anyways, this volume nazi putz has a level meter installed on the ceiling facing the band, right? if ya hit the red...80 some db... he will walk right on stage and turn ya down.
he don't care who ya are, he'll turn ya right off, cuz he's a putz, then bring you up to an unsustainable volume. its ridiculous... local guys, national guys, he don't care... BUT on HIS SIDE OF THE STAGE, where he keeps HIS RIG so he can jump on stage and @#$% up whatever's happening there, usually cuz
A: he only thinks he knows the song
B: he's the loudest @#$%ing thing in the room, but furthest from the sound level meter <of course>
i've seen him even turn down local legend jimi bell <house of lords, autograph, joan jett and a shit load of others> to the point where literally nobody wants to play there or even deal with the guy since he transitioned from musician to club owner...
well, he's turned down every single person that ever played there but ME.
lol
so yeah, i tend to be pretty quiet on my own... back to reality

so i figured cool, cranked up my usual settings on the amp, gain almost pegged <ha, almost> master maybe 9:00 treb and mids bass basically flat, and overdrove the little sucker with the juerg.

it will DEFINITELY <with the reverse beta ge> do most of that multi octave shit in the albini video, and if ya give it enough dirt, yep, nice chimey harmonic feedback. its really cool.

with the original perc controls set so harmonics is about 4:00, volume goosed,  percolation about 9:15 and tweak about 2:30 and that ge backwards, it sounds remarkably like the video albini had posted.

i postulate that perhaps the perc had them backwards too.. if ya got a big bag of mil surplus grade transistors back in the day as i recall <we had a "surplus center" in my hometown that had literally wooden crates full of cheap transistors that i wish i had invested in when i was a dumb @#$% kid, lol>
alot of times you'd see relative consistency in a batch, not necessarily in gain, but in leakage, which nobody thought about back then.
i remember mr kaminski at windham tech, the man that called us all peckerheads and taught us an electronic's guy's primary language was so foul it would make a sailor commit hari kari, used to tell us to use whichever orientation gave us the best gain for the circuit with some of them crappy old suckers they had us practice with in building the crummy circuits i was too damn stoned to pay attention to back then... lol
long time ago

but anyways, i wonder if he just grabbed 'em out of the bin, maybe tested them, then whatever way they worked best just used 'em like that. remember, there was no internet to look up pinouts or gain or any of that kinda stuff, and RCA manuals etc didn't really cover every transistor by other manufacturers, so it seems often working with what ya got would lead to happy accidents.

i mean... if you can't tell if a q's orientation is ebc or cbe and one side sounds better than the other, i dunno about you, but i'd assume the gainier side is the right orientation, but its just not always so with ge transistors. sometimes reverse beta sounds better when breaking the linearities of TAOE to create fuzzes,
EE's understand the rules, and are taught to minimize distortion, not maximize it... thank god for the giants here whom's shoulders we stand on, so many as to be countless, who have helped so many so much so many times....

but me? i'm a ten toed monkey descended freak with a breadboard, too much time, and a secret desire to snort a bit of that magick smoke from time to time, a damned wretched fuzzmonger with nothing to lose but expensive rare vintage components that are better served by anyone other than me.

i'll GO THERE. and in this case, i believe it sounds better backwards. i know a lot of peeps are like, OH, NOOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOOOOO, I DON'T WANNA DAMAGE MY EX-PENNN-SIVE GER-MAAAAAAAAAANE-EEEE-UMZZ!!

but like... dude... its a @#$%ing FUZZBOX. its SUPPOSED to sound damaged, and generally, we're not really working with enough voltage to damage these sloppy leaky pigs in the first place, soooooooo

who cares? if it sounds good, it is...

i will try and shoot a couple mins of vid just of this thing as it was last nite, if it still sounds the same.... it IS cold here in the northeast of 'murka at the moment <i get real cold cuz i've lost a crazy amount of weight doing that keto thang, over a hunnert lbs so far> and it DO have ge in it, so....

i may be back. if i don't return, remember to take the time to smoke the damn roses and dance, and that i loved you all, lol

[pinkjimiphoton]

You don't fool me Jimi, it's the cheese spread (brand unknown ).
Great video.

shoprite brand cheeze spread makes the best boxes for that crap, bro

[pinkjimiphoton]

submitted for your approval

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys2Xf-7GplQ

[Phend]

Nothing new, just a little from helpful members.
Close to starting to make one

[pinkjimiphoton]

Nothing new, just a little from helpful members.
Close to starting to make one

you forgot the tweak pot. it makes a HUGE diff in the feel of the guitar's interaction

[Phend]

Thanks Jimi, I have seen your tweak and it is a good addition.
But in this first build I am substituting a MoJo component of 1M5.
Wait and see.....it is an unconventional device that is so wacky , I hope it works.

[Phend]

Off to a start.
Needs electrical components.