Home built Tubescreamer

[flateric]

A mild departure from the normal builds for me. Time for some Ferric Chloride and soldering.

2 modified circuits of what have become referred to as the holy grail of overdrive tone, the Ibanez Tube Screamer circuit, here the original 808 circuit. Got the schematics and pcb layouts from a couple of DIY stompbox sites on the web and went to work.
Surprisingly satisfying to turn out a neatly etched PCB and a lot easier to solder than the Veroboard for these sorts of projects.

According to the DIY Stompbox websites, the TS-808 circuit was a great sucess when it came out in '79-80 and went on to be 'ripped off' by Maxon then Boss due to its sweet and warm overdrive tones. Here I'm adding a third diode for assymetrical clipping, unlike the original 808, which is said to enhance the harmonic frequencies and sound more like a tube amp being driven hard. Later variants of the 808 pedal saw the version 9, 10 and then the reissues being produced but most come back to the 808 version for the tonal qualities and often pay daft money for people to swap out a resistor and a capacitor back to the original values to turn their cheap 9 or lame 10 pedal back into an authentic 8. Apparently the version 10's are to be avoided as they used a different opamp chip whaich was pants. However you can pick up a TS 10 pedal for peanuts and pay 68 pence for the 'proper' 4558 opamp chip and realise a significant improvement in overdrive tone. I guess we'll see how it goes once I've finished all the wiring.

[flateric]

Finally finished and tested. Not much to look at - its a metal box with a few knobs but it sounds great! Really rich, smooth and fruity distortion, really surprisingly valve-like drive, which was the whole point of the circuit. More overdrive than metal and a great gain range. The tone control is disappointing as I had to compromise on the pot available and a resistor so all the real tone change happens in the range from 9 - 10 and 1-9 sounds a little too dark for me. Well pleased overall, will give her a test at gig volume at the practice session tonight.
As well as the additional diode for asymmetrical clipping, this is wired with a true bypass and LED that doesn't quite reach to the hole I drilled for it. Ho hum.

[ChrisK]

Ooooooooh Kay,

WTF is

........"fruity" distortion......

Is it good or bad?

Is there a hint of oak and nuttiness too? ;D ;D ;D

[flateric]

It has the moist resiliance of a fine fruit cake with a little more chew than a dried plum, yet the depth of flavour of an oak and leather potpourri, with a hint of edge like a pork rib crackled under barbeque coating, and toast, a sort of toasty after crunch which is pleasing to the ears.

[andy]

I guess we're comparing the lemon ice-pop of a single coil to the flapjack of a humbucker here???

[flateric]

Ahh, you know where I'm coming from, only the PRS humbuckers are more raisin and caramel flapjack, well at least the neck pickup is. I think one of my kids dropped something in there some time ago.....

[FireBall]

can you post a sound clip??

[lunaalta]

.....and maybe a menu too?

[flateric]

I can upload mp3 files now to a fileshare site so i might have a go at some good TS tones. Currently under the soldering iron is a double pedal incoporating a TS808 tubescreamer standard in series with a Dyna Comp, another classic 70's stompbox. Just doing some debugging on the dynacomp pcb at the moment but it should be finished at the weekend.

[flateric]

Here's the case for the dual pedal - two complete 70's analog classics, the MXR dyna comp and the tubescreamer 808 (standard - no mods)

[newey]

Good work, flat!

I like the 2-in-one idea, one power jack shared between the 2 cuts down on pedalboard clutter.

I know that, for me, if I culled it down to the pedals I really use, a 3-in-one unit could probably replace my entire pedal board. This is intriguing.

I assume both effects can operate at once. Did you have to upgrade the wallwart to handle power to both at once?

[flateric]

Did you have to upgrade the wallwart to handle power to both at once?

Ermm, not sure yet! The dyna comp circuit is taking a bit longer to debug - theres a poor solder joint somewhere I've not found yet. The Tubescreamer is installed and working but the comp is not wired in fullly yet. I would assume the power drain on these circuits is pretty small though so a normal dc adaptor should be able to cope with it fine. I'll know in a few days hopefully.

[flateric]

I've dome some soundclips of the Tubescreamer and the DOD250 overdrive I've just completed. this is a little riff played thru a peavey vypyr on the clean AC30 setting heading towards break up. There's 4 sections.
Pedaltests.mp3: www.mediafire.com/?nd3nlyk24go
1) Tubescreamer on low gain
2) Tubescreamer on high gain
3) DOD250 on low gain
4) DOD250 on high gain
Guitar is PRS Custom 24 with both humbuckers selected.
I've modedd the Tubecreamer from stock with the SRV special circuit, replaing the tone pot with a 5k greatly enhances the effectivity of the tone control.
To me the tubescreamer has a far sweeter, harmonic overdrive, the DOD enters into dirty vintage analog clipping territory esp on max gain where a lot of the bass definition is then lost. Both very different pedals but the DOD is a great first build project as its a really simple circuit using a standard LM741 op amp chip to drive it. The Tubescreamer though for me is the dogs danglies.

[cynical1]

Jun 12, 2009 16:05:26 GMT -5 flateric said:

The Tubescreamer though for me is the dogs danglies.

I would have to agree. I'm getting closer to finishing my guitar builds and the idea of pedals is starting to fester in the system...

It's tough working from memory on what these pedals sound like, and the manufacturer's samples on-line are not exactly A-B comparable.

Thanks for putting these up here.

Happy Trails

Cynical One

[flateric]

I've caught pedal fever. I'm churning out PCB's for OD250's and modded tubescreamers, A/B boxes
ABY boxes
AB/XY boxes
tru-bypass feeedback loopers
bassballs envelope filters
treble boosters
bass boosters
linear boosters
searching for the best compressor for bass
dyna comps
demeter compulator
opto-limiter
its taken over the house
I can't stop myself

[newey]

Keep 'em coming, flat! You're now the unofficial Pedal Guru around here, so all your info is appreciated.

[flateric]

Here you go: ElectoHarmonix Bassballs pedal in progress, this is their dual envelope filter for bass to give that funky auto-wah type sound


Here's a standalone MXR Dyna Comp pedal, the classic '70's analog compressor stompbox - everyone must have one of these in their essential items list.

[sydsbluesky]

How much extra wallet space would the TS parts 808 give me?

I'm, uhh.... currently using a boss multi - the big blue one for like 300 bucks... ME-8 maybe? - and using the blues driver setting for all of my OD needs (I like to keep things simple.) What sort of difference could I expect to see between the boss BD-2 and the TS 808? I know my multi has a tubescreamer setting, but that's COSM... I'm an analog kinda guy, I guess.

So... either BD-2 vs. TS 808 or
TS 808 vs COSM Tubescreamer

This is another thing I'd really like to get into...

I envy Tommy Shaw. I've never enough time on my hands!

Unless I'm... holding a clock. *coughs*

Edit: Any sites with lists and breakdowns for these pedals? I'm seeing a lotta stuff on this thread that I've never even heard of!

[flateric]

Theres a few essential websites for pedal freaks.
Check out: (google is your friend)
DIY stompbox forum
General Guitar Gadgets
Geofex dot com
Tonepad
www.muzique.com
Runoff Groove - that's more than enough to get you started.

If you want a rough costing on the TS808 parts, you're probably looking at $20 - usually the metal box is the most expensive part.
There are also websites that specialise in selling all the bits you need to put together a home made pedal.
Google will find these for you with some gentle prompting.

The analog TS has a sort of softer, non-digital sound that I love far better than a digital replica of it. Don't lets get dragged into Vinyl versus CD debates though! Your Boss multi will of course give you far wider range of overdrive choices than a single analog pedal. I've sold my Boss GT6 multi-processor now, bought a new Vypyr peavey modelling amp and have a table full of home made stomp boxes to play with too. What the vypyr lacks (it has a great choice of distortions including a T/Screamer) is a simple boost/solo pedal, so I have 3 different sorts of simple booster pedals now - ideal beginner projects to shove your pre-amp over the edge into a good, dynamic distortion.
Look out for the AMZ Mosfet booster, a $10 project that will take a couple of evenings to put together, and introduce you into the world of DIY stompboxes and pedal tweaks..

[sydsbluesky]

20 bucks?

Hook, line and sinker.

And today is payday. How convenient....

[flateric]

Heres another tubescreamer for a fellow guitarist. This is a standard circuit for the TS-808 but with the tone pot changed for a 1meg to give a more usable range over the tone ctrl. A little less hot more retro than the SRV special Tubescreamer.
I had to redo the decorations on the case after trying some ink-jet transparenciy acetate sheeets to transfer over a pop-art image onto the case via superglue. The printed ink sticks to the superglue then the acetate sheet can be carefully peeled off, but mine went wrong and it took rough patches of the image with it. Take#2: sanded back down and doodled with a Sharpie pen for 15 mins then 4 or 5 coats of clear craft lacquer from a rattle can.
Voila - custom hand-crafted artwork custom TS pedal.

[murrayatuptown]

Looks/sounds like the mediafire site clips are no longer there.

Hey, where'd you get those color-striped knobs?
I placed my first order on a whim with futurelec and they had splined shaft knobs with descriptions like that but I don't think I saw pics. I just got plain black for some reason I don't remember.

I suspected I was ordering from far far away when they said 1-2 weeks for delivery...invoiced from Australia & shipped from Thailand...but good prices.

[murrayatuptown]

I haven't priced cases but have seen switches are around US$5-6.

I was starting to wonder if it was economical to find inexpensive commercial pedals and modify them if they aren't usable by themselves.

For example, the closest Best Buy that has a music instrument dept. has Danelectro stomp boxes as cheap as $25...I guess you get what you pay for, but it's a case with a lot of mechanical & electronic work already done for you...but modding may be as much hassle as...oh, maybe even worse....I just realized the evils of surface mount technology.

I got a gift certificate at Xmas for the local music store so I got a Bad Monkey to compare to homebrewed ones (building a runoffgroove Peppermill right now, but it's going into a violin in the end). The Bad Monkey has electronic switching (I say this because I see a tactile switch like one finds inside a mouse, and not a 'push-push' mechanical one) and surface mount parts.

So you probably don't save any mon(k)ey modding some stomp boxes...

[flateric]

Those knobs are from maplins, that's our UK version of radio Shack I guess. I prefer the ones from Banzai Music - great selection but u have to pay postage from Germany.
Cases ('enclosures') I normally get from maplin as well. About £3.50 each.
I don't mod commercial pedals, I prefer the task of building one from scratch.

[flateric]

Latest evolution of my Tubescreamer overdrive.

Now has 4 different levels of bass boost plus 4 different selectable diode clipping configs, plus additional smoothing cap switch to alter the dynamics for the distortion.

[ijustwannastrat]

How many pedals do you have at the moment?

Could we get a pic of your pedalboard(s)?

[flateric]

Here's the current set up, pretty poor photo, sorry. It changes every few weeks. My earlier tubescreamers usually end up at friends houses, fellow guitarists, forum members.
The overdrive and the chorus get used most in the current set.
I'm pretty unhappy with the Boss CEB3 chorus, it does not give me the depth I'm looking for so I've just started a much more complex build - a small clone chorus which will have a range of mods as per the tonepad info.