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11-23-2012, 05:39 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Northern Illinois | | Quote:
Originally Posted by G3Mitch  that 'stache looks wicked!!
PS. Plutonian is f@rkin awesome, looking forward to mastered versions so I can put that **** on my ipod \m/ |
+1 I listen to the Plutonian tracks at least 3 times a day, I can't wait!
Also, here's some gear porn/Fuzzrocious collection. 
__________________
Club Verellen #1
Fuzzrocious Club #113
|
11-23-2012, 07:37 PM
| | Registered User
Builder for FUZZROCIOUS PEDALS | | Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Mount Laurel, NJ | | Quote:
Originally Posted by G3Mitch that 'stache looks wicked!!
PS. Plutonian is f@rkin awesome, looking forward to mastered versions so I can put that **** on my ipod \m/ | Thank you SO much!
Spread the word, please! I'd love to get a nice following going so a label would be interested in what we're doing. |
11-23-2012, 07:39 PM
|  | Bartle doo? | | Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Missing Mountains | | Quote:
Originally Posted by MrThunderfoot +1 I listen to the Plutonian tracks at least 3 times a day, I can't wait!
Also, here's some gear porn/Fuzzrocious collection. | Oh dear God!.....
__________________ Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Mike Ipp ...any one else's critters lick their basses? |
Fuzzrocious #2 / B1S #2 / S.A.S.S. #15 / WA #37 / V #5
|
11-23-2012, 08:09 PM
| | Registered User
Builder for FUZZROCIOUS PEDALS | | Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Mount Laurel, NJ | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Plays_For_Dog Oh dear God!..... | Boner jams for hours man!!!
Best setup. |
11-23-2012, 08:30 PM
| | Bartle doo? | | Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Missing Mountains | | | I would sell my body to Ben for a Meat Smoke. Gas for days on that thing.
__________________ Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Mike Ipp ...any one else's critters lick their basses? |
Fuzzrocious #2 / B1S #2 / S.A.S.S. #15 / WA #37 / V #5
|
11-23-2012, 08:48 PM
| | |  Finding the Oh See Demon of my dreams
Fuzzrocious fans, here is one more 'hey, I hacked my OSD' post from me. It won't be the last (there's one more to come), but it's a good one. 
Below is too much detail, but the punch line is simple: I finally found the bass response I wanted in the OSD, and in my opinion I did it without trashing the OSD's native voice. Now I have the OSD of my dreams. And it is the s**t. 
For a detailed explanation and the obligatory guts shots, keep reading below.
Otherwise, just have a good night!
Snaxster
________________________________ Introduction
With my new OSD, my quest for more bass output, even more touch sensitivity, and a higher overdrive threshold continues. Both reckless and rational, once again I try my luck with the 'snip and solder' technique on the component side of the PCB. photo of OSD with one 2N7000 replaced by a 2SC1815  Swapping in one lower gain transistor
Two 2N7000 are stock in the OSD. I think they are part of the input stage. I owned a number of NOS 2SC1815 left over from my ongoing effort to repair an old Fulltone Bass-Drive v2.
A few 2SC1815 type transistors were stock in the Bass-Drive v2, now some ten years old. The OSD circuit is based on the modern Fulltone OCD, in which two 2N7000 are stock. I took a leap and assumed that these two types of transistors shared a basic architecture, and so could be interchangeable in Fulltone-derived audio circuits of similar function.
Since I have almost no understanding of how transistors work, I get little useful information when I read their datasheets. But I was able to learn that the 2N7000 is a MOSFET, and that the 2SC1815 was an all-purpose transistor. Their datasheets implied to me that the 2N7000 is a more modern and much more complex device. Also, it seemed clear that the 2N7000 featured much higher gain and lower resistance than the 2SC1815.
I thought the results of swapping a 2SC1815 for one or both of the stock 2N7000 would include a higher overdrive threshold, but could also affect other things. When I swapped the first one, I thought I noticed a slightly higher overdrive threshold. Also, I heard a more finely and evenly textured break-up. When the drive control was maxed, this change in texture was most evident. photo of OSD with both 2N7000 replaced by 2SC1815  Swapping in the second of two lower gain transistors
Swapping the second 2N7000 with a 2SC1815, too, I heard no obvious further change in the overdrive threshold; but I did hear a further progression to the more finely and evenly textured break-up. Sometimes at all, and especially with higher drive settings, now the OSD's sound was listing toward fuzz. However, it was still tactile and had lots of envelope, so it retained its overdrive pedal character.
As I tried to learn what I thought of the change, playing in varying styles, registers and dynamics, I realized that my modifications might risk straying too far from the OSD's native voice. I decided that it was worth the risk, and that I wasn't done yet. I could still hear the OSD's voice, and was only asking it to sing with a slightly different technique. Still seeking the bass
First changing the OSD's op-amp, I got from it more naturalness, nuance, somewhat more bass response, and sweetness. Now changing its transistors, I got a different break-up texture and slightly higher overdrive threshold.
All that remained to do was to increase the OSD's bass response significantly: whatever bass frequencies I played into it, I wanted to get out of it.
Though I had recently found a new setting I liked so much that I stopped using a bass equalizer after the OSD, it was down to aesthetics, not authenticity. If you order chocolate ice cream and they bring you strawberry, then you eat the strawberry anyway and think how excellent it is, you may still reasonably want the chocolate ice cream you didn't get. Because you love chocolate ice cream that much.
For me, bass response from the OSD was like that chocolate ice cream. Before the evening was out, I would do one more modification to the OSD, and I would get what I ordered. photo of OSD with 1N4148 replaced by a red LED  Swapping in a red LED as the clipping diode
After studying the OSD circuit for a while, and wondering if I could increase its bass response by changing any capacitors, my intuition was that there must be a better way; a more systemic way.
On the stock OSD circuit board, I noticed two diodes. One seemed to be acting as a rectifier in the power stage. The other was evidently used for clipping in the gain stage. I am an electronics neophyte, but that's how it looked to me.
The 1N4148 I thought was used for clipping was tiny and surrounded closely by other components. But I felt that it was the key. Inspired by my obsession with the Fuzzrocious DD, I recalled that, like the BJFE Honey Bee on which it was based, the DD used two pairs of asymmetrically arranged diodes for clipping: one pair of 1N400x and one of LEDs. Though this 1N4148 was used singly, I decided it was worth swapping it with an LED.
Since I owned no spare LEDs, I borrowed my OSD's red LED used as its on/off indicator. If the swap didn't work, I had some new 1N914 I could revert to and hope I didn't fry any other parts.
But the swap did work. It worked like magic. Finding the Oh See Demon of my dreams
What I heard was so natural-sounding that at first I almost didn't notice the change. With the red LED as the clipping diode, the OSD's bass response was increased so much that, with most playing styles and instrument settings, and with respect to overall spectral balance, I could hardly tell the clean sound from the overdrive sound. Yet the OSD's characteristic resonances and responsiveness were retained. Wow.
The only aspect some might think is undesirable is a lack of tightness in the bass. This seems to me consistent with the personality of the pedal, though, and it sounds (dare I say it) more amp-like than artificial. Indeed, to me, this looseness in the bass contributes to a feeling of playing loud through a big old bass amp.
For my purposes, regarding both usefulness and aesthetic preference, this change elevated the OSD almost to the level of the DD, which is one of my few favorite effect pedals ever.
Also, since I drive my OSD with a flanger, phase shifter and envelope filter (each either specially tuned for or naturally having full, fat, even bass response), now the OSD faithfully translates the bass output of each.
__________________
“I may be nuts, but that lets me hear sounds most people don't know exist.”
— Snaxster
|
11-23-2012, 08:49 PM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Plays_For_Dog I would sell my body to Ben for a Meat Smoke. Gas for days on that thing. | LOL!
Whew... I hear you, PFD. 
__________________
“I may be nuts, but that lets me hear sounds most people don't know exist.”
— Snaxster
|
11-23-2012, 10:03 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Northern Illinois | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Plays_For_Dog I would sell my body to Ben for a Meat Smoke. Gas for days on that thing. | if all of my gear was stolen/destroyed it would be the first thing I'd try to replace. I love that amp. Ben is awesome to deal with too, very responsive to questions and if you need any help with anything he'll take care of you. Quote:
Originally Posted by Snaxster Fuzzrocious fans, here is one more 'hey, I hacked my OSD' post from me. It won't be the last (there's one more to come), but it's a good one.
Below is too much detail, but the punch line is simple: I finally found the bass response I wanted in the OSD, and in my opinion I did it without trashing the OSD's native voice. Now I have the OSD of my dreams. And it is the s**t.
For a detailed explanation and the obligatory guts shots, keep reading below.
Otherwise, just have a good night!
Snaxster
________________________________ Introduction
With my new OSD, my quest for more bass output, even more touch sensitivity, and a higher overdrive threshold continues. Both reckless and rational, once again I try my luck with the 'snip and solder' technique on the component side of the PCB. photo of OSD with one 2N7000 replaced by a 2SC1815 Swapping in one lower gain transistor
Two 2N7000 are stock in the OSD. I think they are part of the input stage. I owned a number of NOS 2SC1815 left over from my ongoing effort to repair an old Fulltone Bass-Drive v2.
A few 2SC1815 type transistors were stock in the Bass-Drive v2, now some ten years old. The OSD circuit is based on the modern Fulltone OCD, in which two 2N7000 are stock. I took a leap and assumed that these two types of transistors shared a basic architecture, and so could be interchangeable in Fulltone-derived audio circuits of similar function.
Since I have almost no understanding of how transistors work, I get little useful information when I read their datasheets. But I was able to learn that the 2N7000 is a MOSFET, and that the 2SC1815 was an all-purpose transistor. Their datasheets implied to me that the 2N7000 is a more modern and much more complex device. Also, it seemed clear that the 2N7000 featured much higher gain and lower resistance than the 2SC1815.
I thought the results of swapping a 2SC1815 for one or both of the stock 2N7000 would include a higher overdrive threshold, but could also affect other things. When I swapped the first one, I thought I noticed a slightly higher overdrive threshold. Also, I heard a more finely and evenly textured break-up. When the drive control was maxed, this change in texture was most evident. photo of OSD with both 2N7000 replaced by 2SC1815 Swapping in the second of two lower gain transistors
Swapping the second 2N7000 with a 2SC1815, too, I heard no obvious further change in the overdrive threshold; but I did hear a further progression to the more finely and evenly textured break-up. Sometimes at all, and especially with higher drive settings, now the OSD's sound was listing toward fuzz. However, it was still tactile and had lots of envelope, so it retained its overdrive pedal character.
As I tried to learn what I thought of the change, playing in varying styles, registers and dynamics, I realized that my modifications might risk straying too far from the OSD's native voice. I decided that it was worth the risk, and that I wasn't done yet. I could still hear the OSD's voice, and was only asking it to sing with a slightly different technique. Still seeking the bass
First changing the OSD's op-amp, I got from it more naturalness, nuance, somewhat more bass response, and sweetness. Now changing its transistors, I got a different break-up texture and slightly higher overdrive threshold.
All that remained to do was to increase the OSD's bass response significantly: whatever bass frequencies I played into it, I wanted to get out of it.
Though I had recently found a new setting I liked so much that I stopped using a bass equalizer after the OSD, it was down to aesthetics, not authenticity. If you order chocolate ice cream and they bring you strawberry, then you eat the strawberry anyway and think how excellent it is, you may still reasonably want the chocolate ice cream you didn't get. Because you love chocolate ice cream that much.
For me, bass response from the OSD was like that chocolate ice cream. Before the evening was out, I would do one more modification to the OSD, and I would get what I ordered. photo of OSD with 1N4148 replaced by a red LED Swapping in a red LED as the clipping diode
After studying the OSD circuit for a while, and wondering if I could increase its bass response by changing any capacitors, my intuition was that there must be a better way; a more systemic way.
On the stock OSD circuit board, I noticed two diodes. One seemed to be acting as a rectifier in the power stage. The other was evidently used for clipping in the gain stage. I am an electronics neophyte, but that's how it looked to me.
The 1N4148 I thought was used for clipping was tiny and surrounded closely by other components. But I felt that it was the key. Inspired by my obsession with the Fuzzrocious DD, I recalled that, like the BJFE Honey Bee on which it was based, the DD used two pairs of asymmetrically arranged diodes for clipping: one pair of 1N400x and one of LEDs. Though this 1N4148 was used singly, I decided it was worth swapping it with an LED.
Since I owned no spare LEDs, I borrowed my OSD's red LED used as its on/off indicator. If the swap didn't work, I had some new 1N914 I could revert to and hope I didn't fry any other parts.
But the swap did work. It worked like magic. Finding the Oh See Demon of my dreams
What I heard was so natural-sounding that at first I almost didn't notice the change. With the red LED as the clipping diode, the OSD's bass response was increased so much that, with most playing styles and instrument settings, and with respect to overall spectral balance, I could hardly tell the clean sound from the overdrive sound. Yet the OSD's characteristic resonances and responsiveness were retained. Wow.
The only aspect some might think is undesirable is a lack of tightness in the bass. This seems to me consistent with the personality of the pedal, though, and it sounds (dare I say it) more amp-like than artificial. Indeed, to me, this looseness in the bass contributes to a feeling of playing loud through a big old bass amp.
For my purposes, regarding both usefulness and aesthetic preference, this change elevated the OSD almost to the level of the DD, which is one of my few favorite effect pedals ever.
Also, since I drive my OSD with a flanger, phase shifter and envelope filter (each either specially tuned for or naturally having full, fat, even bass response), now the OSD faithfully translates the bass output of each. | Woah, I wish I had the skills to even begin to think I could pull off trying that. good work!
__________________
Club Verellen #1
Fuzzrocious Club #113
|
11-23-2012, 10:25 PM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by MrThunderfoot Woah, I wish I had the skills to even begin to think I could pull off trying that. good work! | Hello, MrThunderfoot. Thank you!
Honestly, I am making it up as I go. I'm taking unwise risks, too. But I'm learning a lot. And when I luck out, the payout is great!
Enjoy that wild amp and your excellent pedals. You're a lucky man.
Best,
Snaxster
__________________
“I may be nuts, but that lets me hear sounds most people don't know exist.”
— Snaxster
|
11-23-2012, 11:32 PM
|  | needs more fuzz. | | Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia | | | I wish I knew more about pedal guts. I like modifying everything else, so why not work on my pedals?!
__________________
check out the profile for gear and clubs. Quote:
Originally Posted by behndy 'm a VERRRRRRRrrrrry excited little knob twiddler. | |
11-24-2012, 12:11 AM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh Pelican I wish I knew more about pedal guts. I like modifying everything else, so why not work on my pedals?! | Hello, Josh. Same here! Recently, I started modding because of curiosity and being broke.
Since you're already a tinker, I'm sure you know: when you try modifying things, you take the risk of breaking them.
So far, I've broken only one pedal, the Fulltone Bass-Drive v2 I mentioned. At least it's fun rebuilding it and hearing it gradually revive.
If I break my OSD now, I can't afford to ask Ryan to fix it. So it's a real risk! 
__________________
“I may be nuts, but that lets me hear sounds most people don't know exist.”
— Snaxster
|
11-24-2012, 04:40 AM
| | Registered User
Builder for FUZZROCIOUS PEDALS | | Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Mount Laurel, NJ | | | Snax - try LEDs in place of the mosfets. It will change your life.
I did this in Andy Williams' OSD/Pedalphiliac. I'll be offering this mod soon. |
11-24-2012, 07:23 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: WA, Australia | | Quote:
Originally Posted by rratajski Snax - try LEDs in place of the mosfets. It will change your life.
I did this in Andy Williams' OSD/Pedalphiliac. I'll be offering this mod soon. | I think I might try this out with my OSD.
__________________
Fuzzrocious #103/3Leaf Audio #51
|
11-24-2012, 07:31 AM
| | |
Quote:
Originally Posted by rratajski Snax - try LEDs in place of the mosfets. It will change your life.
I did this in Andy Williams' OSD/Pedalphiliac. I'll be offering this mod soon. | Ryan, thank you!
That's what I wanted to try also, but I didn't understand the pinouts. The mosfets have three pins to most LEDs two.
I need to hit the books again... or you could just tell me where the LEDs' leads should go.
Haha! Again, thank you. I'm getting an assortment of LED colors now!
__________________
“I may be nuts, but that lets me hear sounds most people don't know exist.”
— Snaxster
|
11-24-2012, 08:55 AM
|  | Registered User
Endorsing Artist: Lakland Basses | | Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: San Antonio, TX | | | Just ordered a Grey Stache and Rat Tail. The wait begins! |
11-24-2012, 09:20 AM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Snaxster I need to hit the books again... or you could just tell me where the LEDs' leads should go. | Hmm... I think I know the answer now. Kind of. 
The clues are here and here and here.
__________________
“I may be nuts, but that lets me hear sounds most people don't know exist.”
— Snaxster
|
11-24-2012, 10:05 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Buffalo,NY | | Quote:
Originally Posted by MrThunderfoot +1 I listen to the Plutonian tracks at least 3 times a day, I can't wait!
Also, here's some gear porn/Fuzzrocious collection. | Holy fvcking sh!t. That,good sir,is one mighty fine head backed up by some mighty fine pedals.
How well does your amp take effects?
I must admit that I`m totally jealous of your Meat Smoke. I really wanted one a few years back but didn`t have the cash,now they`re even more money. D`oh.
Hey,did I ever mention that I recently bought a Oh See Demon? I wasn`t sure if that got tacked onto my list of Ry`s pedals.
__________________
Fuzzrocious#59,Mediocre Bassist Club #269 Gnomeratron VTF#22
Hollowbody Bass Club # 323 ,Fretless Fender Club #5,Fender Bassman#19,Gibson Club#253
|
11-24-2012, 11:24 AM
| | Bartle doo? | | Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Missing Mountains | | Quote:
Originally Posted by rratajski Snax - try LEDs in place of the mosfets. It will change your life.
I did this in Andy Williams' OSD/Pedalphiliac. I'll be offering this mod soon. | Plan on offering some comparison clips between the two? Quote:
Originally Posted by Couvy Just ordered a Grey Stache and Rat Tail. The wait begins! | Worth it IMO. Quote:
Originally Posted by change-jug Hey,did I ever mention that I recently bought a Oh See Demon? I wasn`t sure if that got tacked onto my list of Ry`s pedals. | No, but your updated now.
__________________ Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Mike Ipp ...any one else's critters lick their basses? |
Fuzzrocious #2 / B1S #2 / S.A.S.S. #15 / WA #37 / V #5
|
11-24-2012, 12:18 PM
| | Registered User
Builder for FUZZROCIOUS PEDALS | | Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Mount Laurel, NJ | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Plays_For_Dog Plan on offering some comparison clips between the two?. | After I build up a new proto, def. |
11-24-2012, 12:27 PM
| | Registered User
Builder for FUZZROCIOUS PEDALS | | Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Mount Laurel, NJ | | | Snax-
Long leg of LED to "s" on MOSFET spot, short leg to middle of MOSFET spot. (Remove MOSFET, obviously) | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | 
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