Just picked up one of these used and am finding that it barely has enough distorted volume on tap to make the blend feature useful. I see two internal trimmers inside, but before I go and mess with them I was wondering if anyone knows if any of the two trimmers controls the distorted tones volume. Thanks.
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Crowella Animated question
- Thread starter 2010P
- Start date
One of the trimmers is the gate. It could be the problem. I don't know what the other one is for.
One is gate and one is the bias of the first transistor in the treble boost section. The one at the top right if you have the back off should be the gate. It is likely that is the one you need to adjust.
Thanks. Just adjusted it, but it was actually completely off, so any adjustments made the distorted volume lower. I guess it's just sort of baked into the pedal that the blend control is not really super precise. Adam from Crowella did answer my message saying to adjust the gate, but that he recommends it be off completely. He also mentioned the other trim pot adjust output to first transistor, but I opened it up a bit and didn't like the results (too distorted) so I just put everything back to stock and will deal with it as is. I appreciate your help.
Crowella
Commercial User
Here's my public response, hopefully this helps somewhat.
For those with the gate option (latest batch), I do recommend off. It can be set to gate the sound completely but it will result in a level drop and a change of the tone slightly. When blended in with clean, it should obtain a respectable noise floor for this type of distortion. I'm working on ways in the next batch to lower this even more without having to sacrifice the sound overall.
There is another trimpot inside, this is for the input stage. I set it to try and audibly match with the original I have. I've noted that some that have original Animato say it is slightly different on theirs, meaning there are chances they are just balanced for best tone rather than to each other. You are free to change that too in small increments, it may make the sound too distorted or level too low depending on direction.
For the clean blend, it'll be easier to achieve the same volume level as bypassed if you actually turn the distortion level down and the blend down to be more wet. It's pretty easy to try and set the blend to mostly dry then turn the level all the way up to compensate, it should do just fine otherwise. If you are worried about the distortion not cutting through, the tone control can go up slightly to cut through the mix more.
Given everything is operating fine, it should work out, otherwise, you can always contact me here or at [email protected] for more help. I always try to help even if I do get caught up at work or usually asleep when I get these sorts of emails.
For those with the gate option (latest batch), I do recommend off. It can be set to gate the sound completely but it will result in a level drop and a change of the tone slightly. When blended in with clean, it should obtain a respectable noise floor for this type of distortion. I'm working on ways in the next batch to lower this even more without having to sacrifice the sound overall.
There is another trimpot inside, this is for the input stage. I set it to try and audibly match with the original I have. I've noted that some that have original Animato say it is slightly different on theirs, meaning there are chances they are just balanced for best tone rather than to each other. You are free to change that too in small increments, it may make the sound too distorted or level too low depending on direction.
For the clean blend, it'll be easier to achieve the same volume level as bypassed if you actually turn the distortion level down and the blend down to be more wet. It's pretty easy to try and set the blend to mostly dry then turn the level all the way up to compensate, it should do just fine otherwise. If you are worried about the distortion not cutting through, the tone control can go up slightly to cut through the mix more.
Given everything is operating fine, it should work out, otherwise, you can always contact me here or at [email protected] for more help. I always try to help even if I do get caught up at work or usually asleep when I get these sorts of emails.
