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Frog Pedals Alembic F2b Build
- Thread starter dirtychinchilla
- Start date
Oh awesome, thank you! So you printed the whole enclosure...nice!!! I've got a colleague with a 3D printer so I'll probably do the same.
Yes indeed. That's a good idea, though I'd rather run mine off a power supply like my other pedals, but I don't think there's any chance of achieving that.
So, I'm guessing you added the input and output knobs? That's really interesting. I always found the output of mine a little aggressive and wanted to bring it down without losing the drive, which I liked to crank a bit. With a passive/active bass I guess the input control could be really useful as well.
Thanks for all the tips dude!!
Yes indeed. That's a good idea, though I'd rather run mine off a power supply like my other pedals, but I don't think there's any chance of achieving that.
So, I'm guessing you added the input and output knobs? That's really interesting. I always found the output of mine a little aggressive and wanted to bring it down without losing the drive, which I liked to crank a bit. With a passive/active bass I guess the input control could be really useful as well.
Thanks for all the tips dude!!
I asked Mark Price from FrogPedals why there is an extra volume pot on his ruggedized version, which was not in the documentation and he sent me a sketch of his added potmeter.
The input potmeter came in because at first I was planning to give the FrogPedal an extra input boost by putting an OpAmp booster in front, but I found that was like putting an extra turbo on an already nitro powered muscle car. So I took out the OpAmp booster but was left with the potmeter hole in the front panel and the already 3D printed front panel. So I made it a passive input control (0-1 instead of 0-10x).
oh, and I didn't print the whole enclosure, just the front and back panels. The enclosure can be found on AliExpress or Amazon.
excellent, thank you. One thing I haven’t got my head around yet - with the power supply installed, did you end up shipping the high voltage power supply section of the pedal or do you convert down to 8V and then back up again?
would you mind putting up a link to the power supply and the enclosure?
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Hahaha, indeed it doesn't. But no worries, just let me explain.
The FrogPedal PCB is 9V powered and is equipped with its own power section, consisting of a high voltage pump (185VDC) to feed the vacuum tube and a 6VDC for the heater.
I decided to put in a 9V power supply as visible on the photo instead of a separate wall wart.
The FrogPedal PCB is 9V powered and is equipped with its own power section, consisting of a high voltage pump (185VDC) to feed the vacuum tube and a 6VDC for the heater.
I decided to put in a 9V power supply as visible on the photo instead of a separate wall wart.
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That makes sense. I've just ordered a new 2.0 PCB as I bought the 2.1 and I don't think it'll work for me as I want it to. I read that you can use it as another channel but frankly, I don't know enough about what I'm doing. I'd also miss the switchable clipping diodes.
I do want to build it so that I can get a lot of tube distortion out of it though.
Oh, I see! On the 2.1 there is no high voltage pump and no clipping section. The 2.0 version does have these features plus a high cut and a bright switch option.
The 2.1 version:
The 2.0 version:
Thanks for the gut-shot!
That is some tight as .... wiring!
Good thing you bolted down the PCB, with those giant silver wings it looks like it's trying to fly away! The Flying Frog...
Thanks for your compliment! Yes, the heat sinks are a bit over sized. They were made from an old computer heat sink. In my next builds I will reduce them to prevent flying away ;-)
Grtz, Bert
Grtz, Bert
Yes indeed, and I don't understand exactly how to integrated the 2.1 with the 2.0.
Why would you integrate the 2.1 with the 2.0? If you're looking for a way to power the 2.1, just order the power PCB from Mark (https://frogpedals.com/index.php/product/frog-smps-high-voltage-power-supply/).
Naw, keep the large ones, keep it all running cool.
Where on earth did you find such a great flying-frog graphic?
I had, at one point, researched the Frog PCBs intensely, excessively, but that was a long time ago and now I can't remember if I preferred the 2.0 or the 2.1. Seems it would be better to have more options (high-cut/bright) of the 2.0, no?
He actually suggests it in the literature. But I don't want to use the 2.1 because I really like the choice of clipping diodes. Just waiting for the 2.0 to make it's way here from the US!
That is my "light" version of the Frog:
https://cdna.artstation.com/p/asset...-houndsville-flugfrosch2-mikro.jpg?1539162894
[/QUOTE]
I guess the 2.0 is more versatile with the onboard power supply and the clipping/high-cut/bright switches for a pre-amp. If you want to build a small all tube amplifier, I guess the 2.1 board with a separate power board and the end stage board might be the better choice, but that's completely up to your needs.
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Yeah, me the same! Ordered 2 version 2.0 more, waiting for the delivery.
You guys inspired me!
I ordered one of Mark's boards and jumped right in. Most of the components I had in my son's devry tool kit, had to order one of the CMOS chips, a few diodes, the red box caps, a tube socket and all the pots. I also ordered a power supply off the 'bay.
A local fabrication shop bent the chassis out a piece of scrap aluminum.
A couple nights of soldering, a chat in messenger with Mark (more on that later) and some drilling on the chassis and I had this off to a start.
So this is my first "from scratch" project and I made a rookie mistake. The BOM called for a 470R resister in the power section, I've never seen that "R" before and assumed it ment "k"
I also substituted the small transistor for a different manufacturer, turns out the pins were reversed from the part specified. I couldn't get the voltage up over 130v
This is where I had to reach out to Mark. He was awesome in helping me troubleshoot things (now i know what the"R" stands for.
Now, with the bugs worked out it was time to pretty things up. I painted the chassis, printed the labels on waterslide decal paper, then put it all back together.
Then I made an a maple box to put it in.
Let me tell you, it sounds soooo good!
I'm running it into the power amp input on my Rumble Studio 40. I had been using an Alembic f2B preset on the rumble but this sounds much better .
I ordered one of Mark's boards and jumped right in. Most of the components I had in my son's devry tool kit, had to order one of the CMOS chips, a few diodes, the red box caps, a tube socket and all the pots. I also ordered a power supply off the 'bay.
A local fabrication shop bent the chassis out a piece of scrap aluminum.
A couple nights of soldering, a chat in messenger with Mark (more on that later) and some drilling on the chassis and I had this off to a start.
So this is my first "from scratch" project and I made a rookie mistake. The BOM called for a 470R resister in the power section, I've never seen that "R" before and assumed it ment "k"
I also substituted the small transistor for a different manufacturer, turns out the pins were reversed from the part specified. I couldn't get the voltage up over 130vThis is where I had to reach out to Mark. He was awesome in helping me troubleshoot things (now i know what the"R" stands for.
Now, with the bugs worked out it was time to pretty things up. I painted the chassis, printed the labels on waterslide decal paper, then put it all back together.
Then I made an a maple box to put it in.
Let me tell you, it sounds soooo good!
I'm running it into the power amp input on my Rumble Studio 40. I had been using an Alembic f2B preset on the rumble but this sounds much better .
