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Gnomeratron VTF Club

#142
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

you can listen to all the samples from this page, but if you click on individual cuts, you will see a photo of the settings.

I had all the trims down all the way, except for the last cut, where I maxed out the two clip trims.

I have figured out the gain staging, you just have to utilize different pots as the master depending on what mode you are in. I look forward to testing this in a band setting.

Peace, JBY
 
#145
TAFM VS. GNOMERATRON VTF
-->BATTLE ROYAL!!<--


Construction: Similar quality builds. Both well thought out and versatile. Solid aluminum construction on both, both ready to withstand years of service (enlistment in case of the Gnome army :bassist:).

Graphics: Both pedal's graphics are killer, IMO. The TAFM tourbox that I have momentarily is a bright yellow which adds some color to my board, but I bet the other color schemes (especially the bronze splattered ones) would be stunning as well. The Gnome on the other hand was also expertly applied and is amazing. One of the things that really sold me on the Gnome in the first place was the buyer's ability to choose from the 8 (!) killer graphics. Yes, I'm vain, yes, this was a huge selling point :D.

TONEZ: Alrighty here is what we've been waiting for. Battle Royal. Both of these pedals are versatile tone machines. I felt like more tones on the TAFM were instantly usable (I.E. fewer "dead" spots where something was lacking a bit), but that could be just because the Gnomeratron is SO incredibly tweakable that it takes longer to get fully comfortable with the settings, YMMV.

What I mean is that like most users of the Gnome have probably encountered, some settings (or when switching settings) create lack of low-end weird, potentially unusable tones. I honestly think that this is mainly because of a lack of familiarity with the circuit and how all of the (extensive) controls affect the sound. The awesome thing about the Gnome is that those killer sounds are in there....all of them. Ever.

When I got my TAFM in the mail, after a bit of knob twiddling, I quickly found my favorite setting (a grindy, articulate, ballsy fuzz). Then, in the interest of comparing all of my fuzzes, I started playing around with my Pickle Pie B and the Gnomeratron VTF. I was super excited when I found a very convincing imitation of the TAFM ballsy, grindy fuzz tone (I almost like it better, actually) on the Gnome. Needless to say I fell in love with the Gnome all over again.

There is a ton of bass (low-end), a ton of beefy fuzz and a lot of awesome crammed into the Gnomeratron. This thing will get everything from heavy overdrive/rickenbacker tones (awesome), to brassmaster octave tones, to sweet muff tones..Its all in there you just have to be vigilant and find it.

Oh yeah, here is the settings for my new favorite tone on the VTF:

Clean(ish): 9 o'clock
Tone: 10:30 - 11 o'clock
Magic: Left (or right to taste)
Diode 1: Far Right
Diode 2: Far Right (but Far Left sounds really good for this too, adjust volume accordingly)
Octave: Right
Filter: Far Right
Fuzz: 2 o'clock
Gain: 11 - 11:30
Gate: 2:30 o'clock
Tone: 8:30
Trim 1: 9 o'clock (looking straight at the trim knob) |
Trim 2: 2 o'clock (looking straight at the trim knob) |
Trim 3: 11 o'clock (looking straight at the trim knob) |<---Adjust the trims to taste/volume
Trim 4: 2 o'clock (looking straight at the trim knob) |

Again I have the "standard" gnome (Si, LED, Si, Ge)
 
#147
I look forward to hearing what that sounds like.

Last night, I found a home for the Gnome on my main board. Found some really amazing stuff by feeding the Gnomeratron with an Octabass, or a POG2, and chasing it with a chorus.


I need to find a noise/improv band...........
 
#148
jbybj said:
I look forward to hearing what that sounds like.
Click to expand...

Its awesome, IMO. My problem now is loving this kind of fuzz and also wanting to use the Gnome for synth-y gated fuzz, can't I just have both :eek:?

Last night, I found a home for the Gnome on my main board. Found some really amazing stuff by feeding the Gnomeratron with an Octabass, or a POG2, and chasing it with a chorus.
Click to expand...

Hopefully I will be able to get my hands on an Aguilar Octamizer soon, and I will be able to hear this! Sounds promising!!

I need to find a noise/improv band...........
Click to expand...

Big +1. I wish I could put something like that together here in Charlotte.
 
#150
Mr. Pickles said:
Gnome in the house! I'm a bit overwhelmed here.

Magic toggle question: which direction engages magic, left or right?

Same question for the Octave: which direction is ON?

How can I tell which diodes I have in the circuit (I think I'm the second or third owner)?
Click to expand...

congrats. The octave is engaged, (octave up BTW) when that switch is to the left.

I can't remember the magic offhand, but when you turn down the Fuzz and the Gain all the way, and you still get clean out put from the Cleanish knob, THAT's NOT the magic mode. Magic mode sends the cleanish signal through the distortion gain stages, and in Magic mode, the Fuzz becomes the master gain. So if the Fuzz is down, and the Cleanish is up, and you have no sound, THAT's the magic mode.

For the Diodes, the middle position is NO Diodes, as far as which ones are engaged when you switch left or right, I've no clue.

Have Fun
 
#151
Mr. Pickles said:
Gnome in the house! I'm a bit overwhelmed here.

Magic toggle question: which direction engages magic, left or right?

Same question for the Octave: which direction is ON?

How can I tell which diodes I have in the circuit (I think I'm the second or third owner)?
Click to expand...

Like jbybj said, the Octave switch is on to the left. The magic switch (for me anyways) is "on" when the switch is to the right. Put it on an extreme setting as he described and you will be able to tell right away :bassist:.

I'm 90% sure I've figured out the diode toggle switches. I'm pretty sure that on mine (which is Si, LED, Si, Ge) the silicone clipping happens when the switch is to the right and the LED is when it is to the left. Same with the second section. I'm just guessing because in the case of the first diode section, the left position is much brighter and raspier than the right position, and on the second diode section the left position is much quieter than the right position. Going by McSpunkle's descriptions of each of the diode options from the previous thread, that is my best guess.

When you open the pedal up, the diodes go in that order (1,2,3,4) from right to left (at least on mine).

Just for reference, here is McSpunkle's description of the diodes:

McSpunkle said:
Anyways! I promised a write-up on diode differences, so here it is! If you don't want the technical details, please scroll down, but I think this may help you understand how they interact better.

The basic difference between diodes in a clipping circuit is their forward voltage-- that is, the voltage at which they conduct. Basically, when the voltage (volume/gain) of the signal gets above that voltage, the diode will conduct-- usually directly to ground or to a "virtual ground", either way the effect is the same-- the signal clips. So, if the forward voltage is 1 volt, anything above 1 volt will clip.

But but but... we don't care about the technical details! We just wanna know how they sound!
Click to expand...

Yes, of course! But knowing how something works makes it easier to understand how it will effect your tone.

When a diode clips the signal more, you end up with more compression and distortion, but less volume. Since this circuit is two clipping circuits in series, if you cut the signal from the first circuit, the second circuit won't clip as much. This is what gives the Muff its harmonic overtones. If you remove the first diodes, almost all of the clipping is handled through the second stage, resulting in a smoother, more compressed sort of sound. If the clipping is only handled by the first stage, you end up with far less compression and clipping... sort of a lo-fi distortion/overdrive kind of sound.

In the VTF, you can consider the octave section sort of an octave-forming clipping section on the first stage. More signal from the first stage results in more clipping from the octave section.

ANYWAYS, TL;DR readers, this is where you stop scrolling.

The diode options are, in order of clipping (least to most):
LED
Silicon (Si
Germanium (NOS) (Ge)
Schottky
Germanium (Generic) (Ge)

Realistically, both germaniums and the Schottky are about the same. The NOS clips a little less, and the generic ones a bit more. Schottky... well... has a different character.

I wouldn't recommend using Germanium or schottky in the first stage. They cut sound a bit too much. Though, having the gain cranked with two Ge stages does have a cool warm tone. I'd think anyone into that wouldn't really be into this pedal for getting those tones, though.

I think the easiest way for me to do this is to go over some combinations that I liked, and if I leave something out, just ask. They're all in the format First stage/Second stage.

Si/Si - Standard Muff configuration. Demos were done with this combo, and basically everything will be compared to this configuration.
LED/Si- More high end raspiness and "crunch"
Si/Ge- Warmer and darker, slightly less volume. Great combo for doom/stoner tones.
LED/Ge- More crunch than Si/Ge and not as dark. Also great for doom or, well, basically anything. This is my favourite combo.
LED/LED- Crunchy, raunchy, loud, gritty, etc. Lo-fi fuzzy distortion.
Si/Schottky- More high end crunch than Si/Ge, and a bit of a more dynamic character.
LED/Schottky- Really cool, interesting crunch.
None/Si- Tons of low end-- almost sounds like there's a clean blend even with the clean blend turned all the way down. Very smooth.
None/Ge- Similar, but more compressed and smoother.
None/LED- Similar to LED/LED, but without some of the crunch.
Si/None- Loud, weird distortion tone. Not much compression. Can tend to "rail bash", which results in a "farty" distortion.
LED/None- More output than Si/None, more open tone. More tendency to rail bash, but not quite as hard.

So, basically, you can see that more output from the first stage means more compression and smoothness on the second stage, and clipping on the first stage generally results in the tone opening up more since the second stage can't clip as hard.

Sorry for the TL;DR... I'll work on a shorter version, but in the mean time, I'll be glad to answer questions or give recommendations for the style/tone you're looking for.

My tests were done with the second proto, a Moser Spawn with Dimarzio Split P/Model J straight to the jack (with a switch, of course), into an Acoustic 150 and Avatar 4x10 (no horn).
Click to expand...

EDIT: So I edited the first post in this thread to include this ^ and other McSpunkle quotes referring to the design of the Gnomeratron, for quick reference. If anyone finds/remembers a quote or excerpt that they find useful for others, let me know and I will add it to that post as well.
 
#152
Thanks. I couldn't tell which was on or off because I was just turning knobs and flicking switches to try and figure out their respective functions before reading the instructions pdf.
It's kind of funny, actually - when I first plugged in the Gnome I was momentarily blinded by the led; at the same instant I plucked a note and was defeaned by uncontrolled oscillation which sent my amp into clipping. I stood up suddenly, blindly reached for the stomp switch and knocked my pedalboard off the top of my combo amp, jerking the power supply out of the Gnome.

My first thought was what the hell have I gotten myself into?
 
#153
Mr. Pickles said:
Thanks. I couldn't tell which was on or off because I was just turning knobs and flicking switches to try and figure out their respective functions before reading the instructions pdf.
It's kind of funny, actually - when I first plugged in the Gnome I was momentarily blinded by the led; at the same instant I plucked a note and was defeaned by uncontrolled oscillation which sent my amp into clipping. I stood up suddenly, blindly reached for the stomp switch and knocked my pedalboard off the top of my combo amp, jerking the power supply out of the Gnome.

My first thought was what the hell have I gotten myself into?
Click to expand...

:o:D Holy crap Jon!!! Hopefully all is well! If there is anything I can help you with, or if you want to try some of my settings I feel are cool, feel free to pM me anytime.
Hope it gets better for you real fast here!!:p
 
#154
hahhahahahahahahhaahha!!!

Horrible, but so terribly funny!

McSpunkle should use your words as written testimony to the Gnomeratons greatness!


Mr. Pickles said:
Thanks. I couldn't tell which was on or off because I was just turning knobs and flicking switches to try and figure out their respective functions before reading the instructions pdf.
It's kind of funny, actually - when I first plugged in the Gnome I was momentarily blinded by the led; at the same instant I plucked a note and was defeaned by uncontrolled oscillation which sent my amp into clipping. I stood up suddenly, blindly reached for the stomp switch and knocked my pedalboard off the top of my combo amp, jerking the power supply out of the Gnome.

My first thought was what the hell have I gotten myself into?
Click to expand...
 
#156
Fortunately, I can now see and hear again.:D
And no equipemnt was damaged in said debacle...

Some backstory - I recently had to reformat my hard drive and forgot to reinstall Adobe reader, which explains why I never read the instructions. I passively followed the closed Gnome build thread, so I wasn't aware of all of the features and functionality - hence my near death experience.

Fortuantely, I am now sorted. Understanding the gain structure was the key for me finding some useable sounds. I now have a Brassmasterish setting that I'll share tonight. McSpunk contacted me via PM (thank you, sir) and offered additional assistance.

Anyone have a setting for a mildly clipped Over Drive?
 
#159
xed said:
Mine just arrived in the mail today. I popped it open and I'm #15 so +1 to the gnome army.
Click to expand...

Welcome, Welcome! First you must watch the orientation video:

patton460.jpg
 

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