The Sushi Box FX Secret Society

[SemiDriven]

This is a really good point. For a great example I'm familiar with, take the Underground Accelerator, which "takes inspiration from the Alembic F-2B". The Alembic F-2B was Alembic's early repackaging and refinement of the Fender AB763-era preamp stages. And Fender (according to some folklore I remember) basically adapted reference designs from the RCA Receiving Tube Manual, I'm guessing more by tinkering than by deep understanding.

Of course, the derivatives are rarely just "clones." Change a couple resistor values just a little, the gain or EQ points will change to something more suitable for a particular use. These tweaks can produce a crystal clear preamp (like, for example, a Demeter) or something highly responsive to tube rolling and its gain control, like my UA.

If you have a head for electronics and want your mind blown by all the craaaazy things you can do with even relatively simple tube circuits, head over to John Broskie's Tube CAD Journal web site. I still can't quite wrap my head around the Circlotron....

Sorry, man, can't help, don't use fuzz pedals any more I'll just point out it's a lot harder to hurt yourself with a fuzz pedal than with paraglider, just sayin'....

1. To your point of pedals taking the inspiration of other pedals preceding them: AI (IMHO) scapes the the best-of-the-best from all the A-list musical recordings of the past 50-milion years. Let's be honest...ALL the good tunes we love are influenced by those who came before them. All of them. (yeah, not exactly on your topic )

2. +1 on the paraglider / fuzz pedal comparison.

 

[lomo]

Hoping to see new posts from the sushi master very soon.

Current mini board configuration....

 

[CH Design]

The Elementary is SO good. I feel like it doesn’t get enough attention.

Having said that, my PMLE sounds absolutely awesome. Very different from the Elementary, but I’d say as least as satisfying to play through. Definitely two flavours of Sushi I’m glad to have.

 

[LSM07]

The Elementary is SO good. I feel like it doesn’t get enough attention.

Having said that, my PMLE sounds absolutely awesome. Very different from the Elementary, but I’d say as least as satisfying to play through. Definitely two flavours of Sushi I’m glad to have.

Nathan has a preamp for everyone. I'm falling back in love with the MORE. The brilliance of some of these pedals is their simplicity and thus utility.

I kind of want to eventually learn how to build my own effects, culminating in my own 2 input preamp for doubling on upright and electric; my dream is to incorporate something similar to the MORE in its design (perhaps using Nutubes as a low power option). But that's far down the pipe.

 

[FenrirofOld]

Is there any chance some of these are just paid subscriptions not being auto renewed by PayPal? My auto sign up didn't renew because of some new change they had to do.

 

[Tassieviking]

Don’t forget the 5f6a bassman turning into a JTM45 across the pond.

You could easily make one PCB to build a 5F6-A Bassman, JTM45, 5F8-A Twin, 1959 Plexi, SUNN Model T. All those preamps are practically the same, just change some values on caps or resistors, and some night need 1 or 2 more or less components.
And that's all I looked up in 20 minutes of looking through my circuit folders, I'm sure there will be a lot more as well.

 

[rickdog]

The Elementary is SO good. I feel like it doesn’t get enough attention.

I have a UA and love it. I regularly gig with two basses (fretted and fretless), with an A/B switch to select the one I'm playing. Right now whichever bass I'm playing goes through the UA, which works well. But I think I'd rather have a preamp pedal for each bass before the switch so I can really dial in the perfect sound for each.

This means deciding: another UA? Elementary? Something else?

So I'm really curious to get your opinion (and anyone else's): what makes the Elementary SO good? If you've also used the UA, how do the two compare?

 

[rickdog]

One more thing on the topic of tube circuits, clones, derivatives, etc.

I hope the Sushi Chef will take a look at a thread on another forum site: Bass Pre-amp Build HPF/Compressor (scroll down to reply #11). Two preamp tubes, a transformer, and, well, a few transistors, but not in the actual audio path. Gain is controlled by adjusting the operating point of a balanced pair of triodes (balancing cancels the "thump" of the compressor control voltage changes). Valve Wizard Merlin Blencowe approves. I wonder if this is practical to fit in a box with a Sushi Box FX logo on it?

 

[lomo]

I have a UA and love it. I regularly gig with two basses (fretted and fretless), with an A/B switch to select the one I'm playing. Right now whichever bass I'm playing goes through the UA, which works well. But I think I'd rather have a preamp pedal for each bass before the switch so I can really dial in the perfect sound for each.

This means deciding: another UA? Elementary? Something else?

So I'm really curious to get your opinion (and anyone else's): what makes the Elementary SO good? If you've also used the UA, how do the two compare?

I'd definitely go with a different flavour, UNLESS you absolutely must have a flat option, because Elementary can't get flat on its' own. That said, all these preamps are tweakable from clean through dirty. Elementary excels at higher end overtones IMO, and then there are the dual channel/ bigger options. The Dreamcatcher is a UA with another high gain original circuit on tap. The Detective is an Elementary, also with a higher gain channel on tap. There are many options and all are flexible enough that there are no "mistakes" to worry about avoiding.

 

[rickdog]

I'd definitely go with a different flavour, UNLESS you absolutely must have a flat option, because Elementary can't get flat on its' own. That said, all these preamps are tweakable from clean through dirty. ... The Dreamcatcher is a UA with another high gain original circuit on tap. The Detective is an Elementary, also with a higher gain channel on tap.

I'll have to take a look at those dual-preamp ones... the additional flexibility in a small package is attractive. I'm resisting the urge to have my pedalboard get bigger and bigger so having another preset sound in the box just one switch click away sounds good.

Anyone have comments on the "high gain original circuit"?

 

[lomo]

Anyone have comments on the "high gain original circuit"?

I love my DC. Keep in mind even the higher gain red channel can be run clean if desired. Like the other Sushi boxes, both channels can accommodate multiple tubes with different gain factors. It uses the same passive 3 band Fender tone stack as the blue channel/UA (ie flat is mids maxed to 10, bass & treble at 0). The board below is my "big" one, but only 9X12" and can easily sit on top of a cab.

 

[CH Design]

I have a UA and love it. I regularly gig with two basses (fretted and fretless), with an A/B switch to select the one I'm playing. Right now whichever bass I'm playing goes through the UA, which works well. But I think I'd rather have a preamp pedal for each bass before the switch so I can really dial in the perfect sound for each.

This means deciding: another UA? Elementary? Something else?

So I'm really curious to get your opinion (and anyone else's): what makes the Elementary SO good? If you've also used the UA, how do the two compare?

I don’t have a normal UA (Nathan modified mine to have a tone stack that responds similarly to a JCE), so I can’t make a direct comparison.

However, I like the Elementary because it has the perfect balance (for me) of depth, punch and clarity without sounding sterile or harsh. I also find it really easy, and tremendously satisfying, to ride the line between clean and dirty.

 

[EastDakota]

Does the Elementary tonestack pretty closely match the Hiwatt DR tonestack calculators that are out there. I've been pretty curious about it because then I could theoretically cut and boost right around my preferred spots anyway ( E.g., Hiwatt DR at around B:6, M:10, T:0 at Yet Another Tonestack Calculator ~250Hz cut and 1-2kHz boost).

 

[lomo]

Does the Elementary tonestack pretty closely match the Hiwatt DR tonestack calculators that are out there. I've been pretty curious about it because then I could theoretically cut and boost right around my preferred spots anyway ( E.g., Hiwatt DR at around B:6, M:10, T:0 at Yet Another Tonestack Calculator ~250Hz cut and 1-2kHz boost).

To my ear it matches this one well, and this is the simulator Nathan has posted/referred to in the past.

TSC in the web

Keep in mind nothing can be "boosted" by Elementary (or UA, DC or Detective) , as they are all passive circuits. For this reason I always want/need a semi para active mid boost on my amp head.

 

[EastDakota]

To my ear it matches this one well, and this is the simulator Nathan has posted/referred to in the past.

TSC in the web

Keep in mind nothing can be "boosted" by Elementary (or UA, DC or Detective) , as they are all passive circuits. For this reason I always want/need a semi para active mid boost on my amp head.

Yeah "boost" was a poor word choice, I meant relative to the midpoint on the response curve. Looks like that matches my thought too, thanks!

 

[4Mal]

Recently acquired a Neptinium here. i have it after an HX Stomp. There are 2 Underground Accellerators, 1 for each bass feeding the L&R inputs of the stomp. with the Neptinium in the circuit I have a significant raise in my noise floot which is otherwise dead quiet.

The gnd lift doesn't affect the noise and the noise is present on both outputs. Possibly more present on the 1/4"

Everything is powered by a DC-7.

Is Neptinium one of the pedals that needs to have it's power input modified so that it is noise free with other SBFX pedals ?

 

[lomo]

AFAIK no sushi pedal made after November or December 2023 require anything like that. I wish Nathan was here to respond definitively

 

[FronTowardEnemy]

I posted this in the Rumble forum, but I thought I would share it here since I ran my finally. V1 as a “Space Heater”. Which I always wanted to ask, is the transformer tied to the 1/4” out of the finally. V1? The rig just sounded great! No doubt my NOS Raytheon 12Ax7 was adding some flavor.


So it’s been a while since I actually played through an amp at a gig. I am IEM with my tribute band of 13 years, but still own a lot of amps and cabs.

Which leads me to this. I used my Rumble 500c atop of my Rumble 112, for an annual Cook County forest preserve picnic that my good friend puts on every year.

I ran a boss bass compressor through a HPF, out to a SushiBox finally. V1, into the Rumbles input. No controls on the preamp were used. Just gain at about 3.5 and volume at 6.5.

I loved it. Even though I’ve owned the combo for 5 years and the 112 for 3 years, I’ve only used this rig in my music room at low volume.

Now I’m rethinking maybe pulling this rig out every now and again and leaving the IEM at home. Not a bad load in/out.

 

[Tassieviking]

Which I always wanted to ask, is the transformer tied to the 1/4” out of the finally

As far as I know the transformer is tied directly to the XLR output, it should not affect the 1/4 output at all, I could be wrong but I feel 98% sure on this.

 

[lomo]

Recently acquired a Neptinium here. i have it after an HX Stomp. There are 2 Underground Accellerators, 1 for each bass feeding the L&R inputs of the stomp. with the Neptinium in the circuit I have a significant raise in my noise floot which is otherwise dead quiet.

The gnd lift doesn't affect the noise and the noise is present on both outputs. Possibly more present on the 1/4"

Everything is powered by a DC-7.

Is Neptinium one of the pedals that needs to have it's power input modified so that it is noise free with other SBFX pedals ?

I'd try changing the tube in the Neptunium. If the modification is the one Nathan devised for his early pedals ("the polarity fix"), all sold after about Nov '23
have it stock.