Al Heeley Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 All schematics from DIYstompbox.com Here's this weekend's efforts, from left to right: 1) BassDrive pedal, sort of cross between a fuzz and an overdrive, capable of reasonably clean boost too. 2) Green Red Llama with my Phat Norm mod, which switches out the 68nF cap of the original for a 1uF cap to let the bass tones breathe a little more. Superb pedal for bass or lead, even better than the Tubescreamer, more high end bite and nmuch higher gain range. marvellous! Again, can be used to boost fairly clean or shockingly dirty 3) Bazz Fuss - really simple little circuit for some dirty bass fuzz with no nonsense. Not tried this for lead guitar yet as I had to nick the footswitch to put in the Red Llama. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamapirate Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 Any of them based on the pedal you made me, Al? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 No, all different circuits mate, the Llama is another classic, one of Tom Petty's favourites I'm told. Also known as the Tube Fuzz - better suited to lead guitar but a pretty good ranging fuzz for bass once a few caps have been swapped out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 three pedals in a weekend? I wish my misses was that understanding! Do you have/ are you planning to do any soundclips Al? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent Fly Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 Very nice pedals Al. Is there any reason why you use a big box for the Red Llama? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umph Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 [quote name='Al Heeley' post='578697' date='Aug 24 2009, 12:12 AM']No, all different circuits mate, the Llama is another classic, one of Tom Petty's favourites I'm told. Also known as the Tube Fuzz - better suited to lead guitar but a pretty good ranging fuzz for bass once a few caps have been swapped out. [/quote] the red llama is great another great mod to do is to add an input buffer stage and take a clean blend from that similar to this, [url="http://runoffgroove.com/ubescreamer.html"]http://runoffgroove.com/ubescreamer.html[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted August 24, 2009 Author Share Posted August 24, 2009 Silent Fly: I knew with the Llama I was going to do a little modding, extra switch, etc as well as put some DC power into it so I thought it would be easier to build into a bigger enclosure. The pcb is held in place with some firm foam rubber blocks with slots cut in to them so its cushioned, held quite firm byt is also easliy removed if need be. Now I need some expertise from you for getting the enclosures looking a bit more professional! Umph: Thx for the info, neat idea with the clean blend, the Llama is pretty good at fairly clean boost as well, a big range of gain available. Steve: Must get round to sorting out sound clips. At the moment I'm enjoying playing lead guitar thru these, really warm, thick overdrive soound. The Bass Drive starts to break up into fuzz territory a bit in the low frequencies, but overall, pretty nice for a simple 2-tranny circuit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umcoo Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 Very nice, I miss the days when I built pedals. I made a red llama too, and it sounded excellent on bass. Someone on here has it now I think. I believe the infamous Bogdan Polish Love is based on the llama too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 (edited) [quote name='Al Heeley' post='578439' date='Aug 23 2009, 07:26 PM'].....Green Red Llama with my Phat Norm mod, which switches out the 68nF cap of the original for a 1uF cap to let the bass tones breathe a little more. Superb pedal for bass or lead, even better than the Tubescreamer, more high end bite and nmuch higher gain range. marvellous! Again, can be used to boost fairly clean or shockingly dirty[/quote] Love the Red Llama pedal, it really is a great overdrive IMO - a classic. Built four of them so far, everytime I've lent one to someone to try, they've also loved it so much, I've ended up giving it away! Got to get round to knocking up another one for myself, this time to keep. Edited August 24, 2009 by nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted August 25, 2009 Author Share Posted August 25, 2009 Nick - did you mod yours at all for bass freq's or use standard component values? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Protium Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 A little something I put together a few weeks ago (the PCB circuit you sent is built up but still needs some debugging Al) [attachment=31527:DSC00770.JPG] [attachment=31528:DSC00771.JPG] Just need to find time to finish the box, what paint did you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted August 25, 2009 Author Share Posted August 25, 2009 Splendid - is that a bit Elephanty? Do you find your windows rattle? Your interior wiring is a lot neater than mine! I got some craft spray in a rattle can from B&Q. It's a bit soft but once fully dried the clear acrylic lacquer gives it a harder finish. Next time I want to try some of those more doody halfords metal-effect rattle cans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Protium Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 (edited) [quote name='Al Heeley' post='580353' date='Aug 25 2009, 03:50 PM']Splendid - is that a bit Elephanty? Do you find your windows rattle? Your interior wiring is a lot neater than mine! I got some craft spray in a rattle can from B&Q. It's a bit soft but once fully dried the clear acrylic lacquer gives it a harder finish. Next time I want to try some of those more doody halfords metal-effect rattle cans.[/quote] A little bit Tried out a few different transistors in Q2, MPSA13 and 3904 give pretty much the same result - Swapped for a 2222 atm. I've tried car spray paint on primer before which dried OK but a bit on the soft side. Don't have any baking facilities unfortunately. Edited August 25, 2009 by Protium Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 (edited) [quote name='Al Heeley' post='579811' date='Aug 25 2009, 07:59 AM']Nick - did you mod yours at all for bass freq's or use standard component values?[/quote] Hi Al, First two I built with the 'stock' 68nF. Second pair I used 1uF caps, because I didn't have any of the former in my bits box at the time. So I guess I had inadvertently modded them Though to be honest, didn't notice a massive difference between the two values of input caps, found enough bass getting through either way - the next one I build for myself will have the 'Al Heeley phat /norm mod' switch in it, as per yours. Cheers Edited August 25, 2009 by nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted August 25, 2009 Author Share Posted August 25, 2009 (edited) well the difference isn't huge as I guess theres more in play than just one cap value in the circuit to contribute to the freq balance, but it does seem to allow the freqency range to 'breathe' a little more. What I need to try is also the increase to cap 3 to maybe .5uf or 1uf at the same time as the 68nf to 1uf cap 1, that should have more significant tone change for bass. Sure sounds great for lead guitar though Edited August 25, 2009 by Al Heeley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 I've tried a tantalum 4.7u cap in place of the 68n, I do think it allowed more bass frequencies thru, it was a bit too shrill for my tastes with the 68n. I'm going to add a switch to mine to switch a diode in and out of the feedback loop of the second gain stage. I've breadboarded it today and it basically switches between overdrive and distortion. I prefer the overdrive sound to that of my bad monkey - it seems more transparent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted August 25, 2009 Author Share Posted August 25, 2009 Now that sounds clever! The other mod suggested was to add a 10k pot in parallel to the Cap3 33nf, so that the hi-pass effect could be tapered off to allow more bass - sort of like adding a tone ctrl to it. Again, not yet tried myself but in the pipeline - must get me a breadboard. Re: tant cap, they are polar, yes? Is that influencing the signal in the path vs a non-polar cap irrespective of its value? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 [quote name='Al Heeley' post='580803' date='Aug 25 2009, 11:22 PM']Now that sounds clever! The other mod suggested was to add a 10k pot in parallel to the Cap3 33nf, so that the hi-pass effect could be tapered off to allow more bass - sort of like adding a tone ctrl to it. Again, not yet tried myself but in the pipeline - must get me a breadboard. Re: tant cap, they are polar, yes? Is that influencing the signal in the path vs a non-polar cap irrespective of its value?[/quote] yeah they are, I don't think it does particularly, it was one I had to hand so I just plugged it in to try out. It only works one way round tho. I did try a 1K pot instead of the resistor from 9V to Vdd of the chip to get some voltage sag, it did have some effect, but I didn't particularly like it. If I get the chance I'll try the parallel pot mod - some kind of rudimentary tone control could be useful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted August 25, 2009 Author Share Posted August 25, 2009 [quote name='steve' post='580811' date='Aug 25 2009, 11:34 PM']...some kind of rudimentary tone control could be useful[/quote] I get a much brighter signal thru this Llama than other distortion.overdrive.fuzz boxes I've built, even with the phat mod - not a bad thing for a lead guitar to cut thru but not so much needed for the bass. Be interested to hear how you get on with your mods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted September 6, 2009 Author Share Posted September 6, 2009 Llama update - used for the first time at a local pub gig tonight, used pretty sparingly on a coupe of heavy punk/metal songs but it adds a huge bottom end growl to the bass lines, really pleased, fuzz setting's on about 4 out of 10, Lots of sharp treble to cut through but a full bass tone as well for a solid foundation. Great stuff! :brow: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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