Building A Tubescreamer...

[shredaholic]

...for a friend. I've not actually got round to trying one of these for myself yet, so I don't have any idea of what mods I should try to the stock circuit to get a sound that works better with his setup.

http://www.tonepad.com/getFileInfo.asp?id=81

That's the circuit I'm going with, starting point is a TS-808. I'm gonna try assymetrical clipping, but apart from that, what extra parts should I order to try for mods to this pedal?

It should be quite nice to work on this after spending all this time making my MXR Flanger point to point from a schematic.

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Building A Tubescreamer...

If you haven't already seen the following article, you might like to check it out: Technology of the Tube Screamer You also might be interested to get an assortment of opamps then you can 'em in and out until you find the one that's "best" for your friend's ear. TubeScreamer Chip Assortment

[RevJToad]

Re: Building A Tubescreamer...

I made the ill-advised decision to buy a TS7 a few years back, which could best be described as sonic pestilence. That said, I just ordered a kit from ebay that supposedly changes it to TS808 spec - total cost for the kit and the pedal is about half the cost of a TS9 reissue. I'll let you know how it goes.

The one nice thing about the TS7 is the settings knobs that lock in, so once you've got it set how you like it, you can kick it around without losing your settings.

[B Bent]

Re: Building A Tubescreamer...

I will start the build of my TS808 tonight baby!!! Woo hoo. I cheat though. I bought the clone from BYOC. LOL.

[shredaholic]

Re: Building A Tubescreamer...

lol I've got the circuit board for that BYOC clone too, I'm saving that for if I decide to build my own tubescreamer though. I won it along with the chorus and tremelo boards in their pedal contest. Let me know what you think of the build once it's done.

[ErikH]

Re: Building A Tubescreamer...

My recommendations is to build it stock first. Get the thing working, become familiar with it and see how your friend likes it. If he wants a little different sound from it, then proceed with mods, but get it working first.

[shredaholic]

Re: Building A Tubescreamer...

Yeh that's kindof what I was planning on doing. I just thought I might order a few extra parts for mods beforehand, so i didnt have to put in a separate order after it's built. Looking at some of the typical mods though, I think I have most of the components that I'd need anyway.

[joelap]

Re: Building A Tubescreamer...

Bainzy, something cool I found on a DIY forum for pedals is some guy actually soldered two chips in parallel... I think he put an LM308 on top of (literally) either a TI 4558 or the JRC 4558D chip, soldered the pins to each other, and then dropped it in the socket. It draws more current, but it sounds like something pretty original to try out? I really f*cked up my tube screamer build when i did it PTP. I had it working perfectly from a schematic, and when I fired it up it worked and I was amazed... especially when I found out I forgot to install the chip and transistors (only the sockets). I turned it off quick and havent been able to get it to work since. Bummer! I've still got all the parts and I'm thinking of buying a board for it this summer and redoing it, but I probably fried the electrolytics in there. Who knows.

Be careful

[ErikH]

Re: Building A Tubescreamer...

Joe, if you forgot to put in the chip and transistors in their sockets, there's no way it would've worked so it has to be put together wrong somewhere. Make yourself one of the audio probes and have at it. That tool is a must for anyone doing DIY.

Stacking op-amps is pretty cool. Haven't tried it myself. You have to make sure the pinout of both chips match. I don't think a 308 and 4558 have the same pinout (I could be wrong though). I'm tinkering with the idea of trying this with my SD-1. It is a OPA2134PA in it now and I have a couple extras laying around.