EH BASSBALLS MOD/s (Those crazy synth bastards... )

A forum devoted to mod, tips and suggestions for upgrading and rehousing your VERY CHEAP commercial stompbox to near boutique excellence.
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puppiesonacid
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Post by puppiesonacid »

http://electro-music.com/forum/ptopic-14440.html


thought this might be of intrest to someone here...enjoy


puppiesonacid.

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JiM
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Post by JiM »

This FuzzyBalls is weired ! I had a look at it but thought i'll never have enough space for all the controls (and now i'm building a SubCommander from Music from Outer Space ... :roll: )

The simplest and funniest mod for a BassBalls is to give access to the internal trimpots. They control the sensitivity (and therefore they somewhat control the range too) of each filter.
Look at this : http://basstyra.free.fr/atelier/pages/b ... balls.html
The page is in french, but the pictures speak for themselves.

I did that on my Behringer :oops: VB-1 "Vintage Bass", along with a fast/slow switch as suggested by Mark Hammer :
http://hammer.ampage.org/files/fast-slow.png
http://hammer.ampage.org/?cmd=lt&xid=&fid=&ex=&pg=2
http://hammer.ampage.org/files/Ultraballz.jpg
http://hammer.ampage.org/?cmd=lt&xid=&fid=&ex=&pg=3

It sounds great with guitar and bass, you really can dial a lot of sounds, from plain wah to somewhat phazzy, or even a swarm of mosquitos with fuzz enabled, low filter off and hi filter full.
You can also get the filters sensitivity staggered for second-shot effect when hitting notes harder.
I get some strange resonnances with a phaser (or two :twisted:) before it, and i also like to put a delay before with mix > 50% : the filter sweep is maximum on first repeat, and then fades ...

There's a nice build project here :
http://topopiccione.atspace.com/PJ08EHBassBalls.html
btw, i love the look of these schematics ! Looks like it's a copy/pasting art of old hand-drawn DOD schems, must have been a lot of work.
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skylark44
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Post by skylark44 »

Hey Jim, could you post pics of the guts...so I can see what things looks like on the inside? I've got a Behringer VB-1, and would like to do the same mods to it. :mrgreen:

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JiM
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Post by JiM »

skylark44 wrote:Hey Jim, could you post pics of the guts...so I can see what things looks like on the inside? I've got a Behringer VB-1, and would like to do the same mods to it. :mrgreen:
I did a quick gutshot, it doesn't show much of the PCB unfortunately.
The pots are just pin-for-pin replacement of the trimpots. Those are a bit tricky to unsolder, because of lead-free solder that require quite a lot of heat. Be careful not to lift PCB traces.
The SPDT switch does the exact same thing as Mark Hammer's fast-slow switch linked above.
Attachments
VB-1_guts.jpg
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Post by skylark44 »

Thanx Jim...I tired to "adjust" my VB-1 (to make it sound "better"), but it sounds different then before (but not in a good way :roll: :| ). Any idea how the internal trimpots are supposed to be set ?(I'd like it to sound the way it came from the factory...until I mod it properly. :mrgreen:

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JiM
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Dallas Rangemaster (w/ noisy OC75, negative ground)
SubCaster tube booster (w/ NoS russian tube, PtP)
Hot Harmonics
Music From Outer Space SubCommander in progress
Crackle Not OK
Simple bass blender in a 1590A
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Post by JiM »

skylark44 wrote:Thanx Jim...I tired to "adjust" my VB-1 (to make it sound "better"), but it sounds different then before (but not in a good way :roll: :| ). Any idea how the internal trimpots are supposed to be set ?(I'd like it to sound the way it came from the factory...until I mod it properly. :mrgreen:
According to these guys :
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f36/elect ... ds-600144/
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f36/nano- ... od-590329/
and the silkscreen on the NanoBassBalls PCB, the filters are tuned at 200Hz and 800Hz respectively. But i don"t know for which input amplitude and sensitivity setting.
Being exactly two octaves apart is what brings the phaser-like charcter to the sound.
This concept has even been used by ROG for a faux-phaser : http://www.runoffgroove.com/phozer.html

Some more info on the BB :
http://topopiccione.atspace.com/PJ08EHBassBalls.html
https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/ ... 005.0;wap2
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Post by skylark44 »

Sorry for the nOOb question...but how do I wire up a SP/DT switch for the "Fast/Slow" mod ?(and what cap/resistor do I use?). :mrgreen:

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Post by RnFR »

puppiesonacid wrote:http://electro-music.com/forum/ptopic-14440.html


thought this might be of intrest to someone here...enjoy


puppiesonacid.
there's no bassballs content in this link.
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JiM
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Completed builds: Completed builds :
Proco Rat
MXR MicroAmp in a volume pedal
TubeDriver (w/ NoS russian tube and big muff tone contol) + Phase 45 (w/ univibe cap ratio)
Dallas Rangemaster (w/ noisy OC75, negative ground)
SubCaster tube booster (w/ NoS russian tube, PtP)
Hot Harmonics
Music From Outer Space SubCommander in progress
Crackle Not OK
Simple bass blender in a 1590A
Bazz Fuss with a photo-darlington
Location: France
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Post by JiM »

RnFR wrote:
puppiesonacid wrote:http://electro-music.com/forum/ptopic-14440.html
thought this might be of intrest to someone here...enjoy
puppiesonacid.
there's no bassballs content in this link.
Here is the thing that used to be discussed there : http://urekarm.tripod.com/synth/fuzzyballs.html
I have no idea why they would shuffle forum threads and mess links ... unless they also had to move servers to survive DMCA.
skylark44 wrote:Sorry for the nOOb question...but how do I wire up a SP/DT switch for the "Fast/Slow" mod ?(and what cap/resistor do I use?). :mrgreen:
This is easy to spot. There is, on the right-hand edge of the PCB, a resistor in series with a diode. Your switch shall shunt an additional series resistor in one position, and add a cap in parallel to ground in the other, as shown in the schematic linked above. First position is therefore stock, second position has slower attack (higher resistance) and slower decay (bigger capacitance).
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Post by skylark44 »

Jim- what value resistor & cap do I use (for the fast/slow mod)? ...also, is the EH PCB the same as the Behringers, as far as part locations? (because I couldn't tell where they were, from the pics I saw :scratch: ). Thanx for the help. :mrgreen:

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JiM
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Proco Rat
MXR MicroAmp in a volume pedal
TubeDriver (w/ NoS russian tube and big muff tone contol) + Phase 45 (w/ univibe cap ratio)
Dallas Rangemaster (w/ noisy OC75, negative ground)
SubCaster tube booster (w/ NoS russian tube, PtP)
Hot Harmonics
Music From Outer Space SubCommander in progress
Crackle Not OK
Simple bass blender in a 1590A
Bazz Fuss with a photo-darlington
Location: France
Has thanked: 70 times
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Contact:

Post by JiM »

skylark44 wrote:Jim- what value resistor & cap do I use (for the fast/slow mod)?
I've used 330 ohms and 10µF. Experiment !
skylark44 wrote: ...also, is the EH PCB the same as the Behringers, as far as part locations? (because I couldn't tell where they were, from the pics I saw :scratch: ). Thanx for the help. :mrgreen:
No thery're not. The original BassBalls has through-hole construction, and while the NanoBassBalls and the VB-1 both use SMD, they have a totally different form factor.
Really, it should not be hard to find a series of opamp output -> diode -> resistor -> cap to ground.
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