Danelectro Fab Distortion and or Overdrive

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platinum321
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Post by platinum321 »

Danelectro Fab Distortion _ Any suggestions as to what one may do to play with this neat little box?

Also the Danelecto Fab Overdrive

I am a begginer and am trying to learn what is what.

Thanks all in advance for any suggestions.

I can post images of guts of the box if this might help.
I am guessing it would.

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grolschie
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frank.clarke
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Post by frank.clarke »

platinum321 wrote: I can post images of guts of the box if this might help.
I am guessing it would.
No, not with google being so easy: w_w.geocities_com/diygescorp/danelectrofabtone.gif

(Good think I'm not allowed to link)

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frank.clarke
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Post by frank.clarke »

Oh, and the picture with the button to turn the effect on was funny too, thanks for posting that :).

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Uma Floresta
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Post by Uma Floresta »

On the little red Fab Distortion (not the Fab Tone - different animal), if you put in an extra pot as a variac in the power supply, you get a nice gated fuzz sound, at about 2K resistance. Best place would probably be in the voltage supply wire that connects the switching board to the effect board. It should be the red wire.

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TWANG
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Post by TWANG »

some links no longer up..
if anyone's done the fab overdrive.. I'm interested.

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Post by IvIark »

Here's some gut shots:
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FabOD-001.jpg
FabOD-002.jpg
FabOD-003.jpg
FabOD-004.jpg
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Uma Floresta
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Post by Uma Floresta »

The Fab OD is more or less a Tube Screamer.

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TWANG
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Post by TWANG »

I'm new to pedals but it looks like I'd be swapping caps here ?

https://www.freestompboxes.org/download/ ... d=7375&t=1

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Post by mictester »

TWANG wrote:I'm new to pedals but it looks like I'd be swapping caps here ?

https://www.freestompboxes.org/download/ ... d=7375&t=1

Nope - wouldn't make the slightest difference (unless you put in different values!).

Play around with the clipping diodes instead - you'll make significant changes to the sound that way.
"Why is it humming?" "Because it doesn't know the words!"

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TWANG
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Post by TWANG »

I've got a red led I pulled out of a BBE Crusher.
I only see one diode in there..

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Post by P1NkY »

TWANG wrote:I've got a red led I pulled out of a BBE Crusher.
I only see one diode in there..
The diode I think you're referring to (in the first picture) is the reverse polarity protection device. Changing it will not affect the sound at all.
The diodes you'd need to change are the ones I highlighted in the attachment. They are 5 diodes in the feedback loop of the opamp (2 going one way and 3 the other for assymetrical clipping). They are SMD diodes in transistor cases (equivalent to 1N914 or 1N4148 silicon diodes, I can't remember which) and can be pretty tedious to "swap out" even if you had replacements in the same footprint. For "normal" (through-hole) replacements, your best bet would be to cut the traces leading to the "diode chains" and solder two VERY thin, flexible wires leading to a small "daughterboard" where you would install your replacement diodes (and/or mosfets, LEDs -whatever combination you dream up). Then you'd have to find where to "stuff" all this, er, "stuff" ;-) (preferably insulated) in the cramped confines of the case (or make a hole somewhere and stick it on the outside) or just rehouse the whole shebang in a larger enclosure.
Please don't think I'm trying to discourage you from modding the FAB OD, it's just that it's a lot of tedious work to mod these surface mount circuits. For a beginner at modding, I'd recommend modding a normal through-hole stompbox or building one of those sweet clone kits. I worked for 5 years as an electronics tech specializing in SMT, where I built up my "chops". I've reworked densely populated SMD boards on medical equipment with just a fine tipped soldering iron, liquid flux, solder wick, magnifying lamp and tweezers. I actually find it fun (once I got the hang of it!). If you're still up to it, practice on some scrap SMD boards from discarded radios, computers and whatnot. Who knows, you might enjoy it too! Good luck!
P.S.: I've got a FAB OD I've worked on quite a bit, but it's always gone back to stock! IDK, I just haven't gotten a "better" sound out of it, so I always revert it... If you still want to mod it, just let us know what you'd like to change on it, and I'll try my best to help out! (Sorry for the l o n g post, LOL!) :?
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Post by Hides-His-Eyes »

someone selling one of the distortions cheap on HCFX; good enough to be worth messing with or not worth it?
Testing, testing, won too fwee

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