VOX (JEN) Tone Bender - circa 1966 - 197(?)  [schematic]

Discussion regarding early stompbox technology: 1960-1975 Please keep discussion focused and contribute what info you have...
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sinner
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Post by sinner »

Rrrrright...

I did little of detective work for old VOX Tone Bender, and poor man variant also knows as a Jen Fuzz (or/and JEN Tone Bender)

Anyway, I have the poor man version and I did exact dimensioned replica layout, as well as the notes about most common variants.

My documentation contains six slightly different versions with minor changes from those goodshots I had stored on my hard drive (including rare silicon version). There can be versions some ware other unknown to me, if you know them, let me (us) know

Wiring is - what it was back then (swapped ins, and outs)

I'm not sure PCB mounting bolts spacing, when I get back home I do corrections if necessary

I will also do exact mounting bracket draw with all dimensions if you want it

Print .pdf to A4 format and you should have the real PNP dimensions (no image file, to biggy)

Like I said, if you have something to elaborate (info, guts), please do!

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Post by DrNomis »

Cool, I might end up making one of these in the near future Sinner..... :thumbsup

At the moment I'm working on building a modded Rangemaster, the tagboard's all ready, just need to do the work on the enclosure..... :thumbsup
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Post by sinner »

I'll do them all, or at least breadboard it. I'm curious about that silicon version, all info (limited) I have is the quote from R.G's website...
The Fuzz Face also attracted a number of clones even in the Golden Age. The Vox Tone Bender (not to be confused with the Colour Sound Tone Bender) was a copy with only minimal changes to the the component values, and adapted to NPN silicon transistors. There have been several versions of the Vox Tone Bender and the Vox Distortion Booster, all variants on the basic circuit.


with the schemo attached to this quote (clearly shown 47k on Level pot), and one gootshot coming from I can't remember where - without that 47k, but with 2k2 resistor changed to 1k

I have no idea what transistors it might be...

(all attached)

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Post by DrNomis »

When I view the image of the circuit board magnified, I can just make-out 2N5580, or something like that on one of the Si transistors, the other one is a bit harder to see..... :thumbsup
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Post by sinner »

Nice, I see nothing (cheep shit screen I have here).

It's low gain transistor 10-40hfe... and NPN indeed

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Post by DrNomis »

Hmmmmm.... that's an unusually low Hfe range for Si transistors..... :thumbsup

I might have a look in one of my Transistor spec books for possible subs later on..... :thumbsup
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Post by LucifersTrip »

sinner wrote:Nice, I see nothing (cheep shit screen I have here).

It's low gain transistor 10-40hfe... and NPN indeed
according to this, it's a power transistor....which is doubtful
http://transistor-spravochnik.ru/descri ... n5580/5047

I built the ge version a while back with this schematic:

Image

It's a smooth, thin & very trebly (look at in/out caps!) fuzz with very good sustain. If you don't like the mushy-ness or darkness that you can get with some ge FF's, this is for you!

At the time, I had no idea what Q2C voltage was supposed to be, so I have an external pot. I believe Solidhex noted that it should be a bit higher than a Fuzz Face...but how high? Were there voltage measurements from an original in any threads here....

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Post by sinner »

Shame to say, but i didn't took the voltages of my JEN. As well as I had no resistors measurments. Ill try to fix it. Mine is also hi freq pump, but works great in gig/band situations, where typica setup FF dissaperes.

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Post by LucifersTrip »

sounds cool...

In your pdf above from "mine", is it unusual that Q1 has such low leakage (0) and Q2 gain is so low (37). On the SFT337 datasheet I saw, it says 100hfe typical, but I could not find a datasheet for SFT363E

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Post by sinner »

LucifersTrip wrote:sounds cool...

In your pdf above from "mine", is it unusual that Q1 has such low leakage (0) and Q2 gain is so low (37). On the SFT337 datasheet I saw, it says 100hfe typical, but I could not find a datasheet for SFT363E

Yeah, i was also suprised that the Q1 is gainer tgan Q2, but this is what it was. There is no datasheet for 363e online? Ill try to search when i get home

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Post by sinner »

Yeah, no datasheet for that... But I checket datasheets from three manufactures for OC76 (late equivalent) and all shows hfe range around of 45. I suspect no much differences to SFT363E's spec-wise

I have some OC76 AFAIR (large cans, similar to OC81's in look), I need to test what I have ;)

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Post by sinner »

Scraps of info about silicon version

We still unsure what si VOX TB transistors ware, but...

There was limited DAM 1966 issue with silicons onboard. D.main was using BC179 & BC177 transistors - that makes +/-120 & +/-400hfe ranges

That BC179 & BC177 are clearly not the same type what we have in VOX, as that's TO-18 case (metal canned) transistors, and VOX TB had TO-92 plastic case housing

But perhaps gain ranges are equivalented? D.Main is known from other hand from messing with the spec of his units (different bias, "miller" caps), so I may be totally wrong...

I'm trying to find better gutshots of that 1966 version to be sure (or close to sure) what was changed bias-wise

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Post by sinner »

again, other way around

BC177 is 120hfe, Bc179 400

And the picture of the si vox bender was taken by D.main (DAM effects) as this is his unit

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Post by sinner »

sinner wrote: That BC179 & BC177 are clearly not the same type what we have in VOX
Just noticed - that's PNP trannies. And the pict of the reall stuff shows NPN circuit...

:hmmm: :scratch: any Silicon VOX Tone Bender owners out there? :mrgreen:

:whappen:

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Post by sinner »

Promissed bracket draw.

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Post by agoldoor »

sinner wrote:
sinner wrote: That BC179 & BC177 are clearly not the same type what we have in VOX
Just noticed - that's PNP trannies. And the pict of the reall stuff shows NPN circuit...

:hmmm: :scratch: any Silicon VOX Tone Bender owners out there? :mrgreen:

:whappen:
This is a totally different pedal, but here is a silicon Vox Tonebender Mark III, which I think people call the "Treble N' Bass" model. The schematic was posted today on the DAM forum:
https://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt1 ... TNBSch.jpg

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Post by sinner »

agoldoor wrote:
sinner wrote:
sinner wrote: That BC179 & BC177 are clearly not the same type what we have in VOX
Just noticed - that's PNP trannies. And the pict of the reall stuff shows NPN circuit...

:hmmm: :scratch: any Silicon VOX Tone Bender owners out there? :mrgreen:

:whappen:
This is a totally different pedal, but here is a silicon Vox Tonebender Mark III, which I think people call the "Treble N' Bass" model. The schematic was posted today on the DAM forum:
https://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt1 ... TNBSch.jpg

viewtopic.php?f=75&t=18963

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Post by LucifersTrip »

sinner wrote:
LucifersTrip wrote:sounds cool...

In your pdf above from "mine", is it unusual that Q1 has such low leakage (0) and Q2 gain is so low (37). On the SFT337 datasheet I saw, it says 100hfe typical, but I could not find a datasheet for SFT363E

Yeah, i was also suprised that the Q1 is gainer tgan Q2, but this is what it was. There is no datasheet for 363e online? Ill try to search when i get home
I was really curious what the voltages would be and what this would sound like with hfe (Q2) so different than the typical FF....so I breadboard your version with two ge's with almost the same numbers (on my Peak Analyzer).

Image
Q1: 77 hfe / 0 leak
Q2: 36 hfe / .05mA leak

...and it is killer...like a fuzzy knife!

I was surprised that Q2 biased close to a typical FF.

EBC
Q1: 0, .24, 1.08
Q2: .94, 1.08, 4.30

I will experiment a bit, but I am tempted to keep it the way it is...

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Post by sinner »

I'm glad you like it :-) this is another evidence that fuller buckets are not nesseserly the only sweet spot avaiable

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Post by LucifersTrip »

Done experimenting...A rarity, but it sounded so evil with those original 2 transistors, I'm leaving them alone.

Though, since this has so much high end with a small vol pot (50K or 500K w/ 50K across lugs), you can easily raise Q2 collector voltage > 7v and it still sounds killer....like the MKII. It's fatter but still cuts like a knife. I'm going to use an external pot to go from 4V = 7.5V

Also, I tried larger vol pots. It still had that sharp fuzz with a 100K, got fatter and retained it's character. If I went higher (250K+), it's just too fat and gets muddier.

So, a great mod here, and one that I will box with, is a 500K pot and switch between a 50K and 100K resistor across the lugs.

thanx again Sinner for posting your box with a 37hfe Q2...or I probably wouldn't have tried it.

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