Elka - Dizzy Tone  [schematic]

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

adding my first bit.. sort of..

traced an Elka Dizzy Tone yesterday.
9v positive ground Garage Fuzz!
couldn't hardly find any info on the net, so thought it might be of interest..

link:
http://www.newtone-online.nl/forum/inde ... 804.0.html

i couldn't find any info on the transistors either, and since the theoretical side of things is not my forte i'm even in honest doubt as to wether they're supposed to be NPN or PNP.. anybody that can fill some blanks is very welcome to do so. and since i'm new at tracing, any tips and tricks on improving the layout are welcome as well..
i still have the unit here for a couple more days btw.

i was wondering if the schematic rings a bell for anyone- is this a clone of anything i'm supposed to know?

tanx

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RLBJR65
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Post by RLBJR65 »

Thanks!
Some transistor info is available.
SFT308 GE PNP http://www.datasheetarchive.com/specsheet/SFT308.html
SFT352 GE PNP http://www.datasheetarchive.com/specsheet/SFT352.html

Any chance of getting a good gut shot?

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remork
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Post by remork »

wow!
superquick.. thanks!
will update (and doublecheck) tomorrow or asap.

it's a weird piece of kit- none of the controls are clear in their function.. basically you have 3 volume pots :)
as discussed in that linked topic, the "balance" would've made sense as a blend between clean and fuzz-
but when i play it it just blends between fuzz and nothing at all.
the "attack" looks like a BMPi tonestack, but it just seems to zero out when turned fully ccw, without altering the tone much..
still, useful with everything dimed 8)

as for gutshots, i'll have to post some on the same site (or here), since i don't have a photobucket-or-whatsit account.
anything specific you'd like to see up close?

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analogguru
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Post by analogguru »

In principle it is a colorsound tonebender.
More specific it is nearly identical to its predecesor the Baldwin Burns Buzzaround

I assume the first collector resistor should be 10k instead of 1k.

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Post by MoreCowbell »

GS Wyllie traced that one years ago... I havent checked it against your schematic though to see if they match.

Image

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remork
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Post by remork »

hey hey
looking good..

few discrepancies though:
the 680K resistor is missing in his trace. might be the only important difference.
it is pretty clear in this gutshot, in which you can also see that the 1K is indeed a 10K- my mistake.. :slap:

the sustain pot on mine is definitely 250K.
the attack pot on mine is definitely 1M (sort of visible in that same pic, the pot on the right in the background).
the two caps going to the "attack" pot are 0.1 and 0.001 on mine.
can't get my camera round to the lettering of the yellow one, but it reads
procond
1.M3C
.0010/10%
160V-

the rest of it is identical..
i'll correct that mistake and add the info.
thanks again..

now when i turn the "attack" pot fully to the 0.001 side, i get a huge volume drop.
if i bridge this one with a .01 cap (parallelling it) -closer to G.S. Wyllie's schem- volume reappears. it actually makes for a decent tone control all of a sudden :)
guess it didn't matter much, as it has tons of headroom..
sounds nifty.
analogguru wrote:In principle it is a colorsound tonebender.
More specific it is nearly identical to its predecesor the Baldwin Burns Buzzaround
analogguru
if it's tonebender mk I-era, i guess it's safe to assume that this thing has been lying gathering dust for quite some years? anybody got an time/year for this one?
just wondering, it's not even mine so it's not like i could go ebay with it :twisted:
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remork
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Post by remork »

new schematic..


redid the wiring, cleaned the pots, replaced 1 cap with a ceramic 0.01 one.
and installed a led upon simple request of the owner.. bye bye vintage value :twisted:
hey, it's meant to be played.. not sold.
you can do a pretty mean Stooges-impersonation with this baby now. :thumbsup:

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Post by MoreCowbell »

remork wrote:new schematic..
DizzySchem2.jpg
redid the wiring, cleaned the pots, replaced 1 cap with a ceramic 0.01 one.
and installed a led upon simple request of the owner.. bye bye vintage value :twisted:
hey, it's meant to be played.. not sold.
you can do a pretty mean Stooges-impersonation with this baby now. :thumbsup:

your corrected schematic shows no input cap.

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remork
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Post by remork »

oh crap :shock:
DizzySchem2.jpg

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Post by MoreCowbell »

remork wrote:oh crap :shock:
DizzySchem2.jpg
It happens to all of us ! :)

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remork
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Post by remork »

where i come from they have a saying that goes something like
"it can happen to anyone
but the stupid ones get it first"

..uhmmm..

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Post by royaltoots »

Does anyone know where the Elka Dizzy Tone was made? Maybe it's in the Analogman book, don't remember.
I'm curious because the transistors seem to be American as far as I can tell, but it looks European. SFT = Solid State Devices /Solid State Micro Technology of California?
I know Elka made organs, but can't find much more info. If I had to guess I'd say Italian.

Thanks to remork for tracing this! I'd seen the Dizzy Tone name around, but didn't know it was in the 'first wave' of fuzz. Since we don't have the Buzzaround schem, this is my next build, thought it won't be for a few weeks.
I haven't found the a cheap source for the original trannies, but SFT308 seems to be roughly equivalent to AF121, AF124 and AF200, none of which I've used before (but they aren't expensive - always good to get a lead on some 'new' Ge!), while SFT352 = AC125 and 126 - also cheap.

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Post by analogguru »

Elka was made in Italy and became later a part of GEM.
There was also a connection to JEN.

SFT transistors were made by COSEM. COSEM means:
Compagnie Generale de Semi-conducteurs
As the name tells the company was located in Puteaux/Seine in France.

COSEM was founded in 1955 as R.P.C. In 1960 the name changed to COSEM. COSEM was a part of the CSF group and became later SESCOSEM. In 1985 the name changed to Thomson-CSF. After fusioning with the italian manufacturer SGS-Ates the company´s name became SGS-Thomson which should be well known today as ST or STM.

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Post by royaltoots »

thanks!

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remork
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Post by remork »

analogguru wrote:In principle it is a colorsound tonebender.
More specific it is nearly identical to its predecesor the Baldwin Burns Buzzaround
analogguru
any thoughts on the actual differences?
(i found someone who's sourcing parts from old farfisa stuff
willing to share a pair of SFT352's with me.. :applause: joy!!)

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Post by Nyquist5 »

Yep, it was made in Italy: it is written inside mine, which can be seen here (click on the Dizzy link or the "pedals" page on the left):
http://nicosonic.free.fr/english/indexen.html).

As can be seen from the schem (thanks guys!), it is close to a JEN Coloursound ToneBender MkIII, except for the "tone control" section which acts bizarrely as noted before.

The sound is ugly but nice (!). I have played a proper Jen ToneBender MkIII and it logically sounds close, although mine is a bit more dirty.

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Post by royaltoots »

remork wrote:
analogguru wrote:In principle it is a colorsound tonebender.
More specific it is nearly identical to its predecesor the Baldwin Burns Buzzaround
analogguru
any thoughts on the actual differences?
check the Buzzaround thread - the topolology/structure is the same, but some values are different. I'm working on a direct comparison and vero layout.

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Post by beedotman »

Vero layout for Dizz Tone that sould fit easily 1590B or 125B enclosure. [smilie=banana.gif]
Trannies could be mounted on sockets.
I'm not sure if lug 1 of Sustain and Balance pots should be connected to ground (in Buzzaround those are not connected). :scratch:
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Post by beedotman »

beedotman wrote:I'm not sure if lug 1 of Sustain and Balance pots should be connected to ground (in Buzzaround those are not connected). :scratch:
Pls disregard this sentence :slap:

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Post by beedotman »

tag board adaptation based on Buzzaround layout

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