Myths, Legends and the Mojo of the Dallas Rangemaster

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

I use this one, but there are many others that will do: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Alp ... SvSQ%3d%3d

In fact the alpha rotaries that small bear and PPP carry are all adjustable, so even though they have like twelve throws available, you can set them to have fewer positions.

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Post by JVanDe7 »

Yeah I saw those. That's why I asked actually. I wasn't sure how those adjustable things worked and would rather just buy a straight up 4 position switch. Thanks again man!
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Post by phibes »

Their super simple to set.
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Post by JVanDe7 »

Cool thanks.

IvIark put this vero layout recently. Pretty neat. 6 way input cap switching. Unverified but looks good to go.

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/201 ... -caps.html
Rangemaster with switchable input caps.png
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Post by beedotman »

JVanDe7 wrote:Cool thanks.

IvIark put this vero layout recently. Pretty neat. 6 way input cap switching. Unverified but looks good to go.

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/201 ... -caps.html
Rangemaster with switchable input caps.png
There's no filtering 47uF cap, but it will work without it.

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Post by JVanDe7 »

Yeah I noticed that too. I messaged him and he replied (if you click the link you'll see this info under "comments" below)

"But in answer to your question yes the other 47u is a power supply filter cap and wouldn't be required with a battery. You could still add one if you wanted, just put it from the first to third row on the right hand side of the board above the trimmer, and daisy chain the ground wire to go from the bottom to the third row. Also remember the positive side of the cap would need to go to ground."
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Post by beedotman »

OK, here's my version for Rangemaster.
.15" pitch stripboard, will fit 125B enclosure.

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Post by beedotman »

And here's version with input cap blend. 8)

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Post by beedotman »

updated layouts
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rangemaster.png
rangemaster.pdf
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rangemaster_input_cap_blend.png
rangemaster_input_cap_blend.pdf
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Post by DrNomis »

I just recently bought four Metal Can style OC44 PNP Ge Transistors from Pedal Parts Plus, I measured the Hfe of them, three had an Hfe in the 70s, and one had an Hfe of about 119, I used it and one of the other OC44 transistors to replace the ones in my Germanium Fuzz Face, incidentally they do seem to work well and sound good in a Fuzz Face circuit, anyway I'm planning on getting all the bits and pieces together to build a Rangemaster, so far I've got two spare OC44 transistors and an 8-Way Tagstrip, here's what my OC44 transistors look like, I know they're not Mullards, but I'm going to use one of them anyway:
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Metal Can OC44 PNP Ge Transistors
Metal Can OC44 PNP Ge Transistors
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Post by Seiche »

why shouldn't they sound good in a fuzz face? they have the right values!

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Post by DrNomis »

You're right Seiche... :thumbsup

Anyways, I've got all my Rangemaster parts now and will be building it this weekend, might see if I can get a clip posted here or in the workbench section.... :thumbsup

I couldn't source a 10kA pot so I'm going to try using a 25kA pot instead, I'm going to breadboard the circuit first so I can select the resistors that get the OC44 transistor I'm using biased right.... :thumbsup

One question, is there a general consensus on the best collector-voltage biasing point?.... :thumbsup
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Post by DrNomis »

Okay, I've just been breadboarding my Rangemaster build, I used a 25kA pot instead of a 10kA, anyway with a 470k resistor and a 68k resistor for the divider-biasing system, and with a 3k9 emitter resistor, I found that the collector-voltage was about 3V, I substituted a 2M2 resistor for the 470k and that brought the collector-voltage up to 6.8V, input cap was a 5.6nF greencap and the output cap was a 10nF/630V greencap, next I tried using the breadboarded circuit to overdrive my little 5 Watt Legacy Valve Edition 5 plus, and got a really good midrangey kind of overdrive sound, I'll have to do a couple of clips to post in this thread..... :thumbsup

By the way, I'm wondering if my OC44 transistors could be a bit too leaky for use in this circuit if I have to use a 2M2 resistor instead of a 470k.... :hmmm:
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Post by LucifersTrip »

DrNomis wrote:You're right Seiche... :thumbsup


One question, is there a general consensus on the best collector-voltage biasing point?.... :thumbsup
You're in the right range (forgive the pun) with your 6.8. (6.6 - 7.2 is generally considered good).

But, I don't think you should've been so far off with your 3V with stock components. Of all the 5 or so Rangemasters I've built, I have never been more than ~ 1v off the mark with my choice of transistors.

Also, the common practice is to alter the resistors from base & emitter to ground, not the 470K

Here's is the classic article on how to tweak (page 4 for tuning):
http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/R ... tboost.pdf

One note...choose very low leakage or you'll probably wind up with a hiss (shhhhhh...) and it also probbably won't be near 7V

good luck

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Post by Electric Warrior »

DrNomis wrote: By the way, I'm wondering if my OC44 transistors could be a bit too leaky for use in this circuit if I have to use a 2M2 resistor instead of a 470k.... :hmmm:
How much do they leak? My Mullard and Valvos are all low leakage.

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Post by DrNomis »

Well, since my semiconductor component analyser died on me, I've no real way of finding out how much leakage my OC44s have, other than using RG's resistor/multimeter method, I'm going to wait till next fortnight to buy a new semiconductor component analyser and continue on with the building then..... :thumbsup


Stay tuned for a before/after clip..... :thumbsup
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Post by DrNomis »

Sorry for the double-posting..... :oops:


As it turns out, the reason why I wasn't able to get the OC44 I was using to bias-up with the stock values was due to the 25kA pot being too big in value for the transistor I was using, I swapped the pot for a 10kA and the transistor biased-up with -6.8V on it's collector, here's a list of the parts I used on the breadboard:


Resistors:

X1 4k7/ 5% 1 Watt.

X1 68k/ 5% 1Watt.

X1 470k/ 5% 1 Watt.

Pot:

X1 10kA 24mm Alpha.

Capacitors:

X1 5n6

X1 10nF

Semiconductors:

X1 OC44 Hfe 116


I tried the breadboarded circuit with my little 5 Watt Legacy Valve Amp and it works good, sounds great.


I'm going to modify the circuit so that I can switch-in one of 6 different value input capacitors ranging from 6n8 to 1nF, and I'll be labelling the switch "Range", and the 10kA pot "Boost"..... :thumbsup
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Post by DrNomis »

Okay, I've been noticing something a bit strange about my Rangemaster build, it appears to be acting more like a midrange booster rather than a treble-booster, I've been reading RG Keen's article and it says that with a .0056uF (5n6) input cap the gain should start out at unity for about 80Hz and roughly double for each octave up in frequency, and the tone should get thinner as you decrease the value of the input cap, that actually doesn't appear to be happening in my build, I get alot of gain at lower frequencies and the gain drops of at higher frequencies, even if I reduce the input cap to as low as 1nF, very strange..... :scratch:

Everything else appears to be right though, it just doesn't seem to want to work as a treble-booster..... :scratch:
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Post by allesz »

Hallo Dr. Normis.
I recently build a germanium booster, not really faithfull to the rangemaster schematic, and with bigger caps in and out (22n and 100n). When on the breadboard I tried to swap the germanium tranny with a silicon one; the treble response got really better and, sometimes, it could be piercing.
I read a lot of people (here or whas dys?) comment that the rangemaster is not a treblebooster, but a high mid booster, with some distortion added.
So what you say may not mean you got a problem: it is just the way it sound.
maybe you can experiment with the base bias network and the emitter resistor values; and a small cap from emitter to ground, just to boost some highs?

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Post by DrNomis »

allesz wrote:Hallo Dr. Normis.
I recently build a germanium booster, not really faithfull to the rangemaster schematic, and with bigger caps in and out (22n and 100n). When on the breadboard I tried to swap the germanium tranny with a silicon one; the treble response got really better and, sometimes, it could be piercing.
I read a lot of people (here or whas dys?) comment that the rangemaster is not a treblebooster, but a high mid booster, with some distortion added.
So what you say may not mean you got a problem: it is just the way it sound.
maybe you can experiment with the base bias network and the emitter resistor values; and a small cap from emitter to ground, just to boost some highs?

I guess I was (wrongly) assuming that, because it's called a Treble Booster, then it's supposed to sound trebly, I think this particular design was one of those "mislabeled" effects, so to speak, my build does seem to work really well with my little 5 Watt Legacy amp, it's a re-badged Epiphone Valve special and the amp naturally has a dark midrangey kind of sound on it's own, I found that my Rangemaster seems to do two things, firstly it gets rid of the bass mudiness in the amps distortion, and it also seems to make the sound much crunchier, kind of like a Marshall, I might try your suggestions and see how they work, cheers..... :thumbsup
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