Durham Electronics - Sex Drive  [traced]

General documentation, gut shot, schematic links, ongoing circuit tracing, deep thoughts ... all about boutique stompboxes.
User avatar
teleman
Information
Posts: 25
Joined: 07 Nov 2007, 23:33

Post by teleman »

I tried a Mucho Boosto today and didn't like it too much. It had a fizzy or fuzzy top end that couldn't be dialed out even on warm settings. I was using a modified Vibroverb and a Tele with Lawrence and Fralin pups. It did sound better for rhythm than lead.

Apparently it is the same circuit as the Sex Drive with some changes to give it more gain.

User avatar
analogguru
Old Solderhand
Information
Posts: 3238
Joined: 26 Jun 2007, 13:58
Been thanked: 124 times
Contact:

Post by analogguru »

aloupous wrote:Hmm... Just opened this up ... The board is gooped .. the whole thing...
analogguru translation wrote:.....very much is to be goop inside...
Never buy a gooped pedal:
Goop only proves, that the pedal is not worth the money people charge for it.

analogguru
There´s a sucker born every minute - and too many of them end up in the bootweak pedal biz.

User avatar
aloupos
Information
Posts: 31
Joined: 12 Nov 2007, 20:53
Been thanked: 3 times

Post by aloupos »

I think it delivers on what it is supposed to do: A really clean boost, with some compression if you want. Still, I've never seen this circuit around and I'd like to know how it works.

The goop is a hard, cream colored goop. When I drill into it carefully with a dremel, a black powder residue can be seen. I've tried putting a little acetone on it, which doesn't really soften it. Any ideas? How should I go about removing it?

I'm ok if I damage say 1 or 2 components that I can replace, but I'd rather not destroy the board ...

User avatar
Spewbag
Breadboard Brother
Information
Posts: 123
Joined: 09 Jul 2007, 13:47
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by Spewbag »

aloupos wrote:I think it delivers on what it is supposed to do: A really clean boost, with some compression if you want. Still, I've never seen this circuit around and I'd like to know how it works.

The goop is a hard, cream colored goop. When I drill into it carefully with a dremel, a black powder residue can be seen. I've tried putting a little acetone on it, which doesn't really soften it. Any ideas? How should I go about removing it?

I'm ok if I damage say 1 or 2 components that I can replace, but I'd rather not destroy the board ...
A hot solder iron.........and no I'm not kidding.

User avatar
bajaman
Old Solderhand
Information
Posts: 4549
Joined: 26 Jun 2007, 21:18
Location: New Brighton, Christchurch, NZ
Has thanked: 595 times
Been thanked: 2058 times

Post by bajaman »

A hot solder iron.........and no I'm not kidding.
and an extractor fan - so you don't have to endure the pungent fumes :wink:
bajaman

User avatar
aloupos
Information
Posts: 31
Joined: 12 Nov 2007, 20:53
Been thanked: 3 times

Post by aloupos »

Interesting ... the soldering iron seems to turn the goop to fine powder, instead of melting it as I expected.

It is coming off, but a very slow process.

The PCB came off the enclosure during the process, so here's a shot of the bottom of the pcb:

Image

User avatar
aloupos
Information
Posts: 31
Joined: 12 Nov 2007, 20:53
Been thanked: 3 times

Post by aloupos »

Definately not much going on here ... looks like 1 ic ... place your bets on what it is:

User avatar
analogguru
Old Solderhand
Information
Posts: 3238
Joined: 26 Jun 2007, 13:58
Been thanked: 124 times
Contact:

Post by analogguru »

And nobody knows, why he needs a double-sided-pcb for this:

http://analogguru.an.ohost.de/temp/Durh ... cks_c2.jpg

Interesting... can this be a TS-style tone-control ?

analogguru
There´s a sucker born every minute - and too many of them end up in the bootweak pedal biz.

User avatar
MKB
Breadboard Brother
Information
Posts: 93
Joined: 06 Sep 2007, 12:03
Location: USA

Post by MKB »

One thing you can try is a heat gun and dental picks (and a 1/4" wood chisel for large chunks). If it is potting epoxy, it turns crumbly and powdery when it is heated enough, and then can be easily picked out of the circuit and even off most of the components. At my work we encapsulate circuitry in potting epoxy (the circuitry is designed for operation in water), and we take them apart to the bare boards for troubleshooting with this technique.

User avatar
Spewbag
Breadboard Brother
Information
Posts: 123
Joined: 09 Jul 2007, 13:47
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by Spewbag »

MKB wrote:One thing you can try is a heat gun and dental picks (and a 1/4" wood chisel for large chunks). If it is potting epoxy, it turns crumbly and powdery when it is heated enough, and then can be easily picked out of the circuit and even off most of the components. At my work we encapsulate circuitry in potting epoxy (the circuitry is designed for operation in water), and we take them apart to the bare boards for troubleshooting with this technique.

LOL! Same here! We do Torque Telemetry Instrumentation but we pot with urethanes instead of epoxy...much cleaner and easier to use imho. There are times when we have to do fall out analysis and we have to excavate.

User avatar
foo zen trader
Breadboard Brother
Information
Posts: 62
Joined: 09 Feb 2008, 17:46
Location: germany
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 10 times

Post by foo zen trader »

omg... I'm really excited!!! I'm not kidding... can't wait to see more!!! :applause:
thank you so much, aloupos!!!
JABBA DABBA DOOM

User avatar
aloupos
Information
Posts: 31
Joined: 12 Nov 2007, 20:53
Been thanked: 3 times

Post by aloupos »

Wow,OK I'll work a little more on this de-gouping and see what I can come up with.

User avatar
mrhenry
Breadboard Brother
Information
Posts: 71
Joined: 06 Feb 2008, 15:42
my favorite amplifier: soniccord toad, tweed bandmaster, JTM45
Location: Ft. Worth, Texas

Post by mrhenry »

Any word on how its coming getting the potting epoxy (if that is what it is) out of there? I have a couple Durham pedals (Boosto and Crazy Horse) and I would like to 'degoop' them but I am a noob and I'm afraid i'll put myself out of some cash if I screw it up. So, I am just looking for a report from those more experienced so I can proceed with degooping it and getting some photos of those circuits/components up here on the forum. I don't know why Alan is so concerned with gooping stuff up; he's a really nice dude and doesn't at all come off like some other boutique builders (you all know who I am talking about) so it just doesn't make any sense for him to do this. Is there advantage at all to this stuff? does it stabilize the components, prevent damage etc.? All I can think of is that It sure makes it a bitch to repair something if any of those components fail or if a wire shorts etc. etc. Its just a bit disappointing.

Anyway, just checking up on a topic that hasn't seen action in a while.

cheers,
mrhenry

User avatar
analogguru
Old Solderhand
Information
Posts: 3238
Joined: 26 Jun 2007, 13:58
Been thanked: 124 times
Contact:

Post by analogguru »

There´s a sucker born every minute - and too many of them end up in the bootweak pedal biz.

User avatar
electrhysity
Information
Posts: 4
Joined: 03 Jan 2008, 13:44
Location: Charleston

Post by electrhysity »

It's been a while...anybody got any info on the sex drive circuit?

User avatar
Ben N
Cap Cooler
Information
Posts: 506
Joined: 12 Dec 2008, 03:34
my favorite amplifier: Ampeg J12D Jet
Location: Israel
Has thanked: 192 times
Been thanked: 53 times

Post by Ben N »

My totally baseless guess: Orange Squeezer mod.

User avatar
HAR_RJ
Information
Posts: 18
Joined: 11 Sep 2009, 03:42

Post by HAR_RJ »

Any news yet on the Sex Drive?
Thinking it may be YATS but don't know how the compression switch would work.
RJ

User avatar
Greg
Old Solderhand
Information
Posts: 3047
Joined: 03 Nov 2007, 09:35
my favorite amplifier: Tophat Emplexador & Supreme 16.
Completed builds: LOTS..
Location: Australia
Has thanked: 65 times
Been thanked: 164 times

Post by Greg »

It would be great to add this one to the "solved" pile... and it doesn't look too complicated.

aloupos.. are you out there ?
Can you tell us how you fared with it ?
culturejam wrote: We are equal opportunity exposure artists.

User avatar
HAR_RJ
Information
Posts: 18
Joined: 11 Sep 2009, 03:42

Post by HAR_RJ »

I guess this one is at a dead end.

User avatar
coldcraft
Diode Debunker
Information
Posts: 725
Joined: 11 Jul 2009, 01:00
Has thanked: 38 times
Been thanked: 85 times

Post by coldcraft »

any word here?
Black Dynamite wrote:you need to shut the fuck up when grown folks is talkin.

Post Reply