Snarling dogs - Mold spore

All about modern commercial stompbox circuits from Electro Harmonix over MXR, Boss and Ibanez into the nineties.
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devastator
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Post by devastator »

I just received this crazy heavy beast , it's pretty rare apparantly . It's a standart snarling dogs wah combined with a ring modulator based on a LM565 , the same presented in the Anderton's book (the electronic projects for musicians). (The big metal cylinder is the inductor ) I took some pics of the guts :

(I also put a schematic from Jc mailet's site for the ring mod part)
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Post by cutoutwitch »

Big thanks for this one! I've been wondering what's going on with this pedal for a long time! :applause:

There's a little something else going on there. What is the optocoupler for? I don't see it in the standard snarling dogs wah (although I've only quickly glanced at the guts of one), or the balanced modulator. Can you get shots of the trace side of the board?

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Post by devastator »

cutoutwitch wrote:Big thanks for this one! I've been wondering what's going on with this pedal for a long time! :applause:

There's a little something else going on there. What is the optocoupler for? I don't see it in the standard snarling dogs wah (although I've only quickly glanced at the guts of one), or the balanced modulator. Can you get shots of the trace side of the board?
you're welcome , :D . I thinks this pedal deserves more attention (the others from SD too by the way)

I don't know what's the role of the optocoupler but it must be used on the ring mod part . There's also a charge pump , certainly for the LM565 which works on symetric power supply. A Lm324N for the buffering and mixing stuff I guess and two BC108/109 for the wah circuit.

For the trace side , I'll do that . I've to change the "freack switch" so I'll take pics in the same time. I prefer removing the circuit once instead of risquying a broken wire (it's pretty messy inside). But I think there's nothing magical in here. Just their regular wah desing combined with the Anderton ring mod . The cool thing is you can control the wah sweep and the ring mod frequency sweep in the same time when the two effects are On.

(I must say , it's my second Snarling dogs wah and it sounds really great , fat and deep and not harsh at all like a cryaby can be !! )

A video on youtube : (around 2.47min especially )

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Post by prehistoric »

hey, that is me in that video! funny, a guitar pedal seller ( store ) on ebay sold a mold spore for 200 a few weeks ago, they posted my video right in their auction.
i don't mind , it is more exposure for me.

they have not been made for at least 5 years, possibly longer. they were all made in china, but tweaked in new jersey since a percentage of them were shipped over not functioning. it is a really nice design, even though it borrows its circuit bits from previous designs. to me, brilliance in guitar pedlas lies in implementation as much as anything. a player simply can't get these particular sounds easily any other way (straddle your foot across 2 peds- wah and a third hand or hot foot activating a ring mod i suppose). kenny told me to tell you all if one of these is having a problem, the first thing to check is replacing the 1044 is usually the fix for the non-functioning ring mod. is that another name for the LM565?

anyway, i love mine. the wah sounds very good as a wah also.

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Post by prehistoric »

i forgot, 1044 is the charge pump. kenny says these were problematic in these units.

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Post by KindaFuzzy »

I remember when all these wahs came out back when I was in high school and I really wanted one, but they were way out of my price range. Thanks for this.

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Post by prehistoric »

the optocoupler resistor is connected to pins 6-7 on the ring mod chip, in series ( ahead of) with the 10k pot at output in anderton's schem.

the led side of the opto is connected to a clean signal off of the side chain clean for the blend.

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Post by pillof »

I've been waiting for them to reissue this thing forever.

Thanks for posting the info here!

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Post by ShortScaleMike »

I have a friend with one of these who'd like me to take a look at it - it's not working but he's still getting status LEDs lighting up - he's worried he's killed it either with a voltage spike or using it in a feedback loop (?).

Do you think you could post working IC voltages so I can compare? I was going to get some from him since I'm hoping the MAX1044 has died and can be simply replaced with something more rigid like an ICL7660S and a Zener protection diode if none exists currently...

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Post by prehistoric »

kenny told me to tell anyone working on these that the max 1044 is often the problem; check that first. we did not discuss alternative chips.

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Post by atreidesheir »

I remember this pedal got a lot of love from Guitar Player about 12 years ago. It received the pick of destiny I believe. I have never seen one functioning before. The Snarling Dogs wahs are very often paperweights.

I did buy a Whine-O wah from American Musical Supply around that time. @$130(too much). It sounded great. It looked funny. Traded it for an Airliner tube amp.

They had great push. Very hot signal coming out. I imagine that would be great from a ringer.
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Post by atreidesheir »

Forum member ChrisFFTA has a schem from Snarling Dogs.

Analogguru had one also.
https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8621
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Post by ShortScaleMike »

The Wah is functioning OK so I guess I just need to debug the Ring Mod if it comes to it. I'm hoping teh voltages out of the charge pump look wrong when compared and I can just replace that and be done with it...

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Post by soggybag »

I know this is an old thread but, I thought I would add this just for the record.

I have a mold spore wah and I just blew up a third MAX1044. Every time it has broken it's been the MAX1044. Not sure what did it the first time. The last two times I was using a One Spot power supply. Yesterday I had just replaced the MAX1044. The Ring mod starts working again, I play with it for a few minutes, everything is working. Then I plug another pedal into the chain and connect it to the One Spot, and the Ring Mod on the Mold Spore is dead again.

Checking with meter the MAX1044 shows about 3.5v at pin 5, which should be -9v. It was like this just before I replaced the chip. It had been working for a long time before I bought the One Spot.

I'm not sure but, I think the One Spot is the culprit. Not that it's doing anything wrong, I think the mold spore is sensitive. It's either that the One Spot puts out a little too high a voltage, or something with the daisy chain, all of the plugs are out in the open and the positive is in the barrel they could short on something and zap the mold spore.

I'm going to order some LT1054 and 7660 to test. Are these pin compatible with the MAX1044?

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Post by digi2t »

I've uploaded the Mold Spore schematic here a while back;

http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main. ... ewsIndex=1

It also includes a mod for increased "Straight" output. It helps improve the overall sound of the pedal. Just replace the 22K resistor with a 100K trimmer, and dial it in to where the amount of max clean signal/ringmod mix is desired when manipulating the "Straight" control. IMHO, this control is close to useless in stock form, with too much ringmod rendering it almost unmusical.

Historically, the biggest weakness is the MAX1044 chip, which will easily blow at any voltage approaching 10v. Personally, I've never had a problem with mine. I use a Morley 9v adapter, which I've dedicated to this pedal. It puts out 9.15v, and not a penny more.
No matter how many times I cut it, it`s STILL too short!

https://www.deadendfx.com/

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Post by probodger »

I repaired mine with a 7660 (mine is the one Mike was referring too above - I'm also pretty sure I posted about the repair here) and it's been fine ever since.
I socket-ed it though, just in case.

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Post by ilcaccillo »

Hi,
thanks everyone for the tips.

I was able to repair the ring modulator circuit on my mold spore today, by following your advise and replacing the Max 1044.

The pedal has still one problem that I can't figure out how to solve.

With just the Wha circuit engaged theres an ugly distortion when the rocker pedal is fully turned up (bass part of the sweep), this happens in either of the 3 wha settings , and independent on the wha volume pot position.

I will make some sound samples so it's easier to show the problem.
The distortion only appears in the bass part of the sweep and it's like an ugly gated fuzz.

The wha circuit in this pedal is the same as the "Whine-O Wha"

Did anyone have this problem with the mold spore or with any other snarling dogs wha?

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Post by Mold.spore22 »

Hi everyone, I know this is an old post but I hope someone here can help. Same old story here folks. I have the mold spore wah, ring mod side is non functional. It is most likely the Max 1044 chip. Now... how do I replace this chip? Does it require any soldering? Does the chip just pop out and a new one can be placed in? Also interested in the mod for better straight controk listed above. I have very basic soldering skills and would not be able to mod this pedal. Would anyone be able to help me get her up and running? Any help is appreciated!

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Post by digi2t »

Mold.spore22 wrote:Hi everyone, I know this is an old post but I hope someone here can help. Same old story here folks. I have the mold spore wah, ring mod side is non functional. It is most likely the Max 1044 chip. Now... how do I replace this chip? Does it require any soldering? Does the chip just pop out and a new one can be placed in? Also interested in the mod for better straight controk listed above. I have very basic soldering skills and would not be able to mod this pedal. Would anyone be able to help me get her up and running? Any help is appreciated!
Where are you located?
No matter how many times I cut it, it`s STILL too short!

https://www.deadendfx.com/

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Post by ilcaccillo »

Mold.spore22 wrote:how do I replace this chip? Does it require any soldering? Does the chip just pop out and a new one can be placed in?
If you don't easily know those answers yourself it's because you should take the pedal to an electronics tech.
Take it there and show him the info on this thread, he will know how to fix it.

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