Krank - Distortus Maximus  [traced]

General documentation, gut shot, schematic links, ongoing circuit tracing, deep thoughts ... all about boutique stompboxes.
User avatar
Mr. G.
Resistor Ronker
Information
Posts: 384
Joined: 03 Jul 2008, 19:32
my favorite amplifier: Undecided
Completed builds: 3-loop + tuner out TB loop pedal
Eternity overdrive (Deaj perf layout)
YATS (many)
BOR
DLS
COT (Briggs mods)
Crunchbox
SHO (several)
Fuzz Factory
Several LM386 based distortions
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 9 times

Post by Mr. G. »

I just built the pedal using >this< layout, but I must have done something wrong. The guitar sound doesn't come through, and when the gain is turned up past 12 it starts to oscillate very badly (think fuzz factory). I made a few changes, based on the parts I had, but I don't think they would do this. I checked the traces to make sure I didn't bridge anything together, checked the trace cuts, and made sure I added all the jumpers. Anybody got any ideas of what could be causing this, or where to start looking for the problem?

Here are the part substitutions that I made...

R2 - 429K (2 resistors in series)
R3 - 42K9 (2 resistors in series)
R4 - 2.2M
Bass pot - 500K
Volume pot - 500K
Dp and Rled were omited

User avatar
Torchy
Information

Post by Torchy »

Trace cut was missing between tranny base and R8. Layout updated.

User avatar
Mr. G.
Resistor Ronker
Information
Posts: 384
Joined: 03 Jul 2008, 19:32
my favorite amplifier: Undecided
Completed builds: 3-loop + tuner out TB loop pedal
Eternity overdrive (Deaj perf layout)
YATS (many)
BOR
DLS
COT (Briggs mods)
Crunchbox
SHO (several)
Fuzz Factory
Several LM386 based distortions
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 9 times

Post by Mr. G. »

Thanks a lot!

I also noticed that the Mid pot is wired a little differently than some of the other layouts I've seen. On other layouts I've seen, Bass 1 goes to Mid 3, and Mid 2 goes to C9. Where in your layout, Mid 2 & 3 go to Bass 1, and then Bass 1 goes to C9. Am I just not understanding things, or will this have an effect on how the controls work?



edit: I just made the trace cut, and now it works. However, the tone controls don't seem to work right. The bass works fine, but the mid almost acts more like a treble control, and the treble pretty much does nothing at all. :scratch:

User avatar
Torchy
Information

Post by Torchy »

Oops - guess who photobucketed the wrong layout

Try now ... :oops:

User avatar
Mr. G.
Resistor Ronker
Information
Posts: 384
Joined: 03 Jul 2008, 19:32
my favorite amplifier: Undecided
Completed builds: 3-loop + tuner out TB loop pedal
Eternity overdrive (Deaj perf layout)
YATS (many)
BOR
DLS
COT (Briggs mods)
Crunchbox
SHO (several)
Fuzz Factory
Several LM386 based distortions
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 9 times

Post by Mr. G. »

That looks better! Thanks a lot Torchy!

I don't have any 1M pots, so I'll be using a 500K pot for the bass and level. How will this affect the sound compared to the 1M pots?

Noob question alert!!!! Is there a way to add a resistor in series with a pot to increase it's value?

User avatar
earthtonesaudio
Transistor Tuner
Information
Posts: 1244
Joined: 28 Jan 2008, 04:00
Completed builds: Metal Simplex, Fuzz Factory, two Fab Echos-modded, Noisy Cricket, Earth & Space Wah, TS-7-modded, passive xover/splitter box, opamp fuzz
Location: Bloomington, Indiana
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 75 times

Post by earthtonesaudio »

If you add 500k in series with a 500k pot, it's like a 1M pot when it's up all the way. But if you want to turn it down all the way, there's still 500k of fixed resistance. So it's like a 1M pot that you can only turn halfway down.
rocklander wrote:hairsplitting and semantics aren't exactly the same thing though.. we may need two contests for that.

User avatar
Mr. G.
Resistor Ronker
Information
Posts: 384
Joined: 03 Jul 2008, 19:32
my favorite amplifier: Undecided
Completed builds: 3-loop + tuner out TB loop pedal
Eternity overdrive (Deaj perf layout)
YATS (many)
BOR
DLS
COT (Briggs mods)
Crunchbox
SHO (several)
Fuzz Factory
Several LM386 based distortions
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 9 times

Post by Mr. G. »

I see. I figured it would be something like that, but wanted to make sure.

User avatar
Torchy
Information

Post by Torchy »

If you use the tonestack calculator, you can tailor the connected cap/resistors to get the same(ish) response with a 500k pot. You could actually customise the response of the whole eq section to suit your gear.

User avatar
Mr. G.
Resistor Ronker
Information
Posts: 384
Joined: 03 Jul 2008, 19:32
my favorite amplifier: Undecided
Completed builds: 3-loop + tuner out TB loop pedal
Eternity overdrive (Deaj perf layout)
YATS (many)
BOR
DLS
COT (Briggs mods)
Crunchbox
SHO (several)
Fuzz Factory
Several LM386 based distortions
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 9 times

Post by Mr. G. »

According to the TSC, a 500k bass pot won't have a huge affect on the tone. I'm more concerned about the affect of the 500k volume pot compared to the specified 1M pot.

I should probably just stop worrying about it, and finish the damn thing to find out for myself. :roll:

User avatar
Torchy
Information

Post by Torchy »

This schematic is from Musikding and has a buffer on the output, mind you I would have used a slightly different buffer ...

User avatar
Mr. G.
Resistor Ronker
Information
Posts: 384
Joined: 03 Jul 2008, 19:32
my favorite amplifier: Undecided
Completed builds: 3-loop + tuner out TB loop pedal
Eternity overdrive (Deaj perf layout)
YATS (many)
BOR
DLS
COT (Briggs mods)
Crunchbox
SHO (several)
Fuzz Factory
Several LM386 based distortions
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 9 times

Post by Mr. G. »

Would the buffer be needed, or redundant if I was already using a buffer pedal first in my chain?

User avatar
turkey101
Information
Posts: 10
Joined: 05 Sep 2008, 13:06
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 5 times

Post by turkey101 »

I've recently made one of these for a friend and it turned out great! A little too heavy for me, but there are some good sounds in there if you're willing to tweak. I added a switchable 500pF cappy over the volume pot to cut out some of the super highs.

My friend, however, would like more mids. I've messed about with the Tone Stack Calc for ages, but I can't see a simple way to boost the mids by themselves as the controls are so interactive. Or . . . am I missing something? Does anyone have any simple changes that will boost the mids a little more without having to completely re-design/re-build the circuit?

Thanks in advance,

turkey101

User avatar
soulsonic
Old Solderhand
Information
Posts: 3880
Joined: 27 Jun 2007, 03:38
my favorite amplifier: Traynor YVM-1
Completed builds: too many!
Location: Morgantown, WV
Has thanked: 183 times
Been thanked: 468 times
Contact:

Post by soulsonic »

Changing the mid control to a higher value has the effect of more mids, but it will only get you so far because of the interaction. It's worth trying, cuz it's definitely something you can hear. If you have a 10K mid pot, try 25K; if it's 25K, try 50K. I think it can get good results as long as you don't overdo it, because if you go too high, I think you'll get the effect of all the controls doing mostly nothing.
"Analog electronics in music is dead. Analog effects pedal design is a dead art." - Fran

User avatar
turkey101
Information
Posts: 10
Joined: 05 Sep 2008, 13:06
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 5 times

Post by turkey101 »

Thanks for that suggestion - now, why didn't I think of that! I was too busy swapping cap and resistor values to think about the pots! I'll give it a try.

Cheers

turkey101

User avatar
Mr. G.
Resistor Ronker
Information
Posts: 384
Joined: 03 Jul 2008, 19:32
my favorite amplifier: Undecided
Completed builds: 3-loop + tuner out TB loop pedal
Eternity overdrive (Deaj perf layout)
YATS (many)
BOR
DLS
COT (Briggs mods)
Crunchbox
SHO (several)
Fuzz Factory
Several LM386 based distortions
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 9 times

Post by Mr. G. »

Finally got the pedal finished, and it works fine now. Thanks again for updating the layout Torchy!

To me, there's a pretty narrow "sweet spot" in the gain, and the volume won't get up much past unity. The tone controls are very interactive, as stated before, but I'm a tweaker, so this isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's definitely got some nice tones in it, but I'm thinking I prefer my Crunchbox v2. It feels a bit more natural and amp like than the KDM. The KDM cleans up better with the guitars volume knob, though. I'm thinking a better tone control would be a big improvement. Possibly a Baxandall?

User avatar
chris_d
Solder Soldier
Information
Posts: 180
Joined: 16 Aug 2007, 20:03
Has thanked: 4 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Post by chris_d »

Mr. G. wrote:Finally got the pedal finished, and it works fine now. Thanks again for updating the layout Torchy!

To me, there's a pretty narrow "sweet spot" in the gain, and the volume won't get up much past unity. The tone controls are very interactive, as stated before, but I'm a tweaker, so this isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's definitely got some nice tones in it, but I'm thinking I prefer my Crunchbox v2. It feels a bit more natural and amp like than the KDM. The KDM cleans up better with the guitars volume knob, though. I'm thinking a better tone control would be a big improvement. Possibly a Baxandall?
As far as this schematic is actually correct (after hearing some better clips of the real thing i am starting to wonder if it is) there is a kind of narrow window of useable knob range on mine as well. I do however get a lot more than unity output on mine though.

The gain knob usually sounds best at something less than or equal to halfway, i usually leave the bass cranked open, and there is just a small window where the treble and mid can be adjusted not to sound trashy or muddy. I also find that the level sounds best at 75% or above, even though like i said, this puts it well above unity gain on my build.

I have built some other things since that i like a lot more for heavy distortion, but i still prefer this one to the crunch box i built. The crunch box is a lot of fun to play, just balls out like EVH-ish sounds, but the one i built is pretty much totally useless for anything but that. The Krank copy, on the other hand, i can get all kinds of useable mid gain sounds out of, and the ability to clean up with the guitar volume knob, is really a must for the way i play.

-chris

User avatar
Mr. G.
Resistor Ronker
Information
Posts: 384
Joined: 03 Jul 2008, 19:32
my favorite amplifier: Undecided
Completed builds: 3-loop + tuner out TB loop pedal
Eternity overdrive (Deaj perf layout)
YATS (many)
BOR
DLS
COT (Briggs mods)
Crunchbox
SHO (several)
Fuzz Factory
Several LM386 based distortions
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 9 times

Post by Mr. G. »

Apart from the volume, I'm finding pretty much the same thing with the gain and tone controls. I also found that it sounds really nasty with a Boss DD-3 and CH-1 after it (just because of their buffers). They add a very shrill, ice pickey, high end to it. I've only noticed them do that with this one pedal.

What other high gain distortions would you suggest, that would compliment a Crunchbox? I like using the crunchbox for the more classic and midrange heavy rock/hard rock. For metal, I boost it with a YATS(Deaj).

User avatar
biglouis
Information
Posts: 9
Joined: 13 Sep 2008, 01:37
Has thanked: 1 time

Post by biglouis »

Hi guys, i have a layout of the Krank Distortus Maximus, made by myself...

i hope you'll like it

(i'm from Brazil, so, sorry about my english)
Attachments
Krank Distortus Maximus - Big Louis.pdf
(307.8 KiB) Downloaded 709 times

User avatar
SPeter
Cap Cooler
Information
Posts: 553
Joined: 08 Jan 2008, 21:10
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 80 times

Post by SPeter »

Thanks! Good job! :applause:
Is it verified? :)

User avatar
biglouis
Information
Posts: 9
Joined: 13 Sep 2008, 01:37
Has thanked: 1 time

Post by biglouis »

The pads 1 and 2 must be conected with a wire

And Yes, it's verified!!!

Thank's

:wink:

Post Reply