OK guys, took a look inside & removed goop, but haven't traced it yet.
It's seems it's another transistor array setup similar to the Fuzz (sorry "proprietary chip" ).
If anyone is so inclined.. please make a start as I'm not sure when I can get it done.
I'll check pots, and anything else as needed.
rctb01c.jpg (44.84 KiB) Viewed 3679 times
Last edited by modman on 03 Sep 2011, 17:23, edited 1 time in total.
Reason:put copyright notice and re-uploaded pictures
culturejam wrote: We are equal opportunity exposure artists.
That board could be tiny if it weren't for the onboard switch. Really has gone to a lot of trouble to conceal that chip [edit: "proprietary chipset"]. Belt sander AND goop. I wonder if Bill Finnegan gave him his goop supplier when Lanceypants was schooling Bill on how to write a bogus DMCA claim? I've never had much interest in a treble booster but the SMD does look good.
To this point, i must say that i'm the first -after the Derangemaster which was a RM clone- to use this name "Trouble Booster", actually "Ballast Trouble Booster" in my case, non-sense joke about RM obviously.
I'm in contact with Lance regarding a change in the name of his booster, as i began selling mine almost 3 years ago now, and a Google search (asked a Canadian customer to do an English search from Canada to be sure) with "trouble booster" gives you mostly my pedal, not his one.
I was wondering if he cloned my circuit (a true new design), as i sent one or two to US, but according to your informations, no, it can't be done with a transistor array.
Randall Aïken said :
Q: Is there any advantage to using solder with a 2% silver content?
A: Yes. Silver solder keeps werewolves away from your amp.
I moved away some messages about DMCA policy which are interesting and deserve a place on the forum. Please restrict yourself to technical discussion and contributions in this section of the forum.
thanks
Thanks for the pics. I'm close to have a basic schem drawn, but I miss some connections for pin 8, 9 and 11 of the IC.
Pin 11 and 8 are supposed to be biased in some way, and pin 9 has to reach something. These connections are likely under the IC, so could you try with a continuity tester?
Also, from what I see from your pics, I have some with pins 12, 13 and 14 : which one are tied together and which ones are connected to ground? What I see doesn't match the expected set up from the other Retro pedal...
AllegedRetroFreek wrote:That board could be tiny if it weren't for the onboard switch.
Yes, the whole point of SMD is to reduce the size of things.. and yet here we have a simple circuit in a large box for no reason.
As well, the knobs completely cover the labels when at 12.00.. not very well thought out, given all that real estate for graphics.
You'd think LK being a professional guitarist would do these things a bit better.
Apart from that it's a pretty tidy build.
Attachments
tn_P1010499.JPG (29.73 KiB) Viewed 3525 times
culturejam wrote: We are equal opportunity exposure artists.
14pin IC.
Could be a transistor array(CA3046).
Or a quad opamp (TL064,74,84).
Check pins for pwr and gnd.
I'm betting it's the same-O-same-O in a different box(yawn).
That's why FSB is soooooooooooo great! (tony the tiger sound) heh heh
AG or modman will have the answer soooooooon.
Then we can all yawn together
OSS 117 wrote:Thanks for the pics. I'm close to have a basic schem drawn, but I miss some connections for pin 8, 9 and 11 of the IC.
Pin 11 and 8 are supposed to be biased in some way, and pin 9 has to reach something. These connections are likely under the IC, so could you try with a continuity tester?
Also, from what I see from your pics, I have some with pins 12, 13 and 14 : which one are tied together and which ones are connected to ground? What I see doesn't match the expected set up from the other Retro pedal...
Thanks OSS 117.
Pins 3, 12 & 13 are grounded.
14 seems to not be connected.
7 & 9 are connected.
8 & 11 are connected to each other and to one end of S1A rectifier.
Pots appear to be:
Vol: 100K Log
Slope: 2K Lin
Let me know what else you need, or if something doesn't make sense.
culturejam wrote: We are equal opportunity exposure artists.
Seems to me that there's a little mistake around C6... Pin 10 (emiter) should be connected to diode, and C6 is between this junction and CW side of Slope pot.
juanro wrote:...Seems to me that there's a little mistake around C6... Pin 10 (emiter)
Thanks. There is indeed this mistake.
Last edited by lolbou on 05 Sep 2011, 15:45, edited 1 time in total.
Reason:Previous post with wrong schem has been deleted (not edited, my mistake). Sorry...
Update. Seems like I also missed the part of the bypass that mutes the input when in bypass mode.
As far as I know, the R9+C3+transistor is somekind of a temperature compensation circuit. Beats me. There's more discussion of it in the threads about the Retro Channel "Fuzz".
Last edited by modman on 07 Sep 2011, 08:34, edited 5 times in total.
Reason:Schem removed : see updated schematic below
"I've noticed there's an inverse relationship between cost of gear and talent. If you need the most expensive gear to get decent tones, then you suck as a player."
Teemuk: Your last schematic is missing the third pole of the 3PDT that switches the output (as shown, LEVEL pot and R6 are connected even when in bypass)
This is what I posted in the other tread (based on a very rough LTSpice simulation):
- A gain stage ("temperature stabilized") followed by a variable filter/buffer
Values for C4/C5 are currently unknown to me so I put two guesstimates.
I'm not entirely sure if that pole is used. There's no connection on the bottom side of the board and the switch is hiding the upper side. Anyway, it's just a bypass, you guys get the drift.
One more error I found is R6: it doesn't shunt to ground but is in series with the signal path, basically isolating the wiper from the output.
Please, people, add a copyright notice to documents, using your name/username and a date. If you do not, anyone could easily claim copyright of this picture or file. With the notice in place, this is still possible, but the claim seems less likely to a third party (the hosting company)
teemuk wrote:As far as I know, the R9+C3+transistor is somekind of a temperature compensation circuit. Beats me.
I really do not follow what this part of the circuit is doing.
Nor can I fathom the purpose of the darlington pair (pins 6/7/8 and 9/10/11). It looks to have VREF on the base and is acting as a buffer...for something.
).
with pins 12, 13 and 14 : which one are tied together and which ones are connected to ground? What I see doesn't match the expected set up from the other Retro pedal...
It was like this before, my mistake indeed, thanks bajaman! 
