Hey Luci, just slapped this badboy on a piece of perf board yesterday using the same schematic as you, and you hit the nail on the head. In short, it's impossible to know what this thing is supposed to do (but I assure you, that schematic is good)LucifersTrip wrote:...and when I turn the pots to the settings in the demo I don't get anything close.
I think the biggest problem with this one is not how complicated it is, but knowing when it's actually working properly !
At any given time, it might squeal and feedback, oscillate wildly, create a really insane fuzz, generate square waves, low octaves, high octaves, or it might just sound like a bad OD.
Changing any knob on the box, or on your axe results in a seemingly random, completely unpredictable, tonal 180. As another poster said, none of the knobs do what they claim to. For instance, at some configurations, knob X might result in silence at 0 and 10, feedback at 5, and awesome fuzz at 7. In short, I have no idea how to control it, it's completely unpredictable, and it's totally unusable in a live setting.
That being said, I can't put it down.
Build Hints:
1) I used the MC14149BCP sold by digikey for about 50 cents. Works well. Try flipping the chip around though--One side gave me boring OD, but the other side behaves more like the video. No idea why...
2) If you get it working, you may want to consider attaching a second, independent 500k volume pot (one that dumps to ground) as a "true" output control. This pedal is super loud, and the "volume" control on the schem alters the effect, so you may need this if you're running it into an amp/device with a sensitive input (i.e., a POD, low watt tube amp, device with harsh clipping, etc.).