Fulltone Catalyst

cbriere · Post by **cbriere** » 08 Jun 2009, 11:36

any schematics of this one?

Paul Marossy · Post by **Paul Marossy** » 08 Jun 2009, 16:00

They do make OKish pedals but their attitude just make me wanna puke.

AFAIK, Mike Fuller is kind of one the original boutique pedal builders. He's been at it a while, and has had some success along with earning a reputation among guitar players for his products. It all started with a feature in Guitar Player magazine years ago and a business was born.

Point being that he is selling his product to guitar players, so he uses the sort of terminology quoted above. He probably feels justified in doing so. I'm not going to pass judgement on Mike Fuller, though. If Leo Fender were still alive and still owned Fender, people would probably also being saying similar things about him if he said that his amps were some of the best sounding ones available. It's really a matter of opinion. Ask 12 guitar players for their opinion on how something sounds, and you'll get 12 different opinions.

Having said that, I built a Fulltone '69 clone, and it's on my pedal board right now because I like it. I can seperate the product from the man behind it. Sometimes success turns people into snobs and it can also make them arrogant. Human beings are capable of all sorts of less than stellar behaviour.

I would also like to see a schematic out of curiousity.

sevinisthenumber · Post by **sevinisthenumber** » 18 Jul 2009, 21:32

anyone have a schematic?

cbriere · Post by **cbriere** » 28 Jan 2010, 12:13

March issue of Guitar Player show the guts of this pedal. ( in a article about truebypass)
Anyone know what's this circuitery? schematics?

Nocentelli · Post by **Nocentelli** » 12 Jan 2020, 15:12

cbriere wrote:March issue of Guitar Player show the guts of this pedal. ( in a article about truebypass)
Anyone know what's this circuitery? schematics?

Almost a decade on.....

https://www.pedalpcb.com/docs/Provocateur.pdf

It seems to be a Mosfet fuzzface with a JFET buffer output stage and a passive bass/mid cut which is essentially a 1n/1u cap blend on the output between FF and buffer. Interesting (to me) in that it has an extra feedback (feedforward?) path between the Q1 source and Q2 drain: I replaced the switched resistors here (flame/spark switch) with a pot, but it whistles and oscillates like crazy so i will continue to tinker.

Post by **modman** » 12 Jan 2020, 16:22

Nocentelli wrote:
cbriere wrote:March issue of Guitar Player show the guts of this pedal. ( in a article about truebypass)
Anyone know what's this circuitery? schematics?
Almost a decade on.....

https://www.pedalpcb.com/docs/Provocateur.pdf

It seems to be a Mosfet fuzzface with a JFET buffer output stage and a passive bass/mid cut which is essentially a 1n/1u cap blend on the output between FF and buffer. Interesting (to me) in that it has an extra feedback (feedforward?) path between the Q1 source and Q2 drain: I replaced the switched resistors here (flame/spark switch) with a pot, but it whistles and oscillates like crazy so i will continue to tinker.

You are only looking at te schematic, something definitely off in these docs... Here is the original gutshot from earlier in this thread, and about the only of this unit available online...

: Fulltone Catalyst gut shot - 4 transistors

Here's the schematic from the Provocateur documentation: 3 transistors

: Pedalpcb's schematic for Fulltone Catalyst

Here the pcb layout: 3 transistors

But then look at the assembly picture: 4 transistors

And the parts list has an IC:

I'm sure there were no bad intentions involved and things just got messed up. It would and will continue to go down into history if nobody says anything. But you probably already have to be some sort of asshole to do anything but cheer when a commercial enterprise start tracing pedals to make money.

I'm not shitting on pedalpcb (spoke to him on occasions) - don't come telling me he's a nice guy - I know.
I know a bunch of people who have been much nicer devoting their time to freely contribute to this forum. They are the real heroes and absolute nice guys.

In general, a pedal tracing includes the pictures of the unit from which the schematic was established. Without these picture, any schematic could be wrong. Accompanied by the pics, it can be verified at any time by anyone in the future.

Nocentelli · Post by **Nocentelli** » 12 Jan 2020, 16:48

modman wrote:....here's the schematic from the Provocateur documentation: 3 transistors

Here the pcb layout: 3 transistors

But then look at the assembly picture: 4 transistors

And the parts list has an IC...

I'm sure there were no bad intentions involved and things just got messed up. It would and will continue to go down into history if nobody says anything....

I'm not shitting on pedalpcb (spoke to him on occasions) - don't come telling me he's a nice guy - I know.

Yeah, I noticed the erroneous listing of an IC, but hadn't noticed the three/four transistor confusion

Ben N · Post by **Ben N** » 12 Jan 2020, 17:11

The so-called "assembly picture" in Bugg's documentation is a generic picture of a pcb--it does not reflect the specific project layout. It is only to illustrate the wiring of the pcb to offboard parts. (If you want to check, look at any of his projects--the assembly pic generally does not match the layout.)

Ben N · Post by **Ben N** » 12 Jan 2020, 17:18

(Sorry, can't edit my original post). That doesn't solve the problem of a different number of transistors in the schematic than in the gutshot. But note that Bugg doesn't claim to be making 1:1 replica projects, and there are (AFAIK) instances in which his project may simplify certain non-essential circuit elements. I built his Buffalo TD-X "clone", and afterwards noted that gutshots on the web show a trimpot, but there is no trimpot in the project. Oh, well, he still seems to have have captured the thing, as close as I can tell based on Youtube demos. I am certainly curious to understand the deviation just the same.

lead2203 · Post by **lead2203** » 13 Jan 2020, 03:12

i think ..the other transistor is for the power supply. To protect it from a wrong adapter being plugged in.

plush · Post by **plush** » 13 Jan 2020, 07:53

lead2203 wrote:i think ..the other transistor is for the power supply. To protect it from a wrong adapter being plugged in.

Nah, one of the bottom diodes is used for reverse polarity protection.
4th transistor is just for led indication.

modman wrote:
But then look at the assembly picture: 4 transistors
Screen Shot 2020-01-12 at 16.58.59.png

This picture is just for wiring reference. It does not represent each PCB unique design.

Post by **modman** » 13 Jan 2020, 11:01

ok right, it's a millennium bypass, the switch gives it away.
phew... but if we have a thread about this box all this info should be out there.

In fact, this thread lay dormant for some years because nobody really cared...

lead2203 · Post by **lead2203** » 15 Jan 2020, 04:38

plush wrote:
lead2203 wrote:i think ..the other transistor is for the power supply. To protect it from a wrong adapter being plugged in.
Nah, one of the bottom diodes is used for reverse polarity protection.
4th transistor is just for led indication.

[ Image ]

[ Image ]

modman wrote:
But then look at the assembly picture: 4 transistors
Screen Shot 2020-01-12 at 16.58.59.png

This picture is just for wiring reference. It does not represent each PCB unique design.

Haha....I didn't even look too closely ...but I knew it was for something other than part of the signal circuit from what I did look at. Wasn't he also doing something with a mosfet for anti pop fix also..I thought I saw that in one of his pedals.

plush · Post by **plush** » 15 Jan 2020, 08:34

lead2203 wrote:Wasn't he also doing something with a mosfet for anti pop fix also..I thought I saw that in one of his pedals.

Yeah, that LED slow start thingie seemed pretty pointless for me.

CheapPedalCollector · Post by **CheapPedalCollector** » 13 May 2021, 20:36

I just got one of these in for repair, I'll trace it out.

The slow start thing is to prevent popping.

CheapPedalCollector · Post by **CheapPedalCollector** » 26 May 2021, 06:04

Traced, Enjoy.

I left out the soft LED switching and the 22uf and 1n4007 reverse polarity protection on the +9V. Interesting circuit.

: Fulltone_Catalyst_V1.png (7.24 KiB) Viewed 2953 times

ppluis0 · Post by **ppluis0** » 26 May 2021, 16:47

Hi folks,

BS170 and 2N7000 mosfets can be considered as exact equivalents ? (taking into account their respective pinouts)

Cheers,
Jose

phatt · Post by **phatt** » 27 May 2021, 11:26

ppluis0 wrote: ↑26 May 2021, 16:47 Hi folks,

BS170 and 2N7000 mosfets can be considered as exact equivalents ? (taking into account their respective pinouts)

Cheers,
Jose

HUMM?? Not sure about that,

I was building something a looong while back (can't remember what, maybe a treble boost type thing) and the schematic had BS170 and it was Not very impressive,, swapped for 2n7000 which gave a lot better result, much stronger output, I'd guess the 2n7000 would be too much for this circuit and you might loose the sweet spot effect. but I have both mosfets in my pile so I might get time to BBoard it and find out.
and yes they have different pinout.

I do like the demo vid but wonder if the wide dynamics is just due to amp dynamics. which is usually what happens with the hotter boost pedal.
I'm chasing a pedal that does it into a clean SS amp where there is no valve compression effect.
kinda rare as but I want a pedal that does it all by itself,,,Am I asking too much?

Phil.

"Edit Just did a cross reference check and BC170 is equivalent to 2n7000"

Manfred · Post by **Manfred** » 27 May 2021, 12:19

ppluis0 wrote: ↑26 May 2021, 16:47 Hi folks,

BS170 and 2N7000 mosfets can be considered as exact equivalents ? (taking into account their respective pinouts)

Cheers,
Jose

Yes, should work both MosFets got the same forward transconductance.

NegationOfNegation · Post by **NegationOfNegation** » 29 May 2021, 20:42

CheapPedalCollector wrote: ↑26 May 2021, 06:04 Traced, Enjoy.

I left out the soft LED switching and the 22uf and 1n4007 reverse polarity protection on the +9V. Interesting circuit.

Fulltone_Catalyst_V1.png

Hallo
and thanks for the trace.

Did you had measured the (quiet/DC) voltages on Q1 and Q2?

I guess, this could help to be to find a proper replacement
for the BS270.

Thanks in advance

NegationOfNegation

Fulltone Catalyst [traced]