Barber Electronics - Tone Press  [traced]

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IvIark
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Post by IvIark »

Just hoof it out, sticky pads can be replaced without any need for repair. In fact if you do it I'll send you the sticky pads free of charge! :)
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Post by NOC3 »

ibodog2 wrote:I got one of these in a trade last weekend and it didn't work. The guy had removed the chip and put in a socket. Then he decided to try out a JRC4558d chip in it.
:slap:

LOL!!! :lol:

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madbean
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Post by madbean »

Thanks for the pics!

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madbean
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Post by madbean »

Killer. I think it could be traced now. By someone not me. :P

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analogguru
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Post by analogguru »

Boahhh..... how boring......
1.) take a Ross Compressor and place a 1µF electrolytic in parallel to the 150k in the side-chain.
2.) place a µ-amp stage in parallel to the input (nobody knows why there are two input-buffers in parallel, so don´t ask me).
3.) connect instead of the 50k output-poti of the Ross compressor a stereo 50k lin poti.
4.) connect the second half of the stereo-poti in reverse to the output of the µ-amp-stage
5.) mix the middle lugs of the stereo-poti with two 100k resistors and connect it to the input of another µ-amp stage
6.) after this µ-amp stage place a 100k log poti for output level

.....and you have got it.

If you need a schematic visit the Barber-homepage in a couple of days, there will be a project for the Tone Press soon - like it was done with the Ltd after it appeared on FSB.org.

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Post by Ben N »

Hmmm... I wonder: why mu-amps? Why not just use a dual opamp?

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22uf
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Post by 22uf »

ibodog2 wrote:I decided to rebox this one to get the jacks on the top. I hate it when they use big big boxes and put the jacks on the sides. Anyway that means the board is flippable now. Let me know ASAP if these shots don't do the trick before I put it back in another box. Also I'd appreciate advice on where to add the switch to put in a "janglebox" mode in this thing. :)
analogguru wrote:
I am not so much interested in getting the darker setting of the Janglebox but rather the bright jangle setting.
Then do a search for the 150k resistor at the output of the CA 3080 (or BA 6110) ofyour dynacomp (clone) and simply remove the capacitor which is connected in parallel (typically 1nF) to this resistor and you´ve got it.

analogguru
From a previous post - not sure if that will help. I'd be interested in getting more of a Janglebox sound out of a tone press also..

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Post by NetStar »

analogguru wrote:
If you need a schematic visit the Barber-homepage in a couple of days, there will be a project for the Tone Press soon - like it was done with the Ltd after it appeared on FSB.org.

analogguru
Where are the details on the LTD?

I take it they are no longer there.


Thanks.

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Post by Seljetnoma »

ibodog2 wrote:This is the cap that I put on a switch.
tonepressjanglemod.jpg

Pardon my ignorance, but what does it do when you put the cap on a switch?
Whats the jangle mod exactly?

Greets,

Frank

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phuzle
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Post by phuzle »

I just wanted to bump this thread because I couldn't find any info on Barber's site about a Tone Press schematic or something similar. I'm interested in the BYOC comp which seems similar, but the Barber looks simpler and from what little I know its supposed to be a little better. Also, I don't have any 3080's, (I'll have to order one, but before I do) are there any good compressor schematics that use different IC's (besides the BYOC's ba6110)?

Has anyone RI'ed the Keeley to see what differences there are between that and a Ross?

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Post by RnFR »

Ben N wrote:Hmmm... I wonder: why mu-amps? Why not just use a dual opamp?
found this on the Barber site-
Re: Tone Press as Clean Boost?
by David Barber » Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:20 pm

notyalcer wrote:
I just posted this at TGP right before I saw this new board...

I have a Tone Press that I am not using much, and inspired by this phrase from the manual that it can be used as "a “class A” clean boost pedal with about 8 db of boost", decided to try it out as such (by turning the blend and sustain knobs all the way CCW and using volume at about 3 c'clock). I am comparing it to an AMZ minibooster I built which is JFET based. The Tone Press has a heavier tone to it, seems to boost the low end more than the highs, but by comparison the AMZ is fairly linear but with a high end emphasis that adds sparkle. I have not tried the TP as boost with the band yet, but it seems like a good flavor to add. I use a boost to buffer and lift the signal a bit, not to slam the input of my amp.

I have two questions: is anyone else using a TP as a simple clean boost with success? and is the gain section of the TP at all similar to either the Launch Pad or B-Buff circuitry? Probably a better question for Mr. Barber, I know. Thanks.


The Tone Press uses two FET SRPP sections in the "dry" and mixer sections, these are biased and gain staged for headroom and tone as the primary concern. This is a very different approach to SRPP use, than the common "boutique booster" that we see redundantly throughout the hand built pedal landscape. In the Tone Press the SRPP adds lots of sweetness and a slight "tube style" softening that using bipolars or an opamp did not seem able to provide. The Launch Pad has even more headroom and output than the Tone Press, by using a balanced line driver circuit with 24 VDC of supply internally, we can get near perfect rendition of the input reflected at the output, but with lowered impedance and about 20db of available boost.

The Tone Press is usually seen as having a slightly colored sweetness than the LP, and the LP has tremendous output available while staying very clean (most boosts start to clip while going to high boost levels). So you have different flavors and different available boosts at output.
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Post by layupe »

analogguru wrote:Boahhh..... how boring......
1.) take a Ross Compressor and place a 1µF electrolytic in parallel to the 150k in the side-chain.
2.) place a µ-amp stage in parallel to the input (nobody knows why there are two input-buffers in parallel, so don´t ask me).
3.) connect instead of the 50k output-poti of the Ross compressor a stereo 50k lin poti.
4.) connect the second half of the stereo-poti in reverse to the output of the µ-amp-stage
5.) mix the middle lugs of the stereo-poti with two 100k resistors and connect it to the input of another µ-amp stage
6.) after this µ-amp stage place a 100k log poti for output level

.....and you have got it.

If you need a schematic visit the Barber-homepage in a couple of days, there will be a project for the Tone Press soon - like it was done with the Ltd after it appeared on FSB.org.

analogguru
Sounds even easy when you say :wink: but im not able to figure out how to add those "µ-amp stages" to the Ross Compressor :scratch: Is there any schematic for this?
I understand this one can be boring for most of you being just a modded/improved? Ross clone but im sure im not the only one here that would love to build one since the Tone Press is reported like being a very good sounding compressor...

It would be great to have an schematic and maybe a layout too to follow and make things easyier for people like me but any help about how to acomplish this changes in the original Ross to get the Barber's take of the Ross would be much appreciated aswell...

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Post by mirosol »

Seems like solder side photos were gone, so here you go. Got mine with clean signal path dead and traced the problem to both 5457s of the µamp being shorted. No idea how that happened. Swapped those for new ones and it's very nice sounding thing. And since i've mostly seen "parallel compression" done with inverter mixer after OTA, i didn't find this approach boring at all :)
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Post by Pokfor »

From photo and this topic, as well as other photos from here http://www.barberelectronics.com/custom ... _blog.html I tried to remove the circuit.
It turned out this.
Barber Tone Press.JPG
Errors are possible, be careful.
There is a second version of this pedal with two switches. I saw several photos of this version and reflected my assumptions on the diagram in red.

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