Tronographic - Rusty Box

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andrej
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Post by andrej »

check it out (clips included):
http://www.tronographic.com/

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6825564

it seems to be a copy of Traynor TS50B's preamp section. it runs on 50V. 190 bucks. sounds really nice: metallic, brutal. Bob Weston's favorite. He used it on Shellac's last tour through power amps.

this should be traced! if my bass player buys it, i'll post pics right away. unfortunately, they have no units for sale atm. maybe we could ask someone who owns it over at talkbass?

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Post by Emanuele »

andrej wrote:check it out (clips included):
http://www.tronographic.com/

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6825564

it seems to be a copy of Traynor TS50B's preamp section. it runs on 50V. 190 bucks. sounds really nice: metallic, brutal. Bob Weston's favorite. He used it on Shellac's last tour through power amps.

this should be traced! if my bass player buys it, i'll post pics right away. unfortunately, they have no units for sale atm. maybe we could ask someone who owns it over at talkbass?
I would be nice to trace it..someone could build an all in one amplifier with that preamp and some bigger wattage power section..

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Post by culturejam »

andrej wrote:this should be traced! if my bass player buys it, i'll post pics right away. unfortunately, they have no units for sale atm. maybe we could ask someone who owns it over at talkbass?
Yes, please ask anyone you are friendly with at TalkBass to post or email you some gut shots. Then we can take a look at see what makes it tick.

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Post by chicago_mike »

Skyline FX 2013

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Post by andrej »

that was easy. an output buffer and a transformer and its done.

anyone wanna make a pcb? i'm currently on vacation, and don't have any of my programs here at my aunt's.

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Post by chicago_mike »

What I find interesting is 2 things. The voltage requirements and the price.

I guess the price isnt too bad :| , but a 40volt wall wart, I thought at first it was tube.
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Post by invalidcd »

chicago_mike wrote:What I find interesting is 2 things. The voltage requirements and the price.

I guess the price isnt too bad :| , but a 40volt wall wart, I thought at first it was tube.

Thats what i was thinking :hmmm:

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Post by soulsonic »

Hey, the preamp section only need +/-15v bipolar. You could do that with a 16vAC wall wart, no problem. I designed a ring mod recently that runs on that - worked perfectly on the breadboard from a 16vAC input, half-wave rectifiers, and got a simple regulated +/-15v with some resistors and zeners.
And if you wanted to run it on standard 9v, you could build up a boost/invert thing with one of those fancy chips they make just for that. Or, if the current requirements of the circuit are low enough, you could even get away with doing it with a 555 and a simple voltage multiplier thing.
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Post by jbrew73 »

on the traynor schematic, what does the last section with the 6 mps8598 right before the master volume do? looks like some kinda fixed eq.

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Post by clintrubber »

jbrew73 wrote:on the traynor schematic, what does the last section with the 6 mps8598 right before the master volume do? looks like some kinda fixed eq.
That's the actual section that sets it apart from other circuits. For a three-band compressor (which it is, called the "Tri-Comp Network") it has a pretty low number of components ! 8)

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Post by clintrubber »

soulsonic wrote:Hey, the preamp section only need +/-15v bipolar. You could do that with a 16vAC wall wart, no problem. I designed a ring mod recently that runs on that - worked perfectly on the breadboard from a 16vAC input, half-wave rectifiers, and got a simple regulated +/-15v with some resistors and zeners.
Soulsonic is right, just look at the cheap-n-simple way the Traynor does the +/-15V.

Bye

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Post by dorfmeister »

Gutshot:
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Post by chicago_mike »

Well I can't say I like the use of green meanies, but all in all a good build. :)

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Post by Crumbchildz »

Any chance of those gut shots being posted again?
Loud's a tone, right?

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Post by astrobass »

I'm resurrecting this, because I've decided to build one.

First off, I'm using this schematic: http://www.lynx.bc.ca/~jc/790713_TS50B.gif

And I'm taking everything up to and including the Master Volume pot.

I'm throwing together a schematic in Eagle and if anyone who doesn't suck as hard as I do at layouts would like to lend a hand, let me know and I'll at least send you the schematic file. I'm using the GaussMarkov.net libraries.

If you're not familiar with this thing, the TS-50B is the secret sauce behind the bass guitar tone on this (NSFW cover art for the "video"):

Immediate question though: the transistors and JFET in this thing are no longer common devices. AllTransistors.com tells me that the PN2907A is an equivalent to the MPS8598. To compare:

Code: Select all

					 	Mat		 Struct			Pc		 Ucb		Uce		Ueb		Ic		 Tj		  Ft		 Cc, pF	 	Hfe		 Caps
   	PN2907A	 	  Si	 	PNP	 	 0.4	 	 60	 	60	 	5	 	 0.8	 	150	 	200		8	 		 100	 	TO92
		MPS8598  		 Si		 PNP		 0.35		  60		 60		 5		  0.2		 150		 150		8			  100		 TO92
Seems like a good match, and I've got about 90 2907As already. I'm guessing just eyeballing that part of the schematic that these would benefit greatly from being at minimum matched pairs, if not all six matched for gain. Since I've got plenty to work with, I'll probably just match up all six just to be safe.

The 2N5245 on the other hand is much more mysterious. Would any N-channel JFET work there? I have a bag of J201s. What parameters should I be concerned with testing for and matching? I guess, worst case scenario, I could just build it and try some J201s and see if the world ends.

Thoughts?

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Post by Emanuele »

what about using 2n3906? I was drawing mine with those...

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Post by Branimir »

Sorry for resurrecting this topic from way back, but - does anybody have a PCB layout for it? Thinking of trying it as a standalone preamp into a Crown slave, and if it delivers - might build a neat amp with it.
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Post by Dr Tony Balls »

Branimir wrote: 02 Jun 2021, 19:40 might build a neat amp with it.
I did this for one of the Tronographic guys with a gutted pedal PCB and a Sunn/Dynaco backend:

Image

Image

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Post by DevouredDeth »

Dr Tony Balls wrote: 03 Jun 2021, 13:43
Branimir wrote: 02 Jun 2021, 19:40 might build a neat amp with it.
I did this for one of the Tronographic guys with a gutted pedal PCB and a Sunn/Dynaco backend:
Interesting design, I have been wanting to do this with a class D I just haven't had time to layout a PCB.

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