Spaceman WOW Signal

Post by **digi2t** » 15 Sep 2012, 02:18

There's now a video out;

I now have one on my bench. Here are some teaser shots;

The tracing has begun.......

night-butterfly · Post by **night-butterfly** » 15 Sep 2012, 05:54

IC + russian GE, switchable clipping... A polystyrene cap like in the spaceman and a really clean gut too! Can't wait for a schematic

Duckman · Post by **Duckman** » 15 Sep 2012, 06:22

Seems like (in the video) the switch change the depth... some tremolo included...
All cables trough PCB... nice detail. Very neat.

devastator · Post by **devastator** » 15 Sep 2012, 11:38

Nice !

Seems to be simpler than I thought. I don't know why but I thought that was a kind of fuzz with a ring mod .

Looks like a fuzz followed by a tremolo circuit.

agoldoor · Post by **agoldoor** » 17 Sep 2012, 18:56

It's so... space-age-y!! Love it!

juanro · Post by **juanro** » 17 Sep 2012, 19:28

The undulating pcb traces are a really classy touch...

Juanro

ppluis0 · Post by **ppluis0** » 17 Sep 2012, 21:26

juanro wrote:The undulating pcb traces are a really classy touch...

It looks as if the designer knew the guts of his creations would sooner or later be posted and discussed here...

BTW, I like the strain hole to reinforce the wires when they came out of the board.

Cheers,
Jose

LaceSensor · Post by **LaceSensor** » 17 Sep 2012, 21:31

sounds a like an average fuzz into a DOD vibrothang
not my cup of tea

devastator · Post by **devastator** » 28 Sep 2012, 12:23

any news of that spaceman pedal ?

Post by **digi2t** » 28 Sep 2012, 13:35

devastator wrote:any news of that spaceman pedal ?

It's on my bench... along with 3 other projects. It's number 2 in the cue. I have it apart, I just need to start tracing now.

Here's a pic of the backside for now;

Whoismarykelly · Post by **Whoismarykelly** » 01 Oct 2012, 21:48

Little tricky with the opto under the board there.

Post by **digi2t** » 05 Nov 2012, 00:31

OK, I finally got around to tracing the board. Lots of unknowns, since they went the extra mile to grind/erase/dissolve the numbers on the IC's, transistors, and one cap. Even the Vactrol has been erased. Anywho, here is what I have so far;

Any ideas on the unknowns?

Post by **digi2t** » 08 Nov 2012, 16:03

Here's a schematic for now.

Going to play with the fuzz side on the breadbaord first. See if I can "juice" it up a bit.

Post by **digi2t** » 09 Nov 2012, 16:42

Here's an initial vero offer. I'm mounting the LFO speed switch on the outside as a toggle, and I've added a footswitch to turn the LFO off. As always, not verified, until I build it, but I always put them out there for the eyes to spot errors.

Going to do a check trace tonight, but if anyone spots anything, please pipe up.

Cheers,
Dino

Post by **digi2t** » 11 Nov 2012, 15:46

OK, after trace checking, here are the corrected schematic and vero. The vero is still unverified, but it matches the PCB trace, so I'm fairly confident that it should be alright.

EDIT: def schematic and layout here viewtopic.php?f=7&p=211511#p211429

Going to start putting it together this week, and I'll update when it's done.

Cheers,
Dino

Post by **digi2t** » 10 Dec 2012, 06:27

Alrighty... been on the bread board awhile, but I finally got it done. Here is the schematic, and the verified vero;

C8 should be tailored to taste, and VR1 replaces the 16K resistor that is in the original. These two components tailor the Vactrol to the circuit. The VTL5C3 works great, although I'm thinking that a VTL5C1 might be what's in the original. In any case, adjusting C8, and using a 25K trimmer allows for adjustment to get a variety of Vactrol or LED/LDR combos to work here. Set the trimmer with the speed toggle on double speed, with the depth set to max, and the speed to max. Dial the trimmer to get a good square wave chop, and test the result by slowly dialing the speed down. The chop should be good throughout the speed range. As for the cap, test between 820pF to 2200pF (or higher if you wish), to get a good balance between the high and low frequency in the wave. Your ears will guide you. My unit is at 2200pF, and a side by side test says pretty well spot on to the original.

IC1 is an MC4558 (or RC4558), and IC2 is a TL072. Besides sounding good, the unit takes a moment to come to life, just like the original, so I believe that I have a good combo here. A TL072 in IC1 WILL NOT WORK!! It's as if the IC latches up when power is applied, and no sound comes out of it. The 4558's don't have this problem. Even a NE5532 works alright here.

Video will be posted tomorrow, A/B'ing the two. It's not cased, but it's operational. I'm still short a 62K resistor, so I'm using two resistors in series right now. It's not a fuzz for everyone, but with the LFO dialed down, still sounds pretty good. The fuzz section alone is worth the build.

Post by **digi2t** » 11 Dec 2012, 14:02

Crap, I forgot to post the video...

Here you go. Sorry about my long-windedness, just finished a 12 hour night shift.

johnk · Post by **johnk** » 26 Jun 2015, 09:15

I finally got around to etching a PCB for this one today. I built it up and tested it and it works & sounds just like the original. thanks for posting it digi2T!

pic of the tested pcb:

and the layout:

johnk · Post by **johnk** » 28 Jun 2015, 19:01

..............and done. in a 1590B with relayed true bypass.

gut shot:

Post by **digi2t** » 30 Jun 2015, 02:58

Super nice build. Love the etch.

Spaceman WOW Signal [traced]