Snarling Dogs - Black dog  [schematic]

All about modern commercial stompbox circuits from Electro Harmonix over MXR, Boss and Ibanez into the nineties.
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Bernardduur
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Post by Bernardduur »

Hi all!

Found this nice effect; was already a fan of the EHX Hot Tubes (CMOS version) so I couldn't leave this alone.

The tone from the box was just terrible......... Could not imagine that someone would like that...... and then considering that some bought it for this........

Standard schematic:
Snarling Dogs - Black dog.JPG
So I modded it to Hot Tubes specs:
Snarling Dogs - Black dog MOD1.JPG
But ended up with this pedal:
Snarling Dogs - Black dog MOD2.JPG
With the new location of the gain knob I can have more tones from this little box. This way it can be much less gainy and way more gainy! Best part is that the lower gained settings don't sound that gatey but as full and nice as the higher gained settings!
'No more....... loud music.......'
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tube-exorcist
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Post by tube-exorcist »

.... and you can remove C6 + R5 which are only relics (from "direct out") from a poor cloning job of the EH Hot Tubes.
"I've noticed there's an inverse relationship between cost of gear and talent. If you need the most expensive gear to get decent tones, then you suck as a player."

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Bernardduur
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Post by Bernardduur »

Haha, yes, I know. I was thinking of adding a clean blend knob and these extra components can be used perfect for this purpose.

Furthermore, I changed from using the lower voltage on the CD4049 as I found out that running it on 9V sound much better (less gain, more clean tones and better bass response).

Last thing I changed is the input impedance by changing R2 from 120k to 1M
'No more....... loud music.......'
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ilcaccillo
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Post by ilcaccillo »

Hello,
thanks for the schematic.

I've to say for future readers that I totally disagree with you and that I really like the Sound of the Black Dog stock without any mods at all.
I like it so much, I bought another one as spare so I have 2. I also bought this week the Tweed E Dog, the circuits should be similar I will trace both and make a schematic with the differences.

My only advise regarding Snarling Dogs pedals is to try them out before modifying or discarding, you might just ruin a really nice sounding pedal.

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kvb
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Post by kvb »

I for one can't wait to mod this. It will save me the trouble of modding a red llama.
I agree, this pedal at low gain settings is useless, as is.
I am glad the schematic is here. Thanks, Bernardduur!
Mine is the tweed E.

To run at 9v jumper Q1 C-E? No other changes necessary, right?

Just curious.
Can anyone explain what is going on at IC1a? Is this a differential input? If so, what are its advantages, do any other pedals do this?

For what could/should I repurpose the useless bite/snarl switch?
Oh. I could use the switch to go from 5v to 9v

Anyone do a clean blend?

I will draw up an idea.

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Bernardduur
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Post by Bernardduur »

ilcaccillo wrote: 22 Aug 2016, 01:42 Hello,
thanks for the schematic.

I've to say for future readers that I totally disagree with you and that I really like the Sound of the Black Dog stock without any mods at all.
I like it so much, I bought another one as spare so I have 2. I also bought this week the Tweed E Dog, the circuits should be similar I will trace both and make a schematic with the differences.

My only advise regarding Snarling Dogs pedals is to try them out before modifying or discarding, you might just ruin a really nice sounding pedal.
Getting back to this pedal after a long time, and reversing it back to stock!

And suddenly, it clicked. And yes, I have to agree. I shouldn't have modded it. It sound fine the way it was designed!

Pics and info on this pedal on my blog and insta
'No more....... loud music.......'
Follow my love for pedals and amps on https://bernardduur.blogspot.com and https://www.instagram.com/bernardduur1

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Ben N
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Post by Ben N »

I had and sold a Tweed-E-Dog a while back, and while I generally liked the way it sounded, (a) it was hissy (I know, CMOS just is), and (b) it was very touchy about bass frequencies and would saturate ugly unless you could roll some off at the input. Oh, and the enclosure, while cool, is insanely large for a simple OD.

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