Lovetone - Brown Source  [traced]

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modman
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Post by modman »

Lovetone Brown Source schematic

On lovetone.com you can hear some samples and read this accompanying text,

The BROWN SOURCE™ is an instant flash-back to that dynamic, singing, BIG late 60's / early 70's brown sound that is associated with countless classic records spanning the whole musical spectrum. It offers unparalleled purity and touch sensitivity and an uncannily warm "valvey" grunt with the absence of the unnatural fizz associated with most overdrive pedals. There is also a very tangible sense of electricity (remember that!?) as it piles on the pylon factor. It responds extremely well to filter changes (producing a throaty "voice box" type distortion) and consequently works an absolute treat with a wah in front - and will make any new guitar sound 30 years older!
Because of its large image size irrespective of volume, and natural communicative response it makes an ideal recording tool or "desert island" companion. Three classic ways to use the Brown Source with a guitar are for snap crackle and "pop" into a clean amp, dripping fat into a cooking amp and controlled feedback with singing harmonics into a driven amp. In the studio it can perform amazing transformations on the most unlikely time travellers, or blended in with the straight signal it can be used to add a touch of dirt to those unfashionable clean cut sounds!

© Lovetone 2000


AG will be back soon, I'm sure.


(edit: link removed, please check Paul Nelson's BrownSource project here.)
Last edited by modman on 05 Oct 2007, 09:36, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by briggs »

I like the brown source. I think it's pretty underrated. I find it better than a screamer.
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Post by grolschie »

Link gone.

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Post by Goop_buster »

grolschie wrote:Link gone.
Another AG pagé here:

http://analogguru.an.ohost.de/

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modman
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Post by modman »

grolschie wrote:Link gone.
It's on top: not gone, not dead. Scared me for a moment.
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Post by invictus »

another version of a brown source schem:

http://www.geocities.com/diygescorp/lov ... source.jpg


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KT66
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Post by KT66 »

invictus wrote:another version of a brown source schem:

http://www.geocities.com/diygescorp/lov ... source.jpg


.
that one is wrong.

doug hammond designed a circuit called "tone source" based on the brown source and it sounds really nice.

cheers
kt

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Post by polarbearfx »

how can you eliminate the 3 position knob and just put it in a fixed position? I like one setting on this pedal and don't want the toggle option.

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Post by nelson »

They are both wrong.

I reversed it myself

http://electroconducive.googlepages.com

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Post by Bernardduur »

I recently had a CheeseSource under my hands;

This one is correct
'No more....... loud music.......'
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Post by modman »

hi Paul,

Thanks so much for putting these great projects onlne! Will link to your page in the first message of this thread to avoid confusion. Can't find the AG schemo back to compare

Can't help noticing one other thing one that page.... :shock:
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Post by Bernardduur »

polarbearfx wrote:how can you eliminate the 3 position knob and just put it in a fixed position? I like one setting on this pedal and don't want the toggle option.
You can just choose one setting and wire the components to this setting;
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Post by modman »

http://analogguru.an.ohost.de/193/schem ... Source.gif

had a quick look, has 47n after first transistor instead of 470n but for the rest?
Will look again later, have to run now.
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Post by John Lyons »

I built nelson's PCB and here are my thoughts:

Through a Clean (fender twin) amp it sound like poop, brittle, very little gain and lifeless. The Lovetone site samples were pretty tasty but they were all through somewhat distorted amps I'd say.
Through a semi distorted tube amp it really sounds nice. In the same way that a rangemaster kicks up the gain and makes an amp sing.

The 4 position tone switch is very subtle in 3 of it's positions. Doug H redid the circuit as the "Tone Source" and made some nice changes in the selector switch which has 4 distinct sounds.

Schematic
http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/v/DougH/ToneSource/

Soundclip (scroll down to Brown Source...dougs clips is the "Tone Source" he built...need to rename it...)
http://www.mrdwab.com/john/soundclipspage.html

John

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Post by polarbearfx »

i got to say i agree even with mods this pedal is poopy. a bsiab easily beats it up.

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Post by JHS »

Bernardduur's link piont to Esnips.

I don't think that it's s a good idea to download something from Esnips. Esnips intalls spyware on your PC too, so beware. :!:
Furthermore you need an account to download something from the site.

JHS

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Post by Bernardduur »

OK, sorry, just linking here

:)
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Post by DougH »

My ToneSource is a distillation of what I liked about the Brown Source, leaving out parts I felt were unnecessary (e.g. input buffer) and changing stuff I didn't like (like the "off" switch position).

I suspect the BS was intended to be used to juice up the front end of an amp and offer a lot of tonal options. It's not something you are going to plug into a Fender amp and get instant "Marshall in a box" sounds with or etc. I believe it's meant to work with the sound of your amp synergistically, like a Rangemaster or any other boost pedal does. It does not develop a lot of internal clipping or distortion, but when boosting your amp (or if the amp is breaking up on its own a little) it can sound very nice and add a nice dimension to your sound. The rotary switch and tone control can seem a little over the top but if you like to tweak knobs you can find a lot of sounds in it, some you might not expect. I found that it works much better with my Red Fang than it did with my G12H30, where it sounded kind of bright. Speaker choice is probably the biggest and most overlooked determining factor in how well a particular pedal/amp/guitar is going to work in your rig.

The design of this circuit is very quirky. Here's an idea. As an exercise try this- calculate the Fc of the HPF and LPF in the first op amp stage and then report back what is "wrong" with it. You can do this with either the Tone Source or Brown Source schematic. Should make for an interesting discussion...

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Post by Bernardduur »

I should try this one then; I'm still searching for an OD that will work with my amp........
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Post by lohstah »

has anyone ever seen a manual for the brown source ? for the longest time i have been curious how the three selector switch positions are described or what they are supposed to do.

cheers,
lohstah

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