Zvex - Box of Rock  [traced]

General documentation, gut shot, schematic links, ongoing circuit tracing, deep thoughts ... all about boutique stompboxes.
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B Tremblay
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Post by B Tremblay »

We thought it was a good approach and it works well, if you accept its limitations and don't expect some sort of miracle tone from it. We wanted to expose others to it and then decided to pass the torch, rather than be viewed as one-trick ponies who'd jumped the shark (please forgive my animalistic cliches).

That being said (typed?), it's still a valuable building block, as you can see in the Thor.

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markm
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Post by markm »

B Tremblay wrote:We thought it was a good approach and it works well, if you accept its limitations and don't expect some sort of miracle tone from it. We wanted to expose others to it and then decided to pass the torch, rather than be viewed as one-trick ponies who'd jumped the shark (please forgive my animalistic cliches).

That being said (typed?), it's still a valuable building block, as you can see in the Thor.
I have to say you guys at ROG have certainly influenced some of the stuff I've tried to design myself :roll: and I have borrowed some of your ideas and implemented them in different ways as well.
Besides, I like doing layouts for your circuits!!
Would love to see a Compressor project from the ROG team! :D
Join together with the "Banned"!

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nokaster
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Post by nokaster »

since markm and madbean posted a very nice layout each, i'm wondering which of both has the correct capacitor values for a "true" box of rock?

everything else seems to be about the same, but the caps are different on both layouts... confused...

(keep in mind i'm extremely new at this...) :oops:

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madbean
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Post by madbean »

Looks like I labeled C6 and C7 in my layout as 22nf, and they should be 2nf according to the schem. I'd have to check my build to see what I actually used. Anyway, either will work....it will just shape the overall tone a little differently. You can socket those areas too and try out different values for R6/C6 and R13/C6 for different flavors of low pass filtering.
Last edited by madbean on 10 Oct 2007, 15:08, edited 1 time in total.

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pulpek
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Post by pulpek »

I built the madbean´s layout.Great and so clean. It sounds GREAT, but a little "bug". The ""tone" pot is reverse wired, isn´t?

Thanks!

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madbean
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Post by madbean »

Hmm, it isn't reversed on my build. You should be able to switch the wires on lugs 3 and 1 of the tone pot to fix that.

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Lexx
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Post by Lexx »


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madbean
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Post by madbean »

Apparently the Box of Metal is priced around $300. That should get a reversin' on principal.

The gate thing is neat, though.

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Lovepedal Detective
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Post by Lovepedal Detective »

The Box Of Metal will be surface mount. The boards are being done by Cusack.

LPD

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Lovepedal Detective
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Post by Lovepedal Detective »

I'm having trouble with my BOR vero build. Can anyone give me the voltage readings of the transistors?

LPD

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Lovepedal Detective
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Post by Lovepedal Detective »

Worked on the Vero layout again today, and can't figure out why it isn't working. I get no signal at all. My voltages are very high on the transistors as well. I have an original in front of me and my voltages aren't even close to the real thing!

Has any built the vero layout? I may try the perf layout, but I really don't like working with perf.

LPD

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bajaman
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Post by bajaman »

ps: make sure you connect the mosfets correctly - check your pinouts.
:wink:

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kaufhaus
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Post by kaufhaus »

just finished building the box of rock from the schematics posted here. it's does sound very close to the zvex examples, but is a bit noisy a higher gain settings. it's quite clear that this is matter of fact with overdrive pedals, but still a bit too much in this case.

anyone else experienced anything like this?

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madbean
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Post by madbean »

Yes, mine definitely gets a bit noisy on the last quarter of the drive pot.

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kaufhaus
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Post by kaufhaus »

ok, great, so it's not just my built! just found out about the 'crackle okay' feature. zacki really has a great sense of humor.

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bajaman
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Post by bajaman »

zacki really has a great sense of humor
if you think selling a defective product and convincing people that you DESIGNED it that way is humorous, then you are a truly sad puppy :shock: :lol:
....and .....yes....mosfets are hisssssssy - but don't you know - Zacki designed them that way - the hiss is intentional and an inherent part of his design concept (whhoops - I am starting to sound like him :oops: :oops: )
Do yourself a favour - replace the mosfets with jfet mu amps - or better still - just build the BSIABII - you will be following in Zacki's footsteps :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:wink: bajaman

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Lovepedal Detective
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Post by Lovepedal Detective »

Still can't get mine working. My problem seems to be with the first gain stage. My volume works and my tone works. The gain control isn't changing any voltages on the first BS170 like it's supposed to. Anyone have any ideas? I'm going off of the vero layout posted here.

LPD

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bajaman
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Post by bajaman »

Hi LPD
1: Make sure you have a good mosfet - they are damaged very easily
2: Make sure you have the mosfet connected properly - check the pin out - download the data sheet - google it etc.
Good luck
bajaman

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Lovepedal Detective
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Post by Lovepedal Detective »

FYI the Vero Layout posted on the first page is not correct. It will not work if you build it that way. I'll make a new vero based on that one with corrections.

I've got my pedal working now, and it sounds fantastic..... maybe even better than my real BOR.

LPD

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John Lyons
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Post by John Lyons »

I built the BOR from Beans PCB layout. I really like it.
Nice crunchy yet articulate sounds.

John

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