Baja B K Butler Tube Driver

bajaman · Post by **bajaman** » 01 Jun 2008, 01:33

sample sounds - Anything by David Gilmour - Pink floyd etc.

minor7th · Post by **minor7th** » 01 Jun 2008, 03:39

FWIW, I borrowed a Butler, and AB'd it against Bajaman's Real Tube Driver. I gave the Butler back.

Bajaman- you da man!

Dror · Post by **Dror** » 01 Jun 2008, 06:22

Thanks

bajaman · Post by **bajaman** » 01 Jun 2008, 07:38

FWIW, I borrowed a Butler, and AB'd it against Bajaman's Real Tube Driver. I gave the Butler back.

I wonder if it is the dual regulators or the simple tone control - I love the simple tone control, because it is very easy to dial in the sweet spot for single coil or humbuckers.
thanks for AB'ing them minor7th.
I have had some very positive feedback from folks that have bought Baja RTO's from me too.
cheers
bajaman

minor7th · Post by **minor7th** » 01 Jun 2008, 14:56

bajaman wrote:
FWIW, I borrowed a Butler, and AB'd it against Bajaman's Real Tube Driver. I gave the Butler back.
I wonder if it is the dual regulators or the simple tone control - I love the simple tone control, because it is very easy to dial in the sweet spot for single coil or humbuckers.
thanks for AB'ing them minor7th.
I have had some very positive feedback from folks that have bought Baja RTO's from me too.
cheers
bajaman

Remember- my sound might be your torture, so YMMV.

Looking at it as an end user, the RTD didn't need as much tweaking to get into The Zone, and was still flexible enough to cope with the crap I put through it. I had my sound guy there (cos he has to listen to it) and he was happy to leave the RTD in the chain. It reacted well to, and well with, the other effects. My main guitar is a strat with 3 x dual rails that can be split, with 3 x toggles superstrat phase swtiching (suck on that, Brian May...

), so I ran the full gammit.

I built it with a OPA2134 cos I had a few sitting around and TL0x2s are so... Common. I tried a couple of valves in it before I boxed it, and settled on an EH- for now. More to come there.

As far as both of them go I was told I as the day went on I made a subtle change to my settings to use my other fx to enhance the RTD/Butler... Interesting.

We did decide to take a leaf out of the book of the esteemed Mr Gilmour and I will be building another. One to warm the signal over, and another for those high gain moments...

Summary- Basically, I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything handing the Butler back, if you get what I mean. What more can I say, except again, YMMV.

Thank you, Mr Man!

Dror · Post by **Dror** » 12 Jun 2008, 22:47

Hi Baja,

Can you please explain more about the transformer of the BK Butller version, I guess it's not a regular 12vAC.

You wrote at the beginning:

You will need a suitable 12vAC power pack for this pedal - the original has a small toroidal mains transformer fitted internally near the front of the case.

What do you mean by suitable or toroidal transformer?

Thanks
Dror

bajaman · Post by **bajaman** » 13 Jun 2008, 01:15

Hi dror - sorry - that is all I know

bajaman

Dror · Post by **Dror** » 13 Jun 2008, 05:03

bajaman wrote:Hi dror - sorry - that is all I know
bajaman

Thanks

I'm just trying to understand, what is the advantage of the toroidal transformer.
And if it's effect the sound

bajaman · Post by **bajaman** » 13 Jun 2008, 06:44

what is the advantage of the toroidal transformer

They are cheap nowadays and they radiate a very low hum field when compared to a standard E and I lamination transformer - a major advantage when placed near high gain circuitry

Cheers
bajaman

rantony · Post by **rantony** » 16 Jul 2008, 04:15

Hi Baja,

Are the 4558 and the OPA2134 100% interchangeable without any modification to the circuit ?

Thanks for this greaaaaaaaaaaat project !

minor7th · Post by **minor7th** » 16 Jul 2008, 04:42

rantony wrote:Hi Baja,

Are the 4558 and the OPA2134 100% interchangeable without any modification to the circuit ?

Thanks for this greaaaaaaaaaaat project !

Yes. There might be slight differences to the sound, but there's one way to find out whether it's a sound you like. Actually, there's a whole heap you could try- 5532, 072, LM833- basically all the usual suspects for dual opamp DIP-8 packages. (Sorry if I've put down the wong chip there- I' not well and the drugs are niiiiiiiice!

)

Socket it, and if you don't like it- change it!

Ikatoch · Post by **Ikatoch** » 20 Sep 2008, 23:41

Is this version any good? http://diy.musikding.de/berichte/eff/ch ... er_mod.gif It seems to be very simmilar to the GGG version which obviously has problems.

kyle31 · Post by **kyle31** » 25 Sep 2008, 04:48

How would I build this with out the bias circuit? Pins 3 and 8 to V - - ?

Also what is the current draw for the circuit? I'd like to get an external 12vac power supply. If anyone has suggestions about a good 12vac wallwart for 120vac input please let me know.

Thanks

guigui1950 · Post by **guigui1950** » 29 Sep 2008, 11:58

I just registered on this forum :
applause: very good job indeed from BAJA

does anybody have the physical details of the "box" to house all this stuff ?

RiZsho · Post by **RiZsho** » 29 Sep 2008, 16:16

Hello!
I'm new to this forum and excuse my bad english.

I have been looking for a traced butler tube driver for quite some time. When i saw bajaman's first post in this topic i coudn't believe my eyes. I started building it and i'm having problems with the PCB layout. I noticed that the traced top layer and bottom don't go together as shown on the photographs of the actual PCB. I tried flipping them over and under... It just didn't work out as on the pictures. Bajaman: is the photo of the bottom mirrored? If it were, than it would make sense.

Thx

RiZsho · Post by **RiZsho** » 29 Sep 2008, 19:25

Hey

I just went with it, assuming that the picture is mirrored.

Now i have a problem: When the effect is off everything is ok, but when i turn it on, it doesn't play how it should. If i play lightly (don't hit the strings too much) there's hardly any signal, but if i hit the string harder the effects produces somekind of a fuzz tone which immediately shuts down. What could be wrong?

golson · Post by **golson** » 03 Oct 2008, 20:49

Does someone have a parts list of resources and pictures of the guts to get a visual? Thanks

bajaman · Post by **bajaman** » 04 Oct 2008, 00:19

Does someone have a parts list of resources and pictures of the guts to get a visual? Thanks

https://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa2 ... ematic.png

pictures here:

members/bajaman/BKBUTLERPICS/

cheers
bajaman

golson · Post by **golson** » 04 Oct 2008, 01:43

bajaman wrote:
Does someone have a parts list of resources and pictures of the guts to get a visual? Thanks
https://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa2 ... ematic.png

pictures here:

members/bajaman/BKBUTLERPICS/

cheers
bajaman

Thank you so much....greg

seniorLoco · Post by **seniorLoco** » 06 Oct 2008, 01:20

Just an update ....Modz a Butler to Baja specs with a 12au7. Reduced the two 47k anode resistors to 22k for best results and the bias became way more useable. Everything else was to Baja.

Bajaman ....Thanks Heaps

Baja B K Butler Tube Driver [documentation]