Baja B K Butler Tube Driver

lutor · Post by **lutor** » 02 Dec 2012, 23:16

I hope to be able to send some sample soon.

salvovulcan · Post by **salvovulcan** » 23 Dec 2012, 15:07

I'm new in this forum. I'm just try to reading and I feel to thanks baja and everybody else for the great support in my tube drive formation (and english as well). I hope to give something back to you all.
merry christmass
salvovulcan

91795jc · Post by **91795jc** » 05 Jan 2013, 22:27

Hello everyone!
I'm also new to this forum and have decided to build this particular overdrive. I have a question about grounding the whole thing. Do I ground everything from the mains earth pin or do I just connect one lead from the secondary coil of the transformer to the enclosure?

Best regards

TJ

DesertCruiser · Post by **DesertCruiser** » 25 Mar 2013, 11:04

91795jc wrote:Hello everyone!
I'm also new to this forum and have decided to build this particular overdrive. I have a question about grounding the whole thing. Do I ground everything from the mains earth pin or do I just connect one lead from the secondary coil of the transformer to the enclosure?

Best regards

TJ

Hi 91795jc

In most situations (not all) the best point to tie the circuit ground to the enclosure is near the input jack. Tightly twist the input signal wire and ground wire together(or use shielded wire) and connect the ground wire to the input jack sleeve tap, and the other end to the circuit ground near the first amplifyng stage. Be sure this is the ONLY place where the circuit ground and enclosure are connented, or else ground lopps could occur. If possible, isolate the output jack from the enclosure and ground the sleeve from circuit ground.
And allways make sure to connect the safety ground from the mains cable robustly to the enclosure with a separate bolt and star washer! If you are using an internal transformer that is. This is not the place to employ ground lifting.

Happy building!

Ralph78 · Post by **Ralph78** » 28 Mar 2013, 20:51

Hi everyone! Can anyone re-upload the bajaman`s pictures posted on the second page? they are no more available animore.

galmar · Post by **galmar** » 20 Jun 2013, 14:11

Hello people!

Does this pedal run the heaters normally at 12.6VAC in series? Or does it employ starved heaters?

Running them normally quotes for 150mA at 12.6VAC, that is why I ask.

dai h. · Post by **dai h.** » 20 Jun 2013, 14:30

from the schematics, some are 12.6VAC and some are DC. What do you mean by "starved heaters"? Do you mean lowering slightly to try to lower noise or something?

jozabroz2000 · Post by **jozabroz2000** » 18 Jul 2013, 15:59

hi
can someone tell me is zener polarity on this pic OK or black ring side needs to be connected to ground (fat connection on PCB?)

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

and do I realy need it if I don't want BIAS mod

igaurav · Post by **igaurav** » 24 Feb 2014, 11:18

Can Anybody share single sided PCB Transfer/layout for BK Butler Tube Driver.
Schematic Attached. I'm so obsessed with this pedal. Plz help.

igaurav · Post by **igaurav** » 24 Feb 2014, 11:21

Can Anybody share single sided PCB Transfer/layout for BK Butler Tube Driver.
Schematic Attached. I'm so obsessed with this pedal. Plz help.
Schematic Attached.

atreidesheir · Post by **atreidesheir** » 25 Feb 2014, 01:22

https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1171

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 05 Mar 2014, 13:04

galmar wrote:Hello people!

Does this pedal run the heaters normally at 12.6VAC in series? Or does it employ starved heaters?

Running them normally quotes for 150mA at 12.6VAC, that is why I ask.

The heaters are run at 12.6V AC, you need to connect the 12.6V AC to pins 4 and 5 on the valve socket, pin 9 is the centre-tap connection for the heaters (only used if you're powering the valve from a 6.3V AC heater supply)......

As a sidenote to all builders and new members wanting to build one of these, be sure to read all the posts in this thread since there's alot of good info and tips......

StratWiz · Post by **StratWiz** » 29 Mar 2014, 21:08

I have measured signals & voltages on my genuine Butler TD911M (REV:3 091913) with BIAS. It has the BIAS and the rounded transformer. See attached PDF for measured signals, and for suggestion how to modify it to True-Bypass (stock is NOT true bypass).
Cheers,
SW

oasisfan78 · Post by **oasisfan78** » 03 Apr 2014, 01:06

Hi All,
I am new to the forum. I have been working on this pedal now for two weeks, with no success. I etched my own board from the Baja's layout on page one. I lined up both sides of the transfers perfectly. I have used all of the components per the layout. I used a 12V 800ma wall wart AC adapter connected to a 2.1 barrel style power jack. The only thing I have gotten to work is the green LED and the the tube heater warms the tube but not to that nice glow you would expect. I have checked all of the voltages, thank you Dr. Nomis for so nicely putting all that out there it helped IMMENSELY especially to inform me that nothing was working OTHER than the tube heater and that was working on the wrong pin per Baja's layout (pin 4 not 5). There is negligible voltage coming from any other pin on the tube, like to the point that they do not even remotely come near the numbers posted by Dr. Nomis. Also, I get no voltage readings from the IC at all. Normally I would bag it and call it quits but this one is for a friend who asked very nicely if I would build him one...and all the time and money acquiring all the parts. This is not my first scratch build but I think I bit off more than I could chew with this one. Is there any other reason there are all these extra little holes in the PCB that go to nothing that maybe should go to something??? Any help would be GREATLY, IMMENSELY, LIFE SAVING, SANITY KEEPING!!!

bajaman · Post by **bajaman** » 03 Apr 2014, 06:48

are you using an AC voltage or a DC voltage (16v) adaptor ?

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 03 Apr 2014, 12:16

oasisfan78 wrote:Hi All,
I am new to the forum. I have been working on this pedal now for two weeks, with no success. I etched my own board from the Baja's layout on page one. I lined up both sides of the transfers perfectly. I have used all of the components per the layout. I used a 12V 800ma wall wart AC adapter connected to a 2.1 barrel style power jack. The only thing I have gotten to work is the green LED and the the tube heater warms the tube but not to that nice glow you would expect. I have checked all of the voltages, thank you Dr. Nomis for so nicely putting all that out there it helped IMMENSELY especially to inform me that nothing was working OTHER than the tube heater and that was working on the wrong pin per Baja's layout (pin 4 not 5). There is negligible voltage coming from any other pin on the tube, like to the point that they do not even remotely come near the numbers posted by Dr. Nomis. Also, I get no voltage readings from the IC at all. Normally I would bag it and call it quits but this one is for a friend who asked very nicely if I would build him one...and all the time and money acquiring all the parts. This is not my first scratch build but I think I bit off more than I could chew with this one. Is there any other reason there are all these extra little holes in the PCB that go to nothing that maybe should go to something??? Any help would be GREATLY, IMMENSELY, LIFE SAVING, SANITY KEEPING!!!

When you lined up the artwork in order to etch the PCB, did you check that the artwork was oriented correctly?, because if the artwork was oriented correctly there should be no little holes going nowhere........

oasisfan78 · Post by **oasisfan78** » 03 Apr 2014, 21:46

Thank you IMMENSELY both for answering me!

Bajaman-I am using a 12V 800ma AC adapter, should I be using a higher voltage one? I see you mentioned the 16V one there so maybe I made a mistake in my adapter choice (I have never built an AC powered effect before). To be brutally honest I am out of my element with this type of power source so I chose to use a wall wart and it is quite possible that I misunderstood some of the other posts in the thread.

Dr. Nomis-I did orient the transfers almost perfectly. When I was referring to the extra little "holes" I was referring to some of the extra holes on the board that appeared to be there but not connecting anything, these were not component placement holes...I was a bit confused about this, I did not know if there were supposed to be links connecting some of these hence why I was not getting power transferring where it needed to go. On the layout of the component parts orientation these were extra holes that appeared to be there from the original board but DID NOT have any components going to them, maybe to wire things on both sides of the board. Again, I am a dilettante at using a double sided board so I am feeling my way around here.

Thank you gentlemen for your help, I am in your debt if you can offer me insight into my error.

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 03 Apr 2014, 23:18

Could you post some pics of the circuit board?, that might go some way to helping us work out what's wrong with your build......

oasisfan78 · Post by **oasisfan78** » 04 Apr 2014, 20:08

Here you go Dr. Nomis,

If you need specific shots let me know. If you look at the shot of the "bottom layer" you will see the extra holes that I was referring to.

https://s92.photobucket.com/user/rlmurphy78/profile/

DrNomis · Post by **DrNomis** » 05 Apr 2014, 03:20

oasisfan78 wrote:Here you go Dr. Nomis,

If you need specific shots let me know. If you look at the shot of the "bottom layer" you will see the extra holes that I was referring to.

https://s92.photobucket.com/user/rlmurphy78/profile/

Strange, it's saying you don't have any photos uploaded......

Baja B K Butler Tube Driver [documentation]