L'Overdrive de la Révolution Deux - A tribute to FS.org!

soulsonic · Post by **soulsonic** » 06 Jan 2008, 18:43

Lookin' good!

madbean · Post by **madbean** » 06 Jan 2008, 19:14

Good work. I remember working out something similar several weeks ago, but with a different tone section. I like the idea of the bypassable tone. I might have to breadboard this up later.

Thanks!

briggs · Post by **briggs** » 06 Jan 2008, 19:22

Cheers.

When the tone is bypassed and you have the 10uF on the source of the first J201 this thing really screams!

In my version at the moment I have a 100n on that drain, gives a nice high/mid rangey boost and is slightly more controlable.

The 10n cap just before the tone section cuts bass, you need to adjust that to suit your gear. Sticking in a multi-position switch to change this cap would be a cool mod. Like the old orange amps used to have.

The caps on the gates on the fets control the high end roll off, if you want to use it mainly for low gain you can use fairly small caps (2x200pf), for higher gain use higher valued caps (I'm using 1n on the first fet and 470n on the second), it really smooths out the sound.

Brian M · Post by **Brian M** » 06 Jan 2008, 19:37

i dont know where the output section is from, but it seems like it would be awfully bright.

briggs · Post by **briggs** » 06 Jan 2008, 19:53

It is pretty bright, but the J201's are fairly dark sounding and the 1nF cap on the gate of the first J201 combined with the 470pF on the gate of the last J201 roll off enough of the highs to get a nice smoothness, you can always up the values of those two caps to get the response right for you gear - that is just where I started. My guitar is a 335 style semi hollow body with humbuckers so I need the top end boost. Other guitars will require less.

Note the biasing of the 201 stages, the first drain is biased at about 4.6v while the second is at 6.4v.

I tried using other Fets but they got a bit harsh when the gain was cranked...

briggs · Post by **briggs** » 06 Jan 2008, 20:48

Anyone wanna breadboard this up and try it with their gear? I could do with the feedback as to how it sounds on different guitars/amps. As I've said I'm running 335 type into Dual Reverb. Sounds good (Read interesting

) to me

beans1 · Post by **beans1** » 06 Jan 2008, 21:24

I dont know how i done that sorry

beans1 · Post by **beans1** » 06 Jan 2008, 21:28

Ah crap and i had a good name picked out to I was going to say Main Vein and suggest a big bursting blood vein of some kind on the enclosure Oh well maybe next time.The Schematic looks promising tho.
I would like to say Good day to all this is my first post here.

briggs · Post by **briggs** » 06 Jan 2008, 21:44

Welcome

I'll be posting a few more projects soon, I'll be needing names for them so keep 'em up your sleeve

noelgrassy · Post by **noelgrassy** » 10 Jan 2008, 09:09

Great Name Briggs! It's about time the names caught up with everything else an F/X pedal aspires to be. I'm sure your design will bear this out. I'm gonna scrounge the parts together unless you've designed it with all Panasonic caps & metal film R's. My J201's are nothing special either. Keep us posted on your developements. Thanks, NG

briggs · Post by **briggs** » 10 Jan 2008, 14:47

Heh, the name just came to me. I was thinking about revolutions and the character which has been given to this forum. I built mine with parts that where laying around. No mojo here. I have altered the tone stack a bit though, It now resembles the Hotcake presence control. I'll put an updated scheme up soon after I've finished boxing it up

briggs · Post by **briggs** » 11 Jan 2008, 15:18

I also just added a "voice" switch. It changes the bass response of the unit.

More coming soon

briggs · Post by **briggs** » 12 Jan 2008, 13:35

L'Overdrive de la Révolution Deux: Photo Essay[/b]

Here is a short photo essay detailing the build of my very own LORD pedal. Tuck in, read and enjoy! Any questions? Fire away.

***DISCLAIMER***
The LORD is not a subtle sounding pedal when at full gain. Windows will rattle, ears will sear and any neighbors/front row audience will lose any fillings they posess. At lower gains the LORD can be used to get subtle breakup or just to boost your signal - the choice is yours the LORD is your tool.

1) The Schematic[/b]

First is the updated scheme. In my build I used a 100n cap on the source of the first fet and I used the "alt tonestack". I also added a "voice" switch which adds in a 4.7n cap across the 4.7n output cap I used for the mosfet stage (instead of the 10n stated), it essentially changes the bass response of the circuit from stock to what I call "thin".

You may want to tweak the caps about a bit to suit your gear. Alter the high frequency roll off points at the two Jfet stage e.t.c, experiment - play until it sounds how you like it!

2) The Breadboard[/b]

Here's the little sucker on the breadboard, testing was completed and confirmed that the little bugger made one hell of a racket - mission accomplished! (Note the cigarette burns on the carpet! Ooops!)

3) The Enclosure[/b]

I decided that "L'Overdrive de la Revolution Deux" needed a special enclosure (Read as; I was skint and didn't want to spend any cash buying a new hammond case!) I took the case from an old bust Ibanez phaser and modified it to my tastes.

4) The Enclosure Continued[/b]

A quick picture of the innards in place, you can see the squeeze I got into, having to slot that 3PDT in there was almost an error. The original footswitch will be used as a little "bonus feature"

Note the tone bypass switch and the voice switch (which is lying at the side of the enclosure!)

5) The Circuit[/b]

I decided, for the extra mojo, to build the circuit point-to-point on perfboard. Here it is, layout completed and ready for the wires to go on! Note the two trim pots used for biasing the FET's to the correct voltage - very important!

6) Wiring and Test[/b]

After I wired all the controls in place I fired the circuit up for debugging, as usual there was no errors at all

All of the wiring was kept as short and neat as I could be arsed with!

7) Installation[/b]

Next I had to install the circuit into the enclosure. Nice and neat

. There is a prize for the first person who can tell me what I used the original footswitch for!? I was going to put a battery connector in there but I couldn't be bothered - I don't have any spare batteries, aparently we need those for the "Smoke Alarm".... Pfffft.

All Finished[/b]

Looking Good!

Still looking good.

Once more, just for luck!

So there it is, the finished article. One hell of an overdrive

Give it a try, you wont be dissapointed - "L'Overdrive de la Revolution Deux" is a crowd killer! Please, if you do build it, be sure to give feedback on how it sounds - what gear you are using it with etc....

Fred Briggs

soulsonic · Post by **soulsonic** » 12 Jan 2008, 20:40

Me like. This one will be built soon.

briggs · Post by **briggs** » 12 Jan 2008, 20:59

Cool stuff. Look forward to hearing some feedback, I can only vouch for how this thing sounds with my gear at the moment - A 335 into a dual reverb... I'm pretty sure the freq response will have to be tweaked to suit other gear, but that is really easy to do....

Now, I've had an idea.... I'm thinking of releasing a series of "L'Overdrive de la Revolution" pedals, from "un" to "dix". I think it would make a great little series of projects, each one different from the last. Different sounds, techniques e.t.c

Torchy · Post by **Torchy** » 12 Jan 2008, 23:52

There is a prize for the first person who can tell me what I used the original footswitch for!?

Presence boost ?

soulsonic · Post by **soulsonic** » 13 Jan 2008, 00:02

Torchy wrote:
There is a prize for the first person who can tell me what I used the original footswitch for!?
Presence boost ?

Close!

pz · Post by pz » 13 Jan 2008, 00:05

soulsonic wrote:There is a prize for the first person who can tell me what I used the original footswitch for!?

I see a cap over there, boost switch at the source of the 2nd stage (10uF to gnd)?

briggs · Post by **briggs** » 13 Jan 2008, 04:00

Torchy close but pz gets it right on target! 10uF cap switched across the source resistor of the 2nd stage. Adds sustain to those loooooooong solos

marshmellow · Post by **marshmellow** » 13 Jan 2008, 21:05

Here's a PCB I did for the Lord.

I put a switch on the source cap of Q2 like Briggs did. If you don't want it put a jumper in there. Or turn the cap and put it directly in there.

The output is directly from lug 2 of the level pot.

PCB is exported at 500 dpi. When printed out it should measure 2,1" x 1,1".

Have fun!

/edit: schematic update with alt tone stack and voltages for the transistors