Mad Professor Tiny Orange Phaser (gutshots)

FoXXTone · Post by **FoXXTone** » 28 Mar 2012, 12:13

After quite some lurking here I thought I'd start out with a contribution as my first post.

I got a Mad Professor Tiny Orange Phaser from eBay for quite a good price, and it seems there's a demand for gutshots. Here's the first couple of shots (sorry if the quality is not up to standards - I'm using the camera in my mobile phone):

: T.O.P. front

The board is glue-wrapped in this black foam, and the glue is quite sticky, I'm afraid I can't get it all off.

: T.O.P. inside

: T.O.P. top

There seem to be some wire(s) buried in the center-right glue blob on the bottom side, but I can't get it off.

: T.O.P. bottom

More info to come.

madbean · Post by **madbean** » 28 Mar 2012, 13:24

That's a lotta stuff packed in there. Thanks for the pics!

FoXXTone · Post by **FoXXTone** » 28 Mar 2012, 13:48

So, as for the wiring, in the third picture above, from left to right:

1 (red): IN from 3PDT
2 (green): GND
3 (yellow): SPEED 2+1
4 (green): SPEED 3
5 (blue): RESONANCE 3
6 (red): RESONANCE 2+1
7 (red): MIX 2
8 (blue): MIX 3
9 (green): MIX 1
10 (yellow): GND
11 (green, bit hard to see, right in the corner): OUT to 3PDT
12 (blue): LED+
13 (yellow): +9V

The ICs are (from top left clockwise): NE5532P, NE5532P, NE5532P, TL061CN, NE5532AP

I can only identify 2 of 4 transistors: 2N5485. The yellow caps are hard to read, too.

briggs · Post by **briggs** » 28 Mar 2012, 14:26

There really is a lot packed onto that board! I know quite a few phaser hounds are after this one! I look forward to seeing more

HEAD · Post by **HEAD** » 28 Mar 2012, 14:45

... 4 FETs (?)... suspicious...

p.eat · Post by **p.eat** » 28 Mar 2012, 15:47

FoXXTone wrote:
The ICs are (from top left clockwise): NE5532P, NE5532P, NE5532P, TL061CN, NE5532AP

That last IC clearly reads NE5534AP in the picture, making it a single OP Amp. I guess that was a typo on your side.

FoXXTone · Post by **FoXXTone** » 28 Mar 2012, 16:20

p.eat wrote:
FoXXTone wrote:
The ICs are (from top left clockwise): NE5532P, NE5532P, NE5532P, TL061CN, NE5532AP

That last IC clearly reads NE5534AP in the picture, making it a single OP Amp. I guess that was a typo on your side.

Yes, of course, sorry!

This is what I could gather using the continuity meter:

: T.O.P. connections

Some connections are still missing, and those under the glue are tricky.

Govmnt_Lacky · Post by **Govmnt_Lacky** » 28 Mar 2012, 16:27

HEAD wrote:... 4 FETs (?)... suspicious...

MXR Phase 90 = 4 FETs (2N5952)

Not at all suspicious. As a matter of fact, this may just be a tweaked version of that same circuit

Ice-9 · Post by **Ice-9** » 28 Mar 2012, 16:43

Govmnt_Lacky wrote:
HEAD wrote:... 4 FETs (?)... suspicious...
MXR Phase 90 = 4 FETs (2N5952)

Not at all suspicious. As a matter of fact, this may just be a tweaked version of that same circuit

I expect exactly a tweaked Phase 90, but i do hope it turns out a bit more interesting.

Bernardduur · Post by **Bernardduur** » 29 Mar 2012, 07:38

It is called a tiny orange phaser;

I know only one - well known - orange phaser that isn't that big...........

Couldn't be anything else

FoXXTone · Post by **FoXXTone** » 29 Mar 2012, 13:29

Here's an updated connection tracing:

I'm not sure if I got everything, but I guess I'm pretty close. Laying out a schematic will be quite hard for me, I'm afraid.

madbean · Post by **madbean** » 29 Mar 2012, 13:52

If you want some help tracing, take one photo each of the top and bottom as close to flat as possible, with as little obstruction (wires, other stuff) in the way, and keep the board aligned as much as possible between the two pics. That way they can be laid on top of one another in Photoshop and then manipulated so that both sides of the traces can bee seen at the same time.

p.eat · Post by **p.eat** » 29 Mar 2012, 13:56

As this seems to be based on a Phase 90, or it at least shares the same topology (4-stage FET-based), I'd recommend finding a nice Phase 90 schematic.
Print it out, compare the pedal to the schematic and mark the differences you find in the schematic. This should be much quicker and at least give you a rough idea of what is going on in the pedal.

edit: wowzer, I got ninja'd by bean

madbean · Post by **madbean** » 29 Mar 2012, 16:06

Just to re-emphasize p.eats suggestion - first thing I did when I saw the pics of the PCB was look at the Tonepad schem for the Phase 90. That's a great place to start.

phibes · Post by **phibes** » 30 Mar 2012, 02:57

I popped it into photoshop and it traces pretty easy. Anyone else get a start on it? I don't mind doing it if the OP can get a better shot of the top to see a few components that you can't see in the current pics. Also, part values would be huge.

FoXXTone · Post by **FoXXTone** » 30 Mar 2012, 08:24

OK guys,

I have a first version of the trace done in Eagle. It's a mess, but my vision is getting blurry, and maybe someone with more Eagle-fu can clean it up.

The Eagle board layout is approximately the same as the real board, so you can identify components easily. I tried to get all values, but some are really hard to read. Let me know if there's something completely impossible or unlikely. This is the first time I'm ever doing something like that, I should have picked an easier pedal.

Also, I can't get the damn knobs off to check the values of the pots. They have a small screw, but even then they feeled like knurled shafts, because they are stuck hard.

top eagle.zip: (28.99 KiB) Downloaded 157 times

rocklander · Post by **rocklander** » 30 Mar 2012, 08:32

FoXXTone wrote:
Also, I can't get the damn knobs off to check the values of the pots. They have a small screw, but even then they feeled like knurled shafts, because they are stuck hard.

I've struck this with a pedal a guy sent me to check over.. it was a GGG kit he'd made, and the knobs were insanely tight even with the grub screw removed. it's about here that I should be giving you a piece of awesome advice to get them off, but nah.. I just forced them

FoXXTone · Post by **FoXXTone** » 30 Mar 2012, 08:49

rocklander wrote: I've struck this with a pedal a guy sent me to check over.. it was a GGG kit he'd made, and the knobs were insanely tight even with the grub screw removed. it's about here that I should be giving you a piece of awesome advice to get them off, but nah.. I just forced them

Yeah, you were right, forcing them off worked.

MIX: 10k lin
SPEED: 50k rev log
RESONANCE: 50k rev log

mmolteratx · Post by **mmolteratx** » 30 Mar 2012, 10:44

Kudos. I opened mine up, saw the tight component spacing and summarily closed it back up.

Just wasn't worth my time. Glad to see someone took it upon themselves to share with the forum.

madbean · Post by **madbean** » 30 Mar 2012, 11:57

rocklander wrote:
FoXXTone wrote:
Also, I can't get the damn knobs off to check the values of the pots. They have a small screw, but even then they feeled like knurled shafts, because they are stuck hard.
I've struck this with a pedal a guy sent me to check over.. it was a GGG kit he'd made, and the knobs were insanely tight even with the grub screw removed. it's about here that I should be giving you a piece of awesome advice to get them off, but nah.. I just forced them

When I traced out a portion of the Memory Boy I had a similar issue. The knob was so stuck it ended up pulling the entire shaft out of the pot. I've never had that happen before. One cute trick (for future reference) ---use a piece of cloth, like a t-shirt to surround the base of the knob and pull it out that way. No chance of damaging the finish.