ProTone Pedals Body Rot II

mirosol · Post by **mirosol** » 27 Jun 2014, 13:29

Noticed one of these on sale as a defunct unit and grabbed it for a decent price. This is apparently the latter version with white coat and blood splatter graphics. The L386-3 was burned out, and swapping it for a new one did the trick. The 220µ power filter cap cap was rated for 10V and it looked like a puffer fish, so i replaced that too. Works, and sounds very decent high gain metal distortion. The semiconductors are LM386-3, 2N5088 and J201. To me it looks like a LPB1 to Marshall styled tone controls to ROG Big Daddy style driver stage. Seems that the JFET is there for LED. Snapped a couple of shots but didn't take the values down (yet). I can do that if anyone is interested enough to draw a schematic..

mrpickle · Post by **mrpickle** » 27 Jun 2014, 14:55

I reckon that'll be 2N5088 booster -> LM386 set for max gain -> Marshall tone stack...

...which'll make it a Krank Distortus Maximus.

Tall Steve · Post by **Tall Steve** » 30 Jun 2014, 21:16

Geez, that PCB is almost as ugly as the paint job.

Tall Steve · Post by **Tall Steve** » 01 Jul 2014, 01:21

Shit, I really put my foot in my mouth. The first thing I noticed were the holes in the etching and crappy cutout job. Unprofessional. That's where my words were directed. I sincerely didn't mean to offend or to make any sort of commentary on anything you did. I love what you and |\/|ark are doing over at Tagboard Effects. I'm so sorry if I offended you!

mirosol · Post by **mirosol** » 01 Jul 2014, 07:07

I don't have a slightest idea what you are talking about. :P

Yup, the PCB is what it is. :) I just don't feel like pointing that out myself... But with a board like this, it's more than ok that someone does.

Manfred · Post by **Manfred** » 01 Jul 2014, 09:30

"Snapped a couple of shots but didn't take the values down (yet). I can do that if anyone is interested enough to draw a schematic."

I am interested in the schematic, I would appreciate very much, if you take the values down.

Tall Steve · Post by **Tall Steve** » 01 Jul 2014, 15:04

mirosol wrote:I don't have a slightest idea what you are talking about.

Yup, the PCB is what it is. I just don't feel like pointing that out myself... But with a board like this, it's more than ok that someone does.

Okay, cool. It still amazes me how some people can charge so much for lazy work. I mean, that board would fly if I were building for myself, but I would think $150USD would buy me a production-level PCB or at least a well done perf job. Damn near lopping off the corner of the ground plane is unacceptable in a commercial product. Besides, considering the man-hours spent etching and drilling, for the parts count I can't imagine either alternative method costing too much more. Boutique oughta mean more than a flashy box. End rant.

mirosol · Post by **mirosol** » 01 Jul 2014, 19:47

Heehee. I figured that board will raise some comments sooner or later..

I'll see if i have the time to open it up again tomorrow.

Manfred · Post by **Manfred** » 01 Jul 2014, 20:15

Manfred wrote:"Snapped a couple of shots but didn't take the values down (yet). I can do that if anyone is interested enough to draw a schematic."

I am interested in the schematic, I would appreciate very much, if you take the values down.

I redrawed the PCB-Layout.
I drawed only the ground strip line and omited the ground plane
It is ready to fill in the part values.

Manfred · Post by **Manfred** » 01 Jul 2014, 21:28

Connction to Pin 4 of the IC was missing, bore hole mark moved.

mirosol · Post by **mirosol** » 01 Jul 2014, 23:01

Here. Attached.
And the pots measure:
-Distortion 100K log
-Low 50K lin
-Mid 2K lin
-High 25K lin
-Volume 50K log

I don't have any idea what that pink thing is. It reads 8n6 capacitance and 165K resistance when measured in the circuit. Bands are looking like green-green-red-black-brown.

This does have a lot in common with Krank Distortius Maximus on the topology, but it isn't 1:1 enough to call it a clone.

J0K3RX · Post by **J0K3RX** » 01 Jul 2014, 23:19

What is it with these "ProTone" pedals? Does this thing sound good, really? I see the "Bulb Overdrive Deluxe" (Dead Horse) Misha Mansoors signature OD pedal for almost $300.00 and the "Keith Merrow Limited Edition" (another Dead Horse) for $240.00.... and I just don't understand, at all?? The paint or sticker or whatever that is looks good but the insides look like an 85 year old with a neurological condition soldered it for spare bingo money... And the boards look like they were etched by the same 85 year old man with a pocket knife... If I were to buy one of these and open it up (which would be the first thing I would do) I would think this must be a counterfeit! But oh no... they are all this way, everyone I have seen so far has looked like pure sh!t inside!? Hope they make up for it in the "ProTone" they produce!?

Manfred · Post by **Manfred** » 01 Jul 2014, 23:33

J0K3RX wrote:What is it with these "ProTone" pedals? Does this thing sound good, really? I see the "Bulb Overdrive Deluxe" (Dead Horse) Misha Mansoors signature OD pedal for almost $300.00 and the "Keith Merrow Limited Edition" (another Dead Horse) for $240.00.... and I just don't understand, at all?? The paint or sticker or whatever that is looks good but the insides look like an 85 year old with a neurological condition soldered it for spare bingo money... And the boards look like they were etched by the same 85 year old man with a pocket knife... If I were to buy one of these and open it up (which would be the first thing I would do) I would think this must be a counterfeit! But oh no... they are all this way, everyone I have seen so far has looked like pure sh!t inside!? Hope they make up for it in the "ProTone" they produce!?

The ProTone Pedals Body Rot II classic metal tone sounds good to me.

Manfred · Post by **Manfred** » 01 Jul 2014, 23:36

mirosol wrote:Here. Attached.
And the pots measure:
-Distortion 100K log
-Low 50K lin
-Mid 2K lin
-High 25K lin
-Volume 50K log

I don't have any idea what that pink thing is. It reads 8n6 capacitance and 165K resistance when measured in the circuit. Bands are looking like green-green-red-black-brown.

This does have a lot in common with Krank Distortius Maximus on the topology, but it isn't 1:1 enough to call it a clone.

Thanks for filling in the part values I going to excerpt the schematic.
I guess the pink thing it is rather a resistor.

J0K3RX · Post by **J0K3RX** » 02 Jul 2014, 01:19

The tone stack is scaled down unlike the Krank and a few other slight component value differences here and there... Probably can find a good Krank DM layout and sub the part values and that will save you time of making a layout, plenty of real good layouts for the Krank with on-board pots and all... unless you like this layout for some reason.

J0K3RX · Post by **J0K3RX** » 02 Jul 2014, 01:48

Here's a bunch of high res shots of the Deadhorse/Bulb Deluxe/Keith Merrow LE/every other tube screamer variant on the planet...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/98412073@ ... 872854366/

Manfred · Post by **Manfred** » 02 Jul 2014, 07:41

J0K3RX wrote:Here's a bunch of high res shots of the Deadhorse/Bulb Deluxe/Keith Merrow LE/every other tube screamer variant on the planet...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/98412073@ ... 872854366/

Thanks, that will be one of the next jobs.

Manfred · Post by **Manfred** » 02 Jul 2014, 07:50

Corrected Layout, some connectiom strips were missing.

mirosol · Post by **mirosol** » 02 Jul 2014, 08:15

Well, it doesn't sound bad at all and the EQ works well. It gets amazingly close to HM-2/HM-3 territory with a design that's 1/6 in size. I would say it's a "ProTone" tonewise, not saying anything about the build quality. The low and mid pots have their lugs 1 & 3 simply soldered against each other. That's something i would never do myself...

Aren't nearly all boutique pedals like this? Slight adaptations on other designs and many with slightly or more sub-par design and build quality? I see nothing weird about that as the whole world is doing it. Some are selling TS's for $600, so ProTone Pedals are a bargain. :) Besides, cloning this in 1590B with a neat build would definitely have more user value than the original..

One more thing about the pink "resistor". It's daylight now and those two first bands could be grey-grey.. or blue-blue.. instead of green. If it really was just a resistor, those bands would indicate value of 8.82k. Which means that it wouldn't read 165k on a meter in any possible scenario. And that would also mean that there's no cap between 2N5088's collector and distortion control's ground.

Manfred · Post by **Manfred** » 03 Jul 2014, 10:58

mirosol wrote:Well, it doesn't sound bad at all and the EQ works well. It gets amazingly close to HM-2/HM-3 territory with a design that's 1/6 in size. I would say it's a "ProTone" tonewise, not saying anything about the build quality. The low and mid pots have their lugs 1 & 3 simply soldered against each other. That's something i would never do myself...

Aren't nearly all boutique pedals like this? Slight adaptations on other designs and many with slightly or more sub-par design and build quality? I see nothing weird about that as the whole world is doing it. Some are selling TS's for $600, so ProTone Pedals are a bargain. Besides, cloning this in 1590B with a neat build would definitely have more user value than the original..

One more thing about the pink "resistor". It's daylight now and those two first bands could be grey-grey.. or blue-blue.. instead of green. If it really was just a resistor, those bands would indicate value of 8.82k. Which means that it wouldn't read 165k on a meter in any possible scenario. And that would also mean that there's no cap between 2N5088's collector and distortion control's ground.

I had have I closer look at the pink one on the shot now, you are right, the bands are grey, grey, orange, black, braun,
this results in a 883 Ohms resistor with 1% tolerance. It doesn't make sense but for baffle the viewer.

ProTone Pedals Body Rot II [traced]