Modding a Barber SmallFry

gerryblue · Post by **gerryblue** » 27 Mar 2016, 21:00

Hi

I'm new here, looking for help, I have a barber Smallfry, which I love, out of production for a while now, it sounds warm and creamy, ala Robben Ford. Thing is, I'd like to have more drive, it is basically an overdrive, which sounds great with humbuckers but quite thin with single coils, would anyone happen to know what components to change in order to up the drive? This pedfal clips in 3 different ways, and has a switch for that, according to the manual: Stock, simulated asymmetric and asymmetric.

Thanks for the help!

http://postimg.org/image/uwyqlykxl

Nocentelli · Post by **Nocentelli** » 27 Mar 2016, 21:44

https://www.freestompboxes.org/download/ ... &mode=view

Seems like it should be fairly high gain with the 1M gain pot compared to the 220r and 1k: Does it not get really dirty with the presence and note shape turned up along with the gain?

gerryblue · Post by **gerryblue** » 27 Mar 2016, 22:58

Thanks for the reply, actually it does not, upping the tone and dynamics opens the sound, gives more mids, but not more drive

Groovenut · Post by **Groovenut** » 28 Mar 2016, 06:10

I think the easiest mod to get you more drive is to increase the gain pot level. So you could get a bigger gain pot 1M5 or 2M2 or so, or if you never use the lower gain settings you could put a 100k-510K resistor in series with the existing pot.

Nocentelli · Post by **Nocentelli** » 28 Mar 2016, 08:51

gerryblue wrote:Thanks for the reply, actually it does not, upping the tone and dynamics opens the sound, gives more mids, but not more drive

Just to be clear, I am referring to the internal trim pots that are marked as "presence" and "note definition" on the schematic, both of which should be able to greatly increase the amount of gain applied to higher frequencies (presence) and lower frequencies (note definition) in the first gain stage.

gerryblue · Post by **gerryblue** » 28 Mar 2016, 17:59

Oh, those, yeah, I've tried fiddling with those and to be honest, there isnt much difference in gain either, more or less mids, and clarity, the thin is there seems to be a cap to the distortion you can get from the pedal, I'd like to know if I can up that limit

Thanks

gerryblue · Post by **gerryblue** » 28 Mar 2016, 21:25

Groovenut wrote:I think the easiest mod to get you more drive is to increase the gain pot level. So you could get a bigger gain pot 1M5 or 2M2 or so, or if you never use the lower gain settings you could put a 100k-510K resistor in series with the existing pot.

Thanks, you mean the actual pot right, or the trimpot?

Groovenut · Post by **Groovenut** » 28 Mar 2016, 22:54

An actual pot. Values larger than 1M may be hard to find, so the series resistor may be a better option.

gerryblue · Post by **gerryblue** » 28 Mar 2016, 23:58

Groovenut wrote:An actual pot. Values larger than 1M may be hard to find, so the series resistor may be a better option.

Thanks for the help, if I may, and since I'm kind of a noobie (I do have soldering skills), where would the resistance go? From one of the pot's lugs to the other?

Thanks again

Groovenut · Post by **Groovenut** » 29 Mar 2016, 15:22

Using the schematic Nocentelli posted, you would place the resistance between the diode clipping switch and the pot. ie, remove the wire from the pot, solder one end of the resistor to the pot and the other end of the resistor to the wire you disconnected.

gerryblue · Post by **gerryblue** » 29 Mar 2016, 23:00

Groovenut wrote:Using the schematic Nocentelli posted, you would place the resistance between the diode clipping switch and the pot. ie, remove the wire from the pot, solder one end of the resistor to the pot and the other end of the resistor to the wire you disconnected.

Thanks, that's quite helpful, I'll come back and let you know how it went