TC Electronics Eyemaster (HM2 clone) mods

A forum devoted to mod, tips and suggestions for upgrading and rehousing your VERY CHEAP commercial stompbox to near boutique excellence.
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Pruttelherrie
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Post by Pruttelherrie »

Hey all,

Generally I'm impressed with the cheap TC Electronics line of basic pedals: they cover the basics, are extremely affordable and are built like a tank. With the Eyemaster HM-2 clone however, they decided (in all their wisdom) to only make the Gain and Level pots available, which makes it less than useless. So I set out to mod them to make them more useful. I propose two possible mods:

* Add a "HI" pot, with a focused range around the max, or:
* Move the Gain and Level inside, and bring out the LO and HI pots.

In itself pretty easy, if you're easy with SMD that is. See pictures here for reference:
These photos only show the innards of the second mod, and only the end result of the first mod. (there's actually two almost innard pics of the first mod)

[1] Caps C13 (100n), C14 (150n) and C17 (1.5u) are the same as C29, C28 and C35 on the official schematic that's floating around.
Remove these so that the fixed connection of the gyrators to pin 2 of IC2 (- input on IC3a on official schematic) is broken.
[2] Solder new caps to one side, the other side goes to the wiper of the pots.
[3] I took 1k pots, with a 10k resistor going to pin 3 of IC2 (+ input on IC3a on official schematic). This makes it easier to dial in the exact amount of nosiness with the new HI pot.
[4] I removed the original pots and soldered some trimpots so I can still dial in the Gain and Level, if needed.

I think the photos speak for themselves.

Cheers,
Pruttel.

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skoft
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Joined: 27 Oct 2021, 11:13

Post by skoft »

Hi, I'm a bit late on this but only just found it.

How does the EQ work and sound on the 2nd mod? Comparable to the hm2? Any demos online?

If I'm understanding correctly you swapped out the pots for trim pots mounted under the board, then used the original chassis holes to house the new EQ pots? Would it be possible to leave the original gain/level pots in place and squeeze the new EQ pots in somewhere else?

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Shilohjosh
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Post by Shilohjosh »

Does anyone have the schematic of the Eyemaster and (if possible) the Fangs? Id love to breadboard them and play around with sounds. Thanks in advance.

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Bodyplow
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Post by Bodyplow »

Shilohjosh wrote: 13 Dec 2021, 14:11 Does anyone have the schematic of the Eyemaster and (if possible) the Fangs? Id love to breadboard them and play around with sounds. Thanks in advance.
I second the FANGS schematic. Nicely balanced distortion pedal that loves to be boosted for them tight chugs. Dare I say smooth too? No icepick highs. Well defined low end.

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