freestompboxes.org

in case they;'re of any interest to anyone.. cheap pedal, will rehouse, repot and true bypass it at some stage. more pics can be taken if there are specific requests for bits.




full size and all the pics i've taken so far
https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u16 ... r/pcb0.jpg
https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u16 ... r/pcb1.jpg
https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u16 ... witch0.jpg
https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u16 ... witch1.jpg
https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u16 ... -pots0.jpg
https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u16 ... -pots1.jpg
https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u16 ... -pots2.jpg
https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u16 ... -pots3.jpg
https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u16 ... -pots4.jpg
https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u16 ... ponent.jpg

MN3204. Nice.
Dave

finally broke into this thing to rehouse... and I notice it has a 500KD pot... so I have some A, B, C pots, but what's a D?

rocklander wrote:finally broke into this thing to rehouse... and I notice it has a 500KD pot... so I have some A, B, C pots, but what's a D?

Maybe you should trace the rotation vs. resistance graph to check the type of curve it has?

yeah, I guess... that sounds a lil boring

I have one of these - it's getting on a bit now... like me I guess! I got it not long after my first electric guitar way back when - I'm guessing around 1994. I don't use it much - hardly ever in fact - but how often does a flanger see much action? I like it a lot though - maybe sentimental reasons, but it's lo-fi and dirty and for that reason... great! I will never need another flanger

I just pulled it apart and it's exactly the same as yours Rocklander - same codes on pcb - so nothing to add to your photos.

Googling brought up the diystompbox site for the D taper: https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/ ... _next=next

How are you going to bypass this? I'm guessing there's some fancy electronic switching here (that's beyond my knowledge at present)... hopefully Dirk H won't read this - I think he has a problem with bypassing through a switch, heh!

I am thinking of rehousing mineas well - I'm not that sentimental about it that it has to stay in its shitty plastic case. I think it woudl thank me if I put it in a fancy powerdercoated or electroplated aluminium box after all these years together

well consider carefully the process and ramifications. to fit into a 1590BB, I had to hacksaw off a bunch of the PCB.. it's still not housed as yet BTW.. on my 'partly done' pile.
I couldn't figure out the circuit, so I just tried it disengaged and put an audio probe in a bunch of places till I could hear it flanging and the pots made the differences they are supposed to.... prolly totally the wrong thing to do, but my electronics kung fu is weak

Excellent - that's my kind of approach! I like it...

I've googled about a bit in the vain hope there is a schematic or some info about this pedal - but absolutely zilch... not even a homepage for Rocktek (perhaps they don't exist any longer). I was hoping maybe this was an old design from Boss or Ibanez or similar and there was a schematic for the original pedal it copies - but I can't find any info about who might have owned Rocktek.

This pedal is a sadly neglected mystery What a shame as it's pretty cool and can make some strange sounds.

I could find a schematic for the Rocktek chorus - maybe using that it won't be too hard to isolate the buffer/buffers and turn the pedal into a mechanical bypass one (which is what I'd like to do - there's some tone suck with this thing). But I haven't a clue about tinkering with buffered effects at present - I've yet to progress from simple enough fuzzes and overdrives if I'm honest I'm just a solder jockey as they're called in these here parts

Interesting project. I took a stab at tracing the circuit and drew up a schematic for this worthy pedal. I was comparing with the schematic for the Arion Stereo Chorus when I drew it.

There are probably at least a few errors in the schematic. Corrections are welcome.

Link to PDF: http://www.jorgezorro.com/Images/SCHEMA ... Rschem.pdf

A PNG format is available as well.

johnnyg wrote:I've googled about a bit in the vain hope there is a schematic or some info about this pedal - but absolutely zilch... not even a homepage for Rocktek (perhaps they don't exist any longer). I was hoping maybe this was an old design from Boss or Ibanez or similar and there was a schematic for the original pedal it copies - but I can't find any info about who might have owned Rocktek.

I was just making fun of this pedal on another thread. Mine's a crazy, self-oscillating, noisy old beast... but a blast to play around with.

I think Rocktek was a Chinese company that went belly-up in the 90's. It was owned at one time by Charlie Stringer (RIP), who was also involved with Snarling Dogs (perhaps Rocktek became Snarling Dogs?).

I also have their Vibrator pedal (gotta love the name!) and I just bought the distortion NOS in the box for a whopping $15 on the Bay.


:BB Steve

Tonetweaker wrote: I was just making fun of this pedal on another thread. Mine's a crazy, self-oscillating, noisy old beast... but a blast to play around with.

I think Rocktek was a Chinese company that went belly-up in the 90's. It was owned at one time by Charlie Stringer (RIP), who was also involved with Snarling Dogs (perhaps Rocktek became Snarling Dogs?).

I also have their Vibrator pedal (gotta love the name!) and I just bought the distortion NOS in the box for a whopping $15 on the Bay.


:BB Steve

Interesting history

It really is a junky thing... I hope I didn't oversell it earlier too much . But junky things have their place - and it can be fun just like you say

I saw a Rocktek Flanger for sale for less than £5 on ebay at some point They're pretty much worthless - but at that kind of price maybe fun to mod or develop at all if that's possible.

johnnyg wrote:How are you going to bypass this? I'm guessing there's some fancy electronic switching here (that's beyond my knowledge at present)... hopefully Dirk H won't read this - I think he has a problem with bypassing through a switch, heh!

No at all
I have a problem with using a switch where one can use a relay just as well.
And I have a problem with TB-ing pedals that don't have a bypass problem.

As for the fancy switching, refer to any Arion schem for the topology og using a 4027 plus FET's for bypassing.

johnnyg wrote:It really is a junky thing... I hope I didn't oversell it earlier too much . But junky things have their place - and it can be fun just like you say

I didn't think you oversold it at all, Johnny. Pedals like this can be a blast to fiddle with. I'm the guys who sweeps the low budget pedals off eBay at least once a week.

In the other thread, I mentioned that I love old noisemakers like for noodling around every now and then. I pull this one out every now and then to get that noisy lo-fi sound for stuff like Nirvana. This thing is perfect for songs like "Come As You Are."


Cheers...
Steve

Hello
I've just get one of this cheap pedal. Nothing great to add to this thread… on mine :
opamps are JRC 2904 and JRC 4558 (instead of 6358 and 6458)

I found some errors and missing parts in schematics:
R39 = 2.7k
R18,R19,R21 = 10k
R21 is between Q3 E and ground
R27 is between wet output and ground
C11 = 22000p = 2.2nF
C12 = 220p = 0.22nF
C22 = 6.8nF
Q1,Q2,Q3,Q4,Q7 = 2SC536
Q5 = 2SC3576
Q6 = 2SK772
C21, R29… near IC1/output…

Before I mod it I have to get rid of a very annoying noisy buzz. Poor design or does my pedal need some fixing?