Tonefactor - The Cream Pie (germanium booster)

[modman]

phh....3M3 from base to colllector with a Ge-transistor..
analogguru

To me the CP looks like a stripped down COT 50.

It seems that the Cream Pie was designed for a Si-trannie and I think that any common Si-trannie like a BC109A will work in this circuit. Also, I would bias it to app 5V like a Rangemaster.

JHS

Thanks guys, that sort of completes the puzzle:

Lovepedal - COT50 schematic

[madbean]

I love my Cream Pie. I used an OC44 and did it positive ground. Very quiet and versatile with a warp control at the end. The warp control really gives you some options, although it's very interactive with the volume control (obviously). I used Ge's for clipping diodes and also added input cap switching.

[goaltoday]

Another version with an input tone control:
https://img514.imageshack.us/my.php?ima ... nalob2.gif
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[RLBJR65]

Thanks I think that was the final version Andrew made public and it was pulled before I saw ever saw it!

That tone controll trick was Joe Davissons I believe. A mod for Joes easydrive maybe?

Wonder if the commercial unit is a better design? Did he / they address the possible temperature stability, biasing issues etc.

I took a few minutes and redrew those schematics. I suffer some guilt about reposting others work especially when it says: permision to repost this drawing is refused. I know, I know
Anyway you can do whatever you like with mine, it even say so https://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?ima ... iesei1.gif

[JHS]

You can try a BS170 or 2N7000, the circuit will work with it too (if ju adjust the bias).

I replaced the 2N5088 in my COT50 clone with a BS170 and to me it sounds much better now.

Any NPN-Ge-trannie I swapped into the Pie pruduced to much hiss for my taste.

Furthermore I dropped the pulldown resistor to increase the dynamic response.

JHS

[RLBJR65]

Wrong Joe
It was Joe Gagan's EasyFace where I first saw that tone controll trick used. http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/dia ... end_ez.gif

[polarbearfx]

im not sure i am understanding. isn't this pedal the electra distortion? The electra is cool for what it is, im not so sure germanium makes it any better.

[twangquack]

"The Cream Gene" -- a "Cream Pie" variant for those that like playing with a simple circuit like this. And since neither Tonefactor or MojoHand sell these anymore, here's a way to have fun with a nice germanium tranny (I suggest buying the nice Fuzz Face combo from Small Bear, and saving the lower hFE one for a Rangemaster build). I really like the CV7112 -- my Rangemaster build with a 3-way input cap switch and 2-way bias switch really kicks my amps in the butt!

This is really just a collection of the various mods that have been kicked around by a number of folks. I happened to decide on the .0068uF /.078uF values for the input cap blend (as well as the .06uF output cap) but I was doing minute tweaks for my own gear ... to make things easier, others could just use the .01uF /.1uF input cap blend and the .068uF output cap of the version 3 "Cream Pie." Same thing for the suggested bias -- tweak it to your taste, but I've found this particular setup sounds good on several of my guitar/amp combinations. Depending on your particular gear, you might like a bit smaller (or bigger) cap value for the cap parallel to the Mosfet clippers ... you could fashion an off-board socket and it would make tweaking the "softening" of the clipping a lot easier. Or just leave those wires outside the little heat-shrink tube or taped packet that contains the clippers so you can re-solder other values as you experiment with that particular cap ... it's worth the time to find just the right value! (.0022uF is a good compromise, though). The switch labeled "boost" sounds great with my big fat parallel-combo of caps making up exactly 17.9uF ... I thought 10uF was too small and 22uF a tad much. Some may prefer just to use 22uF. I leave it switched to the boost setting (with 17.9uF) most of the time.

I considered tweaking it a bit more for specific use with electric bass (it seems there's a huge following for the original "Cream Pie" at one bass forum) ... but didn't get that far ... I mostly wanted to put together a guitar-oriented CP variant that incorporated quite a few previously discussed mods. I like the pre-gain control for use with humbuckers ... works nice, at least for me. With the clipping control up full, and both the pre-gain and gain controls backed-off just a hair from full, I'm getting a great tone with a Tele (hot bridge pickup) and a Deluxe Reverb. It gets as bright or as warm as I'd like. I haven't tried this circuit with anything other than a CV7112 (hfe=113) as I see no need to try anything else ... sounds really good with my gear, as is, but this is one circuit that may be very gear-dependent (love it or hate it, YMMV).

[silverface]

Different versions:

[twangquack]

Different versions:

silverface: Thanks for those. I couldn't find what you posted (I had the same thing, once upon a time), and it's helpful to see the various versions.

On a clipper note, I took out the Mosfet+series diode clipper combinations shown in my schem and layout and replaced with (2) 1N270 Ge diodes on one side (total of .493 V threshold) and (1) 1N4148 on the other (measured .560 V threshold). This pedal seems to have enough gain so that slightly lowering the thresholds on each side/polarity didn't rob too much overall volume and eeked out a bit more grit at full clip setting. Actually, this clipper array sounds really, really nice. I think I like the tone a bit better -- in this circuit -- than the Mosfets+diodes and the .0022uF "clip smoothing" cap works wonderfully with this specific combination. I definitely think it would be fun to make it easy to switch out different clippers. Even more fun: pick your three favorites and put 'em on a piece of separate stripboard (stick it where it'll fit in the enclosure), and use a 3-way, on-on-on switch to select the clipping.

[twangquack]

Just one more post, with vers. 2 of "Cream Gene" schematic and vero layout -- for those that may want to have print-outs showing the clipper change (listened again today and still like this combo) ...