freestompboxes.org

I just ordered the Umble kit from OLC and wondered if anyone had any experience with the kit/pedal or the circuit? I'm looking to keep the "umble" character but all inputs are very welcome! Thanks!

I am still busy finishing mine, so I don't have actual experiences with it yet. Apparently, it sounds great but can be a bit noisy. Some people attribute this to the way the bias is set. In mine, I have replaced the trimpots with fixed resistors and soldered in the fets (put in a trimpot, set bias, desolder trimpot, measure it, put in fixed resistors). All components are mounted and soldered, but I still have to hook the pots up to test it, haven't done this yet.

Thanks, I've heard some people set the bias and solder resistors in. Did you hear that helped reduce the noise? Likely I won't get the kit for a couple of weeks but I'll update this thread as things progress!

Hi,

I've actually built this pedal a year or so ago straight from ROG website. I thought it was a bit noisy as well, but I liked the tone so I kept using it. (Although I wish I had my breadboard before I built this, cause with my amplifier, which is based on the old Vox amps, it's a little bright)

Fast forward a bit, and I pick up a Menatone Howie in a trade. I ended up going back to my Umble pedal because I thought after an a-b test the Howie was noisier.

Have Fun,
Travis

I recently finished my pedal. I built an OLP kit and based on cost I could have maybe done better picking up all the parts. I used 102 JFETS in the first and last stages to reduce gain. At any rate I like the pedal quite a bit although as many have said it can be somewhat noisy. Anyone got any noise reduction ideas.Mine is very partial to humbuckers and not so much for my strat or P90's. But it's a keeper. Thanks for the inputs.

How is the gain level with the MPF102's? Still plenty of gain on tap? I tried with lower gain fets in my Flipster, but that really starved it so I have all J201 in there now.

sjturbo wrote:I recently finished my pedal. I built an OLP kit and based on cost I could have maybe done better picking up all the parts. I used 102 JFETS in the first and last stages to reduce gain. At any rate I like the pedal quite a bit although as many have said it can be somewhat noisy. Anyone got any noise reduction ideas.Mine is very partial to humbuckers and not so much for my strat or P90's. But it's a keeper. Thanks for the inputs.

I'll put my simple noise reduction system up on the site later today. You can use it with almost any gear, and it really makes a difference!

Still plenty of gain, not metal mind you but I think it still has more than I need!

Are you going to post the noise reduction on this post or another?
Thanks!

sjturbo wrote:Still plenty of gain, not metal mind you but I think it still has more than I need!

Are you going to post the noise reduction on this post or another?
Thanks!

I'll start a new thread.

Well the noise reduction looks good but I think I might try working with the pedal.
Update, at least to me, I just tried the pedal with 18v instead of 9v and the change was quite substantial. More headroom, cleaner dirt and much more range in the gain pot. The OLC folks indicated that the designer said that running on 18v would not make much difference since it was designed for 9v so maybe it's in my head not my ears.

Boxed up my umble this weekend. Initially it didn't work, turned out that there where to shorts on the PCB gate and source of both Q2 and Q3 where connected, possibly because of the tinning process of the PCB (bought a board at OLC). I disconnected those shorts, and then had to bias again (a bit of a hassle because I have fixed resistors instead of trimpots). Works fine now, I haven't been able to really try it, but I think it'll sound great, plenty of gain for that thick overdriven sound (I have all J201's in there). Don't think it's too noisy.

Great pedal. I used some smallish shielded cable for connecting the pots. I dont thinks its is any noisier than my OCD. Higher gain setting has a little more noise, but not that bad. Very touch sensitive, high-gain is very chirpy with lots of sustain and rich harmonics, and is very reponsive to picking technque. It has a very useful tonestack and also works as a good semi-clean boost too when you back down the gain. I liked it so much I am making a couple more, for friends.