EHX - Hot Tubes  [schematic]

All about modern commercial stompbox circuits from Electro Harmonix over MXR, Boss and Ibanez into the nineties.
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soulsonic
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Post by soulsonic »

RnFR wrote:btw-it was totally awesome not being able to replace it at radioshack.
Oh, that's all that's wrong with it? I seem to have thought it was something more....
Here's how I fixed my Tube Wiggler (which had the EXACT SAME PROBLEM.... hint, hint, Mr. Designer... why do the damn power supplies keep burning out?! Mine even had a wasted HV xfrmr inside!).

Okay, so you go to Radio shack (really!), and get one of their $5 12.6VAC 1A power transformers - it's not a wall wart, it's a chassis mount like you'd use if you were building a power supply from scratch. You get that, an AC cable, a fuseholder and 1A fuse (optional, but probably a good idea), a switch for power, a simple two-point terminal strip, and small box that it all fits into (I used an "LA-2" aluminum box from Circuit Specialists). Mount the parts in the box, and cut the cable off the dead power supply (so you'll have a cable with the goofy plug (which I believe is a DIN2)). In the box, use the terminal strip to connect the two yellow secondary wires of the transformer to the old power cable (ignore the black center tap wire). Make it all look nice. And that's it! Worked perfectly for me, and I believe it 1A should be enough juice to run more than one unit, so you could potentially have a couple outputs.
As a side note, I believe MCM carries that kind of strange plug. When I get a chance, I'll look up the catalog#.
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Post by tube-exorcist »

IggY wrote: shouldn`t this thread be in the modern stompbox effects section anyhow?
No, the right place is the vintage section: because of the tubes....

But there must be a reason why the "real" (vintage) hot tubes achieves a better price on ebay than the new one:

EUR 119,-- - and only1 bid - for a new EH Hot Tubes (list price: EUR 272,--):
http://cgi.ebay.at/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 0303858865
and EUR 114,76 for a new EH Wiggler (list price: EUR 284,--):
http://cgi.ebay.at/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 0303334710
reflects the interest in tube pedals.
"I've noticed there's an inverse relationship between cost of gear and talent. If you need the most expensive gear to get decent tones, then you suck as a player."

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Post by RnFR »

soulsonic wrote:
RnFR wrote:btw-it was totally awesome not being able to replace it at radioshack.
Oh, that's all that's wrong with it? I seem to have thought it was something more....
Here's how I fixed my Tube Wiggler (which had the EXACT SAME PROBLEM.... hint, hint, Mr. Designer... why do the damn power supplies keep burning out?! Mine even had a wasted HV xfrmr inside!).

Okay, so you go to Radio shack (really!), and get one of their $5 12.6VAC 1A power transformers - it's not a wall wart, it's a chassis mount like you'd use if you were building a power supply from scratch. You get that, an AC cable, a fuseholder and 1A fuse (optional, but probably a good idea), a switch for power, a simple two-point terminal strip, and small box that it all fits into (I used an "LA-2" aluminum box from Circuit Specialists). Mount the parts in the box, and cut the cable off the dead power supply (so you'll have a cable with the goofy plug (which I believe is a DIN2)). In the box, use the terminal strip to connect the two yellow secondary wires of the transformer to the old power cable (ignore the black center tap wire). Make it all look nice. And that's it! Worked perfectly for me, and I believe it 1A should be enough juice to run more than one unit, so you could potentially have a couple outputs.
As a side note, I believe MCM carries that kind of strange plug. When I get a chance, I'll look up the catalog#.


i don't know if it is the actual power supply, i have a feeling it actually broke at the plug itself. it's just a normal 12v AC (1000mA?) wall wart anyway. the problem for me was that damn connector. really dumb to use that goofy ass thing instead of a normal one. every time i looked at it, i got a bad feeling- i just knew it was going to be a headache one day. it might've even killed the sale for me, but it was specially ordered sight unseen.
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Post by soulsonic »

Here ya go, man. 69 cents from MCM.
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/D ... B-/CN00767
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Post by RnFR »

hey, sweet! thanks a lot man. i couldn't find anything under DIN 2 anywhere. i'll be sure to check the wall wart on my meter to be sure it's not fried too.
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Post by RnFR »

i guess this topic is cursed after all! no wait....


CENSORSHIP!!!![/color]
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Post by JiM »

soulsonic wrote:Here ya go, man. 69 cents from MCM.
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/D ... B-/CN00767
Isn't it the same type as hifi speakers ? (even though bananas and plastic-springy-thing seem more common now)
Then you might find some at your local department store, next to the HDMI cables ...
You could even scrounge a pair from an old stereo :mrgreen:
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Post by soulsonic »

JiM wrote:
soulsonic wrote:Here ya go, man. 69 cents from MCM.
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/D ... B-/CN00767
Isn't it the same type as hifi speakers ? (even though bananas and plastic-springy-thing seem more common now)
Then you might find some at your local department store, next to the HDMI cables ...
You could even scrounge a pair from an old stereo :mrgreen:
Maybe in Europe! They're not common in the US at all. Some older hi-fi equipment has DIN5 plugs for connecting things like tape machines, but that's about as far as we got with DIN. The "D" means "Germany" after all! :lol:
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Post by soulsonic »

Okay... all the pics I posted up got lost...
Here they are again... this time in my Photobucket album:
EHX Hot Tubes Pics!
"Analog electronics in music is dead. Analog effects pedal design is a dead art." - Fran

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Post by JiM »

soulsonic wrote:Maybe in Europe! They're not common in the US at all. Some older hi-fi equipment has DIN5 plugs for connecting things like tape machines, but that's about as far as we got with DIN. The "D" means "Germany" after all! :lol:
I've seen too some 30-year old hifi with these 5-pin DIN connectors (looks like MIDI) but it's obsolete here also. It was quite clever as you could have a stereo send and return to/from a tape deck with only one cable !

I think the 2-pin speaker connector lived a bit longer ...
So you're only using bananas over there ?
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Post by Bernardduur »

I traced this unit a while ago. It is a common preamp with a 'weird' tone control and a last gain stage that is wired as a overdrive section. With the double pot you increase the input signal and decrease the output signal (more OD) or the other way around (less OD).
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Post by Manfred »

I got this schematic without power supply section.
ehhottubes.jpg

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Post by Bernardduur »

That looks pretty right.... I'll post my schematic later this day
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Post by Bernardduur »

Here ya go
Hot Tubes.JPG
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Post by Bernardduur »

The values in red are placed on the other side of the print and are parallel to another part
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