Sleeper circuits

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sclitheroe
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Sleeper circuits

Post by sclitheroe » Sun Dec 12, 2021 12:14 am

I thought this article was an interesting read for pedal junkies:
https://www.guitarworld.com/news/st-vin ... cgvSKoCLzI

Couple of reasons:
- cool tone can come from unexpected places
- there's probably lots of interesting little circuits like this Peavey pre-amp/distortion floating around that are untapped resources for many
- there's a broad base of expertise out there in the boutique builder world that could lift that circuit and make you a pedal
- it's an interesting reversal of boutique pedals being mostly super expensive versions of common circuits; in this case, St. Vincent subverted the whole "$3k for a trendy practice amp" situation on Reverb

Makes you wonder what interesting/odd/unpopular effects or circuits you've run across that would make good pedal candidates. I'm not sure anyone _wants_ a JC-120 dirt channel pedal..but it could be done :D

-Scott

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bigtone23
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Re: Sleeper circuits

Post by bigtone23 » Sun Dec 12, 2021 5:03 am

Very true.
In addition to BOSS, I'm a Peavey freak, both with their instruments and amps (especially the 80s era basses and 70s-mid 80s amps).
There has been a builder that replicated the super cool circuit that is the Century 120/200 in pedal form. I found out too late to get one. My Century 200 (with a mod to give it a stronger, wider bandwidth) is my favorite bass amp, ever. The catch is my amp was $50, and the mods cost me $80. The pedal was $250. I would pay that, though. The tone and that Century 200 distortion circuit is beyond cool. He also cloned many other classic amp preamps, like Orange, Acoustic, etc...

Peavey themself, did make a pedal of their Transtube circuit, the Dirty Dog. It's cool.

I wish someone would clone the phaser that is in the Peavey VT/VTX series amps. It is an amazing sounding 4 or 6 stage circuit. The cool hook is it's 'pull stop' feature, which allows one to stop the modulation and manually shift the phase through it's sweep, like a filter control.

There are also cool pedal versions of the SUNN Beta Bass and Beta Lead preamps. Cool stuff!

sclitheroe
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Re: Sleeper circuits

Post by sclitheroe » Sun Dec 12, 2021 6:55 pm

bigtone23 wrote:
Sun Dec 12, 2021 5:03 am
I wish someone would clone the phaser that is in the Peavey VT/VTX series amps. It is an amazing sounding 4 or 6 stage circuit. The cool hook is it's 'pull stop' feature, which allows one to stop the modulation and manually shift the phase through it's sweep, like a filter control.
Oh, that should be a feature on every phaser. Imagine how cool a Phase 90 would be with its single knob functioning that way.

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laurie
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Re: Sleeper circuits

Post by laurie » Sun Dec 12, 2021 7:48 pm

sclitheroe wrote:
Sun Dec 12, 2021 6:55 pm
bigtone23 wrote:
Sun Dec 12, 2021 5:03 am
I wish someone would clone the phaser that is in the Peavey VT/VTX series amps. It is an amazing sounding 4 or 6 stage circuit. The cool hook is it's 'pull stop' feature, which allows one to stop the modulation and manually shift the phase through it's sweep, like a filter control.
Oh, that should be a feature on every phaser. Imagine how cool a Phase 90 would be with its single knob functioning that way.
This is actually trivial to implement for an analogue phaser... One potentiometer (with a switch) and a couple of resistors.

What I would do if I was designing a circuit like this is have an expression pedal jack and a second stomp switch to switch between auto/manual mode... Then kick it into manual and use the expression pedal to move the phasing around.

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bigtone23
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Re: Sleeper circuits

Post by bigtone23 » Tue Dec 14, 2021 6:27 am

laurie wrote:
Sun Dec 12, 2021 7:48 pm
sclitheroe wrote:
Sun Dec 12, 2021 6:55 pm
bigtone23 wrote:
Sun Dec 12, 2021 5:03 am
I wish someone would clone the phaser that is in the Peavey VT/VTX series amps. It is an amazing sounding 4 or 6 stage circuit. The cool hook is it's 'pull stop' feature, which allows one to stop the modulation and manually shift the phase through it's sweep, like a filter control.
Oh, that should be a feature on every phaser. Imagine how cool a Phase 90 would be with its single knob functioning that way.
This is actually trivial to implement for an analogue phaser... One potentiometer (with a switch) and a couple of resistors.

What I would do if I was designing a circuit like this is have an expression pedal jack and a second stomp switch to switch between auto/manual mode... Then kick it into manual and use the expression pedal to move the phasing around.
That would certainly be really cool!
The Peavey VT/VTX Phaser, when used 'typically,' is a really good sounding. Just copying it would find an audience.
I liked to use the 'pull stop' feature as an alternate, really wacky, filtered tonality, accessed via the footswitch for the amp.

That also reminds me, the 'Distortion' circuit on my Century 200 head is also super killer. It's 70s-riffic! I mainly use it for bass, and it doesn't lose low end when engaged, and has a cool, grainy but thick quality. I wanted one of those clone pedals just to be able to have that distortion sound without having to use that head.

sclitheroe
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Re: Sleeper circuits

Post by sclitheroe » Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:03 pm

Another interesting circuit might be the amp from the Pignose portable amp lineup - I know they made it as a pedal as well at one point, but I don't think its in production anymore, and I've been led to believe (though not researched it) that its a fairly unique circuit.

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The_Doc
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Re: Sleeper circuits

Post by The_Doc » Tue Dec 14, 2021 3:59 pm

sclitheroe wrote:
Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:03 pm
Another interesting circuit might be the amp from the Pignose portable amp lineup - I know they made it as a pedal as well at one point, but I don't think its in production anymore, and I've been led to believe (though not researched it) that its a fairly unique circuit.
I think I have one of those pedals. It’s covered in leather with silver pig snout knobs if I remember correctly.

sclitheroe
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Re: Sleeper circuits

Post by sclitheroe » Tue Dec 14, 2021 7:39 pm

The_Doc wrote:
Tue Dec 14, 2021 3:59 pm
sclitheroe wrote:
Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:03 pm
Another interesting circuit might be the amp from the Pignose portable amp lineup - I know they made it as a pedal as well at one point, but I don't think its in production anymore, and I've been led to believe (though not researched it) that its a fairly unique circuit.
I think I have one of those pedals. It’s covered in leather with silver pig snout knobs if I remember correctly.
Yup. If you ever wanted to trade it for something, let me know. You've always wanted a shiny OD-1X, haven't you :D

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The_Doc
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Re: Sleeper circuits

Post by The_Doc » Wed Dec 15, 2021 8:56 am

Haha ! I have one of those already but thanks for the offer :)

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