yo dawgys. I MADE SOME LARGE CHANGES TO THE CIRCUIT, ALL IN THE NAME OF AWESOMENESS.
some controls are gone but a bunch have been added. i have to change the graphic to fit the new layout unfortunately but i'll try to keep it as similar as possible... all that being said, i made loads of small changes but the big ones were mostly to the filter (i ended up using a different type) and some of the gain staging. unfortunately this thing is DEFINITELY going to end up costing me way more to manufacture than i expected sooooo like that sucks but hey as much as i'm running a business i want to make cool shit and i should just stop while i'm ahead next time rather than adding like ALL THE CONTROLS lol ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
basically there were so many different options depending on where the filter was placed so i just barfed on it and added them all in a weird way.
anyways.
REMOVED CONTROLS
- feedback controls (stompswitch, toggle and potentiometer) - it just wasn't working out the way i had hoped and kinda sucked.
- one of the triode/pentode toggles
ADDED CONTROLS
- a really cool/weird switching scheme which creates a bunch of different feedback networks - this includes 4 extra toggle switches
- frequency modulation switch for the VCF
- 4 filter modes - LP/BP/HP/NOTCH
- extra gain knob added
- pregain toggle for MOAR GAINZZ and diode clipping
- runs on a standard 9V supply now. i still need to check the mA use but regardless i think it's own supply or an isolated supply would be preferred in general.
the switching thing is fucking rad.
if you imagine the pedal in block form like this with T = each tube stage and the VCF as a separate block that is disconnected
INPUT - PREGAIN - T1 - T2 - T3 - EQ - OUTPUT
VCF
the 4 toggles (1, 2, 3, 4) allow you to send the VCF to different points in the circuit (or completely switched out), like so:
INPUT - PREGAIN - T1 - T2 - T3 - EQ - OUTPUT (VCF OFF)
INPUT - PREGAIN - VCF - T1 - T2 - T3 - EQ - OUTPUT (1)
INPUT - PREGAIN - T1 - VCF - T2 - T3 - EQ - OUTPUT (2)
INPUT - PREGAIN - T1 - T2 - VCF - T3 - EQ - OUTPUT (3)
INPUT - PREGAIN - T1 - T2 - T3 - VCF - EQ - OUTPUT (4)
each mode is distinctly different and has it's own merits.
THEN.
if you start adding combinations of those things you get all this crazy feedback because the of the way the toggles are set up. for example:
switch 1, 3 and the circuit looks like this
INPUT - PREGAIN - VCF - T1 - T2 - VCF - T3 - EQ - OUTPUT
but the output of T2 also gets fed back to the input of T1 along with the output of the VCF after T2. it starts to get very complicated very quickly...in any case there's all sorts of feedback-y type things that happen plus you get phase cancellation and such from feeding both signals in at the same time so there are lots and lots of different sounds available, especially with all of the different filter modes and the frequency modulation.
adding more switches gets way more complex, etc. i was getting super intense octave down stuff, a really amazing sounding tremolo, lots of super gnarly stuff including pure noise chaos and i barely scratched the surface.
my proto board should be here in a few days so i should (fingers crossed) have a full prototype by the end of the week to make some sweet sounds with.