GGG Shin-Ei FY-2 Companion Clone Mid Mod ?

[phlthyphil]

Hey
This is my first post and yeah Im new here . I just finished putting together a GGG Shin-Ei FY-2 Companion Clone . It sounds pretty good . Id like to add a mid scoop pot to the pedal. Ive read to add 50k a pot between the .01uf cap and ground in the
midscoop filter at the end, you'll get a variable mid control. I know where the .01uf cap is but I dont know how or where to wire in the pot on the GGG board.
If anyone can let me know that would be great
Thanks

[Jero]

Can you post a pic? One of us can point it out to ya.

[LaoWiz]

I've built about 8 of these things, the mod is really easy. First, I would not use a 50k pot. I would use a 5k. With a 50k you will have a knob that doesn't seem to do a lot of variation throughout the pot's travel. You can read up about this at diystompboxes, use search function and type in Shin Ei fy2 mid scoop. You would have to sign up to be a member to use search, though.

The junction at the .01 cap and ground is where you will add the pot and it needs to be desoldered. The other end of the cap is still connected to the 10k and 15k. The end of the cap that you desolder gets a wire going to pot lug 3. Pot lug 3 will also need a wire/jumper to pot lug 2 (This makes the pot a variable resistor).

1 Desolder .01/ground. If you cap snipped the leads you make want to replace the entire cap so that you have enough length to add a wire.

2 Add a wire to the cap, solder.

3 The other end of the wire you have soldered to the cap goes to lug 3. Before you solder this connection, add an additional wire to lug 3. The other end will go to lug 2 in the next step. So, now you should have to wires inserted into lug 3, solder.

4 Solder jumper wire to lug 2.

5 Solder a wire from the ground connection on the PCB where the .01 was connected.

6 The other end of this wire gets solder to lug one.

That's it. It's a must mod! Gives the pedal more variation.

Cheers
RIchard

[phlthyphil]

Hey Guys
Thanks for the heads up . I will post a photo .
I will try the mod tomorrow .
Is the ground of the .01 cap the negative side ? I think I have enough lead .
I have to pick up a 5k pot . Not sure if I have one .
Any other suggestions on better parts for this pedal ?

[LaoWiz]

I will refer to this page, the GGG layout diagram:

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_secf_lo.pdf?phpMyAdmin=78482479fd7e7fc3768044a841b3e85a

The .1uf (C7) that is a part of the scoop filter needs to be altered. Looking at the diagram, you will see that there is a jumper right next to it.
The jumper basically is the connection to ground. Get rid of this, a couple of snips will get rid of the wire.

Now, looking at the diagram you will see a trace that comes off of the right of C7 and travels all the way to the top of the PCB and at the end of it there is a pad that is unlabeled that is between the V2 pad and the FC pad. Your wire to lug 3 of the 5k pot comes from here. Follow the other directions is my previous post and you will have the variable midscoop. Should be really easy. No desoldering of the .1 cap, at all.

Hope that makes sense. Not sure what comes in the kit, but the first time I built one of those I used 3904's and tried 5089's. Then I tried various NOS silicons and got better results for some reason. I would suggest getting a breadboard setup and building from schematic. That way you can test various types of caps and transistors, etc on any circuit. I found lots of shades (good and bad) with the FY2 when I was playing with it. I also use a 25k pot for the fuzz instead of a 50k.

[phlthyphil]

First off I want to thank you for your help !
I really dont want to be a pain . Im just pretty psyked about this pedal . I had on original one year ago and let it go so Im really in to getting it going.
I herd some clips from the ones you built ... Killer !!
I pretty much follow you on it but what I dont understand is that there is nothing in the jumper next to C7 its left empty . There is no wire to snip .
Its explained here
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf ... a841b3e85a
I followed the trace between v2 and Fc and see its empty .
I understand how to wire up the pot but I dont get where to wire it back to from the pot ?
If I dont need to unsolder the .01 cap where do I put the wire back on the board to the pot ?
I also have plenty .01 caps if I have to replace it and do it the other way you mentioned in the previous post

[LaoWiz]

I see what you are saying and now looking at the link I see you're using the board that they made and didn't make your own.

So now, delsolder the side of the .01 that's closest to the bottom of the board. Thats where it is connected to ground and creates the full
mid scoop. This is the connection that needs the wire to lug 3. Basically, you desolder the cap so that the end that is at the bottom of the board is sticking out of the top of the circuit board. Bend the cap lead like a hook, do that the same with the wire going to the pot. Create tension with some tape on the pot wire, sticking tape to wire and the pcb/enclosure, so you can get your iron on the junction and heat it up without it coming undone. Solder. Let it the joint heal for a bit. Wrap it with electrical tape or add heat shrink. THe other end of the wire goes to lug 3.
Another wire goes from lug 3 to 2. Lug one is ground. Take a wire and solder lug 1 to the input jack ring.

Since I haven't seen their PCB, I don't know if there is an extra spot for a ground connection but going to the ring on the input jack will ground lug 1. So the pot will have two wires going to other places. Lug 3 directly soldered to .01uf. Lug 1 to the ring of the input jack. A wire from lug 2 and 3 to create variable resistance.

Hope that helps. It's dead easy if you have some experience making pedals but can be really frustrating and confusing if you are starting out so if you have anymore questions, post!

[phlthyphil]

I got the mod going !
It sounds killer !
Thanks so much !!

[LaoWiz]

Nice

[phlthyphil]

Hey
I really want to thank you for your help on this .
The pedal sounds way better with the mod .
I did put in a 5k pot . Thanks for the heads up on that .
I ended up using nos ceramic disc cap because I did clip the leads of the one that came with the kit to short .
It came out pretty good for my first shot at this . I will post some photos later this week
What a awesome sounding fuzz .

[LaoWiz]

It's a killer fuzz. It definitely stands out. If you ever build another drop me a line, I may be able to give you some other ideas. I change up a few things here and there. I like to try out different caps, usually NOS caps in the fuzz portion, and audition out random transistors I find at surplus houses. Sometime the difference is small but sometimes it's huge. The second two of these that I made for friends were the most amazing fuzz I have heard. I've gotten close since then but not close enough, as I didn't take notes as to what I did differently... A ceramic cap in that spot should sound just fine. An amazing fuzz of fuzzes.

[phlthyphil]

Heres the pedal . It sounds so mean . I do want to build another !! Im pretty happy about it . I know its a kit so I thinks that kinda cheating around here !
Next time I want to do one on my own board .
Ive never done it so I dont really know where to start .
I have some learning to do !!!

[BlindtoFaith]

where did you find those knobs?!

[phlthyphil]

I got them off of a busted amp I found in the garbage a few years back !!
I ended up with 6 of them .. Wish I could buy a bunch !!!!

[LaoWiz]

Yeah, those knobs are awesome