Silent Fly

[quote name='Jamesemt' post='284785' date='Sep 16 2008, 09:44 AM']Do I need a limiter?[/quote] No, you don’t. An amp should sound good without any external (or internal) processing. If it clips the problem can be in the bass, cab, bass or cables. I suggest you try the elements of your chain one at the time to be 100% sure that nothing is faulty. Start with the bass. Connect the bass to another amp or recording equipment to find out if the bass has any problem. It could be the onboard preamp if the bass is active or the soldering of the internal components (even for passive basses). If you are positive that bass and cables are ok, do the following: * Connect the bass to the amp with no effects. Just a good quality cable. * Set your bass with no eq boost/cut. * Set your amp as follows: - Master volume low (1/10 or less), - tone/eq flat, - compressor off, - play as hard as you can (within reason) and set the input/gain knob to the level suggested by the instruction manual. With these settings the input stage of you amp (i.e. preamp) will not clip. Turn up the master volume to the level you like (do [i]not[/i] touch the tone/eq/compressor settings). Play a couple of songs. It is clips it might be for three reasons: - The amp is not powerful enough for your needs. In other words you are asking the power section of your amp to deliver more power than is capable of. - The amp is faulty. - The cabinet is not powerful enough for the amp (less likely). If under the above conditions the bass/amp/cabinet never clips, the problem is in the settings. My guess is that you boost the bass frequency controls of your amp (or/and bass) too much. Consider that for every +3dB of increment you are asking your amp to [url="http://http://www.crownaudio.com/apps_htm/designtools/db-power.htm"]double the power is delivering.[/url] To give you a very rough idea, if you play with the master at 1/4 but you boost the bass frequencies by 6db you are actually using all the power available. Turning the master to a more than 1/4 would clip the power stage. …or in other words, if you have a 250w amp that runs at 50% of the maximum power (flat eq) you will need roughly: 250w for supporting +3dB boost (max power for 1 ch of the Superfly) 314w for +4dB (your Superfly is already short of power) :wacko: 500w for +6dB 1000w for +9dB 2000w for +12db 4000w for +15dB The amp compressor can help mitigate the effects of eq on the power but its behaviour depends on the positions in the amplifier design. If the compression is applied before the eq (pre-eq) or after the eq (post-eq) the result is different. I can't find the information in the Superfly manual but I have the feeling that the compression is pre-eq. In this case, big dynamic peaks due to extreme boost of some frequencies cannot be directly controlled by the compressor. This may be the reason why you cannot avoid the clipping using the amp compressor. I hope the above helps.

[quote name='Higgie' post='262131' date='Aug 14 2008, 02:38 AM'](...) How do I make it with veroboard?[/quote] I sent you a PM about it a few days ago with some possible ways to achieve what you need. I gather you haven't received it. If you type "Veroboard" in [url="http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=veroboard"]Google[/url], [url="http://www.zen22142.zen.co.uk/Prac/vero_circ/vero.htm"]the first link[/url] returned tells you how veroboards/stripboards works.

[quote name='mr.sibs' post='240350' date='Jul 15 2008, 08:20 PM']looks great, are these units to be manufactured and sold? if so where and how much [/quote] They might be manufactured and sold but not by me. I just made available all the information necessary to build one. It can be easily simplified. Usually midi-in port, USB connection and double power supply are not necessary so the project itself is just the Arduino board, switches, leds and a midi connector.

[url="http://www.maxgreco.com/fun/microfoot/"]Micro-Foot (uF)[/url] is a MIDI foot controller designed to be entirely programmable. I developed it using an [url="http://www.arduino.cc"]Arduino[/url] board. Apart from obvious constraints related to hardware and computational power of the CPU, there are no restrictions to the functionalities that can be implemented. uF can receive and send any MIDI message the developer wishes to implement. I hope you will find it interesting. Have fun!

Hi Dave/DHA, Do you have anynews about these pedals? Silent Fly

OpenStomp started production June 29, 2008 $349 [url="http://www.openstomp.com/ordering.html"]http://www.openstomp.com/ordering.html[/url]

[quote name='DHA' post='230804' date='Jul 1 2008, 07:21 PM']But I guess that is nearer my VT1-EQ-Bass-Drive in spec anyway which is now £149.99. Once this goes to PCB it will also have a headphone amp. So a DHA-EQ/DI will have 3 channel active EQ with mid range Q, balanced XLR DI and 1/4" jack line out, 1/4" jack in, DI level, i/p pad, output level, toggle switch to by-pass the eq, 9-12VDC connector, Stereo headphone jack with level, DI ground lift, bright switch, tuner mute footswitch and 1/4" tuner jack. Could have a PP3 battery but not sure how long it will last due to the headphone amp. No phantom power as it will require a fair amount of current and most desks will not supply it. Cost will be £75 + P&P (...)[/quote] It sounds interesting. I assume that by "3 channel active EQ" you actually mean "3 band active EQ" unless I am wrong and the pedal has 3 separate channels with EQ for each one (which would be very cool). I would have liked a mini-jack stereo input to play along mp3 players but I could live without it. [quote name='DHA' post='230804' date='Jul 1 2008, 07:21 PM'](...) A DHA-DI will have a balanced XLR DI and 1/4" in and out, DI level, phantom power and switch, PP3 battery and 9-12VDC power connector. Cost will be £45 + P&P What you think? Dave[/quote] With a simple DI, you are in the same territory of other DIs that cost around the same money. I think that to be interesting it has to sound exceptionally well (which I am sure it will be the case).

[quote name='BassBod' post='229971' date='Jun 30 2008, 07:50 PM']SF has a point - something like the Aguilar or Demeter valve DI. Power supply (built in) valve and audio transformer...and a ground lift. Might need some sockets... BB[/quote] I was thinking to something slightly different: solid state and transformerless. Nothing against valves but I think DHA production has enough products valve-based. What do you think about our ideas so far DHA?

Another, and completely different, approach that I find very interesting is a minimal DI with the best possible audio quality. A little bit of a mini Avalon U5. Jack input, XLR output, i/p pad, level and power supply.

Very interesting. I would suggest: - Add Phantom power (as suggested before me) - Headphone amp with stereo input mini-jack. Great for playing along with iPod. - I wouldn't need a bypass switch but in some situations (e.g. where the pedal is used as a stopbox eq) it could be usefull. - EQ+DI in the same (as small as possible) box - a button similar to the "color" button of the MXR M80

[quote name='umph' post='227886' date='Jun 27 2008, 11:19 AM']ahh thanks atm it only has a volume / blend / tone / fat switch i didn't have any spare 1k pots so no gain knobs the circuit is basically based on a tonebender mkII as i wanted to start off with a good high gain pedal, but theres quite a few modifications i've done to the pedal as in adding a blend circuit and a tone circuit and rebiasing it for the transistors i used etc. thanks for the input though! edit: the clip is on an active bass and the only problem it has is the clean blend doesn't like low output passive basses[/quote] Very interesting Umph - thanks for the extra-info. You may already know it but I found [url="http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/mkII.php"]this web site[/url] with some Tonebender variations that I found interesting.

I am not a big fan of distortion/overdrive on bass but it sounds very good. I think it would be interesting to hear more samples with different levels of distortion. I would also be interested to know about the controls of the pedals and if it is suitable for active basses. If you could also post some technical detail (e.g. input impedance) it would be great. [i]The following has probably nothing to do with you Umph. Sorry to high jacking your thread but it sounded a good opportunity.[/i] -- On a general note, when we post about DIY pedals, I think it would be better if we say why we post and why we need and opinion. Last but not least because we avoid asking the same questions every time Don't get me wrong I thing it is great that exchange ideas and comments. I speak for myself here but when I build something I try it, I record it and eventually or I am happy with it or I am not. If I ask someone else opinion is because I need help for a future choice. For example, if I'm undecided if I want to start a small production and I ask other people's help I always say it. Nothing wrong in potentially making money with my work but if I ask someone else to help me (for free) in making money I tell him first. There is no legal requirement of course but this is how I like doing things. Moreover, if the pedals is not a [i]totally new[/i] design, I think it is better say clearly were the inspiration comes from. It is not legally necessary but it is an unwritten rule of the DIY community and it is something that I would recommend.

Today I had the chance to try the M80 and I must say it is quite different from the ParaDriver I have. Not unexpectedly the m80 is a little bit more tuned for bass then the ParaDrive. The "color" button works work very nicely creating a very warm and deep sound. With the controls set to flat the pedal is quite linear - which is a good thing. I didn't like the distortion at all. It is the typical "MXR Distortion+" clipping that some people like but that I find very sterile. The distortion doesn't kick in smoothly with a progressive increase of the grrrrr. It is a sort of on/off that may be exactly what some bassists look for but to me it was like a bee getting closer as I turned up the gain control. I would love to modify the clipping sections using mosfets and asymmetrical clipping - I am pretty sure it would sound much warmer. On the other side, I am not ready to buy the unit for the sake of exploring a possible modification. Overall, apart from the distortion (that is a very personal thing) the M80 is a very nice pedal. I didn’t use it as a DI but I am sure that connected to a mixing desk it would sound great. If I had a M80 but not my ParaDriver I would probably miss the semi-parametric mid control of the ParaDriver and the natural light compression of the ParaDriver. Would I sell my ParaDriver to buy a M80? No, the ParaDriver is a keeper. Would I buy a M80? Yes, but only if I can keep my ParaDriver.

[quote name='BassManKev' post='225845' date='Jun 24 2008, 01:15 PM']am i being blonde, or is an easy solution for this just sticking a daisy chain into one of the 9v outputs??[/quote] You can do it but I wouldn't do it for more than 2 pedals for every output. In any case I would't daisy chain pedals that require relatively high current. The Brick has a resistor for every output. If the current is too high, the voltage drop on the resistor could be too high and you may end up less than 9V for every pedal. Apart from the risk of fry the resistor, of course.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='225828' date='Jun 24 2008, 12:54 PM']No, he meant to split to 9v outputs into 4 9v outputs, using 2 daisy chain-like devices. Alternatively, you could construct a [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltage_divider"]voltage divider[/url] with a couple of resistors to convert 1 18V output to 1 9v output, which you could obviously use for more than one pedal using a daisy chain or whatever.[/quote] Thanks Cheddatom. Probably I wasn't very clear. Regarding the voltage divider, I would also use a Zener just to keep the voltage a little bit more stable but a 2 resistors voltage divider would probably work fine.

[quote name='PauBass' post='225739' date='Jun 24 2008, 11:02 AM']Here is what I'm using at the moment: - Korg DT-10 Tuner - Sadowsky Bass Preamp/DI - EBS Multicomp - Boss LS-2 Line Selector - Jimi Hendrix Classic Fuzz - Polish Overdrive ...it's on the way. - Boss GEB-7 Bass Eq - Boss Chorus - Boss OC-2 Can any of them be powered by an 18v output?[/quote] The following pedals [b]cannot[/b] be powered at 18V - EBS Multicomp (I checked the instructions) - Boss pedals Boss recommend for some pedals (e.g. my GE7B) the use of the AC adapter ACA-240. ACA-240 supply 12V (the ACA-240[b]G[/b] 9V). New Boss pedals work with the PSA-[i]series[/i] power supply adapters (9V). Either way, the pedals will probably fry at 18V. - Korg DT-10 Tuner - Sadowsky Bass Preamp/DI. Sadowsky recommends the use of their PSU (9V, 200mA). - Jimi Hendrix Classic Fuzz. Dunlop recommends the ECB03 AC (9V)