Overdrive – Blackout Electronics

Blackout Reds Fixer

Posted on 14.8.2013 by Vesku Posted in Pedals .

Mid-90’s Marshall stompboxes are nowadays somewhat appreciated, and some of those are beginning to be rarities. I’ve owned my Blues Breaker (sic!) since late 90’s. Bought it second hand for some 10 euros. Today you can easily sell it for 150 euros. I would still invest that sum if I hadn’t one already, because it’s overwhelming number one of its kind. Sweet Honey/Honey Bee overdrives are operating in the same area, but they are more bright and ”hi-fi”, and so less blues. I also own a Sweet Honey OD, and it cannot beat this one.

I’ve kept my original carelessly:

It’s working 100%, and even has the battery compartment cover safe. Still, there is some concerns if you are gigging with it. Jacks are plastic and PCB -mounted, and therefore not very liable. Switches are also known to be somewhat poor in this series. Instead of changing them when they are still fully operable, it’s more reasonable to save this treasure and make a clone out of it. Layout looks like this:

One problem in the original is that its enclosure is huge. Also, jacks are installed to enclosure’s butt-end, which makes it a bit hard to fit into pedal board. Being 21 slots wide, this fits to 1590B just barely.

By oversight I put a 220pF ceramic disc capacitor into place of 220nF, and spent some time inspecting where all my gains were gone. I should be more careful sometimes. In A/B -test it’s impossible to hear any difference between the clone and the original one. I’ve tested tens if not hundreds of overdrive pedals, and I am always going back to Blues Breaker. Now when it’s installed in smaller enclosure and has top-level level switch and jacks, it’s unlikely I find anything better than this. Let me introduce you, Marshall Blues Breaker’s younger brother Blackout Reds Fixer:

Blackout Singstar

Posted on 29.7.2013 by Vesku Posted in Pedals .

Not always a good guitar pedal has to be complicated. Devi Ever is an interesting person in the business. Not only she produces guitar pedals, but she’s also songwriter, musician, video game developer and artist. And as it seems to me, very individual in every one of these scenes. Devi’s pedals are widely used by top-level artists like ZZ Top, Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode. And if something is used by Billy Gibbons, it has to be good.

This one is a clean boost named Karaoke Party, which is acting as a mild overdrive when cranked. The layout is like this:

Not much to say about this, except it’s remarkably compact. Don’t get fooled by just one transistor. This one is a real lionheart. No doubt the power is sufficient for every use. And what a nice mild overdrive when cranked! Very transparent and amp-like. Put this one before some higher gain overdrive or distortion, and let the hell get loose.

The only mod I did was to change MPSA18 to MPSA13. I just didn’t have MPSA18’s in stock, so that was necessity. I put a socket for the transistor, so I can test the difference later. According to tagboardeffects.blogspot.com this tiny mod adds a hint of a gain to this, so think I’ll leave it like it is now. If you do the same, mind the pinout. It’s reversed in MPSA13 and -18.

I couldn’t react against temptation to fit this into 1590A:

Quite challenging it was, and took some careful measuring before drilling. Also needed to bend input and ouput jacks’ ground lugs, and modify the power jack lugs a little to prevent short circuits. And of course, shrinking tube is one of my best friends. Thinking overall, this is my best work until now. Hail to Devi, Blackout Singstar:

Blackout Greenpeace

Posted on 27.7.2013 by Vesku Posted in Pedals .

Although Tube Screamers are world famous and used at least sometimes by almost every guitarist, I’ve never really liked them myself. When playing with the band they are ok, due to their mid-hump. It operates more or less in the ”free frequency-area”. But when playing alone they are too honky for my taste. That might be the reason why there is several mods available in the market. Keeley, Analogman, FYA’s Arrow. You name it.

I recently had a Ibanez TS9, which sounded exceptionally bad. It had TA75558P -chip inside, which is known to be the worst of all. Well, it’s arguable if the difference is audible, but still. Had it swapped to JRC4558, which is is claimed to be ”the original TS808 chip”. Got also the Arrow Mod done by Miro, and all this together made a remarkable difference. I thought to create my own mod by testing different resistors and caps, and of course, with true-bypass switching.

In my opinion it almost feels like corporate-level cheating to sell TS9 with some 140 euros, and TS808 with over 200 euros, when they are almost identical under the hood. Only two resistor values differ:

As you can see, the only difference is in the values of two resistors in output buffer. In TS9 they are 470 ohms/100 Kohms, and in TS808 they are 100 ohms/10 Kohms. So the difference in production costs is round zero. I just wonder where the price tags come from…

However, I based my Tube Screamer to TS808. Those mods mentioned earlier relate also to only two components. They are that 4,7 Kohms resistor near the output buffer, and 47 nF capacitor next to it. The resistor value affects so that if diminished, it adds more gain. By increasing the value of the capacitor the more low frequencies are going through, and therefore the mid-hump is actually evened. After thorough testing my choices are 1.5 Kohms and 220 nF. That means a little more gain and bass. I also have that 51K resistor above the capacitor mentioned replaced with 47K. That affects to the minimum gain. The smaller value, the less minimum gain.

The chip in my version is NE5532 instead of JRC4558. I’ve got a socket in my layout, so the effect between different IC’s can be easily tested. But trust me, there is next to none. I tried three different IC’s; NE5532, JRC4557 and TA75558P. All were identical.

This baby is named Blackout Greenpeace:

Blackout Bass Religion

Posted on 21.7.2013 by Vesku Posted in Pedals .

I’ve used Mad Professor’s Blueberry bass overdrive for ages, but some features have always bothered me. Firstly, the volume pot is way too sensitive. Plus I’ve never opened it beyond 9 o’clock, so less would be enough. Another issue is that I don’t like it how the ”nature”-pot works. I’ve always missed just a regular tone pot.

So, once again I turned the soldering iron on. Roger Mayer Voodoo-1 is a quite nice overdrive pedal for guitar, and the Voodoo Bass is, well, guess. I really don’t believe in watching Youtube-videos and trying to find the suitable pedal for your needs as there is so many things affecting to what you hear starting from your lame computer speakers. So, only knowing that it’s just a low-gain overdrive for bass as well as for guitar, I started building. The layout is as follows:

As I had all the needed components in stock, there was nothing special in this. Except the pots. Gain seems to be C50k , but as I didn’t have any reverse logs, I needed to put a A50k in there. So the gain-pot is not working as it should, but it still can be controlled well. When turned counter-clockwise now, this is almost like a clean boost. Just a hint of a overdrive here. Gain scale is working really well, and in the clockwise end this is a real ear harrowing grater. Fuzzy distortion is coming from doors and windows. Tone is just what I want it to be. You cannot either dampen or sharpen the tone effusively, but still there is enough scale for me. Fitted OK in 1590B:

I originally put a 2,2K resistor for the orange LED, and it caused third-degree burns to my face. What a searchlight! Ended up to 15K and I am pretty sure that it’s still well enough in stage, as I still cannot look at it straight. After a little wordplay I’ve got a new overdrive for my bass rig. Blackout Bass Religion:

Blackout Dalai Llama

Posted on 22.6.2013 by Vesku Posted in Pedals .

So I recently started to build up my own clones out of the commercially produced pedals. I was strongly inspired by Miro from FYA Electronics, who prepared me several custom clones with some modifications (i.e true-bypass Dyna Comp w/ switchable buffer). My intention is not to make any profit with this at this stage, but just produce some pedals for my own use. And have a good time with my new hobby.

As it’s a way more challenging as it seems to be from the first sight, Miro encouraged me to start from some easy layout, and that’s why Red Llama was chosen. Red Llama is somewhat coveted simple overdrive pedal with two knobs. I’ve tried almost every overdrive pedals in this planet so far, so I am always excited to try something new. Overdrive pedals are my weak point, I might say.

The layout is quite simple. Taken from tagboardeffects.blogspot.com, made by IVIark:

After completing the layout, it was time to drill the enclosure. And that’s where the fun starts. The first 10mm holes for 1/4″ jacks were ok. Also the holes for the pots, no problem. As a 12mm hole is needed for the switch and DC-connector, I needed to dig up the good ol’ Perforator from Hell®. That hellish apparatus is capable of penetrating anything from thick steel plate to terrorists’ hideout. Had no bench vice, so I needed to thrust the raw power in my hands. A bad mistake. Perforator (R) divested the enclosure from my hands in no time, and threw it to the moon. This is something to learn. _Always_ mount the enclosure so that you don’t need to stick it with your bare hands. Or. Also, always remember to start with a small hole, and after that drill the final one. After a trip to the moon and back I had some scratches in my nice red enclosure, but nothing serious. After attacking the enclosure again with Perforator® I had all the needed holes. Including a too big hole for the indicator led.

After making all the outboard connections, it was time to put the tagboard into place, and solder the remaining joints:

Nothing beats a total failure after your best shot. Sound is going through when the pedal is switched off, but when switched on the hell gets loose. Nothing but a clean signal spiced with some distant digital buzz. Far away from a good overdriven sound. So what the heck?

Transistor? A short circuit? After checking every connection and component several times I had to admit that the reason for the failure remains secret. So, I created a new one and it worked right away. Later I need to check all the components with multimeter, but now I’ll just complete this job. After adding knobs and some stickers it looks pretty good, and sounds even better.

Let me introduce you: Blackout Dalai Llama: