sup /diy/ i'm a guitarfag on a first foray into making my own gear. i'm not worried about sound quality, just producing something of my own. i'm making an overdrive/distortion switch. i'm going to wire a 3-way switch in later.
i've bread-boarded pic related and the distortion works well although i found that switching the diodes out made for a better sound
only problem is that although on oscilloscope the signal seems to be boosted when through this circuit compared with just going acros the breadboard, in practicality the signal is attenuated and i have to drive the amp a lot to get sound
i think that that's because putting in the circuit as a whole is attenuating the signal, regardless of the fact the circuit boosts it relatively to just running it across the input/output
why is this happening and what can i do to boost the signal?
>>1012191
you have no recovery after the diodeclipping.
the diodes clip the signal down to their forward voltage.
regular diodes clip around 0.4-0.5 volts, germanium and shottkys can go as low as 0.15v
the simplest fix would be to use 4 diodes instead of two, to in series each way.
I'll see if i cant throw up a simulation to illustrate my point.
>>1012330
i made you a simple illustration.
as you can see, the stage with one diode each way clamps the signal down to +-580mv.
while the stage with four diodes clip at over a volt.
usually, clipping based pedals have a second gain stage to bring the signal up again after the diodes, but I've made a couple of single stage ones like this using diodes in series to get a higher signal.
you can also experiment with different diodes and having one in one direction and two in the other to get asymmetrical clipping.
welcome to the world of diy stomp boxes, have fun!
http://www.falstad.com/circuit/circuitjs.html?cct=$+1+0.000005+10.200277308269968+50+5+43%0AR+288+320+240+320+0+1+40+2+0+0+0.5%0Ad+352+320+352+368+1+0.805904783%0Ad+368+368+368+320+1+0.805904783%0Aw+352+320+368+320+0%0Aw+352+368+368+368+0%0Ag+368+368+368+384+0%0Aw+368+320+400+320+0%0Ar+288+320+352+320+0+10000%0Ar+288+512+336+512+0+10000%0Ad+336+512+336+560+1+0.805904783%0Ad+336+560+336+608+1+0.805904783%0Aw+336+608+352+608+0%0Ad+352+608+352+560+1+0.805904783%0Ad+352+560+352+512+1+0.805904783%0Aw+336+512+352+512+0%0Ag+352+608+352+624+0%0Aw+352+512+384+512+0%0Aw+288+512+288+320+0%0Ao+0+64+0+291+5+0.0015625+0+-1%0Ao+6+64+0+291+2.5+0.000048828125+1+-1%0Ao+16+64+0+291+2.3384026197294445+9.765625e-55+2+-1%0A
>>1012335
thanks i'll try this out!
>>1012191
I had a similar problem when I was making a distortion pedal. I do think it was the same schematic as you have. The problem was in the transistor. Replaced it with an equivalent and everything worked with normal volume. I can't remember which transistor I used for replacement, but finding an alternative shouldn't be too hard. You can try a bc547.
Not really sure if you have the same problem I had, could have been just that the few transistors I tried have been bad
>>1012191
>i'm not worried about sound quality
You will fit right in with guitarfags then.
"Give a man a pedal, and he will jam. Learn that man how to make a pedal, and he will never jam again."
>>1012556
if you read the thread you'll understand that this is not the problem here.
no matter how high the gain is you won't get anything higher than the diodes forward voltage out in this design, as there is no gainstage after the diode stage.
>>1012606
That's absolutely fucking wrong.
They'll care to a point where it's neurotic searching for the perfect "tone" and it'll sound like the same garbage the whole journey.
>>1012848
>it's neurotic searching for the perfect "tone"
was trying to perfectly tune a guitar with whammy bar
never again
>>1013249
that's not hard to do
>>1013255
when tuning a guitar with a whammy bar every string you tune makes the other cords looser or tighter
And by perfect I mean 82.41 Hz for E perfect
And that type of perfection is near impossible for an electric guitar with a whammy bar
>>1013268
you just keep tuning till they all line up. the changes in pitch get smaller each tune
>>1013268
Fret a string stronger than when tuning and your perfect tuning goes to shit.
Bend a string slightly while fretting two strings with one finger and your perfect tuning goes to shit.
Actually even on a perfectly intonated guitar fret anywhere that's not full octave and your perfect tuning goes to shit literally by design.
So why not just go and play your guitar instead of wasting your time with this autistic shit?
Also
>guitar with a whammy bar
Even my 5 year old niece knows the term "floating bridge" anon.
>>1013268
That happens to all stringed instruments tp some degree.
>>1013268
Ever played a long set under hot stage lights? You'll go progressively flatter.
>>1013268
10 cents is pretty fucking far off
lrn2tune
>>1013273
>Even my 5 year old niece knows the term "floating bridge" anon
Don't matter what you call it so long as you know what it is and know what it does
>>1013302
Terminology exist for a reason you twat.
Also if you have a Floyd Rose instead of a traditional tremolo, did you lock the nut? The fine tuners are on the base of the bridge for a reason.
>>1013316
got it from someone who didn't want it anymore, so I'm pretty much clueless as to what I got other than it says "Starcaster" on it and has the whammy bar/tremolo kajigger
planning to build a miniature amplifier inside of it and a tuning module to it once I figure out what arduino/sensor boards I need.
