Tube Sound Fuzz - Craig Anderton
Paul Porcelli
Musicians'. I have absolutely no experience at all of electronics.
I would like advice from anyone on going about the task with the minimum of
fuss.
I intend to make the tube sound fuzz.
I would like to make my own PCB for this.
What is the easiest method of doing this(ie etch resist pen, transfers etc).
The book asks for a CD4049 semiconductor.
I went to Maplin and they had 4049B and a 4049UB neithere of which were
preceeded by CD. Can i substitute? What is the difference between B and UB?
Who is CD?
I'd love to hear from anyone who has worked with this book.
Cheers.
--
Paul Porcelli
University of Glasgow
E-Mail: gna...@aero.gla.ac.uk
David Foy
>I have recently acquired Craig Anderton's book 'Electronic Projects for
>I went to Maplin and they had 4049B and a 4049UB neithere of which were
>preceeded by CD. Can i substitute? What is the difference between B and UB?
>Who is CD?
>I'd love to hear from anyone who has worked with this book.
>Cheers.
IMO, The easiest way to make a PCB is to use transfers. You can get pads on
a sheet which can be rubbed onto the copper board with a pencil, and also you
can get reels (?) ( like a catherine wheel ) of various widths of sticky tape
to connect the pads together. I've had mixed results with an etch resist pen
as you need a steady hand and it's sometimes awkward to get an even flow onto
the board plus there's a tendency to smudge it if you're not careful.
The semiconductor CD4049 is a CMOS hex-inverter chip and the circuit uses
the fact that the inverters act like high-gain inverting amplifiers if they
are used near their threshold voltage ( typ Vdd/2 for CMOS ). The CD refers
to the manufacturer ( can't remember this one off the top of my head ) but
all of them should be good enough. The 'B' is a better bet than an 'A' as
it means that the device has some protection on the pins ( CMOS is static-
sensitive ). Not sure about the 'UB'.
Hope this helps.
Dave Foy
--
+---------------------------( Dave Foy )-------------------------------+
| Disclaimer: The opinions above are my own personal views etc. |
| SGS Thomson Microelectronics Ltd, |
| 1000 Aztec West, |
| Bristol, UK Email : da...@inmos.co.uk |
+-----------------------( +44 454 616616 X526 )-------------------------+
Robert D. Herrick
>What is the easiest method of doing this(ie etch resist pen, transfers etc).
If you can get some film that you xerox a schematic onto and then iron it
onto the copper-clad board, that's the easiest. Try a surplus
electronics store for the film. I think the stuff I had was called
TEC-200 film. Good stuff.
>The book asks for a CD4049 semiconductor.
>I went to Maplin and they had 4049B and a 4049UB neithere of which were
>preceeded by CD. Can i substitute? What is the difference between B and UB?
You ought to able to sub, but the right chip is available from Radio
Shack for a big $2.50 or something.
>I'd love to hear from anyone who has worked with this book.
This is a great-sounding circuit, but I had to customize it some to get a
more flexible tone circuitry. Plus, the Hi/Lo switch is pretty useless.
If you're interested in my new schematic, you can email and I'll snail it
to you.
Robert
Ken Neubauer
Porcelli) writes:
yes, you can substitute with those chips listed above. They are made by
different manufacturers.
AS a matter of fact, most of those 4xxx series chips can be subbed with
identical 4 digits irregardless of prefix in most cases, except those
requiring tight temperature specifications, or if you are using these
chips to drive more than two or three others chip inputs. Then it would
be safer to use a buffer (non-inverting) IC to drive multiple, 5 and
higher inputs.
tim stanley
I have recently acquired Craig Anderton's book 'Electronic Projects for
Musicians'. I have absolutely no experience at all of electronics.
I would like advice from anyone on going about the task with the minimum of
fuss.
I intend to make the tube sound fuzz.
I would like to make my own PCB for this.
What is the easiest method of doing this(ie etch resist pen, transfers etc).
I have made this and several other Anderton circuits. This is a great
first project - easy to learn electronics on it and it sounds
terrific.
I have made PCBs, used perfboard, and used the pre-etched generic
boards where you lay stuff out by yourself. If I were you, on this
simple circuit, I would use the pre-etched generic stuff and lay it
out by hand. It is an easy circuit and this will be easier than
making your own PCB.
The book asks for a CD4049 semiconductor.
I went to Maplin and they had 4049B and a 4049UB neithere of which were
preceeded by CD. Can i substitute? What is the difference between B and UB?
UB means unbuffered, and I think this is what you want.
B, I assume, means buffered.
Who is CD?
Beats me - probably just a manufacturer code that is not important.
I'd love to hear from anyone who has worked with this book.
Terrific book. The first edition from the early/mid 1970s is a large
part of the reason I went into engineering. Well, that, and the fact
that I am a nerd ;-). Anyway, there is more info on this specific
project (it has its own FAQ/digest) as well as other Anderton projects
in my www page at:
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~tjs/
G'luck,
T
Svenn Are Bjerkem
: >Who is CD?
CD is made by Harris Semiconductors and are expencive in my wiev. Most semiconductor
processing houses manufacture the 4000-series.
: >I'd love to hear from anyone who has worked with this book.
: >Cheers.
I once tried to make the ring modulator. I used a lot of time to make the board
look nice. The PCB is professionaly made and everything was taken care of. It
still don't work. I made it as a newbie and I don't care to debug it. I'm going to
redo the whole thing some day and then not with PCB.
: IMO, The easiest way to make a PCB is to use transfers. You can get pads on
Maybe it is easiest, but it is a waist of time. PCB is fine for bigger projects
or when you have proper tools. We have here at the workshop, but for very small
projects (like this one) a veroboard is better. It doesn't look as fancy as a PCB
but it looks homemade, and it is more impressing to have something looking homemade
sound marvelous, than something looking professional sounding like crap.
Besides veroboards are more fun. You can add circuits as you gain experience in
electronics. Maplin sell some wirewrap tools which I recomend. The thin wire on a
pen-like holder is all you need. (As long as you're not an audiophile) I would
recomend a veroboard with prerouted power tracks. The original vero is ok, but
in my experience, too many chips have died just because i forgot to break some tracks
on the back.
: a sheet which can be rubbed onto the copper board with a pencil, and also you
: can get reels (?) ( like a catherine wheel ) of various widths of sticky tape
: to connect the pads together. I've had mixed results with an etch resist pen
: as you need a steady hand and it's sometimes awkward to get an even flow onto
: the board plus there's a tendency to smudge it if you're not careful.
: The semiconductor CD4049 is a CMOS hex-inverter chip and the circuit uses
: the fact that the inverters act like high-gain inverting amplifiers if they
: are used near their threshold voltage ( typ Vdd/2 for CMOS ). The CD refers
Interesting use of inverters. Have you ever managed to use a CMOS inverter as
an amplifier? IE you have reproduced SOUND through one? I wouldn't even waist
my time using inverters as amps since the threshold voltage in the conducting
channel varies from batch to batch, and inverters are designed to change state
as soon as possible to make them quick.
: to the manufacturer ( can't remember this one off the top of my head ) but
: all of them should be good enough. The 'B' is a better bet than an 'A' as
: it means that the device has some protection on the pins ( CMOS is static-
: sensitive ). Not sure about the 'UB'.
Hello, hello. It's many years since static electricity was a subject in the
4000-series og semiconductors. Don't frighten this newbe with statements like
that. Here we have had the 4000-series in stock for the students to buy, and
nobody has yet cracked one due to normal static electricity. There is security
diodes on the input taking care of dangerous voltages.
The suffixes on the packages are dealing with things like temperature and
stuff you as a hobbyist don't need to care about unless you are going to
use it outdoors in the midle of the winter.
: Hope this helps.
: Dave Foy
-----------------------------------------------
Svenn Are Bjerkem, sv...@invalid.ed.unit.no
Robert Fries
I ibuilt one of these a long time ago. I used transfers and tape to mark
the board. Sounded pretty good, as I recall.
Robert
Dean Aldridge
Making pcbs is a big pain in the butt. If possible I always try to get
them done but sometimes it's just not economic. The biggest time waster
is putting on the resist. Etching is pretty simple, you just dip it in
some ferric chloride for awhile. Drilling all the holes is also a big
drag and its easy to miss some.
On the other hand you can get some good programmes to do the layout etc
for you. However if you have ANderton's book then you probably already
have the pcb pattern. Try PAiA, I think they have pcbs for all of
Anderton's schematics. They even have an internet address, which is
PA...@aol.com. They're good at sending out mail order catalogues, even to
New Zealand :-).
Another good method I've heard of (though haven't tried myself) is to use
toner from a photocopier and iron it onto the copper then etch it. This
is contained within RG Keen's excellent semi-FAQ on the subject of making
fx units from woah to go. If you want I'll e-mail it to you (and anyone
else) since it's big and might not be appreciated in full here.
Good luck in any case....
David Morning
>What is the easiest method of doing this(ie etch resist pen, transfers etc).
Rub-down transfers. Get them from Maplin
>The book asks for a CD4049 semiconductor.
>I went to Maplin and they had 4049B and a 4049UB neithere of which were
>preceeded by CD. Can i substitute? What is the difference between B and UB?
No. B=Buffered, UB = Unbuffered. The buffered variety will be set with a
extra stage which ensures clean switching between logic levels 1 and 0 (These
are effectively digital chips which you're hacking to run analogue by virtue
of the type of internal circuit in the UB variety - using the B variety negates
this possiblity)
>Who is CD?
CD is RCA's house code for its CMOS range 4000s - similar to SN is Texas code
of TTL, LM is Nat Semis code for linears, etc etc.
Not sure if RCA are still in the chip business though.
Manufacturer is not important for this project - just buy a generic 4049UB
from Maplin in Great Western Road
fer...@bah.com
Confessions of a newbie:
I built my first effect last month and it was the Tube Sound Fuzz. Before
I started I devoured every source of information (mostly off of the net) I could
get my hands on and I would advise you to do the same. There is a guitar effects FAQ
that I found very helpful. The FAQ writer is correct about the startup cost: I
went ahead and bought a drill, bits, 25W solder iron, dirt cheap VOM, etc...
Twas expensive so before you begin think if you are really gonna enjoy the
process. I did, although my results to date are, well... Ill get to that.
The FAQ also recommends use of transfer paper to make PCBs. This is probably very
helpful for more complicated projects, but I would not recommend it for the TSF.
I got some transfer papers and found the shareware PCB layout program
(Easytrax) but decided to just use tracing paper and resist ink pen.
For the TSF, it was a piece of cake to do it by hand, although for many other
effects in the book (e.g., phase shifter) I wouldn't dare.
The FAQ also recommends a specific aluminum box from Digikey because of its
suitable dimensions. While this is no doubt fine for experienced effects
builders, a larger box would have been easier to work with for my first
project (Evidence: I have a few extra holes in my box from miscalculating pot
sizes, inside part of the jacks, 9V battery, etc...) The thing looks alien..
heh heh. I got my 4049UBE from Digikey. Craig's book recommends trying
several chips until you get the right response. I only ordered one but should
have got more to try out. I would recommend finding more than one to be safe.
Somewhere I read that unbuffered UBEs should be used, so do that. I used the
Radio Shack etching kit to make the PCB and it worked out pretty well.
(Well, my second one was perfect:))
A couple of things I didn't do which I wish I had. First, I soldered the
input/output/power leads (e.g., A,B,I,O,+) directly to the parts with using
clips. This made it difficult be able to easily remove the damn thing from
the box to adapt it (Once again my impatience). My guess is you will want to
adapt this eventually so think ahead about how to best attach the components
together. Second, I wish I had planned how to properly mount the board and
ground everything better. If you don't plan ahead, you start solving problems
on the fly, which creates other problems (e.g., spacing of all components within
the box.)
Someone made a comment earlier aout the professional look of a PCB vs perfboard.
That's a laugh; whatever you decide to do, the first one you make will look
exactly like that, the FIRST one you make. Mine definitely looks homemade
(probably a little too homemade).
Well after alot of work, expense and lessons learned, I finally finished it and
couldn't wait to try it out. I plugged that bad boy in and ... silence. I then
I flipped the toggle switch and then I got some weak sounding fuzz.
The Anderton book says that all the project are designed to provide at least
a little gain, so I knew there was a problem. Since then I have switched a
couple of resistors; the one that really made a difference was lowering the
input resistor to 10K, thereby saturating the first stage of the 4049,
or so I've read. That fixed my gain problem, but I'm still unimpressed with the
sound, and judging from other posts talking about how sweet this effect is,
I figure I've got to play around with it some more. There is also some
information floating around the net on how to modify the TSF by placing an
op amp gain stage in front of the inverting buffer and using hi end filters.
I'm still deciding whether to do this or try something else. All in all,
I think it has been worth it cause I have learned quite a bit. I also have
spent the upfront money and now I'm armed and ready to build more.
Good Luck, be patient, really patient, and email me for the FAQ
if you can't find it otherwise.
Perry
pfe...@bah.com
hawley
The first one I built was built on perfboard and wired up with a
wiring pen (the kind that has painted-on insulation that melts
at the temperature of solder - as opposed to wire-wrap).
I made the case out of soft aluminium using a bending rig.
It took some minor debugging to get it to go, but has run like a champ
for about 10 years.
The actual investment in equipment was minimal as my dad had a
reasonable soldering rig, VOM, and parts.
I later made several others using PC boards and found that I
could draw the traces on copper-clad board way faster than the
whole photographic process (doing 4-up on a single board).
And of course, the resist pen and bare copper boards are
cheaper than the photo-chemicals.
By far, the most time-consuming process is drilling holes. A
drill press is mandatory, but don't forget to buy a dozen or
so bits because they break like kindling.
Be careful with your old etchant. Being a stupid teen at the
time, I just dumped it down the drain and flushed it with tons
of water. Even though I didn't dump etchant until it was very
very weak and even with the flushing, it played havoc with the
copper pipes (and I'm sure that the local sewage plant wasn't too happy).
I don't think my dad has ever forgiven me about the pipes.
Steve Hawley
haw...@adobe.com
--
"Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I'd lighted to say
that I have no grasp of it whatsoever." -Baron Munchausen
Jouni Siirtola
>Interesting use of inverters. Have you ever managed to use a CMOS inverter as
>an amplifier? IE you have reproduced SOUND through one? I wouldn't even waist
>my time using inverters as amps since the threshold voltage in the conducting
>channel varies from batch to batch, and inverters are designed to change state
>as soon as possible to make them quick.
(First, you should use the non-buffered series of 4049, this is 4049UB.)
With no feedback, this is the case. If you try to imagine the inverter
as an op-amp with no positive input, only the negative input left,
you may have the idea ;): connect a feedback resistor between the
'negative' input and output and an input resistor between the input signal and
'negative' input. If you are not taking the maximum amplification out
of the this amp, the use of feedback makes the effect of inverter
batch variations small. And feedback also affects the distortion and
non-linearities of the inverter.
>: to the manufacturer ( can't remember this one off the top of my head ) but
>: all of them should be good enough. The 'B' is a better bet than an 'A' as
>: it means that the device has some protection on the pins ( CMOS is static-
>: sensitive ). Not sure about the 'UB'.
>Hello, hello. It's many years since static electricity was a subject in the
>4000-series og semiconductors. Don't frighten this newbe with statements like
If my memory serves, the first 4000-series had the suffix 'A' and is
generally not recommended for serious use ;-), for the
reasons of static sensitivity and output drive weakness.
The newer 4000-series have the logical functions buffered to keep them
isolated from the output load, making them more robust. This
is indicated by the 'B' suffix. They also have diodes (and depending
on the manufacturer, input series resistors) for input protection.
On some rare cases, like the audio use dicussed here, you may need
to use non-buffered devices. They are marked with the suffix 'UB'.
I have used these 'UB' suffix devices (many, many years ago...) as
audio preamplifiers. Even had a mixer with tone controls!
These buffers work adequately in audio applications, but are somewhat
noisy. Not for hi-fists ;).
regards,
Jouni Siirtola
--
Jouni Siirtola Jouni.S...@kau.vtt.fi
M.Sc., Research Scientist
Technical Research Centre of Finland Tel. +358 31 163 632
P.O.Box 192, SF-33101 Tampere, Finland Telefax +358 31 163 494
PAiA
haw...@adobe.com (hawley) writes:
etchant stories remind me of my own, involving a porceline over steel
bucket kept on top of my wife's washing machine. A pin hole in the
procelain quickly became a big leak as the etch ate away the steel. Of
course there were new clothes in the washer. There are more benign
etchants these days, but it certainly requires a dedication to one's art
to make pc boards from scratch. Still, everyone should do it at least
once.
PAiA has been thinking of issueing .eps files on disk of foil, legending
and drill guide layers that can be laser printed to a carrier sheet that
is ironed on for resist. Is this something only the abosute lunatic fringe
would be interested in doing (just our kind of folks)? I would appreciate
any comments for or against either posted or as email to me.
regards
John Simonton
Dr.Distortion
: You ought to able to sub, but the right chip is available from Radio
Not any more. RS stopped stocking the 4049 about a year ago.
: This is a great-sounding circuit, but I had to customize it some to get a
: more flexible tone circuitry. Plus, the Hi/Lo switch is pretty useless.
: If you're interested in my new schematic, you can email and I'll snail it
: to you.
One reason the 4049 fuzz sounds good is because it's based on MOSFET
circuitry. However, you can get MOSFET linear op-amps (like the
RCA CA3260) that will give you the same effect. They're also simpler
to work with because you can treat them as "regular" dual op-amps;
the pinout is the same, and they'll work in the same kind of circuit.
--Dr.Distortion
David Morning
Jeez! Someone has a slow newsfeed! Paul (7872...@aero.gla.ac.uk in Ref: line)
posted his request at the beginning of December '94! I responded to him and
made him a little pcb all before Christmas....A 3 months newsfeed?
Wow!
>If you are a newcomer to electronics, I'd recommend that you buy a pre-etched breadboard for your
>the 4049, almost any version should do fine for this project!
No it won't - it MUST be the unbuffered variety - 4049UB - a 4049B or BE will
NOT work.