\\\ Analog Bass/Guitar Effects and DIY ///

Custom/Original Designs

JC Maillet (c) 1996-2010

www.viva-analog.com


"Octave Amp"

High Precision Rectifying Octaver

JCM(c)2010


"360 Stand-Alone"

Stereo Guitar/Bass Fuzz with Presence and Blend

JCM(c)2010


"Bleeding Aliaser"

Updated Sampler with Effective Clock Nulling

JCM(c)2010

my original Aliaser circuit centered around the typical "switched-gate jFET pass-transistor into a cap" idea, where a sharp pulse drives the gate voltage well above and well below the mean Drain-Source channel voltage ... this typically introduces a "pulse noise" on the channel voltage whenever the sampler takes a snapshot ... the interesting thing about the Nyquist Aliaser is that this switchign noise could be minimized by varying the channel DC voltage - but unfortunately not cancel it out by a long shot ... a recent conceptual discovery has lead me to a circuit which gives near-total clock nulling ... ok, perfect clock fundamental nulling with very slight feedthgrough of clock harmonics ... good enough !

Linear Clock Nulling in Action (clip) JCM(c)2010

this "clock-less" output translates visually on a scope as a disappearance of sharp glitches usually seen at the boundary between sampled voltages ... the youtube video below features the second prototype leading to the final version and shows this clearly ... the circuit was designed for a buddy who's in the studio this summer doing strange and wonderful things with his Bass ... :)~


"Opto-Vibe"

Super Wide-Range Univibe re-Design

JCM(c)2009

OptoVibe


"MOJO" class-A Exaggerator

Dynamic Booster-Compressor // Thermionic Transfer Replicator

JCM(c)2008


"Super-MOJO II"

Linear Dynamic Booster // Tube Amp Feedback Sustainer

JCM(c)2008


Simple Audio Range Sine-wave Oscillator with Shape Control

JCM(c)2008

As far as a quick and dirty audio rate oscillators go it's my favorite, great for testing audio equipment or as an interesting live instrument (great for exploring the chromatic continuum) ... the circuit uses common parts: Radio Shack 272-1139 (1.5v 25mA) or 272-1140 (6v 25mA) bulb, a 1k trimmer (for setting circuit gain and distortion levels), most any standard op-amp, two 0.22uF Ceramic caps, a dual 50k LIN pot, two 9volt batteries a 5k to 100k output volume pot ... if you're gonna box this thing up you may want to replace the Shape/Gain trimmer by a pot ...

tuning the Shape control gives a more constant output signal amplitude to FREQ pot sweep and a cleaner sine wave-shape, though seemingly at the expense of lock-in times as the oscillator becomes glitchy when sweeping the FREQ pot ... off-setting toward higher gain levels allows for more dirty (clipped) waveforms with more "gripping" quality, and better lock-in - ie., little to no glitching with FREQ sweep ... Note: a little bit of RF can creep into the circuit if not decoupling the supply rails - to me it's more interesting this way (it's a hobby, why not ?) ... but that's easy to fix if you don't want it, simply stick capacitance from each op-amp supply pin to gnd - I recommend using a 10uF to 1000uF electro at 25v and 0.1uF ceramic in parallel for good decoupling ...


"Envelope Locked Loop" (c)2007

Linear Dynamic-Locked-Loop - A Brief Description ...


"Stereo Vibe" (c) 2007

8x opto-cell (2x4) op-amp Stereo Vibe-Phasor with accurate replication of Univibe Range and AC-Response

"StereoVibe" mp3


"Little FET Booster" Amplifier Driver

JCM(c)2007


"Stereo-Vibe 45" (c)2006

My second SV-proto


"Triggered Swell" (c)2006

Optical auto-Volume with dual FX-Loop mode


Rocktron X100 Mods (c) 2006

X100 Experiments


"Brownian Motion Filter" (c)2006

Optical Glide-Sample-Hold

opto controlled multi-band State Variable filter with glide option and variable Q


"Unitrem" (c)2006

designed/built 17-04-05

Univibe Oscillator crossed with jFET emulation of Fender VibroChamp bias modulator

"Unitrem" mp3


6-Band "Class A" Equalizer (c)2006

ShinEi EQ with low-loss Gyrators


"Stereo-Vibe 480" (c)2005

My first SV-proto


original "Nyquist Aliaser" Project (c)2005

Variable Audio Range Sampler


SWR-Style Bass Comp/Limiter (c)2005

SWR Style Bass Comp


The Sound of f(x)=|x|

JCM(c)2005

Super Full-Wave Octaver


"Range Mistress" (c)2004

RangeMaster with treble cut and parallel Bass boost channel


"Royal" Octaver Fuzz (2003)

Octave Tweaking Mods


MXR "Phase45" // Univibing Mods

Univibe Cap Ratios, Phase/Vibrato, LED monitor

Wide Speed Range (2003)

Uni-Phase45


Craig Anderton's "Bi-Filter Follower" (2003)

Expanding on Mark Hammer's Mods


Dan Armstrong "Green Ringer"

Nulling Mod (2003)

Fund-a-Mental "Nulling" Mod


MXR "DynaComp" Mods (2002)

Low Battery Mod


Yamaha "CH-10MII Chorus" Mods (c)2002

This unit provides warm chorusing and good leslie simulation at mid speeds ... the LFO speed pot was intermittent so I epoxied a replacement outside on top and stuck a bigger knob for easy foot control ...

To extend the LFO range into high warble territory I short out the speed-limiting resistor - that's R62 33k connected in series with the 250k SPEED pot ... and to extend the depth of the effect a little I short out R65 470k - the resistor leading to the depth control ... two easy mods providing extended performance ...


"Harmonic Multiplier"

(c) (4/'00) - (8/'01)

EMS based Multiplying Octaver


Jake Rothman's Pitch-Only Theremin ('99)

Line-Out Mod


PAIA "Infinity+"

Compressor Re-Design ('98)

Infinity++ Sustain Circuit


"SRV Special" (c) '98/'08

TS-808 clone/mods


Ranger "Para-Exciter MkIII"

Clone ('98)

A synth-like wah when living in a volume pedal - variable-Q filter booster with adjustable gain with enough output for serious amplifier overloading ... I'm told Tony Iommi used one at some point ...


"360+" Bass Preamp/Fuzz System

Possibly The Punchiest Sounding "Vintage Class-A Bass Preamp" Repro Ever Made

JCM(c)1997/2009

*360+ Pro Units*


Electro-Harmonix "Small-Stone" Mods ('97)

Univibing Frequency Ratios // Cutting Bass Response

Small Stone


Craig Anderton's "Balanced Modulator"

Switch-able Lock and Tuning Range Mods ('97)

CA Ring-Mod Tweaks


Vox "Suppa Tone Bender" Clone ('97)

VOX issued this circuit in 1974 - it had some connection with Steve Hackett ... Ultra-thick and compressed, this fuzz can produce a nice Brian May singing tone - similar to a BigMuff except for extra shunting diodes ... works well with standard parts ...

Vox Suppa Tone Bender Layout (36k GIF)


Musitronic "Mutron-III"

Mods/Additions (c) '96 and '02

Mutron III++


Univibe Maximizer Mods

JCM(c)1996/2009

Univibe+


Gallery


Roger Mayer's Axis Fuzz with switcheable BMP tone

opto-Limiter with Linear V-R converter

simple Germanium Fuzz

"Diva Crunch" /// My take on Doug Hammond's "Meteor"


Home ...

EMAIL: jc AT lynx DOT net