Ch0jin
October 21st, 2010, 06:55 PM
I've had a GGG Improved EA Tremolo kit in my FX loop for quite a while. One of the first kits I ever built as it happens, and I really love the sounds it can produce.
However, for some time now I've been bothered that, for me, the only usable setting on the depth control was at dead minimum. Anything above that and the effect was way too pronounced for my taste.
A little reading reveals the improvements over the original design included mods to the depth control, so I basically tracked down the original and compared them to the improved version.
The original uses a 560K resistor and a 1M pot to ground to setup up the range of depth control, so when the depth is minimum, the oscillator section is effectively shorted to ground and the pedal is a clean preamp.
The improved version changes the setup to a much smaller pot (250K), and much smaller source resistor (120K) and add's a 68K in series with the pot to ground so you can never turn the LFO "off" entirely.
So I decided to switch mine to the original spec and have a listen.
WAY better :)
My depth control now goes from zero to very heavily effected and has much finer control over the blend.
In the documentation, there is a mod to add a switch that shorts the LFO to ground so you can use the preamp only. In it's original configuration all you need do is turn the depth to min and you've achieved the same thing with less complexity.
I -feel- like I've -maybe- lost some of the super extreme end of the effect, but I never found it to be in any way musical at that level anyway. This is probably due to the massive change in the value of the resistor that feeds the pot. I suspect dropping this from 560K to 330K or 270K would yield an even wider range from the depth control and add more extreme modulation at the maximum, but it's just not needed imho.
Anyway, here's a quick mp3 demo I recorded with my trusty iphone.
What do you think? Is that enough tremolo effect for you or would you try for a more extreme sound?
3MHxhvLQ7js&feature=youtube_gdata
This is just my Maton w/ '59 bridge into amp into 4x12 with the tremolo in the FX loop.
A really cool thing about this pedal design is the clean preamp with volume control. If I position it last in the FX loop I can use this pedal, tremolo effect mixed in or not, as a level control for the loop. Bonus!
If anyone is interested in doing this themselves and wants more info lemme know :)
However, for some time now I've been bothered that, for me, the only usable setting on the depth control was at dead minimum. Anything above that and the effect was way too pronounced for my taste.
A little reading reveals the improvements over the original design included mods to the depth control, so I basically tracked down the original and compared them to the improved version.
The original uses a 560K resistor and a 1M pot to ground to setup up the range of depth control, so when the depth is minimum, the oscillator section is effectively shorted to ground and the pedal is a clean preamp.
The improved version changes the setup to a much smaller pot (250K), and much smaller source resistor (120K) and add's a 68K in series with the pot to ground so you can never turn the LFO "off" entirely.
So I decided to switch mine to the original spec and have a listen.
WAY better :)
My depth control now goes from zero to very heavily effected and has much finer control over the blend.
In the documentation, there is a mod to add a switch that shorts the LFO to ground so you can use the preamp only. In it's original configuration all you need do is turn the depth to min and you've achieved the same thing with less complexity.
I -feel- like I've -maybe- lost some of the super extreme end of the effect, but I never found it to be in any way musical at that level anyway. This is probably due to the massive change in the value of the resistor that feeds the pot. I suspect dropping this from 560K to 330K or 270K would yield an even wider range from the depth control and add more extreme modulation at the maximum, but it's just not needed imho.
Anyway, here's a quick mp3 demo I recorded with my trusty iphone.
What do you think? Is that enough tremolo effect for you or would you try for a more extreme sound?
3MHxhvLQ7js&feature=youtube_gdata
This is just my Maton w/ '59 bridge into amp into 4x12 with the tremolo in the FX loop.
A really cool thing about this pedal design is the clean preamp with volume control. If I position it last in the FX loop I can use this pedal, tremolo effect mixed in or not, as a level control for the loop. Bonus!
If anyone is interested in doing this themselves and wants more info lemme know :)